The Christmas pictures

It's almost the end of January. It's about time I post the Christmas stuff!Christmas in Wray this year was split into two trips because Curt and Kadra were home the week before Christmas and Dan and Becky were home the week of Christmas. We had a fantastic time seeing everyone. Unfortunately, we didn't get a complete family picture.I got this adorable shot while waiting for everyone to assemble for the group picture. Jace with his Great-Grandpa Courtney. A rare shot of the Brophy siblings all gathered for Christmas. I wish Curt, Kadra and Amanda could have been there too. Jace was the photo assistant on this one. He stood next to the tripod as everyone gathered. He was shouting at everyone to smile and would only run into the shot after I started the camera timer. The Palmer family gathered together after Christmas. Cousin Christopher joined us, visiting from PA. He and Joel got to spend a couple very cold days skiing at Winter Park.

Little chef

In the past week Jace has been enjoying the movie Ratatouille. He calls it "too rat". In the movie the rat is the little chef. In my kitchen the little chef is Jace. His new favorite play time activity involves a chair pulled up to the sink, running water, containers of every size, and lots of towels.

He pours water back and forth between pitchers. He sips the water. He offers samples of his "cocoa" to Mommy and Daddy.

He helped me make banana-oatmeal cookies today. He loves dumping in the ingredients and using the electric mixer. Since he helped me make Christmas cookies last month he knows where all the sugar sprinkles are so he insisted on decorating today's cookies. I like that he helps with the baking but he is content when I just let him play with the water.

Look, Mommy. I under stool.

an evening at our house

It was a very snowy, cold Monday. I had hoped that the school might close because of yesterday's snow but no such luck. It was a long day at school for me with a shortened morning class and another new student in the afternoon class. I was relieved to come home to a happy Jace and a pre-made dinner. Elaine sent a yummy sausage gumbo home with Joel. Jace and I played trains as Joel got his ski equipment ready for tomorrow. Then we all enjoyed the dinner and Jello that Jace helped me make a couple days ago.

I'll continue to catch up on the holiday posts later. Here are the images from our Monday evening at home.

One of the current favorite toys is the Thomas train set that usually takes up a large portion of the living room floor. When he doesn't have the binky in, he adds sound effects, "chuga, chuga, all aboard."
He refused to sit in the high-chair, messily ate all the sausage out of the gumbo and then enjoyed Jello using his fingers instead of the spoon. All this while practicing the new jingle bells lyrics that Daddy taught him.

No way am I petting that camel!

This year was the second year that our church put on an elaborate Christmas program called "Journey to Bethlehem". It is supposed to be like traveling through a Bethlehem market. There are craft and game booths designed to teach part of the Christmas story. Last year the live animal part of the market was a donkey. This year there were camels. It's pretty obvious Jace wanted nothing to do with the animals. In fact his favorite part of the evening was playing in the stairwell with two other little boys, far away from the busy part of the Bethlehem market.

Getting ready for Christmas

Jace loved setting up the tree. Opening the ornament boxes was like discovering new toys. He was right in the middle of the entire process.

Our Thanksgiving in Florida

There are a couple of reasons for posting these now. 1.) I finally have a few minutes of free time and 2.) The Christmas gift photo book has been delivered. I didn't want to ruin the surprise by posting our vacation photos earlier.

Here are my favorite shots from our wonderful family vacation. Watching the airplane out the window at DIA. He was nervous. The hair twisting is one of his self-soothe habits.The long flight went surprisingly well. I am always nervous about that long sitting with a little guy but he did amazing. We enjoyed snacks and books and movies and got to FL without any problems.Joel, Jace and Aunt Kadra at the Wintergarden art festival. The weather was perfect. The food was yummy and Jace showed off his dance moves for the live band.With Grandad on the ferry to the Magic Kingdom. Jace was nervous again. Check out the grip he has on Grandad's T-shirt.This was late afternoon on the train at the Magic Kingdom. It might be the first time Jace smiled that day. The whole Disney experience made him nervous. The fireworks and parade made him cry but he liked the train.The girls together in front of the sparkling Cinderella castle.At this point in the evening Jace was to tired to protest much so we took him with us to the 3-D movie Philharmagic. It definitely made an impression. He still talks about "Donald Duck fall down." Which is what happens at the end of the show when Donald appears to fly out of the screen and ends up crashed through the wall at the back of the theatre.

It's a Small World was just Jace's speed. He is still singing the song.

Our awesome Florida hosts, Dan & Becky. They were even brave enough to tag along on a Magic Kingdom adventure. Have a Magical Day!

Jace running and screaming all through Dan and Becky's normally quiet home.

Curt and Kadra picked a fabulous seafood dinner for our last evening together in Florida.Beach day is always a favorite when we visit Florida. November is still warm enough to play in the waves. Uncle Dan helped Jace build castles.This might be my favorite picture from our trip. We were doing a little Christmas shopping at Downtown Disney. Jace kissed the princess, refused to ride the train (even after he made Daddy buy the token), and ended up needing a full change of clothes because he climbed into one of the fountains. It was great.

On Thanksgiving day, Dan and Becky fixed a traditional turkey dinner and we all just relaxed. It was a perfect vacation.The commemorative family photo at Dan & Becky's house.