December and Christmas

A few photos to update you on Isaac, who had a fantastic Christmas!

Trying to fit two pacis into one mouth:

Our tree!

Helping to decorate:

Re-arranging the ornaments:

Coloring a snowflake ornament.

Inspecting the box from our tree:

GrandDad (my dad) came to visit us the weekend prior to Christmas.  Before he arrived, he shipped a gift to our house.  It got here a few days before GrandDad did.  Isaac had a blast with the box:

Isaac and Jackson both made sure GrandDad knew he was welcome at our house:

He got Isaac a Power Wheels that goes an "exciting 2 miles an hour!"  Isaac has had a lot of fun with it so far.

The men assembling the Power Wheels:

Isaac was eager to help:

Daddy teaching Isaac how to make it go:

Isaac is learning to ride more often than pushing, but this was his preference for the first couple of days:

"What does this button do?"

Figuring out how to get it going:

The Thursday before Christmas, Isaac and I hosted our friends from the Baby Mamas for "brunch" in the afternoon.  Allison and her son, Anderson, had great fun with the swings.

Isaac really wanted to climb this tree:

Henry played on the swings while Candy pushed:

Stephanie and Cash also played on the swings, but I don't have any great photos of this because Steph and Candy were chatting about Steph's new neighborhood.  Sorry, Steph!


Isaac doesn't sit on the swings for more than a second or two.  Unless, of course, there's an incentive:

Hair!  Isaac's hair is getting long.  I took this picture shortly after nap-time on Friday.  Fun, right?!

Although I completely forgot to take pictures, my good friend Tracey and her family (4 kids!) came to see us on Christmas Eve.  Her son, Wesley, asked if he could play with the Hess truck that Grandpa (Todd's dad) got Isaac for Christmas last year.  Todd agreed and Wesley had fun.  After they left, Isaac decided he wanted to play with the truck, too.

This is pretty neat!

Christmas morning was a ton of fun at our house!  Isaac got just shy of a billion gifts and had fun playing with each one before he was ready to move on to the next.  He got a Glockenspiel, which has been fun:

My aunt, Elaine, sent Isaac a new book.

Jackson is critical to all gift-opening...

Reading the book from Aunt Elaine.

Sharing the love - the same book with Daddy:

Opening a wooden train from Nana:

I am glad we have this photo of the train before it was broken down into all of the little pieces that make it up.  Now, should I happen to locate all of the pieces in the same room (ha!) I can re-create it.  LOL

Polar Express on Blu-Ray!  How the heck do I play with this?  He actually watched nearly the entire movie sitting still.

Decor for our new front porch:

Jackson for the assist:

The beginning of the tearing-apart of the train:

He also got this neat-o truck that comes almost completely apart.  I still haven't found all of the pieces since this first photo was taken...

Trying to combine pieces from the truck and the train...

"Hi, Elmo!"

Aunt Kristin (my sister), Uncle Dave, Montana, Rylie, and Piper recorded Twas the Night Before Christmas for Isaac.  I was genuinely touched.

Isaac tested his Hokie Bird Pillow Pet:

Fridge Phonics!  They have been on the fridge for a grand total of under 5 minutes because he likes to carry it around the house.  :-)  Mommy and Daddy sing along with it...

After gifts, our friends Christian, Elke, and Milena came over for brunch.  Milena sat in Isaac's chair while he napped for a bit.  She was a very happy girl playing with all of our new toys and eating breakfast.

Isaac and Milena "sharing" the work bench we received from Aunt Shannon (Todd's sister), Uncle Scott, Kyle, and Kaitlin.

Elke supervising to facilitate sharing...

The train table from Grandma and Grandpa!  Christian had fun helping with the assembly.  I think it went together infinitely faster than it would have if he hadn't been there.  4 parents to 2 kids is a much easier ratio than 2 parents to 1 child!!!

Everyone gathered around the train table.  I especially love Milena's happy face on the right:

Milena with the train:

Before Isaac began re-configuring the track:

The train table has been *fantastic* indoor fun, especially because we had a few days of rainy weather and I didn't have to try to convince Isaac to stay inside.  He wanted to play with all of his new toys.  It's easy to tell when he has a new favorite because he brings it to the train table to incorporate it into the game.  So cute!!!


Sunny days and mild temps have us back outside again:

Our little rider:

He has figured out how to ride it!

There are, of course, more updates since this last round of pictures was taken, but the camera is downstairs.  I will try to post again over the weekend...