5 Christmas Celebrations....hold onto your hat...lots of pics!!

Uncle Tyler and cousin Carter watching the festivity of opening presents at Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean's house down in Washington

'Thanks for the Hello Kitty bath soap Aunt Brooke'

Aunt Brooke and Maddox 

Kennon enjoying his wooden block train from Grandma Doris

Maddox and her cousin Nicole from Ohio

Like father like son??.....

Cousin Chelsea and Maddox 

Maddox and Kennon playing board games with all their cousins at Grandma Doris' in Keokuk

Kennon getting in on the action

'Thanks Nicole....this is a much better view'

Kennon and Maddox watching 'Horton Hears a Who' on Christmas Eve

Kennon and the Tickle Monster book gloves from Aunt Lori and Uncle Bryan 

Kennon and his stocking from Santa

'Oh, a Cinderella toothbrush from Santa'

'Look Kennon a Cinderella ornament'

Kennon and his new 'loader' as we are calling it, from Santa. 

A new talking/recorded book from Mom and Dad

Maddox got 8 lipsticks in her stocking from Santa...which was probably the highlight of the morning. 

You can see she needs a little work on her target zone :)

Uncle Scott, cousin Ian and Maddox using her new paints

Cousin Alex and KTK getting in on the coloring. 

'Oh you are sooo cool Alex....can I come live with you in St. Paul?'

Maddox has really gotten into the camera lately. She actually took this shot of Eric...pretty darn good!! 

Grammy and Maddox coloring.

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks here.  We've been travelling around catching as many family members as we can over the Holidays.  On the 18th, we had Christmas in Washington with Grandpa Jim, Grandma Jean and the rest of the Washington crew.  Then, we were able to catch Tyler, Brooke and Carter in Washington on Christmas Eve on the way down to Keokuk. They were on their way from Denver to Madison and visiting family along the way, so we made a short detour and got to spend part of the day with them.  The kids had a blast playing together and opening presents.  From there we drove down to Keokuk to see my side of the family.  We spent some time at my Lora's house and then went to Christmas Eve service together.  Maddox got to hang out with her cousins the entire service, she did really well.  Kennon did pretty good too, Laura only had to make one trip out to the entry area to calm him down.  He did the cutest thing during the closing song.  They turn out the lights and everyone has a candle, so the room is illuminated by candle light.  The give the kids fake candles for obvious reasons...  During the song everyone is supposed to hold up their candle high for symbolic reasons.  Kennon looks around, and proceeds to hold it up high just like everyone else.  Pretty fun to see him mimic the adults.  The next morning we opened presents at Grandma Doris' place, played for a while, and went out to Lora's for lunch.  We hit the road to head home just in time for naps, the kids slept almost the entire way back home which is pretty rare.  The next morning on the 26th, we had our Christmas here at the house and then went back to work for a couple of days.  We had a visit from my brother Scott and his sons Alex and Ian St. Paul on the 28th.  He was heading back home to St. Paul from Keokuk and made the trip over to spend the night with us.  It which was great because the kids got to hang with them for a while.  Maddox was pretty shy at first, but it didn't take long for her to warm up.  Kennon was digging the guys right away, he thought it was pretty cool to have some more dudes around the house.  Then on Sunday, we made a road trip up to see Grammy and Papa Dick up in Aurora for our last Christmas celebration.  We had a really nice day, and Grammy looked great.  Kudos to the Aurora crew for putting together such a great Christmas for us and the kids given the situation - it was a special day.

Kennon is getting some more teeth, so he has been a little fussier than normal.  His speech is really developing quickly now.  He has starting saying please and thank you without being prompted, and just started pointing and saying "those".  He is a pretty fun guy to spend time with and his personality is really starting to emerge.  One last story, then I need to go.  Last night I was reading to Maddox at bedtime.  She rattled off the name of the author of one of her favorite books, then looked at me and asked "Who illustrated it?"  I thought all the educators would get a kick out of a 3 yr old asking who the illustrator was...  Also, check out two of the pics she took with the camera, who knows, maybe she'll follow in Uncle Bill's footsteps and go into graphic design or something.

Kennon coloring his hair :) 

oooh....wooden construction trucks from Grammy and Papa Dick

Grammy and Maddox

Kennon loves his new construction truck silverware

'Isn't there supposed to be something on that fork Grammy?' 

I like this shot of the kids in the foreground and Grammy and Papa Dick in the background

Kennon wearing his new 'Kennon' bathtowel from Pottery Barn. He ran around the house ( the video above) like it was a Superman cape. So excited.

There he goes....

'Who wants ice cream?'

'I'd like mint please'

Maddox and Kennon with Kennon's new playdough dump trucks

Kennon's 'scoop' ornament from Santa. He loves all construction equipment and calls most everything that resembles a construction tractor with a scoop on the front a 'scoop'

Maddox took this shot too....I didn't even have to red eye the eyes....!! How did she do that?