Happy 2013!

We did it up GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) style again this year for all of the little ones.
 

Lucky Charms are Irish, right?
 

Somehow all of the glowing items (light sticks & finger lights) instigated some crazy "toddler raves" upstairs, and we'd frequently find the kids in situations like this...only usually the lights were off...
 

...and we couldn't go British without another cardboard castle...
 

...and at "midnight" GMT (which is conveniently 7pm here on the East coast) the toddlers had "champagne" jello while the adults had the real stuff for toasting...
 

I don't know what this face means, but you can tell by the empty cup that Grant approved of his jello (and yes, I did make that British-y shirt for my mystery loving boy myself, thank-you-very-much :) )
 

...and we rang in the new year with a balloon drop that resulted in an impressive toddler stampede (perhaps next year they'll understand why we're encouraging them to stand underneath the giant tube of balloons)...
 

This year we made sure to get both of the boys in our family picture!

So that makes it official.  2013 here we are!  Hope it's amazing for everyone!

Chutes and Ladders

Nana and Grant battled it out, but Grant was ultimately the Chutes and Ladders winner (with the help of some "generous" counting on his part).
 

A Very Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  Here's the (far too detailed! :) ) rundown of our Christmas.  We started with stocking opening...
 

...and an attempt at brother pictures in front of the tree...
 

Grant tested out the straw glasses from Uncle Steve and Aunt Alex:
 

Then after breakfast, we went for a family picture, complete with the classic fireplace fire on the TV (and now everyone gets to see my footie pajamas...)...
 

Then we opened lots of presents.  Grant helped Kyle open his new keg for homebrewing and he told Kyle it was something for him to put his coffee in...guess technically we do home brew our coffee, too...
 

Transformer ABC's (along with Rescue Bots and Legos with people) were Grant's big wishes for this year, and fortunately, Santa came through for him:
 

Hayes opened these stacking robots and immediately set them up as bowling pins (the other highlight of Hayes' gifts from Santa was a "medium sized" Thomas train that's remote controlled):
 

After lunch, Isabelle and the family arrived.  When these little ones are full grown, it'll be interesting to look back at this picture and see how the height differences have changed (I hope! ;) )!
 

The boys had two new riding toys to 'open' outside:
 

Both were a big hit:
 

 

And for the grand finale, we fully and properly broke in our new dining room table with a big family dinner, complete with paper crowns (...next year we'll have to do the group pictures after the crowns are on!):
 

 

Ho Ho Ho

Santa Claus came to town!  Merry Christmas to all!
 

Mama's Little Helper

Grant heard I was doing "a project" and wanted to help, so he gave me a hand painting our dining room bench (my craigslist find).
 

 

Christmas Cereal Day

Our Advent activity was "Christmas Cereal Day" which involved Grant getting to eat a new crazy sugar cereal ("Christmas Crunch") and then making rice crispy treat trees, with special help from Ceci and Nana:
 

 

 

 

 

Lego Man's Photo Shoot

We've had a Lego explosion around here.  I was hoping to catch some candid pictures of Grant playing with his Legos, because he'd lined them all up to meet the new Lego Santa Claus.  I wasn't subtle enough though:
 

 

Once Grant spotted me with the camera, he decided it would be a Lego photo shoot, so he re-arranged his Legos and directed the following shots (well, these are the best of's--he had me take about a dozen pictures)...
 

 

 

Santa Train

My pictures don't do this event justice, but after a delicious chicken & waffle dinner, we had another awesome time at the Museum of Life and Science Santa Train!  Hayes clapped the whole ride through, and Grant was so pleased to get to sit with one of his favorite buddies!
 

 

 

 

Moose Cafe

We met up with Hat for lunch at the Moose Cafe in Greensboro:
 

Christmas Wreath Washers

Our week of crafty Advent activities culminated in a Yo Gabba Gabba inspired "Make a gift for someone special" activity.  Grant made washer wreaths for his teachers and a few extras for friends.  First he painted the washers with a mod podge/paint mixture:
 

 

Then we covered them in glitter glue and he topped them with "sprinkles":
 

(Fast forward a day for drying.) Wrap with a pipe cleaner bow, and here's the finished product:

Proud crafter and amazed little brother: