Christmas

The boys had lots of fun with Grandma. They did many projects like coloring Christmas pictures and preparing for their performance of the Christmas story. It was a great Christmas and the boys had a wonderful time and received many awesome gifts from friends and family.

Cadel got this car from Mimi and Opa but it was too big to wrap.  He saw it right away and thought is was awesome.

When Cormac saw the slide Santa left he said, "Santa brought us a park!"

Checking out stuff from Santa.

Time to open presents!

We had snow Christmas Eve to early Christmas morning.  It was perfect for Gus and Cormac to try out their new snowball maker and snow brick maker from Aunt Vicki and Uncle Bruce.

The Christmas Story

While Pat and I were enjoying the Broncos game, Grandma and the boys had a much bigger production they were working on.  On Christmas Eve they put on a performance of the Christmas story for us.  It was precious.  Gus was Joseph, Cormac was Mary and Cadel was the angel. They helped Grandma make the costumes and they practiced while we were away.

Sweet Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus in the manger.

The angel was a little distracted.

They did a wonderful job and it was such a great surprise on Christmas Eve!

Hiking with Dad

Pat had some time off during the holidays so he took all of the boys, including Max, hiking a couple of different times. These pictures are from Red Rock Open Space. All the boys had a blast and they really enjoy going on hikes.

Cadel wasn't in any pictures because he was taking in the view from the baby backpack.

The Broncos

Grandma came to visit for Christmas this year so Pat and I were able to sneak out to catch the Denver Broncos play the Browns last weekend.  Mile High Stadium is really nice and we had a great time.

View of downtown Denver from the stadium

Peyton Manning making his entrance.

Skating

Gus had his last ice skating lesson in his session last Saturday.  He has really improved and gained confidence.  He can now move on to the next level and he really wants to stick with it.  So he will start the next level after the new year and Cormac will be starting in the beginning level.  I am not sure if either one of them will stick through all of the levels to be cleared for ice hockey (there are several) but they both seem really excited just learning how to ice skate.

The Little Red Hen

Gus' preschool had a performance last week of The Little Red Hen.  His class sang the whole thing.  Gus was a steel-eyed fox and he was eager to participate.  He did a really good job!

Let it snow!

We had a big cold front come through southern Colorado on Saturday night.  Sunday morning we woke up to 3-4 inches of snow.  Gus and Cormac were thrilled.  They spent lots of time playing outside even though it was freezing.

Watching the big boys play outside and wishing he were just a little bit bigger.

Cormac spent most of his time chuffing engines outside in the snow.  I don't know how Pat managed to get the driveway shoveled with all of his "help".

Birthday Boys

With back-to-back birthdays we have lots of cake, cupcakes and presents for a couple of days at our house. Gus even gets to continue the celebration with cupcakes at school today.  Gus and Cormac had great birthdays this year.  Hard to believe we have a 5 year-old and a 3 year-old now!

This is the face I get when I try to take a picture these days.

Cormac had plenty of help opening his presents.  Notice Gus the birthday police in his mandatory party hat.

Fun in the Buddy Balls from Gam-Gam and Beebo.

Gus now uses his as a cave to go into and play his new LeapPad.  I guess it is the only place he can get away from little brothers.

Cormac took a lesson from Gus and played cars inside of his Buddy Ball.

Trying out Cormac's new bubble machine from Grandma.  It was a big hit with everyone.

Cormac thought it would be fun to catch the bubbles on his tongue like snowflakes...

 Day of presents number two.

More candles and cake.

O Christmas Tree!

Gus and Cormac were so excited to decorate the Christmas tree this year so we went ahead and did it the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Gus and Cormac were great at putting on the ornaments and Cadel was really good at taking them off.

This is what happens when we try to get all three to sit together for a picture--complete chaos.