Papa Dan and Grandma Bdoe got the boys 3 train sets for Christmas. They have been playing with them almost non-stop for the last two days. George built a table for them this afternoon so we could eat on our dining room table again. Once the table in the garage was set up, the boys spent I think 3 hours in there pushing the trains around with an occasional "choo, choo".
Our family has been growing exponentially the past few years. With the addition of husbands and children to the clan of seven daughters, we just don't fit in my parent's house for holidays anymore. The solution came this year in the form of a tent. It was a stroke of brilliance. It cost more to rent one than to buy it on ebay. So we'll be in the tent for future holidays. It's 16'x20' and it fit nicely on my parent's lawn. Of course it's carpeted, half the family is in the carpet/flooring business. It was heated, cozy and the christmas lights lit up the night beautifully.
When they've had sufficient time to sleep, we pull into the second set of Grandparents and play some more. It's a full two days. We are blessed to be surrounded by so much family.
Our "Cavity" Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
We met up with some old friends for a couple days in Lake Tahoe. Daniel and Alanna had a great time sledding together.
and crashing...
and making snow angels
By the time we got around to sledding, Vincent had fallen asleep in the truck. We let him sleep for awhile, but not wanting him to miss out on all the fun, I eventually woke him up....bad idea. We was not loving the sledding. We snatched him up for a couple runs which he enjoyed, but then started crying again.
By the time we left, Vincent had cheered up and enjoyed a ride back to the truck with his big brother.
Alanna is smack in the middle of Daniel and Vincent age-wise.
After several really long months of George working long hours, nights and weekends, we finally got a little break and some much needed family hang out time. We went to Old Sacramento and visited the Train Museum. It was great, all the boys loved it including George. We looked into going on the Polar Express, but apparently tickets were sold out in late October. Maybe we'll plan ahead next year. We got a sneak peak at the train which was in the building to the right in the above photo.
We ate lunch at a dive and then headed to the Train Museum. While hanging out on the corner, George does a quick head count to make sure we have all the boys, worried he asks me "Where's Gavin". He was on George's hip.
Daniel and Vincent were both really serious about decorating the Christmas tree. Vincent stuck five bells on the same branch. There are only ornaments on the top two feet of the tree because Gavin rips them all off which a vengeance. We're lucky the tree hasn't fallen over with the way he pulls at the lights.
Gavin is just now getting his first tooth at 12 1/2 months old. It's not where we would have guessed either.
Christmas tree shopping at the Home Depot
There was some snow/ice on the ground from the trees being unloaded. The boys had a great time smashing it. Maybe in a couple years we'll be adventurous enough to go to the Christmas tree farm and cut one down. This year, this worked and it was just about all we could handle with our three little guys.
Gavin has this great smile. He's a happy kid...except for between 4-6pm which is post nap/pre-dinner. Everyone is grouchy then.
Gavin has been trying to talk more and more. This is the face he makes when trying to verbally communicate. Regardless of what he's trying to say, he usually makes this Ooooooh face very intently.
Daniel is still enjoying his photography.
Sweet Vincent loves to play and ride bikes. I think I'm ready to get rid of the double jogger already since Vincent likes to ride his bike around the neighborhood. I'm back to using the single jogger on walks and my jogging career is non-existent this year. I've never been so out of shape in my life. I'm hoping to go snowboarding for the first time since I got pregnant with Daniel this year, but we might just have to go for a half day to start.
We can see snow from our living room! Well, we can every year which is cool. It snowed yesterday morning and it even stayed on the ground for awhile. It was so pretty the next morning with all the hills around us covered in the white stuff.
