And the decorating...

Clearly it was a Sunday when we decorated our tree. :)

Thomas was very interested in all the ornaments and especially loved the couple bells we have. We let him have the little 3-foot tree for his room, and he kept spiriting ornaments off the big tree to put on it. 

 TJ was a diligent helper and kept asking for more ornaments to put on the tree. He definitely favored the "cluster method."

 When TJ was (near-ish) Jojo's age at Christmas, we chose a smaller tree and set it on a table to keep it out of reach. Apparently we've relaxed, because we didn't even consider that this year. We did keep the breakable ornaments out of Jojo's (and TJ's) reach, but beyond that it really wasn't an issue.

 Who needs ornaments when you've got easy access to a step stool?!?!

Ed handled the star and hanging ornaments at the very top, as I couldn't reach it from the step stool. I did the lights, with "help" from TJ, because I like them to be more dense and more woven into the entire tree than Ed does. It only took us a couple years of me complaining about how he did the lights to figure that out, and now we're both happy. :)

O Christmas Tree...

Last year in our temporary apartment we used a 3-ft fake tree and skipped the ornaments. So it felt great this year to be outdoors at a Christmas tree farm, cutting down our own tree, and being able to pick a tall one thanks to a vaulted ceiling!

Ed shows TJ how tall of a tree we're looking for.

 I love Jojo's dinosaur hat! He stumbled a lot over the rough ground at the tree farm. We are very lucky he didn't poke an eye out any of the times he fell.

 TJ loved playing hide and seek among the trees, and tried to see how far away from us he could get! He also made friends with another little girl and they ran around together, in and out of the trees. He was not interested in standing still long enough to get his picture taken.

 Daddy and his boys in front of our tree. It is less scraggly than it looks in this picture!

Me with the boys after Ed cut our tree down. 

TJ helped Ed load it in the truck. We love having a truck for times like this!

James' Baptism

I was honored that Jenn and Pat asked me to be James' godmother. 

(Pat's older brother Eric is the godfather. Well, not THE godfather. James' godfather.)

 James wore our great-grandpa's baptismal gown, the same one Thomas wore, which is over 100 years old. It is so neat to have this to share with our growing families.

 Pastor Bill, who married both me and Jenn and baptized my two boys, performed James' baptism as well.

 What a cute little family!

Eric and me with our godson, sweet little James Patrick

Holiday Card Bloopers

No explanation needed....

...except that every year I am impressed that my sister-in-law Mary Beth can get 5 kids to hold still, look at the camera, and maybe even smile...and all in the same picture. 

***********************************************************************

Mom really wanted a picture of her three grandsons to use on her Christmas card as well. Since we'd had so much fun taking our family photo and we're suckers for punishment, we agreed. :) 

Again, few words necessary, beyond the obvious explanation that James was too little to not cooperate, TJ was old enough to mostly cooperate, and Jojo was, well, unhelpful to say the least.

 Yes, those are my hands trying to hold Jojo down. 

This one was pretty much as good as it got. 

But this one below is the one that Mom (wisely) chose to use. 

When you can't get sweet, might as well go with funny!

More Thanksgiving weekend fun

 Thomas is quite enamored with "Baby E James." And very gentle with him. If only this gentleness could be translated to his relationship with his brother...

 Although here it looks like Jojo is getting the upper hand. Really he's just using TJ as a bridge to the couch.

 Dad introduced the boys to his old drum set. To say it was popular would be an understatement. Thankfully the drums will not be leaving Milwaukee.

 The boys all got matching union suit jammies and Santa hats to wear for mom's Christmas card photo. (in a later post). Thomas LOVED his and called them his Santa jammies. He would live in them if I would let him.

 Jojo on the motorcycle!

 I'm enjoying some baby James time!

 Starting James on football watching early!

 Who needs toys when you have a plastic box?

 Train time!

 James as Santa baby

Jojo returns to babyhood. He loves James' playmat.

Thanksgiving

It's a bit weird to be posting about Thanksgiving shortly after Christmas, but I'm working to catch up to real time! I'll get there...

We spent Thanksgiving in Milwaukee, which put us conveniently in town for James' baptism on Sunday. 

 Thomas and the hat he made at preschool

 Ed's annual tradition of making the turkey talk

 Football! The best play, when Ed, Corey, and the ball crashed into a huge pine tree. It would have made a great video.

 Surprisingly, Thomas was not real interested in playing. The only thing he wanted to do was kick off, and that was only once. And by the way, it was unseasonably warm as you can see by the outfits!

 Beautiful Thanksgiving table

 Now this is what we like to see! All the guys in the kitchen, and for more than just eating!

Jojo wearing the bib I made Thomas a few years ago. Now James has one too!

We all went over to visit Grandma. It was a bit chaotic, but she enjoyed seeing us.