Sunday, December 31, 2017

New Year's Eve

We had an early dinner at Mia Francesca with the boys for New Year's Eve.  We took a family picture on the stairs coming out of the restaurant so not the best quality, but the only picture form our dinner.  Afterwards we went home and took a few pictures with our NYE hats, noise makers and beads.  The boys had fun hanging out.  Mommy & Daddy enjoyed some Dom Perignon, which was a gift from Craig's business.  We watched the count down on television and watched a movie.  Things have definitely changed since having our boys, but we wouldn't have it any other way.  We are so lucky to be their mommy and daddy.  2017 was a great year and we can't wait to see what 2018 brings to us.  Happy New Year!!














Monday, December 25, 2017

Christmas - 2017

We had a nice Christmas with our family and Oma.  We were sad Julia and Ethan were not with us this year.  The boys slept in, Liam was up at 7am and Grayson was up at 9:30 (we actually had to wake him up).  While Grayson is on break we've been letting him stay up a little later so this has pushed back his wake up time.  It was cute to see the boys go downstairs to see if Santa had brought them gifts.  We threatened no gifts so many times with the elf, so it was still up in the air as to whether they were getting gifts. :)  Only kidding.  We played holiday music and opened presents, but it took so much time to open all the gifts because the boys were so overwhelmed.  Grayson and Liam got a match box garage from John, Sue and Tommy, Batman rain boots, rain coat, umbrella, train legos and an electronic train from Oma, cool clothes (white shirt with black and white polka dot tie, white shirt with black bow tie, red pants, causal clothes and new coats all from H and M from Mimi and Papa, a new train set, dinosaurs, reptiles and craft fun (pads of paper, special crayons, markers, paint brushes filled with paint and sponge paint dinosaurs), Thomas the Train & Friends Minis motorized raceway playset (Grayson, although they both love it), marble maze (Grayson), mindscope laser twister tracks with add ons (Grayson, but both love it), Sperry Ollie shoes, dish set with coffee pot and coffee cups (Liam is obsessed with coffee and loves to pretend he's drinking it, although Daddy gives him some of his latte, doctor kit (Liam), tool kit (Liam) and several other presents.  Oma got a David Yurman necklace, Maldon salt and case, earrings, robe and a coffee mug from Grayon (they had a gift shop at school).  Maria got a David Yurman necklace, perfume, clothes, shoes and jewelry.  Craig got an Apple watch, Apple head phones, clothes and a jacket.  

After we opened presents we hung out, watched movies, enjoyed appetizers, decorated a gingerbread house and played with all the new toys.  Daddy had fun setting up all the new toys with the boys.  We had pork tenderloin, gravy, new potatoes, mushrooms, and green beans for dinner.    

Santa did not disappoint this year.  Our elf Sparkle went back to the North Pole so we will greatly miss him, as this was a constant threat for good behavior from the boys.  Grayson now understands the true meaning of Christmas so that makes it even more special.  Our nanny's daughter, Viviana, gave the boys a Christmas book with a bag to leave toys under the tree for underprivileged kids.  The story explains how we leave the bag out with our gently used old toys and Santa drops it off to those in need.  It's a great way to get rid of some old toys to make room for the new toys.  We had a very nice Christmas this year and are very grateful for our family, friends and everything else in our lives.  We are so blessed.  


































Sunday, December 24, 2017

Christmas Eve

We had a nice Christmas Eve with the kids and Oma.  We baked Christmas cookies for Santa from scratch and the boys had fun decorating them.  Daddy read some Christmas stories to the boys and we had fun wearing our Christmas pajamas.  The boys were very excited about Santa coming to visit and were hoping Sparkles the elf had good things to say about them.  There were definitely some moments that caused them to worry about it as we told them Sparkles was reporting their every move to Santa.  We wish the elf could stay all year long.  Grayson got reindeer food from school that also helps the reindeer see the house so Daddy sprinkled some on our back porch as a guide to the reindeer.  It's such a magical time of year and we love creating new memories with the boys. We talked about Jesus and how we are celebrating his birth and hope to continue this discussion more in depth as they get older.