Christmas All Together

Christmas was wonderful this year. It was so good to have Luca home with us. That is the only present I needed. He loved opening his gifts. He received lots of gifts with buttons and that make noise (just what he asked for from Santa and family). Nico was amazed at the gifts under the tree. He woke us at 7:30am and said, "WOW! We must have been good. You should see all the presents under the tree!" (I guess he thought he wasn't that good....but he was). Brian was delighted as well. He still gets so excited for his gifts. I, myself, did great with a new GPS, slippers, gift cards, a hairbrush (thanks Santa, I needed that one badly!), and my season 4 of "Lost".

The family all made it over admidst all the ice. Going home they were not so happy as some didn't heed my warning of taking a run at the icey hill to get back out. I think we have decided that I will give up hosting Christmas and stick with the summer holidays/events due to the uncertainty of winter weather in Missouri. My nephew was home from overseas. He is in the Marines. He had several pictures he shared with us and I was able to copy them to my computer. I am so glad to have these photos of this part of his life. I was able to get a picture of my mom and dad with all the grandkids - AMAZING.

I am excited to be off work New Year's Eve this year. My brother just moved into a new house and we are heading there on Wedensday evening. We have several new board games from Santa and will be playing those. Our family has always played board games and we love it. New ones are always great.

I thought I had copied the photos to my external drive and went to load pics and they are not there. I guess I didn't copy them yet. I'll do that today and post the rest of the photos.

I let the boys each open one gift on Christmas Eve. This year they opened the gifts from Grandma Karen (Mike's mom). She visited us in November so knew just what the boys liked. Here's Nico with his snake book. He looks through it every day!Here is Luca opening his new jacket! It is a perfect fit. While it wasn't warm enough for Christmas day, it was great to wear the day after when it was 65F. (Midwest weather!)

I never did post the photos from our Troy Homeschool Christmas Tea. Here are some of the photos. The kids all decorated the tables. We then got spiffied up and had a wonderful tea. The kids also sang a few Christmas songs. The boys table theme was Star Wars. The boys all made gingerbread houses and the girls made horse dioramas. They were all great.

Brian's "Farm" gingerbread house with a silo too.

Trying to get a picture where they all looked great was next to impossible. This is as good as it gets. But this is them,,,,silly all the way!
Mom and her boys. Again, hard to get one where we all looked perfect. We are far from perfect, so that is to be expected.

The Choir

The boys table with the Star Wars decorations.

Ice, Ice Baby!

Brrr! It is cold here at home! We are slipping and a sliding through lots of ice. We live in the country and our country road is all ice. We also have to go up and down 2 huge hills to get to our house. Lucky for me, I got home yesterday with all the Christmas dinner fixins before the freezing rain started. Mike wasn't so lucky. He had to park at the top of the hills and walk home in the freezing rain-not so fun. We are hoping the sunshine today will melt some of it and a little bit of traffic (we don't have much here) may break the ice up; however, it is getting down to 19F again tonight. I love the snow, but the ice can be left behind. My family is expected to come over tomorrow for Christmas dinner. If they can't make it to the house, it will be my first Christmas ever without my whole family (on Christmas Day).

We make the best of it though and have been making cookies and wrapping presents. Nico and Luca had fun with both of these activites.

Nico wrapping a present. He loves to wrap them all by himself.

Luca likes to play in the ribbon.

"How does that crazy thing work?" (investigative, just like his big brother)

"Yes, it's hot, but there are some yummy cookies in there. I am just admiring them." I loved capturing this photo. It brought back great memories of my sister, brothers and myself sitting in front of the oven watching while the snickerdoodles went from balls to flat cookies - amazing!

Nico also had his taste and feel of his first snow, or rather, ice and snow. He didn't get to really play in it because it was so bitterly cold and slippery! We had a layer of ice, then a small layer of snow. But, we took a few pictures anyway and he was laughing while holding the cold icey snow.

