Jack's School Christmas program

Here is just a snippet from Jack's Christmas program at preschool. His best girlfriend, Katherine, is to his left. They are wearing their Advent candle hats :)

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Thank you, Lord, for the greatest gift of all!

Merry Christmas 2009

Jack is so excited to tear into these gifts!

Sam hopped onto Jack's new bike:)

Sam was methodical in his gift opening

Santa is so cool! He delivered gifts in John Deere dump trucks!

I think this was the first Christmas morning that both the boys really got excited and knew what was going on. We had so much fun watching them tear into gifts and want to play with everything right now! Later, we hosted dinner for 16 and a birthday party for Jesus.

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends, we treasured spending time with some of you and missed the others whole-heartedly! God bless you this coming year!

Party Box!

Penguin tattoos--too cool!

A gold medallion--even better, it's got a chocolate center!

This is my choo-choo balloon.

Where to start? There's so much to do!

Thanks, Grandma, for the box of fun! We were so excited to open our envelopes and begin playing. This long-distance party stuff is a blast!

Santa photo 2009

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Breakfast with Santa

Baylee shows off her hand-made garland

Jack sports his pipe cleaner "bling"

Sam is content in his favorite seat--Dad's arms!

The Wilcox Family (+Baylee) with Santa

Sam loves Santa...from afar:(

Our church hosts Santa for one morning right before Christmas. We ate a fine breakfast of bagels, pastries, and doughnuts (carbs, carbs, carbs--but who's counting?) We lucked out in that we were the first family called to visit Santa. I think Sam would've been much more upset if he saw other kids freaking out. (If you haven't seen the boys' official photo with Santa this Christmas, this is a mild version of that.) They had fun crafts for us to do, and even Baylee (who adamantly does not believe in Santa and did not want to have breakfast with him--Puh-lease, she is so over that!) enjoyed herself and made sure Santa knew the exact High School Musical toy she wanted:)

Cul-de-sac Christmas Party

The kids wind down at the end of the night with "Frosty the Snowman."

All lined up for the gift exchange.

Ava is really excited about her gingerbread cookie!

Jack's proud of his cookie decorating skills.

Ashley and Stacy lend a hand.

Dinner was corndogs and edamame.

We had six attendees at the first annual Cul-de-Sac Christmas party. Katherine, Brady, Noah, and Ava joined Jack & Sam in celebrating Christmas in style. We started with dinner, followed by decorating gingerbread cookies. Next was the gift exchange, and then we all got dressed in our Christmas pjs and headed over to the Heintschel's for popcorn and a movie. The kids thought all the activities were fun--can't wait 'til next year!

The Singing Bears (but not really...)

So, I took the boys to the Singing Bears uptown--this is our second year making the trek by train with a packed lunch to enjoy while being serenaded by large, stuffed, Christmas song-singing bears. But of all the nice pictures we took in front of the huge Christmas trees in the corporate center and candids of the boys watching the bears perform, these were the pictures that cracked us up. Jack, Sam and I were trying so hard to get this picture right (as you can see Jack was acting like Curious George and Sam was distracted or saying "cheese" with gusto). In the end, this is what we'll remember--the attempt at a mother/sons photo.

Grandma's Christmas Party (from afar)

Grandma's Veggie Tales Christmas party has been a lot of fun. We're not in Michigan to enjoy it, but she has been sending us pieces of the party to celebrate at home, and we love getting the fun boxes in the mail.

Sam shows off his colored picture with Christmas stickers.

Markers or crayons?--life is full of difficult decisions.

Jack shows off his finished project.

Hard at work adding textural details with a staple remover:)

Run, Momma, Run!

"Do you like my...umm, I mean...my mom's medal?

Sam took ownership of Momma's new toy almost immediately.

The five of us at the post-race bash

We did it!

Here are a few photos from the girls' weekend trip to Kiawah to run the half marathon. What a blast! The resort took great care of us--the food, the race, the lodging, and did I mention the food?--everything was amazing. Charlotte and I beat our previous half marathon time by 6 minutes. Michelle placed in our age group, and Ashley completed her first half while 17 weeks pregnant. We came home after our weekend refreshed and proud.

Live Nativity!

The Lilly family--all bundled up!

Is that look a plea for help?

Sam blows on the "fire."


Jack gets in on the action.

The church that houses Jack's preschool has an annual live nativity. This is the second year in a row that it has been misty/rainy and oh, so muddy! (Yes, those are raindrops--not snowflakes!) Regardless of the weather, the boys love the presentation (I think because it is performed entirely by kids--I heard Jesus was a baby girl this year;). After the nativity performance, they allow the kids to pet the animals, which is a huge hit. It looked as if we had rolled in the mud when we finally got back to the car, and in Sam's case that was actually true.

Basketcase and Buddy

Hey, maybe this will get me out of going to bed...

Getting my balance...

getting an accomplice...

Ha! It worked! Mom and Dad are shooting pictures instead of weilding toothbrushes.

Basketcase (cont.)...

He's very proud of himself...

for fitting into this cooler.

Basketcase

Rick puts Sam on the top shelf of our pantry.

We got him down in time for dinner;)

Lately, Sam has entertained himself by climbing into every basket and container he can find. It makes for good photo opportunities, and he's still small enough to (creatively) make his way into some weird places.

Comfort Nation

Blankets, pillows, and is that a hippity-hop under there?

Sam thought this was such a fun game.

Jack and his accomplice, Sam, gathered every single blanket and pillow on the first floor and piled them on top of themselves. I have weird children.