We celebrated New Year’s Eve by snuggling in at home and watching a movie. Very calm and relaxing. Then we celebrated New Year’s Day the same way we always do: hosting the Skagens, the Joneses, and the Shucks for brunch. And every year there are more children! Just two years ago, there was only one. This year, there were seven. Not so calm, but still super fun… and yes, even a little relaxing, since the dress code is pajamas, and the company is great. 🙂

What a nice looking bunch!

Pajama Picnic

We broke out the foam swords and axes (always a hit), and the kids tore around the house with them. Here JT and Cole are attaching Sarah…

And here Cole, Alia, and Asher are all running back and forth through the house with their swords in ninja position. Except for Asher, that is, who figured out a much more convenient spot for his sword. Funny!

Because we care about our readers, I have compiled all twenty minutes of video of JT opening presents into just over one minute and put it to music. You’re welcome.

On to the rest… JT and Jim ate breakfast together on the couch – a total treat in our house, where I believe meals should be eaten at the table. 🙂

JT loved opening his presents: lots of books, wooden puzzles, a few clothes, and a remote control airplane. He can do the hand sign for airplane now, coincidentally, so that was fun. I loved my new UW beanie and running jacket, and I’m sporting them in the picture.

Surveying the damage… it’s fun to have a kid around at Christmas!

After lunch, we went to Grandpa and Grandma Keene’s house for dinner. We met Aunt Jen, Matt, and Grandma and Grandpa Cole there, too. JT got a new football, so Jim took the opportunity to show off their plays.

We took family pictures in front of the tree after dinner. JT was in a great mood to start… then he fell and hit his head on the coffee table. So he’s not very cheerful in the rest of the pictures!

For dessert, JT got a special treat: I made him a jam pocket with leftover pie crust and even stenciled his name on the top. Since JT doesn’t eat desserts, he didn’t know to be excited about his little pie. In fact, he didn’t even finish it!

We spent the night so the ladies could go shopping in the morning. Jim and I got to sleep in the master suite… in the Keenes’ new motorhome! (Little did we know that high winds at home had knocked down two sections of fence in out backyard…)

Merry Christmas 2009! On to 2010.

Ah, Christmas Eve. My very favorite church service of the whole year! Every year since we’ve been married, Jim and I reserve Christmas Eve for “just us.” It was a wonderful day!

First, we hung out in our pajamas until well after noon. We haven’t done this as a family since August. Hooray! JT helped Jim build his new table and chairs set from Grandpa and Grandma Cole. Really, he helped. He actually put the screws in the holes so Jim could screw them in.

JT looooooves his new table and chairs. He has spent a LOT of time there already: coloring, doing puzzles, assembling his train, and filling the storage spaces with toys.

Then after lunch but before JT’s nap we headed down to the park. Jim has been teaching JT to use his sword (you should hear JT’s warrior yell), and how to carry it correctly. In fact, they use them so much that now Jim has his own foam sword, and I got the axes as well. The battles around our house are crazy!

Usually, we eat dinner on Christmas Eve in our cozy clothes before we change to go to church. That doesn’t keep us from using the best china and flatware, though. This year JT got to use it too. 🙂

We took our annual picture in front of the tree and then were off to church. When we got home, JT went to bed and Jim and I enjoyed our dessert while watching the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Ahhhh.

On Wednesday, we had my parents and my grandma over for dinner and some Christmas festivities. Dinner was yummy…

Then JT got to open his present before we left the house. He got a new table and chairs, just for him. Assembly required… pictures to come. 🙂 He also got a new drawing tablet, crayons, scissors, and zipper pouch to use at his table. He is really getting into opening packages, and he enjoyed coloring with Great Grandma Christensen.

We left early for Snowflake Lane in Bellevue so we could get good spots and good parking. Still, it was packed! We had a great time (first time for Great-Grandma and for JT). JT loved watching the giant animals, like the reindeer and the polar bear. He kept pointing to the reindeer, so we finally took a picture with it.

When we got home, we had dessert (milk and bedtime for JT) and some grown-up present time. The whole Christensen family sent me pictures so I could make a calender for my grandma, complete with everyone’s anniversaries and birthdays. She loved it!

Our friends the Hollanders give us toys whenever they’re through with them… which is awesome. That’s where we’ve gotten several of JT’s favorites, like the bubble gum machine and the fire truck, and now this! It is a tunnel. And it collapses for storage, hooray.

Ohhhhhh so fun. We tried it out tonight after I brought it home, and I think he likes it! This clip is a little longer than my normal. Watch for about 25 seconds in, when I ask him if he’s going to crawl through, and he nods. 🙂

Recently I have been letting JT have his water in a real cup at meals, so he gets practice using one. The first time I did it, he reminded me that there are certain characteristics that are built right in… like the tendency to think a place for everything, and everything in its place… get that sippy cup out of the way!

Some people think that I’m the neat freak in the family, but really, Jim is too (he’s just quiet about it!), so JT had no hope.

The second flip clip shows three things: JT’s forward-down-the-stairs skills and the stairs game are obvious. (To lure him up or down the stairs, I often move something he wants just out of reach until he’s at the top or bottom, when he gets to capture it. So mean, I know.) A little less obvious is the third thing: we were getting ready to go for a walk with the dog, and I told JT to get his hat… not only did he get it, he put it on all by himself. What a fun surprise! 🙂

This year for Christmas, we got our god-daughter, Aly, a Barbie Jeep. Jim has been soooooo excited to give it to her! We brought it to their house all assembled, charged, and ready to go, with a big red bow. We even found a guy who sells personalized license plates for these things on eBay, and so the license plates reads “Aly” instead of “Barbie.” 🙂 Aly loved it, and she took her brother, Cole, and JT each for a spin. We can’t wait to watch her drive it around in the Skagens’ backyard this spring!

And she’s ready to drive! (Cole was a little nervous about Aly’s driving skills.)

JT actually wanted a ride, too… Jim helped steer until Aly got the hang of it.

Yep, I’m serious. That was our weekend. Let me tell you all about it! First, we hosted a birthday lunch at our house for Jim’s dad’s birthday. Here JT is wondering why Grandma Keene keeps taking all those pictures.

Grandpa and Grandma Keene got to babysit later on that night. They went for a nice walk to look at the Christmas lights in our neighborhood. (“ights!”)

Meanwhile, Jim and I went to the Shucks’ house for Jen’s 30th birthday party, which was a Trailer Trash Murder Mystery! I was Darlene, the psychic, and Jim was Scoop, the out of work, recovering alcoholic reporter. And it turns out Jen was my sister, Elsie, the murderer!

Sunday JT wore his new navy pea coat to church. Isn’t he handsome? 🙂

By the end of our photo shoot, he got a little goofy and tried to take off toward the street. Here I am carrying him back to the car.

Then JT and I went down to my parents’ house to meet Jim’s parents and go to a Living Nativity. My Uncle Dave and Aunt Linda’s church put it on every year. It was fabulous! JT got to pet a pony, a sheep, and a rabbit, and he saw a donkey and some goats. My Aunt Linda volunteers at the latte cart so we got a picture with her. We didn’t get a picture with my Uncle Dave because this year he played King Herod, and he wouldn’t come down from his throne to see the commoners. The first picture here should be titled, How many adults does it take to get one toddler ready for the cold?

Last one… JT’s newest table game: Hide the Spoon. Quickly followed by other games, like Hide the Peas and Hide the Lasagna, which were not as funny. 🙂