Bathtime Together

In a moment of insanity, I decided to honor Matt's request to take a bath with his brother. There was SO much water on the floor, but they had a great time!

So much fun to splash around like crazy!



Matt shows Jonathan how to take down the basketball hoop.

What a wonderful teacher!

There's nothing like pouring water on your brother's head.

Jonathan splashes so much at times that he gets himself in the face.

He keeps going!

I gave them crazy hair and Matt thought it would be a good idea to hug his brother from behind and pose for a picture. I had to quickly put the camera down because it was about to turn into a wrestling match!

Patio Fun

A couple of weeks ago the boys and I went out back and played. It was Jonathan's first time playing out back since he started crawling. He loved it. I was a bit nervous because of the step on the patio along with all of the cement! The boys, as usual, got excited to play together in a new setting!

I kept having to get Jonathan's attention so he didn't wander off into the flowerbeds.

Matt showed Jonathan how to play in the dirt.

Look closely and you can see some of the dirt on his mouth! Time for fishing!

The one time I get Matt to look at the camera, not saying "cheese" or screaming at me, and the sun's in his eyes!

Fishing for tires? Matt wouldn't let Jonathan near his tractor tires, but he also decided to play right next to him! It's a constant battle with Matt. He loves playing near Jonathan, but won't yet share his toys with him.

Matt finally took my advice, AND he left Jonathan some toys to play with this time.

We were checking on Matt's seeds he planted after Halloween, and Matt was spraying the plants with his spray bottle. If you look closely at Jonathan's right side, you'll see that he too got watered!

The guilty party!

More spraying!

Preschool Christmas Program

Matt's preschool class had a Christmas program that they had prepared for the whole month of November. Matt did a lot of rehearsing in the car as well as around the house. It was all worth it in the end! He did a great job and actually sang, with some gestures!

Jonathan & I sat and waited for the program to begin. Nick was filming the whole thing for us.


Here's the grand entrance! The outfits are a bit on the "dress" side, but the kids were adorable.

Here's the video of the preschool program. We broke it up into 4 parts so it wouldn't be so long. The first one is a bit long anyway, since it includes their entrance into the room.
Santa & Jingle Bells
Away In the Manger
S-A-N-T-A
We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Kitchen Play

The boys have taken to playing in the kitchen while I try to make dinner. It makes things interesting! They are quite occupied by a plastic container I put together along with some random kitchen items I don't use often.

I got them both to look at the camera, but it looks like I caught them by surprise.

After Matt & I showed him how, Jonathan began talking into the container as well. He also tried to eat it, or drink out of it. I am not really sure!

Oops! I got caught taking pictures!

Waving a bulb baster doesn't stop me from taking pictures!

Matt decided to become a bucket head!

Mommy, Matt, & Santa!

There were a few Christmas celebrations around town a couple of weeks ago, so I narrowed it down and decided to try one with Matt by ourselves. We left Jonathan & Nick at home and headed out for our "special fieldtrip". He wasn't sure what to expect, but I think he had a good time!

Casa Romantica, a local cultural center and beautiful building situated overlooking the coast, had a caroling, tree lighting, and Christmas display. We went to see what it was all about. Matt quickly found the room with the train, and stayed there for a while. We went back to that room twice and were able to get away with a quick "goodnight, trains" on the last one.

It is amazing what a train can do to a boy! He was just so amazed and entertained.

Not so entertaing, and a bit scary, was Santa. We waited in the short line and I tried to get a photo, but I had to jump in for interference. Santa even had to dole out a lollipop to try to get Matt to come closer to him. This was supposed to be our warm up for his Christmas program at school and Santa's visit there.

Wagon Rides & Christmas Lights

Our neighborhood goes crazy for Christmas lights. We have a neighbor who rents a cherry picker and helps out the neighbors by putting up lights with them or for them. We opted for the "for them" option, especially since our trip to Texas and Oklahoma conflicted with the dates the lights would be put up. It was great to leave town without lights and come back to Christmas lights on the house!

Since the lights and decorations are fun to look at, we often head for an evening walk in the wagon. The boys can get a bit feisty at times, and often end up in chaotic laughter by the end of the walk, but they seem to enjoy the craziness.

I tried to get our lights in the picture, but the boys weren't looking at the camera if I went that far away to get our lights in the shot. Oh well!

Here they are on our sidewalk with the neighbors' house in the background.

Disneyland!!!

We've been trying to plan a weekday to head to Disneyland for some time now, and we finally were able to make it out there! We took a Friday and just headed out the door right when we got everyone dressed. Matt had been doing great with his potty training, so we tried to convince him that it was a reward and celebration for that. He tried to convince us that it was "probably for my birthday", since his birthday celebration lasted so long. He hadn't had a party in at least a week, so I don't know why he would have thought it was for his birthday!

While Jonathan and I were taking a pit stop, the boys found Goofy!

A partial family photo on Main Street.

The first ride the boys tried was the rockets. Matt decided early on that he wanted it high, so pictures were a bit difficult from the ground. Here they are getting ready to ride.

This was the best shot I got. They are actually in the frame, and at least Nick is looking at the camera!

Here they boys are waiting in line for the Buzz Lightyear ride.

They were shooting lots of "Zs" with their guns, while Jonathan and I just sat and went along for the ride.

The best part of the park for us was the "Finding Nemo" submarine ride. We waited about 30 minutes in line and it was worth it. There were a few scary parts, with loud music and noise, but since Matt loves the movie, he was not too scared.

Here's one of the scenes we saw from the submarine. The scenery was amazing and the movie clips were great!

More scenery before we got to the movie parts.

The scuba diver that gets Nemo.

Here we are on the submarine. Jonathan couldn't keep his hands off the window.

Last stop, Toon Town. Matt finally got to drive the trolley car. We were approaching whiny, tired, overstimulation time once we got to Toon Town, so the visit was quick.

He sneaked into the car when no one was looking. He seemed to love all the big cartoon vehicles.

We went in Mickey's house right before we left.

The gopher was great. It kept popping up while Matt wasn't looking!

Playing Mickey's piano was the last stop in his house.

I rushed us to go before the Christmas festivities were over at Disneyland, and since we went during the day, we were limited on what we could see. The line at the Small World was too long to wait in with 2 tired boys and 2 tired parents, so we missed those decorations. By the time we got to where Santa was, we were headed to the tram. Oh well! We had a blast and saw a bit of Christmas on Main Street. I can't imagine what it is like at night right now. I heard it's amazing. One day when the kids aren't in bed by 8 we'll discover that. For now, a quick 4 hour visit was enough for all of us!

Back to Dallas

We headed back to Dallas to wind down and get ready to fly back home the next morning. While we were gone Granny & Grandpa started getting out some Christmas decorations so Matt could see them before we left.

Jonathan and Nick came out to see the lights.

Matt loved the "choo choo train" and wouldn't stop trying to touch the lights and asking what everything was on the train.

It was hard to get him back inside after seeing the train.