Christmas Cookies

Note to self...an 18-month-old is NOT developmentally ready to help decorate Christmas cookies...here's the proof:

Jonas does like to EAT cookies, though...

Here he is with the sprinkles...and Ben looking on, wondering why I thought this would be a good idea...

the finished masterpiece (mostly eaten by now...)

This last picture is a little blurry, since Jonas is perpetually in motion, but worth posting to show you how much fun he had during our afternoon of decorating! And just a side note...check out that hair...does that remind you of anyone???? (BEN!)

Donuts with Santa and Visiting Baby Joshua

For our last Early Childhood class before Christmas, we had "Donuts with Santa" on Wednesday morning. As you can clearly see by the pictures below, the DONUTS were the highlight for Jonas. Although, he wasn't too scared of Santa...no tears were shed. And now, in addition to all of his animal sounds, he can "ho, ho, ho" like Santa on cue.

Clowning around at home...

Last weekend we got to go visit Jonas's new cousin, Joshua. Jonas spent lots of time playing with Noelle.

There was reading...

table-dancing...

karaoke...

and plenty of cousin bonding.

So far it seems that Noelle is a great big sister...even wants to be up in the middle of the night to "help" with the baby. Sounds like fun!

Tree Trimmin'

For the past 4 years, Ben and I have been a bit lazy...we haven't put up a Christmas tree. Well...we do have this little table-top tree that we called our Christmas tree, but it is starting to look a little bit squashed from all of our moves...and it definitely won't fit all the presents for Jonas underneath it! I also admit that deep down I was worried that Jonas might somehow remember if we didn't put up a Christmas tree. So, to avoid having him use his deprived childhood as an excuse for any sort of bad behavior he may have as a teenager, we took him to pick out a tree this year.

Here he is looking for the best one...

And here, I just wanted to document the wonders of the "stow and go" seating in our new minivan. Yes, a minivan. But seriously...look at this...we fit our TREE in it!
And here Ben demonstrates how to trim the Christmas tree...
And here Jonas demonstrates that it is MUCH to close to bedtime to be messing with the over-stimulating task of tree trimming!
Here is the finished product...mostly decorated AFTER Jonas has gone to bed. Now we just have to see if it stays decorated!

We also put lights on the OUTSIDE of our house this year...and I did also document this milestone with a picture. But then I became paranoid about posting that picture on the internet because you can see our house number... So I guess you'll just have to take my word for it! :)
Happy Holidays!

Visitors

So fun to have a quick visit from Jaime and Grace last week! They grow up so fast!

Thanksgiving, First Haircut, and Playing on a Snowy Weekend

All bundled up the Friday after Thanksgiving for the "Holiday Stroll" downtown with Grandma and Grandpa.

Playing with cars yesterday while it was blustery and snowy outside!
Enjoying the snowfall today - although Jonas enjoyed it more than anyone. Ben had a lot of heavy snow to shovel, and I had a lot of pulling of that sled to do!
Not quite sure how to move around in this snow yet!
Finally, I got tired of pulling the sled and we went inside - Jonas and Dixie still enjoyed watching Ben work hard at the shovelling outside!
First haircut on Thanksgiving...Grandma did much better than I ever could have done! I really didn't want it cut, but Ben was worried that it was starting to look like a mullet! By the way Jonas looks in these pictures, the whole experience was torture! But I have to admit, he did look like a handsome toddler after it was all over!

Hanging out with Grandpa.
Sharing some pie with Grandma.