Christmas Gathering #2

The Graham Family Christmas party was just the beginning of multiple gatherings to exchange presents and to celebrate Christs' birth. The day after the Graham party, Tone's Aunt Anita, Uncle Ed and Grandma Gibson came up from Sweet Home to visit with a few people and exchange gifts. They took the time to stop by our home Saturday morning and so the boys were able to open some more presents before Christmas Day. They don't mind that at all!

Luke is much better at opening presents at this age than Nikolas was. I'm not sure that that is a good thing, unless it is just a sign that he knows what he wants and how to get it. Hmmm, once again, I'm not sure that is a good thing.

TRAINS!!!!!

Naturally, Nik is quite pleased with his gift from Uncle Ed and Aunt Anita. He has been sleeping with the train for the past 5 nights now. Can we say, "Obsessed"!

Lukas absolutely loved the trucks that Uncle Ed and Aunt Anita gave him and Nik. You pull the cord and it starts vibrating as it pulls the cord back in. It looks like it is idling and Lukas has been staying occupied with it pulling it over and over just watching it idle. He's so cute:)

He also has been having a great time driving his motorcycles and truck and trailer around from Grandma Gibson. Today his sippy cup was being hauled all over the place.

The boys having fun.

The men "talking" with their hands. It's not just an Italian thing:)

2009 Graham Family Christmas Party

On Friday many of my extended family on my dads' side came to Tone' and my house for our annual Graham family Christmas party. I am always amazed that we are able to fit nearly 35 people inside our 1200 square foot home, but we managed and it was a lot of fun. In fact, I rather like the coziness of closer quarters as it forces us all to stay together more than if we are spread out in a larger home.
I think it is funny to note that half of my relatives in this picture are my cousins, in one form or another; first cousin, first cousins once removed, second cousins, second cousins once removed......hmmm, I'm not sure about the last one, did I just make that one up? Is my second cousins baby my second cousin once removed? And now that I'm thinking about it, if my dads first cousin is my first cousin once removed, then is my cousins kids my first cousins once removed as well?
So then if my dads first cousin has a daughter, who is then my dads first cousin once removed and my second cousin, and this daughter has a boyfriend, what does that make us?

Absolutely nothing Dan #2 until you pop the question!!!
Come on, you know you want to be a part of this family. :)

Of course, he'll have to get through this guy.

But once through that tough part you could end up with one of these cute little things!
(The little blue eyed red head that is. Not that my brother isn't cute, but....)

Okay, I'm done mortifying my cousin.....

Here I am with my second cousin, Chelsea, the mama of the cute little red head. (Oh how I want a cute little red head!!! Guess I'll keep having babies and see what happens.)
Since i waited to have children my brother and sisters' kids are much older than my boys, so I'm excited that my second cousins are having babies now. Luke has two third cousins around his age that he will grow up with, yay!

We did have a gift exchange where the men bring a man gift and the ladies bring a lady gift and this year we went from youngest to oldest. There was some rather loud yelling going on when the men were picking their gifts. I think it had something to do with Dan #2(the boyfriend) stealing the father of the girlfriends very cool gift. We'll see if that was a wise decision.....
Speaking of Dan's; this is Dan #1- married to my dad's cousin, Susan, not to be confused with my dad's new wife, Sue.
Incidentally, I'm not sure how to number Susan(also known as Sue) and Sue, as my uncle's kids, Susan and Debbie, grew up in the same church as Sue and her late husband went to. So Susan's kids all call Sue, "Grandma Sue", even though she is now their first cousin once removed, (I think). So technically, Susan, my dad's cousin, is Susan #1 and Sue, my dad's wife, is Sue #2, but that doesn't really feel right.


