Christmas 2009

I realize it's been a month since Christmas and that I'm very far behind in blogging, but better late than never, right?

We went to visit Darrell's parents in California for Christmas and had a great time. We especially enjoyed the warmer, milder weather.

Here are Darrell and Tyler waiting outside of the airport before we left. Our trip started out "exciting," if that's the way you want to put it. We had parked our car in a park 'n' ride a few miles away from the airport. As we were sitting on the shuttle to the airport, I started looking at our luggage on the rack and came to the realization that we were missing a suitcase and that it was still at home.

Well, we had arrived at the airport with a little time to spare, so I started calling friends to see if anything could be arranged for getting the suitcase to us. We "lucked" out so much! One friend went to our house and got the luggage and another friend (who is a cop, but wasn't working that day) and his wife picked up the suitcase and "sped" their way to the airport. We paced outside anxiously awaiting their arrival. And wouldn't you know, it all worked out and we made it on our flight. (Thank goodness it was a little delayed as well.) Thanks Patricia and Chad and Laura!!!!!



Here's Tyler watching the Nativity DVD with Grandma's stuffed animals on Christmas Eve.





Santa Claus found us at Grandma's house. Tyler loved his Tonka "Chuck the Dump Truck" and a whole bag of snowmen marshmallows.



The weather was so beautiful on Christmas day that we had to go out and enjoy it.





Tyler is throwing leaves on Darrell.



It got so hot we took Tyler's shirt off and he ran around in his onesie.





Giving Grandma loves



On Christmas night everyone came over for dinner and to exchange gifts. Tyler is showing his great Grandma Nellie his new truck.



Tyler unwrapping gifts with a bow in his hair.



The next night Nellie treated us all to Olive Garden. Yum!



Tyler with Daddy and Aunt Brenda



Here's Tyler in his new sweater Santa Claus brought.



The best family picture we could get with a tired boy.



It was great to have EVERYONE home for Christmas. Here is Tyler with his cousins David, Matt and Jeff.



Having fun with Grandpa





Teasing Grandpa



Running to Grandma



Playing hide and seek

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!



And here's a few more pictures from the "photo shoot."

My Handsome Boys

Here's my favorite boys in the whole wide world before church on Sunday.

Sugar Cookies

It's just not Christmas without sugar cookies. Yum!





Our official taste tester

Like Daddy Like Son

Tyler likes sleeping with a blanket over his head. Darrell's cover of choice is a pillow. (Sorry, no pictures of Darrell with his head covered.)

Boy Toys

Tyler has discovered that our house is full of all kinds of toys that us grown-ups had never thought of. Here are a few:

The bottom dishwasher rack




Glue sticks, hot glue guns and electrical outlets



Headphones in the headphone jack



Spatulas in the big tropical plant that we had to move out of the front room to make room for the Christmas tree. (Does anyone want a huge, overgrown, real tropical plant? We'd love for you to take it off our hands!)




And finally, a real toy: playdough. Tyler's learned that little pieces can fit in every boy's "collector": front pockets. (Where does he learn this stuff?)

O Tannenbaum

We put our Christmas tree up on Saturday. We got it at Home Depot for about $25--not bad for a real tree with REAL Christmas tree smell. I LOVE it!

Here is Darrell de-branching the bottom branches so the tree would fit in the tree stand.



Tyler took a nap while we set the tree up and put on the lights. We were just getting to the ornaments when he woke up. Here is his first look at the tree.



Needless to say, our tree is very top-heavy with the "good" ornaments--the ones that could be considered on the "endangered" list if a toddler had access to them. There are a few ornaments down below for Tyler to touch and pull off.



Here's Tyler with his one and only chance at holding a ball. He carried the ball in one hand and the metal "hanging thingy" in the other hand. It wasn't too long after this picture that Tyler decided to bite the top of the ball. It broke, and that was the end of that.