Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was so much fun this year! James and Owen are at the perfect age to really understand and enjoy our family holiday traditions. Both boys were so sweet and geuine in their amazement and fascination with everything to do with this season. We enjoyed Christmas Eve at Sally & Mike's house with Stacey, Diane, Dan, Aaron, Johnna, Baby Alexis, Travis and Patty. My parents came to our house and spent the night so this morning they were here to enjoy watching the boys open all their gifts on Christmas morning. James woke up at 5:30 (of course), but was very patient until everyone else woke up. Owen was the last to wake and he only woke up with help from his brother. He did not want to get out of bed, but once he finally came out to the livingroom and saw all the wonderful things Santa brought, he got into the spirit.


Right now the boys are sitting around enjoying their new toys. Favorite gifts this year included:


*new wooden blocks and craft book from Grandma Mary & Grandpa Allen

*Leapster Tag Reading System & Books from Grandma Cindy & Grandpa Kevin

*Dress-up chest complete with 12 new costumes (Batman, Spiderman, Power Rangers, Pirate, Transofrmer Bumblbee, and more!) from Mom & Dad

*Star Wars Transformer and Handy Manny toy from Grandma Sally and Grandpa Mike *Dinosaur palientology kit and Handy Manny p.j.'s from Auntie Stacey
.....and more!!!


I think we've got a lot of fun hours of play ahead of us!


Owen in his Santa hat on Christmas Eve




Diane & her brand new granddaughter, Alexis Kyra

Jason & I- and he smiled! Yay!



Aaron & Alexis



Opening gifts at Sally's house on Christmas Eve








Owen with his new loot- fridge farm, math desk, Handy Manny toy set and Ming Ming duck from Wonder Pets
Sally with baby Alexis
Jason, Travis, Aaron, Johnna and Patty on Christmas Eve


Sweet little Alexis in her special first Christmas dress- so adorable!
Stacey looking cute & having some lunch










Alexis and I











Diane, Aaron & Alexis
Mike, Taylor & Owen hanging out
James made some "reindeer food" at his Christmastime Tots preschool class. It was oatmeal mixed with silver glitter, which we had to scatter in our yard before bed on Christmas Eve so Santa would be able to find his way to our driveway.
Setting out treats for Santa & the reindeer
When James woke up at 5:30 a.m., it was too early to open gifts yet, so he got out his new palientology set to dig for dinosaurs for a while.

FINALLY Owen woke up and it was time to look at the gifts Sant had delivered!!


Choosing the first gifts to open
present time!
Owen loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and he was very impressed with the mouse ears he got from Santa the paly music & games.
A very excited Owen shows off his new lacing cards.
Big-boy socks, new Transformer underwear and a new Transformer hat for James!











My mom and I- tired, but awake (just barely!)

Time to open gifts, everyone!
Making a book craft
Playing with the new pinball machines with Grandpa
Owen had so much fun with his new Tag Reading pen- a very cool thing! It reads stories and plays interactive games with special books made to be used with it.
James also loves his Leapster Tag reading pen- thanks Grandma Cindy & Grandpa Kevin!






Sunday, December 21, 2008

The Behlke Family has been elfed!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Monday, December 15, 2008

Kids' Christmas Party & Taylor's 3rd Birthday Party

Sunday, December 14, 2008

December Scrapblog

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Decorating the Christmas Tree!

I always love to put up our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. I enjoy having the house decorated for as long as possible- it makes the house so cozy! Now that the kids are 2 and 4, they really can take part in all the decorating and get into the Christmas Spirit. James & Owen were great little helpers, even if I did get a little stressed and uptight about the possiblity of them breaking ornaments... We managed to get everything put up with minimal damage and no time-outs, so I consider it a successful experience!
Owen the Christmas elf
Decorating so carefully...
Owen wore this Santa hat all day today!
Working on the tree together.

Paige is One!

Yesterday we celebrated Paige Kennedy's first birthday at a fun party at her house. The birthday girl was adorable in her barely-ponytails and toddling all over the place. One is such a fun age, all of us with older kids enjoyed watching and playing with Paige- ah, how quickly time goes by!Paige & Owen admiring the beautiful butterfly cake.Birthday girl!
All of the kids at the party table! Time to EAT CAKE!yum.

The two-year-old buddies- Taylor & Owen
The four-year-old buddies- Renton & James
Ah, the chaos of gift-opening time! Always my LEAST favorite part of birthday parties!

Our Holiday in Sierra City

During Thanksgiving break we spent a few days in the mountains visiting my parents. We all love going up there- the seasons are all so beautiful and we get a chance to relax. Both boys absolutly love going to Sierra City to visit their grandparents. They have their own room there full of toys and books. For the first time, Owen slept in their room with James and it worked out perfectly! Below I have posted some of my favorite shots from our trip.


We always take many walks when we visit and I took most of my pictures on these walks. At our house, we have lots of pine needles, but not many oak leaves. The boys had a blast playing in the deep piles of oak leaves in my parents' neighborhood.
J & O throwing leaves.



The whole family walking around the block.


Owen was really into stringing beads with Grandma's craft stuff. He sat cozy by the fire and beaded for hours!

Owen "helped" Grandma make the whipped cream for our pumpkin pie...