Cousin Time!!

I went with Mike to some meetings he had for work in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, and K-Man got to go hang out with his cousins for four whole days!!  I think he thought he was in heaven.  His cousin, Zak, is one of his favorite people in the world.  Here are some pictures from his time in Washington with his cousins.

He won't eat Ritz crackers at home, but if Zak is sharing them with him, he's all about it!

It's so hard being a kid sometimes.  Such a sad face... so why does it make me chuckle to myself?

Zak's frosting/cookie ratio is just about right

So sad!  Maybe he should eat another cookie?

Ahh, there we go.  That's much better!

Frosting face!!

He finally realized how much fun it was to be hanging out with a bunch of kids and decorating cookies

Cousin Zak didn't realize he had his coat on upside-down.  Haha!!

Cousin time!!

He's not used to playing so hard all day long, so by day three he fell asleep on the couch way before his normal nap time.  Sleeping kids are so adorable!

The Big Day!

Finally Christmas morning came!  We got up early and got ready while we were waiting for K-Man to wake up, then we opened our gifts from Santa, played with them for awhile, and then we headed off to church.  After church, Mike's little brother and his family came over to open presents with the rest of us.  It was such a fun day.  That evening, we drove to Amy's family's house, which is about two hours away, and spent Christmas evening with them.  

Amy stayed up late on Christmas Eve to make homemade cinnamon rolls for the family, which something her mom does every year.  K-Man was a pretty big fan of "helping" her get them ready on Christmas morning.

Mmmmm!

Having fun opening presents

Amy surprised Mike with tickets to a Langhorne Slim concert on New Year's Eve in Portland.  He was pretty surprised!

While we were getting the car loaded up, Abuelo and Abuelita took K-Man out to see the chickens and play in the yard.  He was pretty impressed!

Abuelo introducing K-Man to his dog, Lucky

Abuelita and K-Man

Mima (what K-Man calls Amy's mom) helping him with his new dump truck

Checking out cousin Zak's army of superheroes that he got for Christmas

And finally, Santa also came to our house in Oregon.  K-Man thought it was a pretty sweet deal getting to have Christmas at three houses this year!!

Figuring out his shape sorter

Hooray for Christmas!  We're sad we have to wait a whole year until it comes again.

We wish you a merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!

Christmas Eve

We were able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at Mike's parents' house, which was a lot of fun!  K-Man had a good time seeing Abuelo and Abuelita (what he calls Mike's parents), and getting to play with his cousins.  

K-Man with Abuelita and her kitty

Abuelo reading "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" while we pass around the white elephant gifts.  This is an annual Christmas Eve tradition at Mike's house.

Daddy helping K-Man figure out his toy from the white elephant exchange

"I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!"

He thought the lint brush Amy got for her white elephant was actually a hair brush, haha!

Mike checking out his cool new flashlight for hiking that doesn't need batteries

Merry Christmas Eve!

Opening his Christmas Eve pajamas, which is a Christmas tradition in Amy's family

We're pretty sure he had more fun with Abuelo and the box that his pajamas came in than he did with his actual pajamas

Ready to go to bed so Santa can come visit

Counting Down to Christmas

We figured it was about time we post our Christmas pictures because we have birthdays coming up soon and we don't want to get behind!  Since we went to Idaho for Christmas to be with our extended families, here are some pictures at our house leading up to Christmas.  We were SO excited for Christmas this year because last year K-Man was only 6 months old, so he didn't really get it.  But this year, we knew he was going to have a blast!

Mom finished getting the Christmas tree put together and lit while Dad gave K-Man his bath.  This was his reaction when he saw the tree for the first time.  Too cute!

K-Man is getting so big!

He loves his wagon

This is how we let him touch the tree... he can touch the ornaments with one finger :)

He spent so much time by the tree this year--he loved it!

All I Want For Christmas...

Even though he had a hard time asking Santa in person....

K-Man has a special wish for Christmas this year.

Santa can do anything, right?

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas Village at the Bass Pro Shop in St. Louis

So, backing up a few hours... While we were waiting for the turkey to cook, we headed over to the Bass Pro-Shop because they had free pictures with Santa and they were open on Thanksgiving day.  Little did we know that they had much, MUCH more than just pictures with Santa!  It was so awesome!  And there was nobody there because of the holiday, so we got to play and play.  And the extra cool thing is that EVERYTHING was free!  Can't beat that!

Carousel ride #2 (see the post about the St. Louis Zoo) went much smoother!

Look!  No tears!

A cute one of Uncle Parker and Cousins Emily and Abby

The fam

K-Man enjoying his candy cane from Santa, and me enjoying two of my favorite kids in the world

Who knew they made a pink Red Ryder BB Gun?

Daddy showing K-Man how to shoot

A fun racetrack.  Emily was pretty good at this one.

K-Man checking out the trains

Emily and K-Man writing letters to Santa

Hard at work

Group picture.  Do we look hungry?  We are about to go home and eat our Thanksgiving feast!

Parker teaching Emily some bow-hunting skills a la Napoleon Dynamite

Camper Emily