The Big Day

Christmas Eve morning we always go to breakfast with my family. It's a low key thing and nice to see my siblings for a little bit on Christmas Eve.

 We spent the day relaxing and playing with the kids. Then we had a yummy ham and potato dinner at Gma Newman's, played chimes, and watched The Santa Clause before heading home. Because we had church the next morning we bathed the kids before opening their Christmas Eve presents - new Pj's.

 Emily has pretty much outgrown all of her pajamas so she got two new pairs. Jacob L.O.V.E.D. his new spider man pajamas and immediately started to put them on. Then we wrote a letter to sent and set it out with his cookies and milk and went to bed.

 With having church at 9am and our kids usually sleeping till 8am we knew there was no way we were going to fit Christmas in before church. So we left blankets and a note for Santa asking him to cover everything so there was no peeking the next morning. The kids were REALLY good about waiting but were still so excited. That was the fastest morning we've ever had. I think we were almost 10 minutes early to church. After coming home and changing out of our church clothes the kids got to go in and see all their loot.

 After playing around with Santa's presents for a while we decided to open up gifts from each other.

 After a few hours of playing and cleaning up, Jeff siblings that were in town came over. We ate yummy crepes and then opened cousin presents. The kids got to play for a little bit before we all had to fit in naps and get ready for our evening festivities.

 Christmas night we had dinner at my parents with all of my siblings. With 11 grandkids running around and 12 adults it was loud, crazy, and so much fun. With a present for everyone from my mom & dad and cousin and siblings exchanges there was no room left around the tree. All of the little kids were so excited to see all those presents and couldn't wait to open them.

 Emily and Jacob's haul for 2011

Thankfully Jeff was able to score Monday the 26th off work so we just got to play with the kids all day. That night we had dinner and visited with all of the Johnsons.

It's hard to believe the Christmas season has already come and gone. It's such a fun and nostalgic time of year. It was so great to watch the excitement on Jacob and Emily's faces through everything we did. Christmas is one of those times where it's just so much better when you have kids to share it with. I'm grateful we were able to celebrate with so much of our family and for how blessed we truly are. I'm especially grateful for my beautiful kids and that I get to be their mother!

(having popcorn with our new popper and playing our new game from Santa)

Christmas Prep

Even with my months of prep work December was still crazy. Right after finishing the festival tree I came home and decorated two more.  Emily and Jacob were thrilled to have their own tree again and be able to decorate it themselves. I usually try to supervise the placement a little but with it being my third tree I really didn't have as much energy. Which was probably good since Jacob ended up redecorating it just about every day. For our anniversary Jeff gave me another set to my nativity. I just love it and it's always the last thing I take down every year. It took a little bit before I had all of my Christmas decorations up but we finally got it all. We also got all our shopping, wrapping, mailing, baking, and delivering done before Christmas too.

On the 16th we had the Snow family party. I ended up visiting all night and never pulled out the camera so there are no pictures to document. That night my mom gave everyone some of my Grandma Snow's paintings. This first one was always one of my favorites and I'm excited to find a frame and put up once we get a house. The second picture was done in my grandma's later years when she had Parkinsons. I love that she still tried to do what she enjoyed even though it was difficult. I think this was the only seascape she ever did.  

Sunday the 18th was the Newman Party. We gathered at my uncle's clubhouse again and played lots of wallyball, had a delicious ham and turkey dinner, and sang Happy Birthday to all the December birthdays. It was my younger brother Matthew's birthday that day. He turned 19 and will be leaving for the Leeds, England mission March 1st.

 We had our traditional pinata for all the kids. I grew up with this tradition and just love it. It made it all the way through all the great grandkids this year. Emily was able to do a bit of damage before handing it off to her older cousins (pictured below).

 Emily & Jacob got to open their presents from Great Gma & Gpa Newman. Jacob got a saw to go with his tool set and Emily got Beast to play with her Belle Barbie.

 My grandparents with all of their great grandkids  - minus those in utero. (Can you believe that all but 3 are from my family?)

Santa came to visit Jeff's work on the 21st so we made a stop to see the big guy. Jacob was excited to see him but turned out to only love him from afar. When we tried to put him on Santa's lap he immediately slid off and wouldn't go close unless I was with him. Being shy and also unable to really talk Jacob didn't request anything for Christmas. Emily on the other hand had no problem telling Santa she wanted to be surprised this year.

 That night we did a date night with my parents and all of my siblings. We gathered at my parents house and had dinner, told stories, laughed, and played games. I think everyone said at one point that we needed to get together without kids more often. It was so nice to actually be able to carry on a conversation without being interrupted or worry about whose hitting who. And we all LOVED that Lisa & Spencer were in town to join us too!  

 Friday the 23rd we gathered at my mom's once again - this time with the kids. After a quick lunch the kids got to decorate sugar cookies. This is another favorite tradition that I always loved doing as a kid. Of course there was plenty of snacking on the bowls of treats between decorating (which is why we served lunch first!).

 Jenn, Stacy and I all tried to help our little kids while Lisa & my Mom frosted. (I don't know what we're going to do when Lisa has her own kids to worry about!). Chris & Matthew even came out and decorated a few cookies with us.

 I can't believe Christmas is almost here! At this point I guess it's pretty much ready or not, here it comes!

