Bath time

Bath time as an only child

Bath time as a little brother

The mastermind and his victim

H-A-P-P-Y B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y

Christmas Dinner in Mesa

Beautiful table, with Greg working away in the background

Booker, Dax & Jarem playing Elephun

Aunt Joy with Teichert

Our great-grandma, Mama Ginger

Cousin Dani- with hair artfully done by Kinsey

Tuckered out, just in time to hop in the car and sleep all the way to Tucson

Christmas Day

Aunt RieRie's man-jays. 

One of Booker's favorites- his T-ball. 

Ike's favorites? Anything he can grasp his little fingers around. 

Booker's loot. Not bad at all. He got a zoo-keeper Mr. Potato Head, or as he likes to call him, "Mr. Pumpkin Head."  

Thanks for making the drive to spend Christmas morning with us! 

Booker's hammer toy. It just had to come in the car for the 1.5 hour drive to Mesa. Mom and dad were thrilled. 

Christmas Eve

We started off the festivities by visiting Santa at the mall while we waited for Aunt RieRie to show up. No, we didn't pay those ridiculous photo package prices. It turns out you can sit on Santa's lap for free and use your zoom lens to sneak a shot. Booker was excited with the idea of meeting Santa but when it came down to it, he was very shy. When Santa asked him what he wanted, his reply: "Presents." What do you want inside those presents? "Toys." Well, alright. Of course, when we made it back to the safety of our car, Booker couldn't stop talking about Santa Claus and his presents.

Aunt RieRie finally made it after sitting in some nasty holiday traffic and we ate a delicious dinner (courtesy of Sam's Club). Next we visited Pinnacle Peak for a true Tucsonian Christmas. We saw a shoot-em-up show called Santa's Little Outlaws. We were pretty impressed with this particular cowboy's mad ropin' skills. Booker's take on it: "That's really cool."

Then the violence started and never really stopped. Lots of slapstick humor, which Booker found a little too funny. It was kinda disturbing how hard he laughed every time someone got hurt. 

That's a person inside Santa's belly. She was hiding from the sheriff. 

Lots of gunshots and explosions- which were all real and quite startling for both Booker and Ike. By the end of the show Booker had his hands over his eyes so he didn't have to watch another fireball fly up into the sky. I think we'll make this a Christmas Eve tradition.

Don't worry, that's not the real Santa lying on his back. Its just someone pretending to be Santa so the sheriff won't put him in jail.

Then we took a ride on the carousel. Which ended up a lot like the Santa experience. Sounds exciting, but once he got on that horse, Booker freaked out. 

A funny car with horns. It just screams Christmas, doesn't it? That's how Santa rides in T-town.

We got home, put on PJ's, ate apple pie a la mode, and then read The Polar Express and The First Christmas by Tomie dePaola (which our Mom just found out is out of print and now sells for between $50 and $185 online- she found it at a used book sale and paid a $1 for it. I think we'll put that book on a high shelf for now.)

Everyone opened one gift and then hopped into bed...

Then Santa delivered our haul...

...and stuffed our stockings. Can't wait for the morning. We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, especially our grandparents who seem so far away. You're with us in spirit. We love you guys! 

Shhhh... don't tell

Mommy may or may not have opened her present while Daddy was at work today. And we may or may not be picking at the relish tray while we wait for Aunt RieRie and Daddy to get here. We won't say a word.  Hurry up and lets start this Christmas thing! Merry Christmas everyone! 

Winter Wonderland

Christmas Lights Galore

The Valley of Lights...

This is Prescott's famous "Christmas on Crack" house. One Christmas loving Prescottonian has gone ALL OUT with the lights. You can find everything from Baby Jesus, a giant cross, an American flag to penguins and baby seals. Its nuts. 

Over the hills and through the snow, to RieRie's house we go...

We had a fun weekend in Prescott with Aun RieRie. We saw the famous Christmas Bush off I-17 on our drive up. We ate grilled cheese and squash soup for lunch. We went to a Christmas Bazaar where we found a knitted Octopus who only had six arms. Does that make him a hexapus? We drove up to White Spar and played in the snow and sunshine. We saw the Valley of Lights, the singing Christmas tree and lots of cool Christmas lights. We hung out by the fire and ate lots of candy. We had yummy Indian food for dinner. And through it all, we were good sports and let our mom take a million photos.