Christmas with the Whites

After we finished at our house Christmas morning, we headed to Kyle to Mike's brother's house where we celebrated with all of the Whites. We spent most of the rest of the weekend with them. Noah had a great time playing with all his cousins and still talks about all the fun things he did at their house while we were there.

All the kids went in on a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue label scotch for Mike's dad. I think he was actually pretty impressed with his present which is saying a lot. He's a tough guy to buy for.

White family tradition of building a ginger bread house. Was more candy put on the house or eaten during the process? We'll never know...

Playing at the park...

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve and woke up Christmas morning at our house. Since Christmas Eve service at church is really a "work day" for Mike, it's sort of become our tradition to do this. The Whites came up to our house that afternoon to see the new place and hang out a bit and then we all went to worship together at PoG at 5pm. It was great to all be together.

We woke up, just the three of us, at our house Christmas morning. Noah didn't really "get" that there was anything special about that day until we asked him if he wanted to go open presents. He started yelling "presents! presents!" and quickly hopped down off our bed...then he knew something was different!

It was nice to have a quiet morning at home with just our little family. We were able to take our time, first going through stockings, then having breakfast, and then letting Noah open up each present, take some time opening the box and playing with the toy before moving on to the next item. I loved seeing his joy and excitement! It really is so good to be able to give your child gifts that make them happy. And to think that what we feel is only a fraction of the love that God feels for us--wow!

Opening his first present

Cupcakes

Noah and I made cupcakes together in preparation of celebrating Jesus's birthday. This was our "Happy Birtday Jesus" cake (or cupcakes) that we decided to start as a yearly Christmas tradition. This was probably one of my favorite things we did during the whole season. Granted we were a little more (maybe a lot more) messy that I would have been by myself but I really loved having Noah participate in the cooking with me. This was really his first "real" cooking experience and he loved it too! His job was to put the cupcake liners in the tray and then put the sprinkles on the cupcakes. He helped me dump out the mix (yes, we made it from a box) and stir some too. He didn't quite get the concept of not touching the sprinkles canister to the top of the cupcakes but hey, he's learning. We also made some chocolate covered pretzels which he helped drop in the chocolate and then sprinkle also. So much fun! And even if they weren't as neat and pretty, the finished products tasted great and I love that we got to enjoy doing something so special together! Just the start of many more memories like this I'm sure. Hard to believe my baby is growing into such a big boy!

Christmas in Angleton

We went to Angleton about 2 weeks before Christmas to celebrate with my family. Noah had a great time playing with all the family and also playing with his new toys. Highlights from his presents include a tool bench and tools (thanks Grandma and Granddad!), a Noah sized table and chairs (thanks G.G!), a guitar (thanks Uncle Thomas!) and his very own vacuum cleaner (thanks Aunt Kristi and Uncle Casey!).

Noah did a pretty good job opening his presents, mostly by himself. The only real issue was that once he opened something, he wanted to really open it--like open the box and play with it. He did a good job though and with some reminding, went around by himself and told each person thanks and gave them a hug after he opened his presents.

We started a new tradition this year that I've been wanting to do--having a "Happy Birthday Jesus!" cake. After all, the whole reason we celebrate Christmas is because we are celebrating the birth of Jesus, our Savior. We did this for the first time this year (sang Happy Birthday Jesus too) with my family and then Noah and I also made cupcakes at home later on. I look forward to doing this as a family for years to come! That's one of the great things about having your own family--you get to start creating your own family traditions for your kids to look back on (hopefully fondly) as they grow up.

Grandma is showing him how his new Elmo Potty doll works. Elmo a has a sippy cup and asks for a drink, you give it to him, he drinks, then he tells you he needs to go to the potty. If you get him to his potty in time, he goes on the potty. If not...well, you know. Thankfully this is all done through sound and doesn't involve any real fluids. The idea is that this will be a special toy to use with potty training (once we get to that point).

Getting some love from G.G.

Uncle Casey testing out Noah's new guitar/violin (it can be played as both)

Kristi excited about her ear muffs. Yes, she does still live in Texas

Thomas opening his present from us-note the huge grin on his face.

What could possibly make my 21 year old college student brother that excxited?

A large bottle of whiskey. Singing Happy Birthday Jesus

Cake and ice cream-yum!

These last few are of Noah enjoying his new toys once we got home. He loves his new tools and plays with them like he's a regular little Mr. Fix-it. I think one of my favorite things is when he crawled under his little table and laid down like his was fixing something under neath it. I've never seen him do that and I don't know that he's ever seen us do this (at least not often if he has). I just love how his little brain works!

Thanking Grandma for his tools

Fixing the table