Decorating the Christmas Tree 2012

 John, Patrick and Matthew helped decorate the Christmas tree. John and Matt started out strong, but Patrick was the only one to make it to the end.

When Dad came home, he helped Patrick do the honors of placing the angel on top of the tree.

I finally put our family Nativity scene on display this year. My mom gave it to me six years ago, but I haven't put it out since John could crawl. I have been afraid it would get "played" with by the boys. We sat down and had a talk about only looking at it and being gentle if they touched it. Believe it or not, they never touched it the whole time it was out!

Christmas with the Normans and the Fairmans in Yorba Linda

Christi and Greg were great hosts once again. The boat parade was beautiful, and luckily not as cold this year. The boys all had a fun time playing together with their new toys.

The boys were very patient as they waited for Chloe to hand out their gifts.

 Thank you Aunt Vicki and Uncle Jim for the change counters. We have been collecting change from all over the house, the cars, the sidewalk... 

It's hard to believe Chloe is in Middle School already! They were celebrating her first birthday when I met Tom eleven years ago!

La Cristianita Christmas Show

Papa and Grammy were there for the show. Papa came early and got us great seats!

Matthew was supposed to be in the show, but he wanted to sit with Daddy instead.

John took most of these photos while waiting for the show to start, including this one :)

Santa arrived at the end of the show and gave all of the performers a gift.

 Matt wasn't so sure about Santa.

Patrick had a special night. He was selected to be Santa for the big show. 

Birthday Party x 2

Patrick and Matthew had a great 3rd and 5th birthday. The weather was good and lots of friends and family came to the party.

Patrick and Papa Bob just before all of the excitement started. 

We rented the kids a slide instead of a bouncehouse this year...but I don't think they knew that because everyone was still bouncing around.

Liz and the Stein Girls joined us for another great party!

 Nick had a great time playing with John and the other boys.

We played "Pin the Batman symbol on Batman".  I told John it was like "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" and he said, "What's that?"

Jack was an excellent contestant!

Jeri-Rose and Patrick are just a few weeks apart, but she is about half his size. 

Matt was a little under the weather, so Grammy sat and played Bey Blades with him. 

The pinata was a big hit. Note to self...use the foam bat, not the metal bat. That way all of the kids can have a turn at bat.

 Landon hit a home run with Spiderman. (The store was out of Batman).

It was raining candy when the pinata broke!

Thank you to all of our friends and family for the fun birthday gifts! 

John had a great time today! He has figured out that even though it's not his birthday, he's going to have some cool new toys to play with!

Hudson was checking out all of the cool new toys. Such a big guy already! 

We ended the evening flying to Mars in our new spaceship.

 Tom and Patrick lasted until around 5:30 p.m., then time for a little shuteye. Birthday parties are exhausting!

Matthew started to perk up later in the evening. We watched "Elf" and played with our new Thomas track.