Christmas at Our House

We had Christmas at our house on the morning of December 24th. We asked Santa to come a day early so that we could go up to Rochester on Christmas Eve and celebrate with the rest of the family. He came like we asked, and Cameron and Leah had a really great Christmas.

Here is our tree with all of the presents.

A close up of the gifts, including two sleds for the kiddos!

Since all of our stockings are same and they don't have names on them yet, Santa put letters for each person's name on their stocking.

Time to open the stockings!

Leah was more interested in chewing on her letter L than in looking in her stocking.

Let me help you, brother!

Daddy and Leah

A very excited Cameron

Let's see what's in here...

Daddy's turn

And Leah's turn! She actually did a bit of opening herself, although usually when she pulled the paper, it went straight into her mouth.

One of Leah's gifts was a baby doll, her first. She was so excited about it, making cooing noises and kissing the baby. It was adorable!!

Working her way through another gift

Cam opening his last gift, a REAL hockey helmet

Needless to say, he was VERY excited by it.

Leah with all of her presents

And Cam with his

Merry Christmas!

Leah's Tub Time

This post has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas - we just happen to take these pictures a few days before Christmas and they are so cute!

Leah has been taking baths in the big bathtub for quite a while. It has been a lot easier since she can sit up on her own. She likes the tub but doesn't LOVE it like Cameron always has. She is nervous about moving around much (understandably), so she mainly sits there chewing on random toys. I think she will like it more as she gets more confident in moving around.

Chewing on the letter V

Yep, still chewing. I think she chewed on this letter for most of the bath.

This was my attempt at a mohawk, but her hair is long enough that it just curls over. And yes, still chewing on that V.

Santa Train!

The weekend before Christmas, we went out to Auburn to ride the Finger Lakes Scenic Railroad. They have special rides each weekend in December called Santa Train. On our drive out, we told Cameron that we were going to some place really special and fun, and we asked him what he thought it was. He thought about it for a while and said, "A Playground". We told him that was a good guess, but not right. Next he guessed "The Library", and then "The Zoo". We were really impressed with his guesses, all places that would be fun to go to together. He thought about it some more and said, "I know - Dunkin Donuts!!". Oh goodness, our boy.... I guess he knows what is good!

Anyway, back to the Santa Train. We arrived at the train "station" (really just a parking lot near a gas station where the train was parked). Cam was so excited to see the train and asked with so much wonder in his voice, "Are we really riding on that train?"

Here is the train

We got in line in for the train and Santa and Mrs. Claus came out. Cam was jumping up and down with excitement as they made their way down the line saying hi to each child.

Despite his totally weird smile, he was VERY excited.

We got on the train and got in our seat. Cam thought it was so neat.

Before the train left the station, Santa got on and walked down the aisle saying hi to all of the kids. Leah was not really interested in being held by Santa.

I think Santa was telling Cam to think about what he wanted for Christmas, so that Cam could tell him later on the train ride.

A great picture of Kristin, Tim and Leah. Cam is not in it because he was busy being a pouty stinker and not wanting his picture taken.

Here is what Cam was doing while that nice picture was taken.

Finally, we convinced him to take a picture with us. Too bad it didn't turn out very good!

Our friends the Santaguidas went on the Santa Train with us. Cam and Braden both really enjoyed it. Here they are having their snacks before our turn to go see Santa.

View down the aisle of the train. There were three cars, with an engine on each end. The cars were decorated for Christmas. It was really neat!

When it was our turn, we went up to the front of our car and got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. Cameron told Santa that he wanted some books and Woody and Buzz for Christmas.

Cameron and Leah both got candy canes and jingle bell bracelets from Santa. Cameron REALLY liked the candy cane.

Leah liked the jingle bracelet... in fact, she liked it so much she kept trying to eat it.

All of the kiddos (although you can't really see Braden) - Braden, Emily, Leah and Cameron

Cam and Leah bundled up and ready to get off the train

What a cute little bear!

Being goofy

Braden and Cameron with the train

Mama and Leah with the train

It was a great ride. Beautiful scenery (although we didn't take any pictures out the window!), lots of fun with Santa, and getting to ride on a train. Cameron loved it and we are definitely looking forward to doing it again next year!

Santa at Crunch Game

A few weekends ago, Poppa and Cameron went to a Crunch game where Santa was there between periods. Cameron was interested in seeing Santa, but he was more interested in watching the Zamboni clean the ice! So after the Zambonis were done cleaning the ice, then Cameron went to see Santa. Cameron got a Frisbee, a coloring book and crayons from Santa. Here are a few pictures.

Christmas in Swansea

The second weekend in December, we went to Swansea to celebrate Christmas with the Walkers. First up on the agenda was decorating the tree. Cam was excited to get to put more ornaments on another tree.

Putting up the first ornament

Leah helped Auntie Cathy hang ornaments too

Miss Leah making her goofy smush lips face

Auntie Cathy and Leah did some good snuggling!

Once the Borsts arrived, we got started decorating our gingerbread houses

Jack was most interested in ingesting as much candy and frosting as he possibly could. He did decorate a bit of the house, but he would put a piece on the house then put five into his mouth.

Ella and Kim decorated a very beautiful, balanced and precise house

The newlyweds!

We had lots of fun decorating our house and Cameron was really into it. He came up with decorating ideas on his own and liked putting stuff on the house. He also liked putting candy in his mouth, of course.

Tom was very serious about getting his house well-decorated. I think he stuck to it for longer than anyone else.

The gingerbread neighborhood

Ella and Kim's final product - isn't it beautiful?

On the other end of the decorating spectrum - beautiful in its own way - is Jeff and Jack's house.

Daddy, Cameron, Mama and Leah's house

Cathy and Ron's house. Notice the "robot" sitting on the right side of the house - that was Ron's creation.

Tom and Joan's house - definitely the most decorated yard!

After a long day with lots of fun, two of the boys conked out on the couch!