Christmas season 2011

Hello all!  Since our last post, we have had an awesome holiday season!  On December11 , we celebrated my mom, Theresa's and Brian's birthdays.  On December 16th, we threw a graduation party for Sean, Brian's brother, who graduated from UMKC with his bachelors degree (that same day) in Business Administration.  Congrats to Sean! 
Joshua is doing great.  He got his first tooth on December 20th, and his second tooth on January 6th.  He is eating more solids now.  He loves sweet potatoes and applesauce, and will eat carrots, green beans (sometimes), and peas (sometimes).  He loves to munch on Cheerios and Gerber puffs, and I've also given him little pieces of noodles that he seemed to enjoy.  He is not officially crawling yet, but he definitely gets to where he wants to be by either scooting on his bottom or on his tummy.  He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks like crazy - he just hasn't learned his hand and knee movements to start crawling.  I keep saying it will be any day now!  He does not sleep in his own room yet.  This is probably our only difficult thing with Josh.  He is so used to sleeping with me and nursing through the night.  We are currently trying to get him to eat more during the day so he gets used to eating less throughout the night.  Other than that, he is just the happiest little guy I know!  He is always smiling and has such an awesome personality!  Everyone who meets him just thinks he is super cute.

 Noah and Evan are also doing great.  They got to finger paint for the first time with our Parents as Teachers educator back in December.  Evan jumped right in, but it took Noah about 30 minutes before he was comfortable enough to do it.

They are just now getting over another "virus" that caused colds, coughs, and an ear infection in Noah.  I know that when I took Evan to the doctor this past Monday, he weighed 30.4lbs.  I think Noah weighs just about 30lbs as well.  They're skinny and tall, and still super blonde.  Evan loves to wear his plaid "rippin" shirt, Christmas tie, and black shoes and say he is going to "go to work."  Noah loves to play with any of their toys!  Their favorite book to read right now is called Bob's Bedtime. It's a Bob the Builder book.  They like to watch Brian's Batman cartoon DVDs, and also A Goofy Movie, which was one of my favorites when I was much younger.  Both Noah and Evan really seem to love their baby brother Josh.  They'll talk to him, play with him, and even snuggle with him.

Christmas was so much fun!  We went to Brian's Uncle Mark's house in Smithville to have Christmas with the Millers on Christmas Eve.  We went to midnight mass with my parents, John, Theresa, MJ, Mia, Aunt Max, and Aunt Ruthie.  On Christmas morning, Noah and Evan woke up at 7:30am (even though they didn't get to bed until after 1:30 because of mass), and saw that Santa Clause had brought them Lightning McQueen Power Wheels.  That is what they had asked for, so they were both very happy.  He also brought them some Monster Trucks.  For Joshua's first Christmas, he brought him a play table for him to stand and play at.  He loves to play with it!  That afternoon, our whole family came over at 3:00 to celebrate Christmas.  Noah, Evan, Joshua, MJ, and Mia definitely raked it in with tons and tons of awesome presents!  My personal favorite was the amazing kitchen that Uncle John made for Noah and Evan.  I was speechless when I saw it.  They LOVE to "cook" with it now.  Here are some Christmas pics:

Sweet Miss Mia snoozing during the tamale makin'

Noah in his super cute Christmas outfit

Evan loving his Christmas outfit!

Josh playing with some paper at "Big" Uncle Mark's house on Christmas Eve

Noah and Evan checking out their Lightning McQueen Power Wheels

Joshua opening his gifts on Christmas morning

Brian, Miss Mia, and Laura on Christmas Day

Grandma and Grandpa with all of their grandkids!  Mark and Sarah's little boy will be here in the Spring :)

Our attempt at a family photo on Christmas Day.  Evan was eating ham.

Noah and Evan's awesome kitchen that their Uncle John made them for Christmas (Aunt Theresa funded it :))

On New Year's Eve, the weather was so amazing!  We took all the boys to the park.  They all had a blast - even Joshua!

Joshua turned 8 months old on January 2nd!

Miss Mia was baptized on January 8th, and Brian and I have the awesome honor of being her godparents.  She looked so beautiful in her baptism gown, and was such a trooper during the whole mass.  She was asleep during her baptism.  It was a fun day - we got to spend so much time with so many family members, even ones from St. Louis and St. Charles!