Christmas with the Fischer Family

The day after Christmas we headed up to Northern Kentucky to celebrate Christmas with Rick's family. It was a fun day and the boys were spoiled with more presents! And...... Rick's sister, Julie, got engaged. Yiiippppppeeeee! Congrats Julie and Travis! Bill took some pictures of the whole family, so as soon as I get those I will post them. I think they will turn out pretty good considering we had 4 kids, a camera with a timer, and 10 adults :)

This is Travis and Isabel trying to put together a puzzle that is way too hard... I think Travis is even having trouble with it!

Rick's dad made this table for the boys. Now, they have a place to do all of their beautiful artwork and I don't have to scrape stamp ink, markers, or playdoh off of my kitchen table anymore!

Last summer Rick's dad gave Andrew a block of wood with his name on it. It had pre-drilled holes so Andrew could practice hammering the nails along the letters of his name. Well, world war 3 broke out every time Andrew played with it. So, I asked Joe to make some for Matthew so he could have his own hammer and wood. As you can see, the fighting has already started over this hammer. Now that they each have their own, hopefully they don't get angry at each other and start beating each other with hammers!

I love this picture! So, who do you think won this game? One of the 3 adults, or the 3 year old?

More hungry hippos....

Baby Gavin... quite a handsome young man!

Christmas with the Hatfield Family

Here are some pictures from Christmas day with the Hatfield family.

Opening more gifts....

I guess Papaw was getting beat in candyland by a 3 year old!

Matthew decided Mamaw needed some help in the kitchen...

Wrestling with Papaw

The Hatfield's- Seth, Sarah, Debbie, and Ken. Gabe is not in this picture.

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas! We have had a really great day! Last night, Rick and I went out to eat (by ourselves, yippee!!) and then to church. We picked the boys up and took them to see some christmas lights. There is a house in my parent's neighborhood that decorates like you wouldn't believe and Santa and Mrs. Claus are there to hand out goody bags and to talk to the kids. It was really cute! We came home and the boys sprinkled reindeer food in the yard and we got the cookies ready for Santa! This morning the boys were so excited!!!!!!! Although I did not go overboard with Christmas this year, I still did too much. All these boys want is a new train. As soon as Andrew got Hank and Matthew got Percy, nothing else really mattered!!!!!! We spent the afternoon at my parent's house where they received even more gifts!  It was a really great day and the boys are worn out and ready for bed :)

Getting cookies ready for Santa....

Sprinkling reindeer food in the yard....

Matthew with Percy.... he held Percy in one hand and then opened all the other gifts with one hand. He didn't want to put him down (probably because Andrew would try to snatch it!)

Santa brought the boys a ride-on train... needless to say, it was a big hit!

Look how excited this boy is to get Hank!

Merry Christmas!

Package from Santa

Andrew and Matthew were very excited on Friday because they got a package in the mail from Santa... all the way from the North Pole! Inside, they each had a letter from Santa and a bell from Santa's sleigh. Andrew was so excited. He said, "That was really nice of Santa to send that!" Andrew has worn his bell since the package came in the mail.... he really loves it! Thanks for sending this Santa, it really was special for the boys!

Here is Andrew with his bell and letter.

Here is Matthew with his letter and bell..... He is missing a sock and his pants in this picture!

Andrew showed his bell to all of his favorite ornaments :)

Santa at School!

You aren't going to believe this, but today Santa made a surprise visit to Andrew's school!!! Andrew is terrified of all characters or anything in a costume, but he actually got up and sat in his lap. He would not make eye contact, or smile, or talk, and he looked like he was about to wet his pants the whole time, but he did it. Way to go, Andrew! Santa brought all the kids presents to open. Then, Andrew passed out gifts to all his friends and they had ice cream together. What a fun day!!!!

Here is Andrew passing out his gifts. The kids were soooo excited. When I was getting the gifts out, I look up and see about 5 kids hugging him and saying "thanks, Andrew!" This was before they even knew what they were getting!

Santa counted to 3 and all the kids tore into their presents. Except for Drew-- who just sat there like a lump on a log. He is so funny at school, no expression, no talking, all business. So, Ms. Stephanie helped him open his gifts.

"I will not make eye contact"

"I will not make eye contact"

I will not make eye contact"

Doesn't Andrew look like he is about to cry? Santa asked him what he wanted and of course Andrew didn't say a word. All the other kids started yelling "he loves choo-choos, bring him some choo-choos!"

Random Pictures

We spent the day hanging out around the house. Well, we tried to go to church but we had to leave early because Matthew got too rowdy for the cry room and gets kicked out of the nursery every week, but that is another story. So, we had fun taking pictures of the kids in their pj's and santa hats. It is almost time for Santa to be here and they are both so excited!

I love this picture of Andrew!

They were looking at the tree-- they are so in love with the ornaments. Every day Andrew picks a new favorite one!

Andrew and Matthew....

Andrew was laughing at Rick in this picture :) I think he looks like a jolly ole' St. Nick!

Misc. Pictures

Here are some more pictures.... I kinda go overboard with the picture taking! Oh, well.... I guess I could have worse habits :)

Me with my baby boy, Matthew

This boy loves to smile....

I love his expression in this picture!

The Matthew we all know and love!

My handsome little man, Andrew

Decorating the Tree

We put up our tree the night of Thanksgiving... what a task that was! The boys loved it.... they were emptying boxes, taking ornaments on and off the tree, throwing stuff around the room, fighting over certain ornaments..... but finally we finished putting everything up and only broke one ornament in the process! We let Andrew and Matthew hang all the ornaments and they hung them all in one tiny part of the tree until the branches were drooping over. Andrew kept saying, "Our tree is looking great!" It was a lot of fun to see them so excited but not so fun to deal with the stress of putting up all your Christmas decorations! This is definitely not a favorite for Rick or myself, but I am happy the boys had so much fun! We know these are special memories!

We knew it was going to be a frustrating process when wrestle-mania started inside the Christmas tree bag! They rolled around in this thing forever....  both boys are inside the bag in this picture!

What a happy Elf-- Santa would be so proud!

Santa's other helper-- Ricky the Elf

Mommy and Matthew hanging ornaments together 

Andrew LOVED hanging ornaments on the tree!

Andrew was so excited about the tree! When he woke up the next morning, the first thing he said was "Is the tree still up?"

Matthew never misses a photo op!

"Seriously, mom.... I can't touch this stuff for a month?????"

At the end of a very long night this was the best picture we could get of the boys. We were all tuckered out.... although Andrew looks like he is still ready to party :)

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Hatfield family. It was a nice day so the boys went outside to play for a little bit before the big Turkey dinner. Here are a few pictures-- hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!

Matthew loves to smile :)

Stopping to pose.... he is my little model!

This is one way to get Andrew to stand still for a picture, put him in a tree where he can't move! He is such a handsome little boy!

Our family picture

Christmas Pictures 2008

We got up bright and early this morning to head out and get Christmas pictures taken of the boys. We were the first ones there and were in and out in 35 minutes :) I was very happy with them. My boys are so cute!

It was very hard to get a picture of Matthew because he was cracking up laughing in every shot!

I didn't get this pose, but I sure do love it! Andrew was trying so hard NOT to smile, it was funny!

Didn't get this one either, but I think it is so cute!

Didn't get this one either..... but again.... so cute! 

My sweet boys....

I love this picture!

This is my favorite picture :)

He is such a happy boy!  I didn't buy this one either :)