Welcome 2014!

It's NYE 2014.

Rock your look, people.

I know I am!

We were suppose to go to a big party

with Mom and Dad's friends Kipp and Kylie,

but Mom had a rough week

and we decided to lay low.

So we met up with Mika and her mom and dad,

had some dinner,

and entertained ourselves

while we waited for "midnight"

(or 9:00) to come...

When it was nearly time to celebrate,

Mike broke out the poppers to help kick off 2014 right.

They were a little loud,

and a little hard to pull,

but we enjoyed them all the same.

With some Shirley Temples,

we rang in the new year.

Happy 2014!

Goin' campin'

We got some awesome camping gear for Christmas.

It's kept us really busy.

Here is the camping kitchen.

Or camping restaurant.

Whatever you want to call it.

It's where we do our cooking.

The boys huddled around the campfire

Sleeping in our sleeping bags

Even Beckett got in on the fun.

Mmm, plastic marshmallows.

This has the potential to keep us busy for days.

Mom and boys

It's nice to have nothing better to do

than hang out with your family

Ready to ride

50 degrees in December???

YES, we'd LOVE to go for a bike ride!

After 2 trips up and down the street,

Weston got the hang of his training wheels

Dad ran up and down the street with me

more times than I can count...

...getting so close!

We paused to try out our new

blinking, sparking scooters

Dad took a well-deserved turn too

The next day...

I GOT IT!

I CAN RIDE A BIKE WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS!

Best. Christmas. Gift. Ever.

Bath Fun

I got lots of new bath toys for Christmas--

water books, a basketball goal, a swimming monkey

In fact, we all got new bath toys!

Jack and West gave each other shaving kits.

Bath time just got a lot more fun!

All the new toys

Some of the best Christmas fun,

doesn't happen on Christmas.

It's in the days afterward...

Beckett enjoyed his new car

Weston LOVES his Thomas lego set

We all got a kick out of it, actually

The RC trucks we a little tricky to control.

It will be fun to drive them through the water in a few months!

Fireman Weston can cook birthday cake while

playing Guess Who

More Blue Track fun

And I'm REALLY good at Rush Hour Jr!

If only we could get all those bikes outside...

Last, but certainly not least!

Our final Christmas stop was Grandma P and Papa Kim's.

We were getting a bit worn out,

but there is always a smile for Papa

There were plenty of surprises under this tree too!

Mom and Beck stayed out of the way

Let the chaos ensue!

We missed capturing the looks on our faces

when we opened the tablets Grandma and Papa gave us,

but I guarantee, 

it was pure JOY!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

He CAME!!!

The day we've been counting down to

is HERE!!!

And Santa CAME!!!

We couldn't wait to come downstairs

On your mark, get set...

GO!

There were bikes for everyone:

No training wheels for me

Training wheels for West

And even a trike for Beck!

We tried them out

There were lots of other gifts

to tear into...

Books, our own coffee mugs,

land/water RC trucks, games

It was AWESOME

Grandma and Water Bear gave us dress-up gear

and this awesome Blue Track

You should see the cars fly!

Beck had a good time watch them fly over him

Kurt and Aunt Mandy gave us a tent

and a hot dog and marshmallow set 

to go with our other camping gear

(a pretend fire, fish and skillet, lanterns)

We are going to spend a lot of time with this stuff!

Thanks, everyone!!!

Let the celebrating begin!

Christmas Eve is finally here!!!

We were so excited to spend it with Mom's family.

Beckett and Water Bear caught up

And it's always good to see Chelsea

In fact,

it's always good to see ALL of our family!

Carol, Grandma, and Chelsea

All the Drabenstotts together

Mom and Dad working in the kitchen

Me and Grandpa

I bought my Santa hat with my own money!

After a tasty dinner,

we headed to the basement to open presents

Here is Beckett and his very first Christmas present

We, of course, had to help him open it

The biggest hit of the night?

Seat pets...

...for both of us!

There was a lot of playing, eating, and catching up.

Weston bonded with Aaron

and Beckett played cups with Grandma

Before we knew it,

it was getting late and was time to put on our Santa jammies,

spread out the reindeer feed in the yard (oats and sparkles),

and set out treats for Rudolph and Santa

Will the Big Guy come?

We'll see soon...