Christmas #2

We got home from Phoenix late on the 28th and moved the bags out of James' car and into the van.  The next morning, we loaded up the second round of presents and headed to Oma and Papa's house.  We were there the 29th through January 1 before heading home again.  We had another Christmas party and enjoyed lots of game and play time with everyone!

 

Visit with Grandma

Grandma joined us at Oma and Papa's house for Christmas.  The boys loved having some time to play games and paint with her. 

 

PHX for Christmas

We spent Christmas week in Phoenix this year.  It wasn't as warm as we'd hoped, but the boys loved the new desert-twist on Christmas!

Exploring the neighborhood with Cooper:

Making cookies for Santa:

Three munchkins with minecraft:

Ready for basketball:

Crazy balloons

If your kids don't have these, then they are missing out!

12 Days of Christmas

I think we need a little more practice...

Family Photos

Desert Botanical Gardens

The whole family went to the Desert Botanical Gardens one evening for the luminarias.  There are thousands of luminarias, as well as a variety of performers:  musicians, Native American storytellers, handbells, steel drums, and carolers.  

The whole night was extra beautiful with the full moon overhead.

Three buddies:

 

A larger than life depiction of Guiseppe Arcimboldo's painting:

We also had some fun with the camera.  Of course, we forgot the tripod, which would have made for even better pictures!

 

Birthday cookout

We celebrated birthdays while we were in Phoenix:  Cooper's and Brady's coming up soon, and Rudy's way early.  Kathy and Tony took everyone bowling, to the arcade, and out to lunch at the fancy new "multi-tainment" center near their house.

That evening, we roasted hot dogs and made s'mores over the fire pit.  Brady even got to try out one of his new recipes from his s'mores cookbook.

Christmas morning

 Merry Christmas!  The boys actually woke up before I did, for the first time ever.  Of course, this is after I woke up at 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, and 5:30 am before finally conking out.  Santa was pretty good this year, with lots of stocking stuffers and - jackpot - an Xbox with Kinect!  We opened all of our presents, except the one from last night, in the morning and then spent the rest of the day playing with the new goodies.

xBox excitement:

Brady's handmade "Golf Rocks" poster for Nana and Popsie:

Doodle Book and Creativity Journal:

Trying out the xbox: