VanDeVusse Family Christmas

We were invaded by the VanDeVusse Family for a little Christmas party! Thanks to my cousin, Michelle, who lives in Arizona and suggested the party, we were all together for the first time in 3 years!!

The Men: My Dad, Grandpa, and Uncle Dave

Tim and my cousin's husband Mike
Here is Grandpa playing bowling on Nintendo Wii. He is seriously considering buying one for himself. He LOVED it!
Grandpa and his kids: Dale, Dave and Shelly
My cousins Debra and Angela with Blake

My Mom, cousin Michelle, and me
All the kids
It was so nice to see everyone, I just hope it doesn't take another 3 years for us to do it again!

Christmas at Mimi and Pa's

We had a wonderful family Christmas at our house with just the 4 of us, then we headed to Mimi and Pa's to celebrate with them and Uncle Allen. We were spoiled as usual, Tim and I got a Nintendo Wii, Blake got the Smart Cycle, and Bryce got a nice addition to his train set that his God Mother gave him. Everyone seemed to love all their presents and we spent the rest of our time there eating . . . I am not kidding, I think we each gained 10lbs.

My Favorite Boys

Oh yeah, that's right, we all have our Christmas jammies on

Uncle Allen and Bryce
Uncle Allen got Blake and Bryce Harley trikes and here is Blake posing with his
It was a quick trip because Tim and I had to work the rest of the week. The boys have really become attached to Uncle Allen, it will be hard when he leaves us to go back to Virginia :(

O'Mara Family Christmas

O'Mara family Christmas took place last night at Sean and Erica's house. We had a really nice meal, fun gifts which included the staples . . . socks and stamps :) AND a classic move by my mother-in-law, a gift to me was labeled to Blake from Santa . . . OOPS! Blake was kind enough to hand over the adult woman size gloves!

These brothers are finally getting the hang of this picture thing :)

We are Family!
Sean, Erica, and Baby Cousin
Grandma, Grandpa, and the boys

We love family get-togethers!!

Choo-Choo for 2

Saturday was Bryce's birthday party brunch and it was Thomas the Train theme. Bryce's wanted "Choo-Choos" and what my baby wants my baby gets . . . to a certain extent!

My little engineer

We all got into the theme :)
The hit of the party was a coffee maker given to Bryce by the Grove family.

Bryce loves to pretend and now he has an actual coffee pot to pretend with

The cake was homemade and really good if I don't say so myself! Although Bryce only ate the frosting.
Bryce's God Mother Leah also gave him a really cool train set that Blake and Bryce play with NON-STOP!! The first things they think of when they wake up . . . coffee pot and train set!

Woolman ~ O'Mara Christmas

Every year we have a family Christmas with our friends the Woolmans. Brad, Monica, Taylor, and Jenna came over last night to help Bryce celebrate his actual birthday and to exchange Christmas Gifts. We had food, spirits, games, and TONS of fun :)

Here are the kids modeling their tails. We got Bryce a Tag Tail game for his birthday. The kids had fun chasing after each other's animal tails.

Thanks, Woolmans! Blake and Bryce LOVE their easle.
Blake and Tay were so sad to leave each other. They had so much fun playing.
Tim and Monica . . . what's so funny?
Rachel and Brad . . . we look CUTE

My brother was kind enough to give me my Christmas present early and we played Battle of the Sexes. It was hard, but a good time.

By the way, can anyone tell me how James Bond takes his martinis? If you are unsure I would be happy to give you my friend Monica's email so she can let you know that EVERYONE knows the right answer, except YOU!!

JK, Mon, I love you!

Mom's Club

We love our Mom's Club! We have so much fun and have made many friends. On Bryce's birthday we played in the gym, ran races, ate yummy snacks, and made a reindeer craft.

Brycie rides the truck like a mad man

Hannah loves to hug
But Blake isn't so sure.

Blake and Kylie

Lauren loves the car rides

My Baby is 2

Yesterday was Bryce's Birthday and he is 2 years old. I am so proud of him, but I am actually very sad that my baby boy is 2 :( He is so grown up and already taking part in typical 2 year old antics. He wore this outfit for about an hour yesterday, then decided he didn't like it, took it off, and asked for new clothes. My sweet baby has been replaced with a toddler over night. I keep telling him he is still Mommy's baby, but he says "No, I'm BIG". Excuse me while I wipe my tears.

Here is the Birthday Boy!

He's not camera shy
Blake is jealous of the birthday boy, but he is handling it fairly well
The Snuggly Brothers

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Blake and Bryce have been trying to be good because Santa is coming to town. Unfortunately, I think they just made an official merge from the Nice list to the Naughty list this morning. As they were singing and dancing around Santa somehow they actually beheaded him. This is terrible, only 9 days before Christmas, let's hope they can redeem themselves this week so that Santa brings toys instead of coal. Between you and me I think they stand a pretty good chance ;)

Day with the Dunnebacks

Yesterday was my friend Leah's birthday and she and her husband Chad are moving to a beautiful new home, so we headed to Lansing for both occasions. We spent the day cleaning, packing, and moving while Blake and Bryce instantly bonded with Chad's mom, Sylvia, and followed her around helping her pack and color on boxes. Then later in the afternoon Blake and Bryce went to my Aunt and Uncle's house to play with my cousins, Angela and Debra, who are the BEST babysitters in the entire

world!!

They treated Blake and Bryce to pizza and Bryce ate 3 pieces!!!!!! Blake even ate a piece with cheese and all.

It was fun hanging out with the Dunnebacks and their friends. We are so happy for them as they move into their dream house! The way home was rough, however, as we battled slippery, snow covered roads. We made it home safe and sound and woke up to even MORE snow that is still coming down and blowing to top it off. Looks like we are staying home today!

Christmas Gifts

Blake finished his first semester of school today and he came home with presents for all of us! He made an ornament for Daddy

An Advent wreath for himself
And a card for Mommy that says "Merry Christmas from your little Angel"
He made Bryce a necklace with red and white beads, but it fell apart on the way home!
Blake is proud of his gifts for his family! He also informed me today that he has decided on a birthday present for his brother, he would like to get him a watch because he said Bryce is always jealous when he wears his watch. I thought that was really sweet until Blake changed his mind and graciously offered up the old watch to Bryce so that he could get the new one!

Oh, Brother!!

Christmas Pictures 2007

Aside from Bryce's finger in his eye, they turned out fairly well considering Bryce cried during most of the sitting!

Quick Summary

*Blake has been on a roll this weekend with his elaborate completely fictional stories. His imagination has been on overdrive! He has been telling us all about what he and his "best friend Taylor" have been doing the past 2 days and the strangest part is that he hasn't seen Taylor in 2 weeks! The pictures above are a flash back of Blake and Taylor who have been lifelong friends.

*We were in Target shopping and I saw a book I have been wanting to read, so I handed it to Blake and said, "Will you get this for me as my Christmas gift?" He took it out of my hands and exclaimed, "YES! You are a genius, Mom! This is a great idea!".

*Other spectacular news is that my Christmas shopping is almost done after a shopping trip with Monica yesterday. We had a full day of shopping, eating, and bonding . . . it was a good time. AND I found the Little People Airport I wanted for Bryce, I can't wait for him to play with it!

*Tim enjoyed a day at home with the boys and they took part in their own eating and bonding fest. Brycie had his eyes set on the entire pantry and worked very hard to accomplish that goal.

*This morning Brycie woke up with a terrible cough and awful wheezing. I gave him a breathing treatment with my nebulizer and it seemed to loosen his chest up, but I am watching him close. He requires breathing treatments every time he gets a cold, but he was really struggling this morning :(