Christmas, and Christmas, and Birthday, and Christmas, and Birthday, and Christmas

FAIR WARNING: There are a LOT of photos below...so proceed with caution.

Our Christmas celebrations last about two weeks, and span three to four cities, covering four "holidays": Christmas, Andy's birthday, Simon's birthday, and New Year's. So there's a whole lotta celebrating, as you can see...

Round 1: Christmas (the actual day), in Rochester

Simon is thrilled to discover Christmas socks in his stocking

Theodore is thrilled to have a tag and string to play with on his stocking

Simon helped Theodore open everything, beginning with the stocking--he got a cool new teether

Marilyn, Steve, Peter, & Karlie joined us on Christmas day

Peter, opening a gift

And Simon, opening one of many gifts

Grandpa Steve, showing Theodore how his new toys work

Round 2: "Christmas" in Madison

Theodore loved all of his gifts...especially those with ribbons to suck on...

...and paper to crinkle!

Simon and Uncle David play with one of Simon's new toys

Round 3: "Christmas" with Jess's extended family in Muskego, WI

We didn't actually take many photos there, but Simon especially had a blast playing with his...cousins? second cousins?...Jess's cousins' kids, whatever they are called in relation to Simon. Here some of them are crawling behind a sofa

Round 4: Back in Madison, Simon & Andy's birthday

Simon had lots of fun decorating a giant gingerbread man with Grandma Phyllis

Happy 3rd birthday, Simon!

...from everyone! (Including our friends Ashley & Ian, with their boys Wayne and Kai, who were in town visiting from DC!)

Who's having fun decorating cookies? Anyone?

(Sidenote: We did also celebrate Andy's birthday, but it was a slightly less photogenic affair)

Round 5: Red Wing, Simon & Andy's birthdays, take 2

Marilyn and Steve got very creative with these cute penguin cupcakes

Simon got his first board game--Candyland--which he has had lots of fun playing with the family

(Again, Andy's birthday was a bit overshadowed, but not forgotten!...just not photographed)

Round 6: "Christmas" on New Year's, with Andy's extended family, in Red Wing

We already posted a video of Simon's first bowling outing...here's the part he really loved the best!

Theodore enjoys one of his gifts while sitting inside one of ours!

...and Simon got some good quality time with his godfather, Aaron!

Phew. There you have it, the short version of a couple of joyous holiday weeks!

A Word from Andy

AHHH!! Baby on my FACE!!

Mmmm....pine sap. Wanna try some?

So, we've had a bit of snow around here. A bit.

Just chillin.

(Ha! Get it? Seriously...it was cold in there)

Getting our Gubbins on.

Video Break

I just downloaded all of our photos from the month of December and first week of January...just over 400 of them! My goodness, we do take enough photos, don't we? Of course, with little kids, 3 out of 4 are blurry or not what you intended to take a picture of, so its probably more like 100 decent photos...still, too overwhelming for me to sort through tonight, when I have to teach tomorrow. Instead, I'll upload a couple of videos from our holiday travels:

As is a tradition in Grandma Marilyn's family, when they gather to celebrate Christmas (around New Year's), they often go bowling or ice skating. This year was bowling--Simon's first time. I stayed back with Theodore, napping, so I didn't get to witness this momentus occasion, but I'm told he had quite a blast. Here he is, in action:

Simon's First Bowling Outing:

And, as you might have guessed with Simon's and Andy's birthdays both the week after Christmas, there was a LOT of celebrating...sweets, cupcakes, cookies, presents...and balloons. The kids LOVED the balloons, and not just Simon...

Theodore and the Balloon:

Someday I'll get around to posting some of our photos, as well. In the mean time, good luck to all you academics out there facing a new semester! Just remember, only 4 months until summer break...