Weston's turn

Mom and Dad were a few days late in getting this out,

but even late,

everyone needs a turn in the Santa outfit.

It's too cute to miss!

Jack's first real concert

I've been to smaller concerts before in downtown Lee's Summit.

But today I went to see my first real concert.

We took Grandma Janice and Aunt Mandy to see

Trans Siberian Orchestra.

I thought it was pretty cool.

I really liked that it was lots of Christmas songs.

There were tons of cool lights

Here it was snowing in the lasers

There was lots of fire

Guitars and fiddlers and singers swinging out over the audience

And it ended with snow, lights, fire AND lasers.

Awesome.

There was also a lot of dramatic singing, goofy back-up dancers,

and a LOT of long-haired head banging.

It was all a bit gratuitous.

But all in all, it was a pretty good concert for a 3 year old.

Then, after literally hours of waiting to get out of the P&L District,

we went out to eat.

Hair bands and pasta...

Not a bad way to spend a day!

Pajama Day

There was a lot of running around on Christmas,

so the next day we decided to hang out in our PJ's all day and check out our new toys.

Weston really liked his new chair.

And we both really like all of his new toys

(who knew the 3 year old would want all the baby toys more than his own toys?!?!)

We can share.

Ahhh, just what we needed.

A day to relax!

Christmas through Jack's eyes

A note from Mom:

This was the first year Jack seemed to get Santa Claus. Everywhere we went he would wave at Santa and get so excited to see him. This all culminated Christmas Eve when as Jack was headed upstairs for bed, Grandpa Mike said he thought he heard Santa. He shook his keys and "ho-ho-hoed" under his breath. Jack froze and listened intently. I have never seen that boy run up the stairs to his room so quickly. He barely said good night to anyone! He just kept saying he didn't want Santa to miss him because he was awake. He tried to jump in bed with his clothes on. When I asked him to put on his PJ's, he said he was fine and just wanted to go to sleep. I had to convince him Santa wouldn't pass us! And as I left his room (after reading The Night Before Christmas and The Elf on the Shelf in double time with anxious looks from Jack towards his window the whole time), Jack asked me for the 10th time if I was going right to bed so Santa would come. He double checked with Dad when he came in for a kiss and hug too. It was priceless.

And in the morning, when Jack ran into our room to announce it was Christmas and he wondered if Santa had come, and then took a look at the tree and knew that he had, it was almost more than I could take! The magic of Christmas through Jack's eyes was awesome. I can't wait until next year.

Last stop

Our final party of Christmas was Grandma Janice's family.

After a tasty meal, it was time for the only gift of the night.

There is the "Sweeney Scholarship" that Great Grandma and Grandpa give out to help their grandkids (and some day great grandkids) pay for school expenses.

As a thank you, Mom and Dad and all the others the Sweeney Scholarship has helped

made copies of the diplomas the money helped to fund

and put them together in a book

Great Grandma and Grandpa were speechless!

It was a wonderful moment.

A bit later, feeling very jovial, everyone decided to play a game called Wagers and Wits.

I was in the thick of it.

Hey! What are you guys doing over there?

Maybe next year I'll get the rules a bit better!

It was a very, very special holiday.

We are truly blessed!

Merry Christmas to all!!!

And more presents...

It's true!

Christmas morning fun continued.

Santa visited Grandma Phyllis and Papa's house too!

The peanut gallery gathered for the festivities...

Everyone divided up into their corners...

And we tore it up!!!

All sorts of good stuff--books and games and toy cars and trains!!!

Then it was time to take a breather and check out all the goodies.

Mikayla had to try on everything Uncle Aaron (aka my Dad) picked out for her!

Gorgeous!

After some lunch, it was time for a bowling tournement on the X-Box.

Austin was especially good at it!

But soon, it was time to go to our next gathering.

So we put on our hats and said our "Merry Christmases"

Where to next?

Let Christmas begin!

All those days of being good and talking to Farley have paid off!!!

Santa came!!!

And he brought my fire truck!!!

There were so many presents to open!!!

I needed no help!

Weston's favorite might have been some new sippy cups.

Mine is a toss up between the fire truck and the Thomas the Train set.

Now, where can we get some more presents???

Let the Christmas fun begin

The time had finally come!!!

Christmas Eve and time to open presents with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Mandy!!!

Grandpa asked if I was ready...

YES!!!

I don't need any help!

But West does...

It was a great Christmas.

I got a bunch of art supplies, some new MU gear, some new Tag books, and a puppy named Jingle that barks along when you read to him.

I got tons of GeoTrax stuff with all the crew from Cars.

And I even got a "Fire Train"--a fire truck that goes on my train tracks (way to go Grandma!)

It was a great night.

What will tomorrow bring???

Makin' cookies

We had a lot of holiday baking to do this year.

And I could actually help!

Here's Mom and I slaving away on our sugar cookies.

Here's our mad cooking faces

Our surprised cooking faces

We sure look goofy!

We forgot to take a picture of the cookies when they were done.

Needless to say though,

we had a good time making them!

Coco Key!!!

Today I was invited to my friend Owen's birthday party.

It was at Coco Key, an indoor water park.

It was AWESOME!!!

Not only did we eat pizza and drink sprite,

but we go to play in 4 different pools with all sorts of different slides, floats, spray guns, and waterfalls.

I especially liked this slide.

I was a swimming fool!!!

Despite the look on my face,

Mom and I had a really good time.

The perfect Christmas tree picture

We went to see Christmas in the Park tonight, in our PJ's of course.

We looked so good, Mom and Dad wanted a picture.

Of the 50+ that were taken, this was one of the only ones where we are both smiling, looking in the same general direction, and not moving so fast we blur the picture.

Boys will be boys.

Cute boys at that.

Christmas with the Woods Family

Every Christmas for as long as Mom can remember, Grandpa Woods' family has gotten together on Christmas Eve.

This year though, it wasn't going to happen since the Drabenstotts would be in Prague visiting Uncle Mark working over there.

So we rescheduled...

And it was fun!

Me and Uncle Steve, hanging out.

I didn't even cry!

(I'm a little Mom and Dad clingy these days)

Ryan, Aunt Mandy, Grandma and Grandpa enjoying a drink

The Drabenstotts, reunited from school

Everyone was in a festive mood.

Jack played with Chelsea, Jake and Vince.

Dad (and his pink eye) hung out with Steve

And I had a beer with Grandpa.

(Ok, not really, but it's a funny picture)

We enjoyed dinner and opened presents.

Jack and Grandma played with the disk guns.

And Chelsea and I laughed over my new bath toy.

It felt a little strange not to be on Christmas Eve,

but it felt good to be with family!

I'm no Bing Crosby...

Today was my annual Christmas show at Union Hill.

Mom, Dad, Weston, and Grandma J came to see me.

Last year I did pretty well.

This year didn't go quite as well.

Things started off ok.

I had another quick visit with Santa.

We discussed my need of a fire truck and a "fire train."

Then it was time for the show.

I lined up with all my friends (I'm the third one from the right).

But that was about all I did.

Stand with my head turned to the back.

It's all captured on video too, but really not that entertaining (unlike last year).

Some times I was singing along to Sleigh Ride and Oh Come All Ye Faithful,

but mostly I stood.

Wes enjoyed it all the same.

At any rate, we went out to celebrate afterwards.

The Melting Pot!

My first fondue.

How can eating cheese and chocolate with sticks not be a good time???

Singing or no, it was still a pretty good night.