Christmas 2013!

Let me tell you what, there is nothing quite like Christmas when your kiddos are 6, 4, and 2. Ohhhh, the magic! The excitement! The JOY.

December was simply fantastic for us and, though I'm sure we'll have wonderful Christmases in the future, I bet I'll be looking at them at 16, 14, and 12 and wishing I could relive Christmas 2013 just once more. Thankfully, I took more than plenty of pictures to recap all of our fun.

All of the kindergarten classes at Kolbe's school put on an adorable little Christmas concert. We tried desperately to convince him that his tie was supposed to go under his vest, but he wasn't hearing it. And really, who cares!? Rock your own style, little dude. 

And this guy attempted to create a show of his own from the front row.  

As most six-year-olds do, Kolbe was abnormally sheepish up on stage. But it was super cute, for sure.

Then there was Rudy's adorable Nativity play put on by the four and five year old classes at Little Saints.

He was the most precious little shepherd ever! 

Prior to heading to Dallas for Christmas with the Asmussens, we had a small Christmas celebration with my parents, my brother Pat, my brother and sister-in-law, Andy and Abby, and their kiddos, John and Will. (The English teacher in me is hating the number of "ands" and potential comma mistakes in that last sentence. Ugh.) We had lots of fun opening Christmas presents and creating the usual mayhem that goes along with lots of small kids in a small space.

We also had fun making a ginger bread house! (I die over John's face in this picture!)

Aunt Abby, the more patient of us mamas, did a great job spearheading the gingerbread house construction.

The following morning we had our own little family Christmas.  The boys LOVED opening their gifts from each other. They worked hard throughout Advent to earn tickets that were eventually traded in for money to go on a shopping trip to purchase Christmas gifts for each other. 

Grant is in the kissing stage of being two. He likes to bring it in for the real deal.

Poor Dada….he got his wisdom teeth removed on the Friday before Christmas. Not exactly ideal, but it meant not having to take off more time in the future since he was already off for the week of Christmas. He was definitely struggling for a few days.

Aaaand all of my kids are at the stage where it's nearly impossible not to "help" someone else open a gift. 

Ever since we stayed in a downtown Houston hotel for Mark's half marathon in October, the boys have been obsessed with the idea of hotels. I mean, why not!?! They're pretty much awesome when you're a kid. They had been begging to go to a hotel again, so Mark and I decided to give them a night in the hotel for our Christmas gift to them. I randomly picked a hotel in Corsicana on our way to Dallas because it was a little more than half way and also boasted an indoor pool. Sadly, when we arrived we discovered that the pool was under construction. Mom fail for not calling ahead. So instead, we got pizza and watched Christmas movies in bed. Mark and I might have been bored to tears but our kids still thought it was the coolest.

Upon arriving in Dallas, we immediately hit the Galleria with G-ma, Papa Jeep, Uncle Brian, and Aunt Cristi for some fun at the ice rink!

Papa Jeep used to be an avid skater so we were excited to get out on the ice with him and see his moves.

Luckily, Aunt Cristi is a pretty awesome skater too and we were blessed to have all her  help out on the ice!

This is what ice skating with a two-year-old looks like.  I most definitely got my workout!

Kolbe and Rudy LOVED it! 

And by the time we finished, Kolbe was doing it all on his own. (Though mom would have been happy with a helmet and a full set of pads.)  

By this point, Grant was sidelined, but our little family sure had fun at the ice rink!

That night we had fun playing an iPad version of charades. Uncle Brian makes a great "ballroom dancer!"

And Mark is obviously great at "fencing." 

And Kolbe and Rudy…well, they're great at something too. I just don't remember what. 

G-ma was sooo happy to see her grandbabies! She brought them all new jammies.

They had lots of fun climbing on Papa Jeep too!

Oh, Grant. Being two is so hard.  

Mark's cousin, Mika recently moved down to the DFW area and we got the chance to go by and see their new house. Instead taking pics of Mark with his cousins, or even Grandma Josie who was also there…all I got were shots of Mark running football drills with our boys and Mika's son, Adan. They had a blast!

All dressed up and headed to Christmas mass! (I've learned to take the picture BEFORE mass instead of waiting until after when they're completely disheveled and cranky. But, sadly, I failed to get a shot of our whole family.) 

This one is more like reality.

Aren't these two some cutie-pa-tooties!?

All G-ma wanted was a picture of her with the boys in their Christmas outfits. But someone didn't want to participate. We tried to force it anyway. So here you go, G-ma. Merry Christmas. Hope you like chaos.

Aunt Cristi just so happens to be a kindergarten teacher and she had lots of arts and crafts to work on with the boys. Score one for time-filling, quiet-creating, fine-motor-skill-developing greatness!

I forgot our copy of "The Night Before Christmas" so we read it on the iPad instead. Kind of pitiful and definitely not "the same," but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Yes, G-ma, Rudy is still the most lovable, cuddly boy of all creation.  (and no, he wasn't asleep! Just loving on "Geems.")

Then there's these two. They share a birthday. And obviously some awesome stories too.

This is Ellie--Brian and Cristi's super-pooch. I'm not quite sure how we managed to get a picture of Ellie without Grant torturing her as part of the shot, because, really…the entire trip revolved around breaking up fights between Ellie and Grant. Poor pup was probably glad to see him go!

