Happy New Year

We spent New Year’s Eve partying it up with our neighbors: Dave, Lynn, Jonathan & Kathryn. By partying it up, I mean we…

did an hour’s worth of puppet shows on the new stage

Some party poppers in the kitchen (these were not the firecrackers I thought I bought!)

and noise makers & party hats…

3 of these party animals made it all the way to midnight…any guess which ones?? (I love how Lucas is blowing his eyes crossed in this picture!)

Well, it was poor Isaac that fell asleep at 11:45!! Lucas would have stayed up all night dancing with Kathryn!!

Happy 2013 Everyone! 

Post Christmas

Our final phase of Christmas is spent in Hickory with Oma, Opa, and the Blevins Gang. The house is packed and bursting at the seams, but it kind of reminds me of “The Giving Tree” because it always feels to me that the house is happy (along with all the people in it!). The kids got another round of great presents from Oma & Opa.

Waiting for their stockings.

Trying on his new worker man vest!

Playing with the awesome puppet stage that Oma & Opa made for the boys. There will be much better photos of this in posts to come as they are having a blast with their little stage!

On Saturday, we headed up the mountain to find some snow. We found just barely enough for the kids to sled on. It was quite the winter landscape though with all these beautiful frozen trees!

Lucas was first to try out mommy’s new sled!

Isaac and Audrey going for a ride!

A family shot in the snow.

Friday night we did a Christmas light scavenger hunt that proved to be both fun and entertaining. I will definitely be doing more of these in the future…it was really fun to ride around town finding things in Christmas lights.

Saturday’s fun was back to some German heritage….homemade pretzels!

Two little pretzel rollers (watch out, one appears to be hungry!)

Isaac helping Oma with the baking part!

The finished product…tasty!!!

The weekend was a fabulous way to wrap up a really fun Christmas season. From all of us to all of you, we hope that your holiday was as happy as ours!

Christmas

 We got back to Wake Forest late on Christmas Eve, but the kids were still awake and very excited about making preparations for Santa. They left him a glass of milk, 2 lebkuchen and a carrot for his reindeer. Although, the reindeer got a bit less than they were supposed to because someone needed a bed time snack! Notice that Isaac is holding the cookies out of Lucas' reach!

On Christmas morning, the boys woke up to presents under the tree and a really cool race track from Santa!  I was expecting a grand entrance by the boys, but as it turned out, Isaac was still sleepy and just went and laid on the couch like it was a normal morning (the presents were behind the couch). He was much more excited when I reminded him that it was Christmas and that I thought Santa had come to visit them!

Lucas opening his stocking gifts with Daddy.

Even Wripley got in on the action! She's been eyeing those stockings every day since we brought them down from the attic. Wripley knows Santa brings her treats!!

The boys both racked up the gifts at home. Isaac got a new basketball, a moon for his bedroom, amongst other things, but his favorite gift was his box of dinosaurs from his little brother. Lucas got a school bus, a farm set complete with a red tractor (mommy's favorite kind), and some bases for playing baseball.

Isaac was also very excited that for the first time he (with a little help from Lucas) got to pick gifts for mommy & daddy. The boys got daddy a new tarp (for when Isaac helps him haul leaves into the woods) and a set of cones for riding bikes and dribbling the basketball around.  They got mommy a new set of footed pajama's complete with sharks for the feet and a sesame street t-shirt. Absolutely perfect choices by our newest little shoppers!

After presents we got cleaned up and went down to Aunt RaRa & Aunt Cindy's for breakfast...another one of our Christmas traditions. The boys got spoiled here as well with some awesome new spiderman shoes, a plasma car for Lucas and a buzz lightyear for Isaac.

The boys with Aunt RaRa & Aunt Cindy

The rest of the day and all the following day was spent relaxing and playing with all our new stuff. We even enjoyed dinner with our other neighbors, the Kohls'. It was our most relaxing Christmas yet, and made so special by getting to spend it with our extended neighbor family! 

