Christmas Program

Brant had a Christmas program for his school at a nearby church on Thursday. His class sang "Mele Kalikimaka" and later all the kids sang a spanish version of Jingle Bell rock. Brant was too far to get good pictures or video and he sat down while they were singing the last song so there really isn't any good video or pictures from the second song. There are one or two pictures of him posted here with his guitar that he had on during the Navidad Rock song. Here are some pictures and the video of the first song. We hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season.

North Pole Express

We went for a ride on the North Pole Express Train last Saturday with Tina, Alan and the girls (Emily and Claire). When we arrived Tina and I looked around a little while with the kids while the guys got us a spot in line. There wasn't much to do there that we thought they would stay interested in for long so we went and got in line with the guys after a quick potty break for all. Once we got through the line they put us in a heated tent before we got on the train, the kids played with each other, colored, ate yogos, and then it was time for some caroling. Brant even got to be one of the kids to help say the "Ho, Ho, Ho" part of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer when they came around with the microphone to several different kids during caroling. All the kids got up on stage to help sing and it was like the paparazzi were there with all the parents and Brant was too hard to see in the midst of all the kids so I didn't manage to get any good shots of that. After caroling we got on the train and walked all the way down to the end of the train and found some seats. The kids had fun riding the train and listening to a story and singing some songs on the train. They had a conductor come by and punch their tickets, and of course one of the big highlights of the night was when Santa came on board the train and came to each train car talking to each kid individually and shaking their hand or saying hello to them. The ride was really neat. I think we'll probably take him on the train during the day sometime so he can look out the window and actually see some sites since it was too dark to see much of anything except the occasional Christmas lights. I think we'll probably do this again next year, but we'll go early to participate in the other things that they have in the town going on that were a little too far way for us to go to and make it into the line to get good seats. Here are a few pictures from our evening adventure.

Brant admiring his ticket.

Close up of Brant while he's enjoying his yogos.

The kiddos with Emily and Brant giving silly smiles.

Coloring with Brant's aquadoodle pad.

Sitting with Daddy during caroling.

Claire and Brant having fun together dancing around.

The kids together on the train.

Our conductor posing for a quick picture.

Brant shaking hands with Santa.

A Visit With Santa

Today I picked up Brant early from school and I brought him for his first official visit with Santa. We didn't go last year because we didn't think it would go over well, and his first Christmas he had Santa at school so we didn't go to the mall. I didn't tell him we were going, but that we were going to see someone and it was a surprise. Angela my cohort in crime at work was also there with her family (she had already told me she was going today earlier in the week), and Brant was excited to see his friend Boogie (Thatcher). Brant did pretty well waiting in line and played around some while waiting his turn to see Santa. Here are some pictures of him in line before seeing Santa and the pictures I got of Santa with Brant and the last picture is the one I bought from the mall because it was too cute to resist. I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful season of giving.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have had a busy Thanksgiving holiday. We went to Brant's Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's house on Thursday for Thanksgiving dinner. When we got there he said hi to his Grandpa (who was his Great Grandpa), and then asked, "Where is other Grandpa?" Brant is so cute and which ever Grandpa (Great Grandpa or Grandpa) he sees first is Grandpa and the other one becomes other grandpa. He was very disappointed to see that "Other Grandpa" wasn't there when we arrived so he called him on Grandpa's cell phone to tell him "HURRY UP GRANDPA!" and soon after that his Other Grandpa arrived to play. He played with his older cousin Brian who was amazed at his football throwing arm. He fed the fish in Great Grandpa's pond, and watched his Uncle Barry, and Aunt Lisa's dog Zombie. He of course discovered the different balls that Great Grandpa had in his yard and played with them as well. He ate some turkey, and broccoli cheese casserole (that was his favorite), ham, and some bread. He then went to watch The Cowboys play with Other Grandpa on the couch and had some apple cake and banana pudding for dessert.

Friday we took Brant to see his first movie in the theater Bolt. He did so good and stayed in his chair the whole time, as long as we kept his lap full of popcorn for him to munch on. He also stayed dry during the movie and went potty after it was over! The movie was really cute and we all had a good time together.

Saturday we had the Stockings and Pickens' families over to celebrate Thanksgiving at our house. We all made a little something to share and Brant had a great time playing with his grandparents and his Aunt and Uncle, and of course observing his new cousin Riley.

Today is just a downtime day where we did our shopping for the week, laundry, and are trying to get back to normal before we all head back to work/and or school tomorrow.

We had a good time and we are very thankful we have wonderful family nearby to celebrate with. Here are some pictures on Thanksgiving day and one of Brant with his Grandpa Stocking and his cousin Riley watching TV together after we ate.

Another Set of Pictures

Here is the last set I'll put up from our session.

Picture Happy

Here are some more pictures from our session on Saturday.

Picture Time

We had family pictures, pictures of Brant, pictures of Riley (Brant's new cousin) and pictures of Riley and Brant taken on Saturday. I just got my digital copy of the pictures today. I'll post a few a day for a few days so it wont be all in one post.

Here are a few for this post.