Monday, December 29, 2008

Breakfast at the Graskes

The other morning as I was sitting having breakfast with the kids I had to grab my camera to capture what breakfast at our house looks like these days.

For Mia, she likes to eat pancakes, french toast sticks, peanut butter toast, or muffins for breakfast. For Cole it is now eating rice cereal (I still have to post pics of his first time with cereal)! Cole has pretty much taken over Mia's highchair, although she still sits there occasionally. I am still debating getting a booster for Mia since she does pretty well on a regular chair. We will see...

Mia has also become what we like to call a "hoarder" and carries around a bunch of random stuff that she often tries to bring to the table. :) This could be dolls, blankets, books, etc. We have to gently reminder to leave those behind sometimes. Check out the picture to see for yourself (note the doll carrier in the lower left corner of the picture)...

Breakfast is fancy at our house :)
Cole relaxing after his yummy rice cereal

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas 2008

Allright, you may want to settle in, because this is going to be a long one. :) After uploading all these pictures I realized I probably should have broke this down into different posts, but oh well!

I will start with Christmas Eve...

Christmas Eve morning we continued the tradition that both Cort and I had as kids of getting to open one present. Mia was very excited to open hers and receive her Christmas pajamas and a book. Note that she is wearing her HALLOWEEN pajamas here-she is a big fan of the seasonal pjs and had requested to wear these the night before. :)


Mia helped Cole open his gift, and as you can see Cole was thrilled about the whole thing. :)
Showing Cole his pajamas
We took it pretty easy that day, just mainly getting ready to host Cort's family. Auntie Pam also came by for a quick visit to play Santa and spoil the kids. Thank you Pam for the gifts! Mia is loving playing with her puppy and register.

Pam and Cole
Soon the rest of the Graskes made their way over. Here is Cort supervising all the children. :) Mia and Ava had matching dresses again this year.
The kids played and were silly while dinner was cooking

The dinner table (I have to show off the china since it is used about once a year!)
Cole and Mommy
The girls couldn't quite wait for dinner to finish cooking so they got an early start at the "kids table"
Poor Cole-he had to eat watery cereal for Christmas! (more on the intro to cereal in another post)
Finally we all sat down and the girls abandoned their table to join everyone else (Cole is in the corner in his bouncer)
Mia enjoyed a Christmas cookie for dessert
And then it was time to open gifts!!!
Ava
Aidan
Cort
Papa and Ian
Ian, Sarah and Aidan
The Aftermath-Wow!
Next Cort and I put the kids in their Christmas pjs. Cole was pretty wiped out, so he went to bed, but Mia stayed up to write Santa a note and leave him cookies.
Mia and Cole
Setting out the cookies (and carrots for the reindeer)
Writing a note to Santa
Last, Gigi read Mia "The Night Before Christmas" before Mia went to bed (at 10:00!!!!)
The next morning was Christmas!!! It was so fun to wake up and have Mia be so excited to go downstairs and see what was left in her stocking and what Santa had brought her. This year she really "got" it and it was really great to see Christmas through her eyes.
Mia checking out a book Santa left in her stocking (this is what she had asked for from Santa)
One of her favorite gifts-a harmonica
Cole finally woke up and joined in the fun (after looking at all these pictures of him, it is apparent that he is not so sure about this whole Christmas thing!)
Mia opening gifts
Mia's big gift this year was a kitchen from Santa-it is really cute watching her pretend to cook.
Not to be left out of the whole gift-giving extravaganza, Cole ripped up some wrapping paper and checked out a new book he got.

Cole with his new animal towels
The next stop on the Christmas train was my mom's house. We met up with Mike and Jen's family there and did our gift exchange. Opening gifts with 4 chldren 2 and under is quite an experience. We had to take a couple of breaks and pauses throughout. :)
Claire chilling out under the Christmas tree
Mia with her new tiara and wand from Jen (the tiara now comes off occasionally for baths, etc. )
Mia and her beautiful umbrella
Claire and Cole playing (Cole was sleeping when we changed Mia into her Christmas outfit if you were wondering)
Noah and Cort
Jen and Mike
Mike Mom opening her picture collage
Jen and Claire
Finally, last but not least, we took the caravan over to my Aunt Cathy's for Christmas with my Aunt and Grandparents. My aunt cooked a wonderful meal with both traditional Armenian dolma and also yummy lasagna. More gift-giving and merriment continued. :)
Papa and Cole
Grandma and Cole
Cole's finally dressed!
Jen and Cole
Mia and Noah at their own table for 2
Love this one of Cole snuggled up with his Grandma
Mia playing with her new magnetic "paper dolls" An attempt to get a photo with both the kids
Photobook gifts

An AWESOME painting that my grandparents made for Cole
Worn out at the end of the night playing with Mia's wands :)

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. Exhausting, but wonderful! Even though the last 2 years have had many ups and downs, Cort and I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful kids, wonderful family, and wonderful friends. We look forward to seeing what this next year has in store for us!