Later on Christmas morning we headed over to Nana and Papa’s house to have Christmas with them. We got our cool Flip video camera and Carlos was super excited about geting a yo-yo and gum. Levi and Trey had both wanted a Imaginext castle with a dragon that eats people in the front and they got it! I just love Christmas morning, it’s such a genuine, intimate, pure family time.

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Here are a few shots of our Christmas morning, pretty mellow….lots of paper! This year the boys slept in a little, but we weren’t complaining. We had dinner at my folks on Christmas Eve, then came home and got the milk and cookies ready for Santa before tucking the boys in for the night. We have a tradition of wrapping each boy’s presents in a different paper and not using any labels, that way if they dig around before Christmas nobody knows who’s getting which one.
I remember when I was little my parents switched the tags on my brother and my “big” gift one year. Christmas morning I went right for “my” gift and it turned out to be Todd’s…nice move, mom and dad.
Highlights of Christmas morning gifts included Nerf guns for the boys (yes, we caved!) and the coolest sign from Dee that is now proudly hanging as you walk into our house that says “Welcome to the Chaos”. That just about sums it up.

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So one of the highlights of my Christmas this year was a special present from my cousin, Nathan. If memory serves me right about 6 years ago, Pepsi came out with a special edition holiday flavor that I jokingly bought for Nathan and I to try. It was heinous. So, of course it became a running joke between us. Little did I know that he saved a can of it and gave it to me this year as a joke. It was as bad as I remembered, basically tastes like flat Coke.
Thank you, Nathan for such a thoughtful fun gift! 🙂

I have been a bad, bad blogger…and I know it. I promise to sit down and get Christmas pictures and shots from the last 3 weeks on here. We’ve been doing a whole lot of nothing, but getting back into school routine (and a couple of long days a week now for Levi, meaning a NEW routine) is tough.
It’s going to happen, this update, and it’s going to be BIG! Brace yourself.

Of course, I’ll keep this one up and running….but I’ve started a new blog to help with Dee and my Biggest Loser Competition that starts today! We figured we are both so competitive that if we make it a game, it will be more fun and inspiring to us both. Hopefully we will both end up big losers!

http://kendrasaloser.blogspot.com/2010/01/heres-new-beginnings.html

So it’s been chilly around here lately…another cold snap but thankfully with no snow so far. I don’t mind the dusting of snow, but I remember back to last year and that was ridiculous and enough snow to last a few years for me. I like where we live, if I want snow, I just drive to it!
Our cat, Billie Jean, is a mostly outside cat at this point and she wasn’t liking the change in weather. We stopped back at the house for something, and Dee ran inside while the boys and I waited in the car. Billie Jean jumped on the warm car hood and walked around the windshield, trying to figure out how to get inside with us. I finally rolled down the passenger window and she came right in. Imagine Dee’s surprise when she got back in the van and found Billie Jean sitting on the dashboard!

Mama Dee and Carlos test out the “if you stick your tongue on a frozen sculpture, will it stick?” theory.

The elevator from the parking garage to shopping

What are they all looking at? Why, the Space Needle of course!

Levi, Luca and Cousin Owen at the Ol Spaghetty Factory

Mama Dee helping Carlos look for our house across the water

Todd and Luca discuss just how high up they are

We got invited to celebrate Hanukkah with our friend, Amy (one of the boys preschool teachers) this year. Since my brother was in town we didn’t get to stay long but Levi, Carlos and I stopped in for a latke and it gave the boys a chance to play a little. The latkes were soooo tasty and the boys had a blast with the other kids. We were honored to get an invite and spend a little time with Amy and Viki!

Four knuckleheads that had a great time playing together! Todd, Monica and Luca, you are missed!

Last weekend we took a trip down to Ocean Shores to celebrate Christmas with Dee’s side of the family. Melissa, Bill and the kids joined us for the weekend and we had some friend’s parents who rented us their beach house. Not many pictures from the trip, it wasn’t that kind of trip…just relaxing and hanging out. We played some dice, watched some movies had good food and conversations. It was a treat just to get away for a weekend.
Linda and Scott have made themselves quite the farm at their house. They have chickens, turkeys, goats and are looking into getting a cow and maybe more. It was fun to see their baby goat, although I couldn’t believe they let it run through the house and jump on the couch. There’s a reason I don’t live on a farm, my OCD would be out of control!