Christmas Eve

This year, we celebrated Christmas Eve in Spokane at my parent's home. We had lots of extended family together to celebrate the evening and the season. As this was Gabe's actual birthday, it was extra special to be with three others who have their birthdays around this time of year. They all understood and sent great birthday wishes to the sick kid. My mom bought Gabe a elf outfit, which he enjoyed wearing. He even found the hat a few days later and attempted to put it back on. It must be one warm, cozy hat or he remembered all the attention he got for wearing the outfit. Who knows. 

 The four cousins sat down at the piano and played us some great music. I think they have all inherited the love of music. Gabriel is one cute kid when music comes on. He does this little bouncy thing that makes me smile every time.

 Receiving some love from Aunt Kristin and Aunt Beth!

 Madeline and Ella each played a solo on the piano for all the adults. Charlie asked if he could also play a solo. Although no one was certain what he would do, he got up and played his little heart out. I was so proud of my usually timid kid. You can see he got quite the response from the adults from his performance. Way to go Charlie!!!

 We ended the night by taking cousin pictures. Gabriel was already conked out by this time, but here are the three bigger cousins. Sorry Maddy, not your best picture. But, I still love it.

 Here is a photo of my generation of cousins. Some how we only ended up with Ruben in the male department this year. He held his own with all of us.

Playing in the snow

While we were in Spokane for Christmas celebrations there was SNOW! Tom and Charlie had been talking about snow ball fights and playing in the snow for about a month. So, we were extremely fortunate when mother nature cooperated. Charlie had a few outing into the snow while in Spokane. Although both parents did make it out with him, all the pictures are with his cousins. 

 Ella and Kristin decided to warm up in the hot tub while Charlie and Maddy played in the snow. Kik finally had to lay down the law with the kids that snow was not allowed in the hot tub.

 Ready for snow-filled adventures!

 I'm not exactly sure what they were doing with these big blocks of snow. I can share a little story here. Charlie had been wanting to throw snow balls at me for a long time. I wasn't outside, but was called to the door so that I could be hit with a snow ball (fun I know). Well, both Maddy and Charlie threw snow balls my direction. Charlie hit me in the leg, while Maddy's snow ball flew right over my head directly into the house. This was rather amazing as there was only about six inches of sliding door open. Nice shot Maddy!

The three snow kids ready for fun.

Santa, Gingerbread and Christmas Tree

There was quite a bit of fun in the Wagner household in preparation for Christmas. There was a party or two, Christmas cookie baking, Santa visits, Christmas decorating, and hopes for a wonderful season. What fun it was to have a three and a half year old this year. He was so much more interested and excited for everything we did. I loved witnessing his innocent joy and I look forward to this in Gabe in a few years. 

At Aunt Janet and Uncle Greg's Christmas party, one of the activities was a gingerbread decorating contest. Charlie completed our submission. He was very serious for this event. Although we were not chosen as winners, we sure loved our gingerbread man!

 Doesn't everyone decorate their Christmas tree without pants on? As you can see, that was the clothing choice for Charlie. He loved decorating our home. We had to take extra care to hang soft ornaments at the bottom. This year we had a very interested crawler in the house. I think we are at a count of three or four broken ornaments. Gabe is a big fan of grabbing the globe ornaments. Most are quite fragile.

I couldn't get Charlie to look at me while at the Christmas tree lot. He was way to interested in the man with the chain saw. I do get it, chain saws are much more interesting than mom taking a picture! 

 I found a recipe online for ornaments. We decided to tackle ornament making. This became a two day project as I had to bake the ornaments for 6 hours. However, we had lots of fun, especially in the painting. A funny story in connection to these ornaments. I asked Charlie to grab a couple ornaments to take to Spokane with us for Christmas. He wanted to bring a couple to Nonnie and Boppa. I didn't pay much attention to what he grabbed. When we arrived in Spokane and he went to give his ornaments away, I noticed that he picked two that I painted. Not exactly the gift to the grandparents I had planned.

 The kids all sang and waited for Santa to arrive at Janet and Greg's Christmas party. Charlie had already sat on Santa's lap and told him that he wanted an airplane. He and dad talked over this visit and decided that Santa needed to be told to bring Charlie's presents to Spokane. So, that is what he is doing in the photo below. Charlie must have done an excellent job because Santa did find him in Spokane!

We had a small cookie baking party before Christmas. Here is a photo of two cousins decorating sugar cookies. Our son loaded each cookie with as many sprinkles as he could. There were piles and piles of sprinkles. 

Look Who's One!

It is difficult for me to believe a year has gone by with Gabriel in our lives. But, it is true. On December 24, 2012, we celebrated Gabe's first birthday! A few days before his actual birthday, we celebrated with Krista and Ron Yep, who also happen to have birthdays around Christmas. We wish that Gabe had a little more fun than he had that night. Poor guy was sick. 

 Here is a picture of the cake that was made by Nonnie and decorated by Nonnie and Charlie. A big "G" for our beautiful boy.

 Gabe wasn't quite sure what to think about the cake. He was both interested and in no way desiring to touch or put it in his mouth. That was also how Charlie was with his cake. I'm hoping this is a foreshadowing on how clean they will keep themselves and hopefully their rooms as the years go by. One can dream. I rather think that the newness of a cake and frosting was all that kept both boys back from ripping into the sugary cake rather than a desire to keep things clean.

 Big cousins, Maddy and Ella helped him open his cards and gifts.