Christmas!

We had a really nice Christmas this year. It was so fun watching Myles open presents and be excited about everything. Both of the boys got well spoiled by Grandparents and Aunties and Uncles. Well, we all did :) Danny's family came down from Oregon so we spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with Danny's. It was nice to get to spend time with both of our families.
We got Myles a little bounce house for Christmas (not sure what I was thinking, it doesn't fit anywhere in our house!) We thought he would run out and want to jump on it, but he said "No, I want to open my presents first." Haha!
There were two major highlights for me this Christmas. The first was a few weeks ago. I had been waiting for the right time to tell Myles about the reason that we celebrate Christmas. We had gone to look at Christmas lights and had seen a nativity scene which he knew included baby Jesus. At lunch the next day he said "I saw Jesus last night. Who is Jesus Mommy?" It was a cute innocent moment as we read the nativity story and i explained it all, and he looked at me intently and listened as I read. And then after i was done, he said "let me tell YOU a story, Mommy...." and proceeded to read me three stories in a row with the same enthusiastic voice I had just used. It was priceless.
The second was my gift from Danny. We had gone to New York at the beginning of the month and while we were there we managed to make it to The fifth avenue. I was very excited and really wanted to go to Tiffany&Co. Well, it was Sunday evening so by the time we made our way down fifth ave they were closed. We ran out of time and didn't get to go back.
Christmas morning the last present under the tree was for me. Inside was a little blue box tied with a white ribbon. I opened the box and there was a beautiful silver necklace with a medallion that is esentially four circles intertwined in the center. He told me that the four circles represented the four Men in my life; God, Danny, Myles and Nolan. (Special thanks to Lee for haulin' it all the way back to fifth ave from Jersey! It means a lot to me :)

Deck the halls

We decided to let Myles decorate the tree this year. It was so cute watching him put everything on the tree so carefully. Yes, Myles was careful and meticulous! If you know him, you know that is VERY uncharacteristic of him. He likes to throw things. He put all of the ornaments in one place at the bottom of the tree. We dressed the kids up in their red jammies and had a fun evening of decorating and watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Myles' new favorite movie, go figure. He likes when the Grinch steals the presents.)
I am enjoying watching Myles' excitement over Christmas. He loves looking at the lights and decorations, and can't wait for "Santa Closet" to come and bring him presents. We are learning about the real reason for Christmas, but at two years old "presents" is what sticks out. It's a good way to make him behave though!
We went to visit Santa at our mall the week before last. It was actually a very pleasant experience. No line, and he called Myles by name just from hearing me say it once. He asked Myles what he wanted for Christmas and he actually understood when he asked for a "Lightning McQueen shirt". Haha! I thought it was pretty funny that he asked for a shirt.
Well I'd better go, going to make sugar cookies with Myles. I have a bazillion things to do and my house is a mess, but making cookies with my boy is much more fun!

New York City!!

We were so blessed to be able to take a little trip to the BIG city for a few days to get away and have some fun. The best part-we got to go without the kids!! Thanks to Nana and Grandpa (Danny's parents) who donated air miles to us so we could go and came down and watched the kids for most of the weekend, and to Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) who watched them for the rest of the time. It was fabulous, we got to see most of the big stuff; The Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Rockerfeller Center, Empire State Building, Grand Central, Grenwich Village, and lots of other things along the way. We ate the hugest sandwiches I have ever seen at the infamous Carnegie Deli and stayed out late every night (still being on west coast time and all) It was very cold, but so awesome to see the city all lit up for Christmas. We saw all that we could in two-and-a-half days, but we definitely have to go back. There is so much to see, it would be hard to see it all in a week!