Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012 was very fun-filled but busy. It is an exciting time of year and we try very hard to spend time with all of our family members. Christmas Eve was spent at Grandpa and Grandma Arthur's house after church. 

Jaxon and Brody looked like twins in their Santa jammies! (Their mamas didn't even plan this one!)

 

They look like they're up to something...

Stockings with Grandma Arthur!

MUSCLES! :-)

 

Sean's two favorite little guys!

Christmas morning was so exciting! Santa ate the cookie Brody left out and drank the whole glass of milk! In return he left a John Deere wagon full of presents! Brody was very excited to check out his new books, hat, movies, tractors, and skid loader. He must have been a very good boy this year! We were able to have a little breakfast pizza together and play with toys before heading to Grandpa and Grandma Zieman's house.

Hmmm... Brody may need a little more power to pull that big wagon.

Opening some presents with Grandma Zieman. A Duplo farm set!

Our gift to Brody this year was a Duplo train set. We worked together to set it up on the evening of Christmas. We all had so much fun figuring out how all of the pieces worked together. Brody loved starting and stopping the train as well as filling it with fuel.

Brody's Cool "Gobbles"

We bought Brody these goggles this summer to keep dust out of his eyes when we rode the 4-wheeler but he hated them. He would take them off before we made it out of the yard so we just kept them stashed away with the hats and mittens. This winter, he kept getting scared when Dad and Uncle D were wearing their helmets and goggles for snowmobiling so we busted out Brody's goggles to show him they weren't scarey. He was in love with the "gobbles" as he called them for a couple days. He even wore them in the car the whole way to Grandpa and Grandma Zieman's house one day!

 

Santa!

Santa was at the bank today so we went to visit! Santa was a little scarey at first but Brody decided he was okay after he made him giggle a little and gave him some cool little cars.

 

 

Brody's friend, Gabby, came to visit Santa too!

Playing in the SNOW!

Dad spent some time scooping snow around the yard today and this is his creation... Father of the Year? I think so! It was really cold so Brody only got to check out the snow slide once today.

 

 

 

 

 

 Dad helped Brody to the top! It was high but he loved it!

 

 

 

I know he looks deathly afraid but I think he did like it. He did say "whee!" but only after he had arrived safely at the bottom.

 

 

Dad had to show us how it was done :-)

 

 



Christmas Cookies at Grandma Arthur's House

Brody even got to make some Christmas cookies with Grandma Arthur today. He had a lot of fun and was very proud of his creations. He even learned a new phrase at Grandma and Grandpa's today... When he is proud to annouce he accomplishments he now shouts, "I did it!"

 

Christmas Baking with Mommy

Brody was such a good helper while we were making Christmas cookies. His favorite part was sprinkling flour on the counter so the dough wouldn't stick. He was really good at making the leftover dough into a ball... until it got thrown...

 

Visit to Great Grandma Arthur's

We traveled to Fayette one Sunday afternoon to visit Great Grandma Arthur and wish her a Merry Christmas! It was good to talk to her and Brody had lots of fun checking out her place :-)

 

Christmas Wrapping

I used to be picky about how all of our Christmas presents looked. I would spend lots of time wrapping them so they were 'just-right' and work on bows forever. Not this year! Brody wants to help :-) We picked some plain-colored wrapping paper and Brody is decorating each gift with Christmas stickers :-) We completed each gift with a photo tag so Brody can pass out gifts at Christmas celebrations and pick out which ones are for him under the tree!

 

Happy Birthday, Jaxon!

Sunday was cousin Jaxon's 2nd birthday party! We looked forward to the Clifford-themed party all week :-) We all had a great time watching Jaxon tear into his gifts! Happy Birthday, Jaxon!

 

Hank

Hank looks pretty good in these shades :-)

 

Santa!

We took some time for Brody to meet Santa tonight. He was really excited while waiting in line but wasn't so sure when it was actually our turn to see Santa. Brody was Mr. Serious but Santa got him to crack a couple smiles before we were done :-)

 

Las Vegas Vacation

I haven't blogged in awhile but Sean and I just returned from Las Vegas and I thought that was blog-worthy :-) We went on a long weekend trip as our vacation for this winter. With a new baby coming in the spring this mama will be sitting out of the ATV trip to the sand dunes and and other crazy winter trips. I wanted to make it somewhere before my belly really got too big so we decided ... Vegas it is!

 

Playing my first Vegas slot machine... lost every bit I put in :-( This is why I'm not a big gambler.

Day 2 included a tour of the Hoover Dam in this sweet ride. Sean loved this "pink jeep" and really thinks we should own one. Perfect for snowmobile trips he says!

The Hoover Dam was remarkable! Sean loved learning how it was made and I love any tourist attraction. This is the view from the new bridge.

Yep, we were way up top on that bridge for the last picture. This is after we finished touring the bottom side of the dam on a raft.

The view from the top of the Stratosphere! It was very beautiful and I'm so glad we went to the top :-)

The trip was great but we really loved coming home to our Brody. We missed him so much but know he had a fantastic time with Grandpa and Grandma Arthur! He loves his new hard hat from the Hoover Dam. He keeps telling us he has a cool hat while using the light to check the tires on his tractor (obviously he takes after his daddy).

Trick-or-Treat Round 2

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

 

Brody really enjoyed Trick-or-Treat this year! We made one stop in Mason City and then headed to Nora Springs to make the rounds. He was a little shy going to the doors at first but he quickly got the hang of it. After Trick-or-Treat we headed to the firebarn for hot dogs.

 

 

He spotted his buddy Thad and we stopped for a quick picture! Thad makes a pretty cute Kermit the frog.

 

After trick-or-treating and hot dogs, we had one more stop... Grandpa and Grandma Arthur's house! Here is Brody and Jaxon at Grandma's! Maci the ghost was there too but Mom's camera died before she got in the picture - hopefully we can get some of those pictures from Aunt B!