Merry Christmas Part 3

On Wednesday, we celebrated Christmas with Grammy Vo and PawPaw Floyd. It was a whirlwind of presents! We also had some delicious chicken chili - Nola gobbled it up! Thanks to Grammy, PawPaw, Aunt Susie, Uncle Vince, Cousin Lauren, Jesse, and Vash for all of the presents!!!!!
Papa, Nola, and Grammy - what a good lookin' bunch!

I love this picture of my little stinker!

Nola sporting some cute pink boot with pom-poms on the back. They bounced when she walked! Nola also looked adorable in the little dress and shirt that Aunt-ta Theresa sent. Thanks so much!

Brenner in the midst of presents - he was thrilled to get a Thundercat!

Nola loves the Simba and Nala animals from Aunt Susie!

Grammy Vo knows how Nola loves Bubba, our neighbor's donkey. So when she saw this donkey roller backpack - she had to get it for Nola!

Once back at home, the kids continues playing with the newly acquired toys. Nola loves the Minnie Mouse slippers, Grammy!

Merry Christmas Part 2

Christmas morning was a bit hard for us this year. Late Christmas Eve, Grandpa Bob passed away at his home with family including Matt at his side. Thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers. Matt then arrived home at 4 am. Brenner was really good at being patient about opening presents - he was a very helpful little boy that morning.
Santa brought lots of presents. When Brenner saw the tree, he said "Oh my Holy Moly! (Pause) That is a lot of presents - goodness gracious!" Truly made me laugh on a morning that had been sad - children have wonderful healing power.

Our annual Christmas picture - Best we could do with Brenner! Thank you to everyone - Aunt-ta Theresa and Uncle Chuck, Grandma Val and PawPaw Hinckle, Aunt Lynnie, Uncle Chris, Krystee and Colten for all of the gifts - Brenner and Nola are spoiled rotten!!!!!

Nola loved the bag of balls from Aunta-ta Theresa and Uncle Chuck.

Doctor Brenner is in the house! There is a doctor kit at school that Brenner likes - although he usually grabs a saw to cut off other kids limbs........

Nola loved Mama's sugar cookies!

My family came to our house for Christmas day dinner. Matt had smoked a turkey on Friday - it was delicious! Grandma Val hit the goal with this Buzz Lightyear toy - this was one of Brenner's favorite gifts this year.

Nola helping PawPaw Hinckle and Krystee open gifts!

Nola getting some Colten time!

Fun times with Uncle Chris and Aunt Lynnie.

Grandma, we match today!

Brenner loves his Batman masks and gloves - Nola likes the look too!

Merry Christmas Part 1

We had a busy week before Christmas. Matt and I were both off of work so we had a lot of time with the kids which was great. Just a note - don't tell Brenner gifts that you want to remain secret - shocking, right?! We picked out a Bullet speaker for Matt's Iphone. Later that night as Matt is getting him ready for bed, Brenner said "Mommy, tell Papa about that speaker we got him?" I played dumb so Brenner added "You know, that black one, the Bullet, from Wal-Mart - we got it today". Little booger - Matt was laughing the whole time. One night as I was making dinner, I heard a lot of laughing coming from Brenner's room.....
Brenner was literally on the floor laughing!

Nola was laughing too. Papa was playing a new game - Toss Nola on the Bed.....

....followed by Let Nola Walk Off of the Bed. You are correct - these games were not Mama approved :)

Brenner's preschool Christmas party had a special guest!

On Christmas Eve morning, Brenner helped me make sugar cookies. He started off very focused, rolling the dough. This morphed into him trying to convince me that he needed to taste every kind of sprinkle.

Brenner with the cookies for Santa and his reindeer. Nola was on melt down mode by this time so she decided not to be in the picture.

Close up of the cookies. Brenner insisted that Santa would eat a Santa cookie and the reindeer would eat reindeer cookies!

Church Program, Work Party, and Family Dinner

Wow - what a busy week! It seems like we had something every night starting with our church Christmas program where Brenner was an angel.....yes....that is right...pictures below will explain. We also went to my work Christmas party. Santa was there and Brenner was one of the last to sit on his lap. Picture it....large ballroom with people chatting quietly after their meal as the kids lined up to see Santa. Santa has a microphone and is quietly asking each sweet child what he or she wants. Once it is Brenner's turn, he plops down on Santa's knee, grabs the microphone, and says loud and proud "I want a Tundercat......Thank you!". People were hootin' and hollerin' - What can I say - the kid knows what he wants! Nola also had a big week - no more nursing and into the crib! She still cries a bit when we put her down but the squirt has slept 10 hours or so each night (knock on wood)! So far she remains very adaptable!
Nola getting the crowd warmed up at the church program! Thanks to Grandma Val, PawPaw Hinckle, Aunt Lynnie, Krystee, and Colten for coming!

Here are the angels....all 7 were little boys........Brenner "I guess I can sit....."

"But what if I crawl up so I can get a better look....."

