Polar Express

Saturday was the first excursion on the Polar Express, minus Erica and Lukas who were holed up at the doctor's office (I'll spare you the details, but just say that poor little Lukas has been fighting some sort of a bug for almost a week).

Wild and crazy boys (Reese, Charlie & Nils)

Beautiful scenery

Obviously the boys' aren't impressed with this version of Santa...

Christmas

Well, even though the hub-bub of Christmas Day has come and gone, we continue to have boxes arrive at our house.  It seems like a perpetual Christmas event and we have wrapping paper scraps galore.  Where are we going to put all of the new toys!?!

One tradition we started was having the boys bag up toys they no longer want and placing them under the tree for Santa to take so he can give them away to other kids who need something under their trees.  Charlie was really into it this year and we of course love it as it helps make room for the new toys. We hope that this also reinforces that Christmas just isn't about "getting."

This is what Santa left in return.

Christmas morning started with the yummy smells of freshly baked Cinnamon rolls.

Then, tearing into the presents and stockings began.

However, despite all of his new toys this seems to be the go-to toy for Lukas.  Looks like he's going to be our computer geek... 

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve was a day spent in the kitchen preparing all sorts of scrumptious.  Charlie loves to help cook and he was the best sous chef ever.

He even (accidentally) made it snow in the kitchen - which startled him pretty good.  I think he was crying because he thought he was going to be in trouble, but all the adults were laughing pretty hard!!

A quick family shot before tearing into presents.

Charlie was so excited to open a Transformer!!  Just what he wanted! 

 I wish I got the reaction on video...it was that stinkin' cute!

Lukas is cool as a cucumber (like always), and with these shades he's even cooler!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!

 

Christmas Tree

Well, no back country adventures to find the perfect Christmas tree for this family...nope, off to the local garden store for our find.  Charlie picked out quite the beauty.  And, I have to keep in mind that anything is better than the fake tree we had a few years ago.

Charlie is a perfectionist and had to get the ornaments on, just so.  Needless to say, the decorating was a long process.  A fun one though!!

16 months

Lukas reached 16 months last week.  What a fun stage this is!

His language skills are growing and says several words including dog, cat, ball, up, and even a few in Spanish such as aqua.  In addition to his verbal skills, his signing is really taking off.  Lukas signs more, water, milk, all done, and please on a regular basis.  Also, Lukas no longer simply walks - he runs around trying to keep up with (or away from) big brother.  He is still a bit clumsy on his feet though and he can often be found face-planted on the ground.  We try to keep in mind that some of that is likely attributed to big brother antics, when we are not looking.

Lukas is getting quite the personality.  He can be very animated and at other times stubborn.  He likes to use his fork and spoon by himself and shrieks if we try to help.  We are loving seeing how his demeanor changes over time!!  He is certainly keeping us guessing.

Christmas Parade

Yippee for small town parades!  Front row spots with lots of opportunity to grab candy.

 Then afterwards, everyone scrambles to see the tree lighting.  Love all the people and festive lights!

Marrowstone continued

On Saturday we woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground.  It was so beautiful!

However, the wind was so fierce outside that it forced us indoors all day. 

We kept the boys entertained with reading,

 

lots of toys, 

and a little technology time. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great time on our annual trip to the cabin for Thanksgiving.  This year, Paul's sister Tamara and her husband Jim were there as well.  What a wonderful time we had!

We feasted on non-traditional Thanksgiving grub of paella and fresh crab. 

Charlie was an eager helper in the kitchen.

 

What!? Do I have something on my face?

A regular occurrence at the dinner table...

Trucks and Books

Is there anything else one needs?

It's Potty Time!!!

They way we introduce the use of the potty in the Jones household is a lot like the way we introduced foods as an infant.  First the goal is simply to introduce the concept and get them used to the the actual process (for the potty it's sitting still).  If anything makes it way into the opening as planned - bonus!!  We start early so we can avoid meeting resistance when they actually realize what we are up to, but we take our time and make it part of our daily routine.  We gradually add additional trips to the potty throughout the day as time goes on.

Much like Charlie, Lukas is content to sit on the potty for a while.  However, Charlie would sit and sit as long as he had a truck to spin the wheels or a book to flip the pages.  Lukas, although sits still, likes to finish his business and move on.  No lingering too long for this kiddo.  Maybe that is an age thing?  We are starting this process with Lukas two months earlier than we did with Charlie.

The morning routine is well established and Lukas is successful most days as long as we get him up right when we hear him wake.  He gets the funniest grin on his face when he's going (see pic below).

Well, this post has probably been TMI (too much information) so we'll cap it off by saying we have yet to have a #2 on the potty - but there will be a loud potty dance (and maybe another blog post - LOL!) for that success!!!

Tubing

A small hill, a tube and snow....what a blast!!!

Snow Day!

Well, here we go with the start of the winter weather...Charlie had a snow day with no school and I got to work from home!  I took a longer lunch break and we headed outside to burn some energy off.

The slide was extra fast...

 Today was Lukas' first real experience getting to play in the snow (on two legs anyways).

The cold didn't phase Charlie at all and he played outside to his heart's content.  Bonus - he had a great nap; he was plumb tuckered out!

Children's Museum

Surprisingly, Stockton had a great Children's museum!  If you've ever been to that city, you'll understand our astonishment.  This place had pretty much everything from puppet shows, a toddler area, art studio, reptiles, magnets, a water and energy preservation exhibit, and more.  Here are some of our favorite things we saw:

A water table to show how water currents move boats.

Putt Putt - no hole in one for Charlie....

Future farmers of America?  (Papa Moo would be so proud!!) 

And they had a life-sized motorcycle, helicopter, ambulance, an airplane simulation, and more...!!!

Shouldn't Charlie be in the back!?!

What stop would you like?

Lukas to the rescue!