The baby Jesus

While we have not been avid Church goers recently, I have been trying to teach the boys what Christmas is about- the birth of the baby Jesus. We went and saw a live Nativity scene in Wakefield, I got the boys a playschool toy nativity scene and then yesterday we went to Nana's church for the Christmas pageant.
It was a cute play and the boys had a good time- of course they yelled in the middle of the play "Hi Nana" once they spotted Nana behind the organ! We didn't stay for the entire service as mommy was getting nervous that the boys were disrupting everyone but at least they saw the baby Jesus again.

Zoo Lights

Friday night we went to the Stone Zoo to see the lights. Both Jackson and Shane are really into the lights this year, we like to drive around and look at all of the houses decorated but this was up close lights and displays! I have never seen so many cars at the Stone Zoo parking lot. We went through certain parts of the zoo, most animals were inside except for the owls- you could see them sleeping on the branches. Shane tried to wake them up by yelling Hoo Hoo at them but he was unsuccessful. We brought the stroller with us and the boys were in and out of that thing all night but it was good to have instead of carrying them.

At the end of the lights display were some rides: the boys went on the jeep ride and the carousel- they liked the carousel so much we went on it twice!

                                                              Jackson on the horse! Go horse go.

                                                     Shane on the lion.

                                                       Shane on the Lion and Jackson in the back on the horse.

Nana came with us and on the second carousel turn Mommy went on with the boys and each time we passed Nana Jackson and Shane would wave and yell Hi Nana!

Some misc. photos of the last few weeks:

 Jackson and his snowbies. This is the name that he has for HIS dog snowball.

 

Shane signing Christmas Carols with Nana.

Shane drawing and saying cheese while covered in magic marker!

 Our first fire at home with an early Christmas gift from Nana- a fireplace screen. Shane was a little hesitant of the fire (a good thing); Jackson on the other hand, was not afraid and was sticking his hand in there!

Silly Grandpa- using the pots from the kitchen as a hat.

Pretend play

We just spent 45 minutes playing with dinosaurs. Building houses for them and looking through books to identify the names of the various creatures. I know this is how kids play every day, but sometimes it just hits me that it is so awesome to watch them learn and develop. While we were coloring daddy told Shane to let snowball color and Shane stopped for  a moment and then said, but daddy- Snowball doesn't have any hands...........

The Live Nativity Scene

Today was a "daddy day" full of fun times- going to the indoor play gym (winter has struck- it was 34 degrees today) and to Friendlys for lunch. Tonight, however, mommy wanted to start a family Christmas tradition- going to a live nativity scene. There was one in Wakefield- it was beautiful and full of angels, and animals but it was cold out! We lasted about 20 minutes and then it was time to leave- after the boys saw Baby Jesus all they were interested in was the animals and some kids soccer ball that they found. But it was a good first introduction into the baby Jesus and the meaning behind Christmas.

Decorating the tree

I"m looking at the Christmas card photo from 2008- the year that Shane and Jackson were born, they were just a few weeks old when we plopped them both in one swing with Christmas hats on! And now at three years old they are decorating the tree themselves (well kind of). Nana came over yesterday for a tree trimming- we had China Moon for lunch and then decorated the tree. I thought if I put all of the non-breakable ornaments in a bin the boys could just take them out and hang them on the tree. That worked for about 2 minutes then the boys were more interested in taking the ornaments OFF the tree. Daddy took a nap and we decorated and re-decorated the tree. Jackson was really into it for a while, Standing on the chair and climbing all over the place, I think the tree looks great, I"ll post photos later!

When we were going to bed, the boys remembered from last year (Honestly, I didn't say a peep about it) that the snowmen have to lay down and go to sleep when we go up stairs. So the boys laid all of the snowmen to bed on our way up the stairs and this morning we woke them all up.

Belmont Center Christmas tree lighting

Tonight was the Christmas tree lighting in Belmont Center, both Shane and Jackson have been very interested in Santa this year- Shane likes to walk around yelling Merry Christmas, and Jackson yells Ho Ho Ho. Tonight, we saw Santa- Shane was a little nervous but Jackson jumped right onto his lap without issue. Neither of the boys understand that Santa brings presents, they just wanted to see him so after a great supper at Stonehearst Pizza, photos with Rudolph, playing in pretend snow ( you'd thought we lived in CA. with the fake snow coming down around the bank),......we got to see Santa! The boys each colored a Thomas picture for Santa as well.

 With Rudolph- Jackson on daddy's shoulders, Shane standing.

                                                              Shane and the Big S

                                                                Jackson and Santa