"What is this stuff?"

"That's some cold stuff. Where is the warm Guatemalan weather?"

"It's okay, I don't need the warm weather, this stuff is FUNNY!"

"No throwing ice chunks at each other, and especially not over the baby's head!" BOYS!

Nico, clearing the snow off the ice so he could ice skate.

My Sweet Angel(s)

Luca was baptized last weekend. He looked so angelic in his beautiful, white outfit. Here are just a few pictures from the event. My sister-in-law has more pictures which I hope to get from her soon. My sister-in-law, Heather, is the Godmother and my brother, Vince, is the Godfather. Father Tom is always a joy to listen to in church and was even kidding at the ceremony. Luca even remembers Father Tom dipping his finger in the oil and rubbing it on his head, as the other day while we were wrapping presents, Luca stuck his finger in a roll of ribbon, tilted it over, and rubbed his hand on my forehead. He then walked over to Mike and did the same thing. Then he did it to himself. It was a week later....I was amazed! He is one smart cookie and doesn't miss a thing.


The boys are still getting along fantastically. Nico now gives Luca kisses goodnight and lets Luca kiss him. Before it was, "yuck, baby germs!" Nico was in a performance last weekend and Luca spotted him from the back of the auditorium and was shouting out and laughing. (It I can figure out how to get the video from the dvd to the computer, I will post the video.--any advise?). He immediately recognizes them. I also know he can see from far away now.


My angel standing at the baptismal font....."Hey Mom, there is a big bathtub here!"



The Godparents, Heather and Vince

Mom, Godparents, and the sweet, sweet angel.

First Flight

Luca gets his first helicopter flight!

On my second date with Mike, he took me on a helicopter ride. I was so scared, but I was not about to tell him that!!!!! I didn't want him to not date me.....I even started to get queasy, but again, played it off - phew! I now enjoy going with him when I get a chance. It is so beautiful to see things from above and not so far up as in an airplane.

When I brought Nico home, March 15, 2003, Mike arrived home at the same time with his 'new baby'. He purchaced a helicopter from Oregon and flew it to Missouri. He was flying it back the same week I was in Guatemala. I was calling him everyday to check his progress. I was so worried about him flying it so far. Nico received his first flight the day after coming home. He has LOVED flying with Daddy ever since. (Once he turned 2 he kicked me out of my seat - as he couldn't sit on my lap anymore). He now flies with Daddy any chance he gets. Nico was not too happy when Daddy asked if Luca was ready for a helicopter ride. (He hates the thought of someone taking his spot in the helicopter). I loaded Luca up and we went on his first ride. The pictures show him by himself, but he was sitting on my lap. He really seemed to enjoy it. He was looking down and pointing at things and then looking up at the blades spinning over his head.

Mike flies helicopters as his job. He is the pilot for the medivac helicopter in our town. I am so proud of him. He was laid off from American Airlines working as a mechanic and went to Alaska for 6 months to obtain his hours to fly for his new career. He already had his license to fly and had his own helicopter, but what a wonderful thing....to get a job doing something you love to do; plus serve the community and save so many lives.

Daddy and Luca, ready for take off - almost - we need Mom.

He is so tiny in there.

What are you doing to me?? What are these things on my head?? I love his chubby cheeks!

Christmas Preparations part 1

Nico finally got me to get the tree out of the closet. We set it up and finally got it all decorated. I realized once we were finished that everyone was home. I quickly rounded us all together (regardless of what we were wearing or how we looked - thank goodness we were all dressed:-) and started taking some pictures. We finally have a family photo to put in the Christmas cards.

Next week we'll start making cookies. We may visit Santa next week too. Nico hated Santa until he was 5 years old. Luca probably won't be so thrilled either. Brian, however, didn't have any fear of the man with the big, white beard. They are all so different.

Luca digging through the box of ornaments. He is interested in anything he can find.

The Happy Family. It's as good as it's going to get! I love my boys!