Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Wilcox's House

We had a fun Christmas with our family. First stop was Craig and Karen's house. We enjoyed delicious food like Oyster Soup (a Wilcox tradition) and Grandma Karen's famous English Toffee. We had fun talking and playing together. Of course, we had fun giving and receiving presents.

The three muscateers got the cutest little hats with flapping arms. They were a big hit!

The big boys all received Crayola art kits. They played with them a lot!

Now that's the kind of enthusiasm that I like! Isaac was really excited about his new basketball from Aunt Melissa.

Avery got an American Girl doll! I think all the girls were excited.

Owen is playing with his new remote control tarantula. Ahhhh!

Grandpa wished he had received a funny flapping hat. Looks great on him!

I am pretty excited about my pile of presents!

The next morning we hung out in our pajamas. Grandma and Avery are so cute!

The boys got to work on Cael's new Snap Circuits.

The only thing cuter than little boys in pajamas is little boys in pajamas hugging. Owen and Luke are the happiest, sweetest little guys!

We got snowed in on Sunday, so we got out to play in it. Avery, Gabe and Ethan are sledding. Gabe went down that hill a ton of times!

Isaac is such a good little helper.

Scott and Avery sledding. Looks like fun!

Scott volunteered to clean off the driveway. Nice.

Scott then volunteered to "groom" the Belaire Sled Run. The orange toboggan went down awesome!

The kiddos all rode down together. It was a wild ride.

There they go! Grandpa Craig picked everybody up in the suburban at the bottom of the hill, and then drove them up to the top. These kids are so spoiled!

I must have gotten busy, and I didn't take any pictures of Sunday afternoon. Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Arlene came over along with MaryKay and Rick and their family. Luke and Owen went right over to Wayne and Arlene and gave them big hugs when they arrived. It was so sweet. Then we played the Chinese Gift Exchange. It was hilarious because Arlene had number one and everybody kept stealing her presents. I bet she opened up over half of them. It was so cute and funny. Then we spent the afternoon talking and laughing. We just ordered pizza for supper. It was so nice all being together!

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Baking Cookies

We did our traditional family cookie baking day, and Grandma Karen and Grandpa Craig came over to help. We made three kinds, Buried Cherry Cookies, Gingerbread Men and Bunny Cookies. (This is my Grandma Wiegman's sugar cookie recipe that she always used at Easter, my cousins started calling them bunny cookies no matter what shape they were in.)

The buried cherry cookies were a big hit. They were fun to make and delicious. The boys snuck a few marichino cherries along the way.

The cutout cookies are so fun, and they are great exercise for Scott and my patience skills. It gets easier every year.

We took a little Christmas sock family picture. We love Christmas socks! Scott is such a good sport. I love him!

 

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Ethan Loses his First Tooth

On December 5 Ethan lost his first tooth. It probably could have been several days sooner, but he was not going to pull on it. It was hanging on by a thread all crooked for several days.

The Tooth Fairy forgot to come the first night, but she left two golden dollars the second night.

 

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Happy Birthday Grandma Carol

Mom turned 60 on November 16. We celebrated with a trip to Williamsburg and Iowa City.

First stop was Fireside Winery. We arrived at 10:30am sharp. While this seemed a little early to drink wine, it worked out great! We had the whole thing to ourselves, and we tasted every single kind. The wine was very impressive, especially for Iowa wine.

Here we are tasting.

The boys had fun snacking and beating Grandpa at Uno.

Here's the birthday girl. Traci brought the button.

The birthday girl with her boys.

The birthday girl thought she needed to be in every picture.

Too cute!

Family pic.

 

More fun back at the hotel.

Pizza and cake for supper. Mom said she had an awesome birthday.

 

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The Biggest Leaf Pile Ever

We played in the leaves a ton this fall. We definitely have a good supply, and it's free entertainment! This afternoon we set out to make the biggest leaf pile ever. The goal was to make it as tall as me. We were about a foot short when it started getting dark, so we called it. Here are the boys with Katie. We love playing with Katie!

The boys were doing flips into the pile. They would run halfway across the yard, and flip into the leaves. It was hilarious.

The pile lasted until we finally cleaned it up before the first big snow. The boys added to it every day as the leaves kept falling. They liked to make it into a nest and make different rooms and stuff.

 

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Isaac's 9th Birthday

Isaac turned 9 in November! He got to celebrate big time with 3 parties.

We had a family party at my sister's house. It was really fun, but I forgot my camera that weekend. The older boys and men played 500 the whole time. The younger kiddos had fun playing games like Simon Says and Mother May I. We ate Isaac's favorite, walking tacos for lunch. Isaac got lots of nice presents from his grandparents and aunts, Battleship, a kid tablet and Rainbow Loom. The only present Isaac wanted from Mom and Dad was a hamster. We surprised him with a Happy Hamster, which is a toy hamster, and pretended that was his real present for a while. He smiled though the whole thing, although he told me later that he really thought that was all he got. Then we gave him a certificate for a real hamster. He now takes very good care of his little hamster named Butterscotch.

Isaac's second party was with his friends. We had pizza and went bowling.

Here is the crew eating pizza. Isaac had 5 friends and Ethan had 2 friends. It was a fun bunch!

Scottie got a good one.

Ethan with his BFF Andrew. They are inseparable in school. Andrew is such a sweet boy.

They were all excited about the pop. This is Scott, Brock and Aden.

Isaac and Scottie being silly.

Owen had a blast playing with the boys and got right in there!

I think the caffeine and sugar is setting in. Peyton is on the far right. He's funny.

Here are the scores, and this is with bumpers!

Here we are singing Happy Birthday by the cookie cake.

One last group photo. They were a wild crew.

Back at home in our under construction living room for presents. Wohoo!

On Isaac's actual birthday day he got to pick all the menus. We had pancakes and eggs for breakfast and corn dogs and canned green beans for supper. Here we are enjoying a special treat of banana splits while we skype with Aunt Traci. Happy birthday Isaac, we love ya!

 

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