Newman Christmas

Christmas in January! We traveled to Stanton the first weekend in January to have Christmas with the Newman side. We had a relaxing weekend hanging out, visiting relatives, eating great food, and of course, presents! Here are the highlights....

The boys entertained themselves with the video games prior to gift opening.

Tyler got a great nursery rhyme book from Grandma & Grandpa.

Andrew got a great gift from the Perkins!

Boy how the boys can model their gifts!

Apparently Tyler fits in with the rest of the Newman clan - Kesslers for Christmas!

He had a lot of fun playing with Johnathan's drum set....I don't think Johnathan saw him doing this though!

Uncle Kyle got all of the kids Kool-Aid shirts - Merry Christmas!!

New Year's & Christmas

This year we combined the New Years with a wedding and Christmas celebration. On New Years Eve the Hallquist family made their way to our house and we took pictures of the kids and Grandma & Grandpa for their Christmas gift. We then went to Allen & Libby Lundgren's wedding in Ankeny. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a ball! Chase konked out early, but Emma & Tyler were on the dance floor when the ball dropped at midnight!

Tyler got to hang out with Grandma & Grandpa Newman at the wedding. Mom & Dad enjoyed the numerous babysitters!

Dad, Tyler, Erin, & Nichole hanging out.

Everyone spent the next two days hanging out at our house to celebrate Christmas. We opened presents, watched cartoons, played with new toys, played cards, and ate WAY too much good food!

Grandpa reading books to the grandkids before present time.

We caught the three kids opening presents before it was time - reminds me of when I caught Carrie and Mitchell doing the same thing at a Peterson Christmas years ago!

Grandpa showing Tyler how his new puppy works.

Tyler got a new Lightning McQueen chair from Grandma & Grandpa for Christmas. He was checking it and his new book out. Since getting the chair, he figured out how to dive into it and flip it over - talk about being a little crazy boy!

After some good naps, Grandpa put together Chase's new toy and we all played with it.

Andrew dressed the boys up as Iowa State fans - they had fun showing off on the couch!

Next they wrestled Grandpa!

Then hugged - how cute!

Here is breakfast the next morning - bananas anyone?

Apparently IN the toybox is the place to be!

We can't thank everyone enough for spending the weekend with us. We had so much fun and we miss everyone so much! Anyone up for Christmas in July too? ;)

Christmas at the Newman's

Well, Christmas was interesting this year, to say the least. We spent the evening of the 23rd packing up, making food, and getting all ready for the 4 day trip to Stanton. It snowed all night, and Christmas Eve morning Tyler slept in and we got up to go scoop the drive and pack the cars to head back. Half way through the drive, Andrew doubled over in pain - and out went a disc in his back! I somehow got him inside, found a chiropractor that was open on Christmas Eve, practically threw Tyler to the neighbors (Thank you Baysingers!!!), and neighbor Kevin helped me load him into the car. After a long visit there, a visit to the walk-in to get drug perscriptions, I got him back home by 2 PM. By 4 I was back with Tyler, movies, drugs, and a lovely McDonalds supper! Needless to say our trip was cancelled and we spent the next three days holed up watching tv, movies, and trying to come up with creative, 'festive' meals since we hadn't planned on being home. It was nice to be in our own home (but not soo nice sleeping on a loveseat recliner), and Tyler did like the attention. But it was very hard on us as it was the very first time ever we hadn't spent Christmas with our families in Stanton.

Tyler got a cell phone in his stocking!

He also got a Cookie Monster book. At least Andrew was able to lay on the couch part of the time and be with us.

Santa brought Tyler a farm, complete with animals and sounds. He enjoyed a new toy over the long weekend.

He enjoyed 'talking' on Dad's cell phone more than his new one.

Merry Christmas!!

Santa Visit

We spent a weekend in Stanton in early December and Santa visited Tyler and cousin Johnathan at Grandma & Grandpa Newman's house. Tyler wasn't so sure of the big guy and held on tight to Mom. The boys then had a blast the rest of the night showing off the power tools that Santa gave them.

In addition to Santa, I just had some cute pictures of Tyler and his food habits.....

We mastered the corn dog with no problem....

We know exactly where Mom & Dad keep the cereal and crackers...

And popcorn is one of our favorites!

Start of December...

December started out rough for our house. Andrew got a pretty bad case of the flu and was on the couch (and I mean didn't move) for about 3 days straight. Unfortunately, this was our one and only shopping weekend before Christmas, so I headed to the mall for a few hours with Tyler by myself, and then decorated the house. Tyler was a great little boy and did his best to 'help' daddy feel better.

The boys watching tv and chillin...
Apparently the show was funny!

If Dad needs crackers, then so do I!

I can help Mom with dishes....

Thanksgiving, Football, and Basketball

This year we were blessed that everyone made the trip to Des Moines for Thanksgiving. Thursday Andrew's immediate family came to enjoy a day of great food, some football, and lots of looking at the shopping ads! I then got to experience Black Friday shopping with a one-year-old (it lasted one store and I went home to stay warm!), then we went to get our Christmas tree. Saturday we went to the ISU basketball game in Des Moines, which was a nail biter but a win none the less. Sunday, the Peterson clan made their way to Des Moines for another great feast and some fun game playing. We really enjoyed having all of our family here for the holidays.

Here's a picture of the wonderful spread we ate and the 'big people' table.
And here is the 'cool people' table (this is where I sat, of course!). And for all of you wondering, no, I did not let my nephew drink alcoholic wine.

Tyler's big thing right now is "Touchdown"...when he sees football on table, he automatically goes into the stance! We believe he gets this from watching the older daycare boys play playstation or something.

However - we also do the same thing at ISU Basketball games! We're trying to convert it to "Three Pointer!" instead of touchdown.

"Look what I did Mom!" This is what I caught Tyler doing Sunday morning before the family showed up.

"I can help cook, Mom!"

Birthday Party Time!

We celebrated Tyler's birthday with the whole family in late November. Thank you to Grandma Denise for helping us with the cake and hosting, and to everyone else for coming and bring great food!

We had to show everyone our Halloween costume. :)

We had the coolest chair to sit in while opening presents. Thanks Perkins!

Checking out the See 'N' Say from Grandma and Grandpa Hallquist. I had to laugh at his bare feet swinging away throughout gift opening!

Grandma and Grandpa Newman gave him this cool fire truck - he loves to push the buttons to make it sing, and every time he gets the biggest grin and dances!

This was the famous Monkey cake! Mom & Dad had a lot of fun making it.

We had a great party and a wonderful first birthday! Many, Many more to come!!!