And this is Chelsea's' husband Chad, not to be confused with my sisters' husband, Chad, who would be considered our "Chad #1" by order of appearance.
And since I'm on a roll, remember my brother? His name is John, not to be confused with my dad, whose name is John. They had always been identified as "Big John" and Little John". Until, that is, "Little John" ended up being bigger than "Big John". Now everyone just says, "John", and they both turn around. Then there is my cousin Steve, the father of the girl whose boyfriend needs to propose soon, not to be confused with my other cousin Steve, who couldn't make it tonight. Everyone missed him, but not necessarily the M&M Christmas lights that he brings every year for the gift exchange.
Confused? Not half as confused as my 3 year old, I'm sure. He's still trying to figure out how he has a cousin named Abby who is older than him and also a cousin named Addy who is younger than him.


After all the excitement it was time for little Lukey to get into his jammies and have some quiet time watching "Noah's Ark", his new favorite video. He pulled his cousin, Morgan, into the family room to sit with him. I think this is one of my new favorite pictures, so sweet.

Aren't families great? I am so blessed to have such a fun, loving and large extended family. What I am most grateful for, however, is that our ancestors have passed on to us their faith in our Saviour, Jesus Christ, from many generations before us. Now we are continuing that strong Christian heritage in our own families, and with God's grace, our children will continue to live for Him as well and this family will continue to be a beacon of light in a dark world.

On the Hunt

Going to a Christmas tree farm and hunting for the perfect tree has always been something I just love doing, unfortunately, I don't think the rest of my family is quite as enthralled with the whole process as I am. Tone' humors me every year and lets me wander all over the farm following me with the hand saw, and this year carrying a little boy on his shoulders until we eventually make it back to the very first tree I had said was "perfect". You just never know what you are signing up for when two people get married!

"Good job, Daddy." (pat, pat)

"You deserve a kiss!"

Timber!!!!

Really, when you measure less than 3 feet tall a 6 foot tree falling is a big deal!

TaDa!

Then we hauled it to the car and were given candy canes and then petted some "reindeer". (horses with reindeer ears on!) Good times, good times.

Who Is Having The Most Fun Here?

While I was out in the garage looking for Christmas decorations I came across an old, filthy box of electric trains from when Tone' was little! I know I have seen them in the past, but now that I have little boys who love all things trains, this find was as good as gold.

Are these some happy boys, or what?!

Look at the giddiness on Lukey's face!

Nik loves pretending that he is a tunnel for the train. He stands up with one foot on each side of the track and just watches the train go round and round and beneath him. It's really cute, and I love having that little bit of peace:)

Just A Regular Photo Session

It is becoming painfully obvious to me that the "perfect picture" of my boys is liable to elude me for years to come. If Luke isn't expressing his "what is going on" face than Nik is either turning away from the camera or looking dazed and confused. At least in this picture they both are sitting close to each other and are dressed nice!

Really, this boys face is hilarious. Tone' and I are constantly looking at each other and shaking our heads as Lukas does this look non-stop! Oh if only I had just a couple passes into his brain, I would definitely be using one of my passes on figuring out what is behind this look.

Then he suddenly figures everything out and gives us a super cute smile!

A boy and his mama; just when did I get all those lines on my face? And wow, I really do have a lot of freckles. I really don't look at the mirror all that often so sometimes I forget.

Aaaaawwwww, how cute! A kiss for daddy:)

Fall Fun

Though I really prefer summer over any other season, I do love seeing the leaves changing and then getting out one crisp fall day to rake them all up. This tree, which is actually our neighbors, hangs over the fence and creates a beautiful little oasis on the side of our house. It also creates a lot of little leaves that need raking, and raking and raking some more.

The boys had a blast running back and forth through my piles of leaves and created about 4 times more work for me, but as I've said, I do like raking.

In spite of their efforts to disperse all my piles, I did manage to fill wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow full and take it to the garden for composting. Lucky for them they are still little enough to ride along. How wonderful these kids lives are and they don't even realize it!
Right about this time dark clouds rolled in and big droplets of water began to fall all around us. I wanted to finish up, though, so we kept working even as the rains came flowing down. By the time we finished and put everything away we were soaked but everyone was smiling. Then it was time for warm clothes, hot chocolate and a Thomas the Tank Engine movie! Oh yeah, wild and crazy at the Gibson household.

