Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Eve with Alyssa's side of the family.  Both Luke and Eva got to be angels as a part of the church service we attended.  Eva actually made it through the entire service because she was able to sit on at least 6 different laps.  After a nice dinner we then got to open presents.  Luke favorite present of the night was the new Hot Wheels track and accessories.  Eva's favorite was definitely her baby stroller. 

Christmas Day we traveled to be with my family in the afternoon.  We had great food and opened gifts.  Luke's favorite presents were his puzzle map of the United states, bird feeder, and first official calculator (because he can make big numbers).  Eva loved her Mickey Mouse and pink dump truck.

I enjoyed five days of vacation to spend with my wife and kids.  This year both kids were excited for Christmas and somehow it made everything more fun.  We are lucky to have most of our family close that we can share the time with both families. 

My sister Jackie and her husband Riley are sitting with Eva wrapped up in the quilt Jackie made for Eva.

 Luke and Eva are trying to stand still for the picture by the tree in their matching PJ's - this is the best one I got.

 She's my babe...

 Grandma and Grandpa Krause...

 Eva with her new pink dump truck acting silly.

There is no Place Like Home for the Holidays

It certainly would not be Christmas with out time with the family.  I love spending time with our immediate family and extended family.  We started a new tradition of sleeping over at my sister's house on Dec 23.  The kids had such a great time.  We went sledding, hiking, out to lunch, watched a movie and played games.  The day before, Eva got her first hair cut.  She had her hair braided then put in pigtails with red clips and then finished with sparkle hair spray.  I loved it even more than her.

 These are pictures a few weeks back when we were putting up our tree.

Sweet Things

Christmas time is certainly wonderful. We just spent the weekend at a Christmas party for Dave's work and a Christmas party for our Church. We are so thankful for our friends. I will add the pictures once I get them. In the meantime we made a gingerbread village with Santa's shop, a bakery, a chalet, and a bank. On Saturday I spent the morning with some girl friends from church and we had a cookie exchange. I came home and Dave had made cookies with the kids. You can tell whose look much better, they are labeled below.

Dave, Luke, and Eva's cookies...

My cookies...

Do I have time to read one more phone book?

Well, I thought it was a little weird when Luke started reading phone books.  He started with one and now has a set of five.   He will read the numbers on every page and yell out when he gets to his favorite numbers.  This all made sense after I went to Luke's conference.  His teacher talked about his intense passion for numbers.  He can focus on one number activity for over two hours.  Miss Kim has only had one other student in 32 years that has completed some of the works Luke has in one sitting. 

 The four chain, it totals 4 cubed (64).  He counts every bead.

 This work helps the children understand the law of Pythagoras.

 The flags of North America.

...and grading shades of color

 Luke doing laundry.

One other accomplishment that made me laugh is that Luke can now jump over Eva's head in a straddle jump style just like Derek Hough.  He starts on a small chair behind her.  It made me laugh for at least five minutes.  We all watch "Dancing with the Stars" together and he has picked up some new skills.  Sorry, no picture of that one.

Fall time together

Eighteen cupcakes, seven trolley rides, nine trips to the pool, five hikes, three strolls along the beach, seven trips to the playground, seven days to read books by the lobby fireplace, three trips to Walmart, two trips to Target and fourteen trips to the althletic club made for a great vacation.  It was great to be with each other for one entire week.  We only got one complaint from the neighbors below that we were to loud due to jumping off of the chairs and falling towers of wooden blocks.