Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Braden

Cousin Jake

Logan's new friend Hannah

Braden got a Hess Truck.....

Happy Birthday Cupcake

Handy Manny Truck

I am going to be doing this post slightly backwards and talking about the later part of Christmas day and Braden's birthday. Christmas morning will have to come later - the pics are on my mom's camera card. But let's just say that Braden was thrilled about the train set that was up and running when he came down the stairs. He played with it for hours throughout the day......

We spent the morning here at our house (no pics yet) enjoying the kids and having breakfast with my family and Darren's. We stopped for nap time (Mommy and Daddy included) and then headed over to the Hardels for an evening of gifts and food. "Santa" was extremely generous to me this year and gifted me the camera of my dreams....the one I had been "eyeing" up for so long. Up until this point I had been using my mom's camera, but she didn't seem to mind - especially since it has been returned to her with lots of extra pictures from the kids. (Thanks Mom)

Both Darren and I both received a lot great gifts and are so glad that we got to spend the holidays with those who mean the most to us. We love you all!! Merry Christmas....more to come

Christmas Tree

I know it's hard to see (especially since my eyes are closed) but that's our tree behind us

We adventured out to our favorite Christmas tree farm over the weekend and spent about an hour climbing the fields for the "perfect tree". It took Darren and I awhile to find a tree we agreed upon - Braden on the other hand pointed at almost every tree we saw. He took a particular liking to the trees his size.
Once we finally decided on one - my mom pointed out the birds nest that was built in to the top of the tree. As soon as Darren heard that - he said "Nope" not for us.......
For those of you who don't know it has been said that a bird's nest brings good look to those who are trying to have a baby. Hmmmmmm - stay tuned, maybe another year.

Despite Darren's objection - that tree now sits in our living room. Here are some pics......