Before The Neverending Rain Comes

With few rainless days ahead of us we have been spending as much time outside as we can.
Mostly this involves Nikolas riding his bike while I pull Lukas around in the wagon, but this particular day Tone' was home and so Nik asked him, "Daddy, you ride your big bike and I ride my little bike?" How could Tone' say no?

Getting daring.

When I first met Tone', he would do this trick with his bike and I was thoroughly impressed.

Still am:)

He's bounching on his back tire, by the way, not just doing a wheelie.
What a stud;)


Then there's our littlest trickster. He thought he was so smart for standing on the steering wheel and sticking his foot out. He's such a cutie:)

The best part of them playing hard outside:


I just scoop them up and take them to bed.......
unless this happens at 3 or 4 in the afternoon; then we're looking at a long night. Still, the peace in the house for the time being is nice!

Trick Or Treat: Part 2

It is funny to me that I am now taking my children Trick or Treating as I never went as a child until the ripe old age of 12 when I went with friends. I can't even imagine what it would be like to be 3 years old and get to dress up as your favorite character in the ENTIRE WORLD and not only that but then get to go running with your very best friends door to door where all these adults who you have never met before willingly put handfuls of candy into your outstretched hands. Sounds sweet. Thomas and Mr. Incredible are deep in conversation.

and yes, Nikolas IS barefoot. He did start out with boots on, boots because I was thinking it would be cold and wet. Apparently they were a little too heavy for him though as he was the sllllooooowwwest child going from door to door. So I thought, "Hey, let's take his boots off!" Well, that was, indeed, the culprit as the second he was bootless he bolted to the front of the gang and didn't slow down. It may seem like bad parenting to have your 3 year old running around on the cold pavement for an hour....in October.....at night.....but five days later and he's still completely healthy! It does help, so goes my theory, that the boys and I run around barefoot from the moment the sun starts to shine again in the spring until the very last moment our little toes can handle the cold and wet in the fall/winter.

I had to throw in a picture of Superman; AKA Nathan.

I mean, isn't he adorable???

Lukas quickly figured out that if he stood at a door long enough someone would come

and hand him "ums" (as he calls chocolate). What he didn't quite understand was that

they only do it once. So each time I had to pick him up and carry him to the next one

or he would just stand there waiting for the door to open again:)

Admiring his loot.

NO ONE, is touching this boys candy.

Superheros, Princesses and Munchkins

The Ever Expanding Gang

For four years in a row now we have met a group of friends and their kids at our friends, the Davis', home and gone trick or treating. Naturally, we have a group picture of our brood and every year it is funny to see how it has grown. This year we were missing one family and their three little ones, but we did gain a neighbor girl (wonder woman) and two new babies! The little dragon is baby Sam, who is 2 months old, and 10 day old baby Matthew was inside with mama. We seemed to be heavy on the superheros this year:)

Thomas the Tank Engine

It truly is amazing that I snapped this picture of Nikolas actually smiling at the camera. For the last few weeks he has been either screaming, crying, turning away or holding his hands in front of his face every time a camera is pointed at him. FRUSTRATING!!!! So before we headed over I told him that if he didn't look at the camera without hiding or crying then he would have to walk with the kids while THEY trick or treated and HE did not.

Apparently, it worked. He even smiled!

Lukas, the Littlest Puppy

Isn't he adorable??? My good friend, Sheri, made Nikolas this costume when Nik was 19 months old and since Lukas is 21 months it fits him nearly perfectly. Sheri even made Lukas a new collar:)

The Two Troublesome Trios

We have the three big boys; Wyatt, Willie and Nik. Then the three little boys; Nathan, Logan and Lukas. Currently the three little boys just follow the big boys around trying to copy them and generally getting in there way...................and I am thinking it isn't ever going to change......

Cute little puppy