Christmas Afternoon
The Falk Family Blog
Merry Christmas!
Ethan and Isaac awoke whispering and giggling with excitement at 5:30 AM. They stayed in Ethan’s room until 6:30 and we finally let them wake Lincoln up at 6:45. We headed downstairs and the fun began!
I love the matching PJ’s on Christmas morning…I know Ethan will soon decide he’s too old for this tradition so I enjoy it while I can.
Stockings!
My Love and me on Christmas morning.
Cinnamon rolls for breakfast, of course! They were so good!
Mickey putting up with me and my camera again.
The only thing Lincoln wanted for Christmas were these Batman “jammies”! Christmas could have ended after his first present and I truly believe he would have been content.
Isaac giving Daddy his present.
Ethan giving Mommy an angel ornament.
These two get so excited and are a blast to watch open gifts!
Lincoln doesn’t seem to have much of a reaction while opening gifts. He takes it rather seriously.
Silly boys.
All we need is another one of these…
This little guy had fun playing in the great big cardboard box!
Christmas Eve
Each Christmas Eve evening, we allow the boys to open one gift each.
This year they opened Harry Potter light-up wands for casting spells. They play this made-up game daily, usually using a pencil or something that resembles a wand. I knew these would be perfect!
They loved them! For the rest of the night they ran around casting spells onto one another.
We enjoyed hot cocoa and Christmas cookies followed by a drive in the van looking for houses decorated beautifully (or as the kids appreciated, tacky) with lights.
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…
Gingerbread Houses
This was our first attempt ever at constructing gingerbread houses. The boys seemed to have some engineering issues and were defenseless against the sugary temptations needed to decorate their houses. They did have a good time though, who wouldn’t?
The boys weren’t the only ones giving into sweet temptations! Just before sinking my teeth into deliciousness, Warren said he could hear the tiny screams from within my house. :-)
I have to say, I prefer decorating sugar cookies and I think the boys agree.
Cul-De-Sac Christmas Dinner
This is the 4th consecutive year our cul-de-sac has celebrated Christmas time together by having a progressive style dinner.
Here are the boys just before we left for house #1.
Our dinner was delicious!
The kids wrote letters to Santa for the Macy’s make-a-wish foundation.
Sweet picture of Carrie and her boys.
Gift exchange! This, of course was what the kids had been anticipating all evening.
We opened gifts starting with the youngest and ending with the oldest. It was cute watching the kids wait patiently for their turn and get excited for one another.
Lego, woohoo!
Hex-bug! (Lincoln got a couple of Green Lantern action figures).
This is how the night ended for Lincoln. About 5 minutes after this picture was taken, he was asleep in my arms. I held him for about an hour (my night’s highlight, for sure)!
Decorating the Tree
To my surprise the boys were really into decorating the tree this year! They did such a great job that I didn’t “redecorate” after they went to bed. :-)
Even Mickey enjoyed the evening events.
Thanksgiving
The Falk Family in its’ entirety.
Let’s eat!
The kids’ table.
Our food was delicious (as always) and there was lots of it!
Pie! We had chocolate pecan, pecan, pumpkin, butterscotch, cherry, apple, and chocolate pie to choose from!
Evan and Warren
Ivy and Lincoln. He loves her!
Happy Halloween!
This year we had Batman and two ninjas.
Some of the cul-de-sac kids.
The boys ran from house to house. I was worried about being chilly during trick or treating, but instead I broke a sweat jogging after the boys for an hour. Lincoln slowed down after about 20 minutes of running so Warren finished taking him.
Austin and Isaac finished passing out the candy for us.
The boys and their loot.
Can you guess who Warren was for our cul-de-sac Halloween party?
Pumpkin Carving!
This year the cul-de-sac got together for pumpkin carving.
Each year I take a pictures of the boys sitting on the front step together with their jack-o-lanterns. It was a lot of fun showing them the pictures from years past.
More Fall Baking
These are bite-sized pumpkin pies! I got the idea from Bakerella’s website. I saw them and couldn’t wait to make them. Aren’t they adorable?
I make these iced pumpkin cookies every year to take to Thanksgiving weekend with our family.