Two

Our little man is two! It's amazing how fast the time has gone. We celebrated with family and close friends on Sunday the 11th. Since it was my anniversary and I didn't think everyone would want Jacob's favorite (Macaroni and Cheese or blueberries) we went with my favorite - Cafe Rio. After dinner I decided to skip the cake and just have ice cream sundaes. Jacob is a true Holbrook and L.O.V.E.S. ice cream and doesn't really care for cake. Leading up to his birthday Emily and I sang to Jacob sever times. He grinned through the whole song every time. We also practiced blowing out candles and he did it first try every time... till it was showtime.  

Everyone was very generous with gifts and Jacob loved opening everything. He got a lot of favorites (Spiderman, dinosaurs, and Cars). Thank you everyone!

Monday the 12th was Jacob's actual birthday. Once daddy got home Jacob opened his present from Emily - a tool box and drill. He was so excited to have tools like daddy. He kept pointing to his drill and saying, "dada, dada."

Then Jeff and I gave Jacob a Cars trike. He smiled a lot and couldn't wait to get on. After a couple unsuccessful attempts at pedaling he climbed off and told his sister to get on. He then pushed her around the family room with just as big of a smile. After a couple of turns around the room Emily got off and pushed Jacob around.

Then we were off to Red Robin for dinner. Emily got to choose where since Jacob couldn't tell us. Of course he seemed thrilled by it. He got to eat macaroni and cheese with a ginormous spoon (you'd think they'd have something smaller for kids???).  The waitress even brought out some mud pie for all of us to enjoy.

After dinner we headed to nickel cade to let the kids play around. Jacob loved the rides the most, then hucking the skee balls all over the room, then shooting baskets. I think Jeff and Emily got more out of playing their but Jacob did seem to enjoy the sucker he got with his tickets.

I have had so many cute, random pictures of Jacob over the past 2 or 3 months and with all the events we have going on I just haven't had the chance to post them. In September he realized he could climb out of his crib (and of course he'd do it on a day that Jeff and I were going overnight and my sister was watching him). So a few days later we dug the toddler bed out of storage. Jacob was SO excited to have a bed like his sister and immediately took to it. Over the past couple months there has thankfully only been a few times when he won't stay in it. Of course I think the Spiderman and Cars bedding have helped a ton.

Jacob just adores his big sister and does EVERYTHING she does. Emily gets tired of us telling her to be a good example because he's ALWAYS watching. Anything she plays, he plays too. Anything movement she makes, he does too. Any sound she makes, he does too. He is learning a lot from her - both good and bad. He loves to help and usually tries to help Emily with her chores. He still doesn't say a whole lot but has quickly picked up on what he hears Emily say to him - "No!" and "Mine!" Jacob is often a baby, a dog, or whatever Emily's imagination dreams up. At times I am the 'Grandma' and have to watch Jacob and a baby while Emily runs an errand. He just follows her along anywhere.
One day I was doing laundry and came out to find Jacob wearing his Spiderman backpack and just laying on the floor playing. I couldn't help but grab the camera and start taking pictures. Jacob, like Emily, is so good at entertaining himself. I love the little bit of time I can have to get things done and that I don't have to entertain him all the time. I also love watching what he comes up with to play and what entertains him. He has started doing a lot more imaginative play and I love seeing his development. He is always have his cars run into each other and saying, "beep, beep!" He cooks in their kitchen all the time and brings me 'food' to eat. I also find Jacob just sitting on his bed looking at books quite a bit too. I usually end up joining him and he somehow always ropes me into 'one more'. I quite often find him with a baby. He is very good at putting them to sleep with a pillow and blanket or wrapping her up in a blanket or feeding her a bottle. He is so sweet with them and will kiss the babies too. Of course he is a boy and sometimes after a few minutes I see the baby go sailing across the room too. He does love babies though and whenever we are with someone who has a baby he always wants to hold and take care of it. 

Right after Jacob's birthday Jeff decided to lower the seat on his trike so it was a bit easier for Jacob to pedal. Since Jacob had just gotten some tools, Jeff pulled out his drill to do the work and Jacob was right alongside him helping. It was fun to see the two 'work' together. Jacob just loves it when Daddy's home and he wants to be just like him. He loves running around and chasing dad or being chased him. He likes to read books with daddy, sit on his lap at dinner, and they both enjoy playing dinosaurs and cars. I just love watching my two boys together and I'm so glad I have them.

Emily and I were gone one night and Jeff needed to shave. So he brought Jacob along and 'taught' him how. So on the 13th Emily and I were home when Jeff went to shave and I knew I needed to get some pictures. Jacob was really excited to be big like his daddy and shave and loved every minute.

We sure love our active, playful, smart and sweet little guy - dramatic fits and all!

Recitals

On the 7th Sara & Grace came to sleep over while their mom & dad were out of town. Ally ended up being sick and couldn't go to her friends house so she came over for the afternoon before going to Grandma's house for the night. Emily loved playing with her cousins for a little bit before and after school. After dinner the kids had popcorn and watched a movie then went to bed. Jacob & Emily love their cousins adn have so much fun with them.

 Then the next morning after Jenn got her girls we took Emily to school and saw her Christmas music recital. She did such a great job and was so cute! She's been practicing her songs for a couple months now and it was so nice to finally hear it all together. We ended up sitting on the 3rd row, which wasn't too bad, except there were several classes on the floor in front of us so we had to zoom way in to record her. There's video of a couple songs below - just try and ignore the shakiness. Any slight movement was huge with how zoomed in it was.

Then on Saturday the 10th Emily had her dance recital. She did such a wonderful job and looked beautiful all in white. She danced to "Frosty the Snowman" in her tap shoes and her ballet number was "Silent Night." The ballet was very graceful and included some sign lanugage. We're so proud of our little girl and how talented she is!