"I am singing...but forget away in the manager....I am doing the pee dance!!!" (He then left to go use the potty).....

Potty was successful, but now his shoe was untied!

"Whew - after all of that - I guess I can sing!" And boy did he sing - loud, off key, and got the rest of the boys to sing faster than the tempo. Poor, Nancy, our pianist - thank goodness she is a pro! Apparently there is a video on facebook of this.....should I even try to find it?

Aunt Lynnie - thank you for coming :)

Saturday night we went to McGraths to celebrate with my family - a tradition started by my Grandpa Hilbrenner when I was little. He always loved going to McGraths.

Nola is very serious about the cracker she is eating........she is such a good eater. I may have mentioned this but there is a method to her cleaning her plate - meat, carb, fruit, vegetables - in that order!

Grandma Val, Brenner, Mommy, and Nola have a fun time!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love the Christmas season! My promise to myself was to not get stressed out but enjoy the blessing of this wonderful season - so far, so good :) Nola has been doing fun stuff each day - I hope that you enjoy the Nola-isms from this week - Brenner had some good ones too!
Nola loves her snowman stacker - some pretty good hand-eye coordination! You might recall that she is infatuated with our neighbor's donkey Bubba. When we read books about the Christmas story, Nola says "bubba, bubba, bubba" when she sees donkeys on the book pages.

Brenner, Nola, and Papa playing legos while I was cooking dinner - looks like there are having fun! On our way to the Christmas Program practice at church, Brenner quizzed me "Jesus wore a crown of thorns." Yes, buddy. "Why did he where a crown of thorns?" Hmmm....the people that put him up on the cross put it on him. This answer was not satisfactory so he continued asking when I finally said, I am not for sure we will look it up. He told me very matter of factly "To make him weak, mommy." Thank you buddy for helping me to understand better!

Papa adding the star to our fraser fir. This is my favorite tree that we have ever had!

Nola has been checking out the tree but learned pretty quick not to take off the decorations!

We had our first snow this week and the kids couldn't wait to get out into it. It didn't last long though!

Nola welcoming me home from work. She is so loving - especially to little babies. One of the grandma's in the church nursery told me that a new little girl came in and was crying. Nola walked over to her saying "bay-bee", put her hand on her check, and stroked it. Then Nola gave her a big hug. Moments like that you know that you are doing some things right with these kiddos!

Nola brought all of her diaper changing things into the kitchen where Papa was doing dishes. She sat herself right down next to him - quite the Papa's girl lately!

We went to Bass Pro to see Santa. Hey Bass Pro - we aren't just there for the photo op - your Santa should at least listen to the kids saying what the want!!!!!

Nola wasn't so keen on sitting on Santa lap! Papa take me away!!!!!

The store has all of these cool toys set up for kids to play with....yes, of course, there are for sale!

Papa helping BHP with the bow......

...he then took a turn for himself! I think Matt had more fun than the kids!

Nola on one of the boats. Hey, Papa, aren't I suppose to be wearing a swimsuit?

Nola at church with her buddy Morgan, who is 5 weeks older. They get along well. Nola loves having her picture taken - shouting "Cheese" when she sees the camera!

The tight tutorial

I had to laugh the other morning before church when Matt was dressing Nola....he was struggling a bit with her tights so I decided it was time for a tight tutorial. Papa gave it his best try, but Nola doesn't want to stop for anything these days so you gotta be quick! Brenner was also in prime form this week. He was playing with Nola's dolls and said "All of these babies are girls". I asked him how he knew that, and the response was "They are good.....but crazy." Last night as I was getting everyone ready for bed (Matt was at a shootfest weekend), Nola was crying and crying and crying because Mommy just wasn't going fast enough. Brenner finally looked at her with his head tilted to the side and patting her shoulder, "It is hard being one, Nola." Wise, buddy, very wise.
Brenner's imagine soars. He likes to build things with his letters in the tub. This was a "megagun". He also wants to spell EVERYTHING out - he recognizes many 3 and 4 letter words and can count to one hundred. Go Brenner!

We went to a craft fair with Grandma Val, Aunt Lynnie, and Uncle Chris. A stereo was playing Christmas music, so Nola led by Brenner started an impromptu dance party! Looks like BHP was in the zone!

Aunt Mellie and Reagan dropped by Grandma's house for a visit! Reagan didn't seem to mind Brenner sitting on her....but then he went a bit too far.......

....he went in for a kiss. Reagan informed him "We don't kiss until we are 18!!!!" Wise advice from her preschool teacher! Nola doesn't seem too impressed.

Brenner took this excellent picture of Mommy, Aunt Mellie, Nola, and Reagan. Hard to believe that we have been best friends for 20 years! Surely, we aren't that old :)

Nola has found her belly button. You might recall Brenner had the same infatuation for a while (BHP was holding the same pose in the picture with Aunt Theresa and Uncle Chuck in Disneyland on the table behind her)!

Nola also LOVES shoes - I don't know how many times I have reorganized my shoes after she ransacks the closet!