late chirstmas pics

Megan smiling at my grandma on Christmas day.

A week before Chirstmas the boys went to Neil's parents house to give us some time to get ready for the holidays. The boys made gingerbread houses again this year with Mom Mom. Neil and I were both shocked to see the chimney on Mitchell's house! It looks a little like. . .

We went downtown this year again. The boat rides are free, and the botanical gardens are free, and there is ice skating. We went with both of our families. With Neil's family we ended up ice skating. Mark was so excited! As soon as we looked into the rink he said, "I want to go in there." He could hardly wait in the line to get his skates on. Neil and I had so much fun pulling him around on the ice! It was a parent moment I will never forget - letting your kid try something that is a little challenging and fun and seeing them laugh and feel so proud that they were out there! It was so great! Mitchell decided not to try it this year. He watched and helped Grandad take pictures and watch Megan and all of our shoes. Doesn't Megan look so cute in her new hat from Aunt Melissa!

Megan and Grandad at Christmas dinner. We also decorated Chirstmas cookies. They were pretty interesting cookies! I pulled out all of the candy we had in the cabinet to decorate them with. The good ones had sprinkles, marshmallows and chocolate chips. Some had smarties on them; others had sprees, skittles, and m&m's. It was hard to tell between some of the skittles and m&m's - what a surprise that bite was!

Santa brought Mark a motorcycle which he is riding in the house until the weather gets warmer. Mitchell got a castle which he plays with for several hours each day!

I think it was Mitchell's second Chirstmas where we discovered this bag that was as big as he was. We put him in it and took a picture. And we have every year since. If you are interested, I am pretty sure I put pics of him it last year on the blog, and maybe even the year before that! The first year's pic was not digital, so I can not show it to you. What did we do before digital cameras and blogs! We had to print and send pictures by mail?! Yikes!!