Santa meets the shy brothers

After many attempts at stopping the silly faces, we managed to get a decent Santa picture. Scott snuck in an extra shot of our own too. Santa immediately went on break after our antics. Zak bent down to kiss him as he was leaving and Santa said..."oh my I thought he was going to bite me." Merry Christmas to you too Santa!!

Show Day Two...repeat performance

Yes, big brother did not want to disappoint so he too decided that crying beats singing. He too managed a miraculous recovery in time for the after-party and treats. He also made sure to tell us..."I cried at my party, just like Zak did"...how long does this monkey see, monkey do thing last??

Show Day One

Today was Zak's preschool holiday "show". He's been practicing his singing and hand motions for weeks now but stage fright got the best of him. He did participate from mom's lap though. Oh well, there is always next year and the year after and so on and so on. He did however make a full recovery to enjoy the post show goodies!
Tomorrow big brother takes the stage...we'll see how that goes...

PS Aunt Beth-the Christmas outfit makes a comeback!

Today's blessing

Van has assumed the role of "blessing leader" at our dinner table. He likes to mix it up a bit and has quite a few blessings he can recite. Tonight, he tried out a new one for us...
"I pledge allegiance to the flag..." and yes he did the whole thing and we all had to stop holding hands mid-way so we could put our hands on our hearts. Cue the parents laughing but trying to hold it together. Surprise, we ended with a HUGE AMEN-our usual tradition. Oh and the icing on the cake was Zak's addition of "In the name of the father and of the son and the holy spirit, amen"
What will the public schools think of us!!

Ho..ho...holidays!

Tis the season around here...jingle bells is the only song requested in the car now...good thing we have two versions!
We toured the light show and the spiders were the hands down favorite. We drank our weight in hot cocoa and then we chopped down our tree and ate s'mores...weekend one of the holiday season. Van is totally aware of the countdown, the advent calendar, the "Elf on the Shelf" and all the season's excitement. Zak is taking it all in with his usual glee and enthusiasm. For somebody who has only been in our family for a month, he sure has figured out the important stuff and he loves every minute of it!

Big Brother

I just love this photo of Van. He's hardly a soccer player but he just looks so darn happy here. He's been holding it together so well in his new role as big brother. He LOVES the fact that Zak will do anything and everything that he does. He is constantly reminding us with "I bet if I eat my breakfast, put on my shoes, brush my teeth, keep my clothes on, (the list is endless) then Zak will do it too". But this week, he's had a couple tough days being the big kid. He is telling me he is sad cause he knows that mom and Zak are home without him while he's at school. It breaks my heart to hear but I am so glad he's willing to share his feelings. Here's his really great plan..."Zak should go to school every day and come to lunch bunch with me and you need to go back to work. That's what I want". A man with a plan...a boy after my own heart...a big brother with so much love.

Silly Stuff

Brotherly love and fashion sense...these two got 'em both!