Pre-Christmas

Our family pretty much has Christmas for an entire week every year. Pre-Christmas is spent in Fayetteville with Nana & Boppa, Christmas is spent at home in Wake Forest, and then Post-Christmas is spent in Hickory with Oma & Opa & the Blevins Crew. All 3 Christmas’ are packed FULL of fun and activities. (Be ready for picture overload!)

Nana & Isaac make their annual gingerbread house.

Boppa is in charge of entertaining Lucas!

We visit the local city park display of lights.

Where we roast marshmallows in the cold!

There is story/music time!

Then there are the gifts!! Don’t these 2 cuties look excited?!

Time for stockings!

The boys got lots of good stuff including a leap pad explorer 2 for Isaac, a mobigo for Lucas, and then a fire station, baseball pitching machine and some pirate toys that they have decided to share!

Yes, the ball in this picture hits him square in the forehead.

Pre-Christmas ends with a Christmas Eve party with all of Boppa’s family at Papa’s house. It is one of two times of year the whole gang gets together to celebrate and it is always a lot of fun.

Thanks Nana & Boppa for our great Pre-Christmas festivities!

Lebkuchen

As it turns outs, we had so much fun over Christmas that I didn’t take the time to sit down and blog anything. So, the next few days will be about catching up on Christmas.

Ever since I was a little girl, making Lebkuchen ( a german cookie) is something I remember doing every Christmas. That is a tradition that I plan to continue with my boys. This year, they were finally at the age where the actually enjoyed the process. I mean, really, who wouldn’t love making a complete mess of the kitchen!!

Isaac did a great job rolling and cutting his own cookies.

Lucas even got in on the action with his own cookie cutting station.

Once they are cut and baked, it’s time for the fun part….decorating. It started out well. The meticulously decorated the first few cookies.

But then, all craziness broke loose!! Sprinkles everywhere!! As soon as Lucas started licking the sprinkles, his cookie decorating was over. No one wants to eat that mess.

The end product was a table full of beautiful cookies to eat!

Birthday Train

It's party time at the Raynor house again, so all aboard the Birthday Train for Lucas' 2nd Birthday!! Party prep began early in the week, but it's always the cake part that we look forward too. Friday night after the kids were in bed, the creativity kicked into high gear. It never fails that at some point during the project I find myself almost in tears because nothing less than absolute perfection is good enough for my kids. So when the train engines started out looking like shoes, then progressed into roller skates, let's just say I came real close to losing it. Thankfully, in the end they came out looking like pretty decent train engines and a sobbing mess/cuss fest was avoided! (A special thanks as always to my sister for laughing me through it. I love our party prep fiascos!)

Lucas' party started promptly after nap time on Saturday. He was EXCITED!

Isn't he the cutest little engineer you've ever seen? (Thanks to Oma & Opa for the awesome outfit!) Here he is with his Uncle Mark who is always dressed for the occasion as well!

The cousins knew just what Lucas needed...a huge cardboard train to color and play in. Needless to say it was a huge hit at the party!

The dinner menu was a big hit too...Ikea meatballs!!

Present time was a big success too. Lucas got all kinds of goodies from all his friends. His birthday may be right after Christmas, but everyone made sure he was thoroughly spoiled again. I'm still in shock that the little kids sat back and just watched as he opened all his presents!

I must say I was super thrilled when he reacted to the bike that his Daddy & I bought for him. His face when I brought it around the corner was priceless!!

And it's his birthday (and Brian & I are super cool) so, of course we let him ride it in the house because it was cold outside!

Lucas thoroughly enjoyed digging in to his very own train engine cake...

and then he worked off those train engine calories with a little dance party with Audrey, Charlotte and his favorite singing dog.

Our house was literally packed to the gills with people to celebrate Lucas' birthday. I can't even begin to tell you how that makes a mother feel. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends that helped make his day (& his mom's day) so special.

If I've said it once, I must have said it a thousand times...."time flies". It flies by way too fast, and somehow today my baby turned two years old. Happy Birthday, little buddy. Mommy loves you more than you will ever know.