The Christmas Blog...

Our final Christmas adventure of 2010 was in Dallas with Bill's family. Since we don't get to do our own family Christmas at our house on Christmas morning, this year we also did a little Christmas morning celebration with just Bill, Isaac, and I before all the siblings and cousins showed up at his parents' house. We had a blast decorating gingerbread cookies on Christmas Eve (but we didn't get any photos of the cookies.) Isaac was REALLY into the whole Christmas thing this year, so it was a lot of fun! Here are some photos....

The cookie decorators: Edie (3 yrs), Isaac (2 yrs), Mommy, Daddy, and Aunt Molly

Edie liked to mix all the colors onto each cookie, while Isaac's strategy was to slap one color on, cover it quickly, and move onto the next cookie.

Christmas Dance Party

The Three Ramsour Grandchildren

(Isaac - age 2, Edie - age 3, and Gray - age 7 months)

This is Bill 's "I'm Excited about Christmas!" face

Putting out cookies for Santa, which Santa's elf (Zuzu the dog) ate right after...

Coming in on Christmas morning to see what Santa left...

A TRAIN SET!!!

The permanent grin left by the train set!

All he wanted to do all Christmas morning...it was such an inconvenience for him to open other presents...lol

He also got a real camera from Mommy and Daddy!

Cousin Gray and Aunt Molly

Isaac and Edie have matching cameras so they were taking pictures together...

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Colorado and the Polar Express

We just got back from our annual trek to Colorado to visit Jessica's family for Christmas. Isaac was WAY into the trip this year...from the airplane rides to the snow - he was mesmerized! This year was extra special too because we got to ride on the Polar Express TRAIN!!! In case you have missed previous posts, Isaac has been OBSESSED with trains for quite some time now...so Grandma and Grandpa decided to treat us to a ride. I don't know that I've ever seen Isaac as much in awe as he was on this trip. Here are some photos, of course!

Waiting in the train station...he just found the toy train. :)

Mommy and her excited boy...PJs and all!

Isaac with Grandma and Grandpa

This was Isaac's face when the train pulled into the station....

The reason for the face...

We've got our golden tickets! The conductor even came and punched the tickets and golden sprinkles went all over us...

All on board...just after having our hot chocolate and treats...

Isaac spent a lot of time just gazing out the windows watching as we went along...

Singing Christmas carols and waiting on Santa...

YAY Santa!! Isaac gave Santa a BIG hug this year! All smiles!! :)

Santa gave Isaac a silver bell...

Isaac "dancing" with one of the waitresses...it was more like hoping up and down.

Isaac has also been obsessed with horses since our trip to Colorado last year. This year, not only did he get to help Grandpa feed the horses, but he got to ride one! He lasted less than 5 minutes on the horse, but LOVED it!

Isaac and Smokey

Normally when we go to Colorado, there is snow all over...however, we went a week earlier this year, and there hasn't been a ton of snow yet. Finally, on our last day there, we went up higher into the mountains and found a lot of snow to play in.

"Hiding" from Mommy

Sliding down the hill...

Family shot!

Next year, Grandpa is going to teach Isaac how to skii!! Can't wait!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

I am on a ROLL! This is the last post until probably after Christmas, but I HAD to post about our decorating this year because Isaac was SO into it! He is totally mesmerized by all of the lights and decor. He insisted on helping with ALL of the decorating, so it took us a little longer than normal this year. We did inside decor one day, outside lights one day, put the tree up another day, lit the tree another day, and finally decorated the tree today. He tended to go with the "cluster" method with the ornaments and put them all on top of each other...but I think it works. ;) Here are some photos from the fun...

Decorating....Isaac style....

The ornaments would be lonely if they were all spread out, right? ;)

He found the school bus ornament I got at his baby shower 3 years ago. He's obsessed with school buses, too, so this made it night!

Finding the perfect spot...

Isaac the Star!!

Putting the star on top with Daddy...

Look what we did!

So proud of his handy work! :)

Thanksgiving 2K10

Thanksgiving was a whirlwind this year of family! We did the weekend before Thanksgiving in Dallas with the Ramsour family, then Thanksgiving Day in Liberty Hill with Jessica's aunt and cousins. Then we continued the tradition of the Irwin Weekend After Thanksgiving Feast...this year hosted by Jessica's sister, Sarah. It was TONS of fun, and the Italian feast we prepared was AMAZING! Love family time! Here are a few shots....

The Irwin siblings (Chris, Sarah, Jessica, and Dan)

Isaac playing with his cousin, Cason

Halloween 2K10..I know, I'm behind!

Isaac is obsessed with Thomas the Train right now, so it was a logical choice for him to be Thomas for Halloween. He REALLY got into wearing his costume this year, and going up to the houses and saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You!" We had our annual Halloween party again, and played a few more games now that the kiddos are older, like Pin the Tail on the Cat. The kiddos decorated their own cupcakes for dessert, and then we all went our seperate ways for trick or treating. Isaac was sooo hyper when it was all done that it took forever to get him to sleep!! He would get so excited to pass out candy to the trick or treaters every time the bell rang. Definitely a blast this year! Here are a few photos from the night....

Thomas the Train

One of the best group shots..it was REALLY HARD!

(Taylor and Landon were cowgirl/cowboy, Gracie was Sleeping Beauty, Mia was a ladybug, Isaac was Thomas, Samantha was a Kitty Cat, and Emma was Fancy Nancy.) The two babies, Madison (a ballerina) and Aaron (Yoda) were busy with their mommies during the photo ops. :)

Eyeballing his loot...

Silly Daddy...that's MY candy!

Passing out candy...

The annual playing in the party balloons continues...

The shirt says it all... "Can't Sleep...Must Eat Candy!"

We're BACK!!

I know, I know...it's been a LONG time since I've posted. Life has been crazy busy of course with school starting up and what not, so I'm not going to attempt to catch everyone up too much. In a nutshell right now: Jessica has a rowdy group of 20 Kindergarteners this school year (2 of which have come in the last week)...Bill started a new position at IBM, and is very excited to be working on software instead of hardware....and Isaac is growing like a weed, of course. He talks NON-stop and in VERY into doing everyting "by self" (by himself). He is currently obsessed with Thomas the Train, firetrucks, the stars, the moon, and occasionally going pee pee in the BIG potty for candy corn treats. :) He got several new pairs of Big Boy underwear yesterday, just so we could start talking about wearing them. He put some on, and had a small accident within 10 minutes. Then he said, "Diaper back on Mommy". I have a feeling it will be a while until we're potty trained! We're not pushing it hard core just yet...and are planning on going at it more strongly in the spring.

With the fall season upon us, I figured I'd share some photos that we took with our friends (and Isaac's girlfriend, Mia). I love the fall!

Stealin' a smooch from his sweet<3