Mama and Grantness…in our Christmas jammies!

Christmas morning! 

The boys got up MANY times throughout the night. The excitement was beyond killing them! But we managed to hold them off until 6:30ish. (I think.) These four were great sports and got up to share in the Saint Nick festivities. We then opened family gifts and I'm pretty sure all was complete by about 8:30am. When they'd normally be hitting the snooze button again on a normal Christmas morning!

Let me explain….
For WEEKS this child's only request for Christmas was donuts. Any time he saw a picture of  Santa Clause,  be it home decor, newspaper flier, Christmas card, you name it…he would grab the picture and say, "Hi Santa! Bring donuts!" I kid you not. Obviously, we HAD to have donuts…and he was beyond thrilled to find a couple of nasty bags of caked together donuts in his pile on Christmas morning. He even walked the room and handed them out to everyone. Oh, to be a two-year-old.

Opening gifts with Papa Jeep!

Thanks to G-ma, this guy now has the microscope he's been eyeing for the longest time. 

And two little boys, after at least two years of begging, are now  on four wheels.  (Lord, please help my anxiety!) 

Kolbe is as intense as ever and Rudy is just so "fun" on his skateboard.

Those are my boys! 

And that would be more Asmussen Christmas 2013 that anyone would ever care to see, right?! But so many wonderful memories. We are blessed beyond measure and looking forward to the fantastic year ahead of us.

Three Thought Thursday- 8/22/13

Hello, world! We're baaaaack!
I can't exactly use the phrase "a little behind." I think that applies to two, maybe three weeks. Not two months. Shameful, I tell you. I mean, really...twenty-some-odd years from now when I want to revisit the summer of 2013...my thoughts, the little nuances of life, the ups, the downs....I'll have nothing. Well nothing except scrolls and scrolls of pictures! So here's to that: a close-out to the July and August of The Summer of 2013.

We took a trip to Brenham, TX for the 4th of July to visit Andy and Abby and we had a blast! On the 4th we enjoyed an adorable little small town parade in Chappell Hill. Really, the cutest parade ever.

And no trip to Brenham is complete without a visit to the Bluebell Ice Cream factory. Yum, yum! 

We had all ages represented- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And it was impossible to get a good shot of all 5 without at least one making a break for it!

This little man...

Little Will is just the cutest ever. He's such a pleasant, mellow little guy!

We had a great time with the Hefferlys and can't wait to go back!

When our plans to go swimming at the country club fell through, we hit the kiddie pool in the front yard. True American style.

And then shivered a bit as the sun was setting.

What 4th of July is complete without Bomb Pops?

Even if they make you look a bit like a vampire.

And of course we finished it off with a small town firework show. Such a fun little trip!

Our next adventure was a "glad we did it but never again" success story of a trip flying standby on Southwest to Lubbock. We're so, so glad we did it and were so thankful for the free tickets, but never again with little ones. If I had been keeping up with the blog, you would have heard a long tale of dramatic woeful proportions but I'll simply leave it at standby during the summer saves you nothing. Including sanity. 

But we got to enjoy story time with Papa Jeep.

Wrestle-mania with Uncle P (who happened to be in town for a wedding!)

A trip to the movies with grandparents (in outfits to match the movie, no less!)

A backyard BBQ with cousins on both sides of the family

Two best buddies catching up like old times. (and Mark and I got a night to catch up with adult family and friends too!) 

Backyard shenanigans (yes, I let my kid run around like that. He got bit by something and I was trying to make sure he didn't breakout too badly!)

Just being adorable, as always. 

Time catching up with Krista never goes by too slowly.

And guess who loves tire swings?!?

No trip to Lubbock is complete without a visit to "Castle Park."

Swinging with his grandparents....

And checking out bunnies with buddy Jacob.

And then there was the flight home...all this made the trip well worth it! SO glad we got to visit Lubbock this summer!

So beyond our two trips, what else have we been up to??? Oh, just things like...

My cousin having the sweetest little baby girl ever who I fully intend on kidnapping...

...Mark smoking his first set of ribs, and man, were they good!....

...the annual summer trip to Chuck E Cheese...

...and don't even get me started on this. Root canal + Laura's lupus = epic fail.  Horrible inflammatory response which resulted in having to have my tooth filed down so the back two don't even touch now. And to think I still have to have the crown done! Grr!.....

...but that episode was redeemed by a fun trip to see the Astros play with Pinkie and Pa and the Hefferly Clan (Andy's family)...

...We had a blast at Minute Maid Park...

...sat up in the rafters and enjoyed every minute...

...and then I got to go on a date with this little slice of heaven...to pick out school supplies and talk about life...

...and somewhere amidst the summer, my baby turned into a boy...

...and a little boy room got a massive makeover (that's still in progress- waiting on a new dresser this weakend!)...

...And these two cheesers celebrated seven years of marriage with a night out....

...and a night in--as a family tradition, we always celebrate the birth of our family (our anniversary) with a candle-light dinner for the whole clan, in hopes that we teach our boys the importance of marriage, love, and commitment. And on the fine china and with a table cloth!)...

So hopefully back to our normally scheduled routine. With school starting on Monday and a weekend getaway for Mark and me to follow, I certainly have lots to "talk" about. See you soon!