Cake Bites
Kari and I got together and experimented with making cake pops last week. A while back Kari had ordered some to give out at the hospital after Zachary was born. I loved both the idea and the taste! They looked easy enough… Unfortunately, our attempt ended in a cakey, chocolatey mess. Not wanting to be defeated, I tried a second time. Only this time I decided to make cake bites instead of cake pops. Who needs them on a stick anyway? I still ran into trouble with the chocolate being too thick so they aren’t as pretty as I had hoped for. Next time I will add shortening to the chocolate and hope that helps to thin out the consistency.
They taste great and don’t look too bad. I already have the itch to make them again and hopefully the third time will be a charm!
Totally unrelated to the cake bite topic, but I thought this was a cute picture of Isaac!
Pumpkin Patch
We met up with Dan and Kari at our favorite pumpkin patch that we visit each year. It was a beautiful Fall day – picture perfect!
The boys started the fun by testing their muscles to see who was the strongest.
I got my annual pick-of-the-patch photo. :-)
All 10 of us on the hayride! Look at all the BOYS…
Six little Falk boys. They don’t sit still for a second! Two out of six looking at the camera, not too bad. ;)
Our family on the hayride. The sun was bright!
Finally, they’re ALL looking AND smiling!
Apple fritter anyone? This didn’t belong to us, but the boys were fascinated by the bees so I snapped a picture. The apple fritters are amazing, by the way.
My favorite person in the whole world!
I thought this tree was really cool looking.
School Pictures
Isaac: 2nd grade
Ethan: 4th grade
Enjoying the park, beautiful weather, and cousin time!
I love the huge smiles on the kids’ faces as they jump and play in the leaves. I also love the smell, brings back such great childhood memories.
Fall Fun
We went to a pumpkin patch with a bunch of our neighbors. The kids had a great time together, as always! They spend hours a day playing and playing. They sometimes act more like siblings than friends. :)
Ethan’s Own Room
Now that Ethan is getting older we decided it would be good for him to have his own room. Lincoln got kicked out of his room and moved in with Isaac (he was a bit sad to leave his room, but adjusted quickly). We transformed the nursery into a “cool” bedroom fit for a 9- year-old boy. I chose simple bedding and decorated with extreme sports wall art. As much as Warren and I hate painting, we had fun staying up extra late painting over the green walls while the kids slept. It took two days for the room to be completed. Ethan is very happy with the outcome (so am I) and loves having his own space. He mostly loves that he has a double window looking out into the cul-de-sac. His bed is a queen size so it will be nice having a place for company to sleep. That’s right, Ethan will get the boot when company comes. :-)
Mom & Grandma
My mom and grandma recently stayed with us for a few days. We spent our time enjoying the gorgeous Fall weather, shopping, and drinking coffee. It was nice having company to break up our routine.
Uncle Gary and Sam stopped in for dinner one evening. The kids had a blast with their big cousin and the adults enjoyed talking and catching up while eating chocolate chip cookies.
Isaac lost his first tooth (literally)!
Isaac has been wanting to lose a tooth for such a long time! He’s 7 1/2 and all his friends have been losing teeth for quite some time. Finally, his time came and I was so happy for him!
He asked his Daddy to tie a string around his tooth and pull it out. (I told you he was determined to get that thing pulled!) It wasn’t hanging by a thread or anything so we tried encouraging him to wait a couple more days thinking it might be less painful. But, he insisted to have it pulled. Warren tied dental floss around his tooth and when Isaac wasn’t expecting it, he pulled really hard. We have a great video clip of Isaac’s reaction! He screamed like a girl and then jumped for joy that his tooth was out! All was good until we realized the tooth was nowhere to be found. We searched, I vacuumed and still no tooth… But, of course, he still had a surprise under his pillow!
Renaissance Festival
We planned a trip to the Renaissance festival during “pirate theme” weekend hoping it would provide fun entertainment for our family. Unfortunately, the boys didn’t enjoy the festival as we had hoped they would. They were bored and wanted to go home after only a few minutes! We stayed a few hours since we paid a good amount of money per ticket. But, Warren and I decided that next year we’ll go again and leave the boys home with a sitter.
Here they are trying to look happy as they pose next to a huge knight.
Turkey leg, anyone? Lincoln enjoyed sharing it with Daddy.
Funnel cake! This was probably the highlight for Ethan and Isaac. At least, it was for me. They couldn’t complain for a while with all the food in the their mouths. :)
Lincoln’s first canoe trip.
One beautiful late-summer morning after Ethan and Isaac were off to school Warren and I took little Lincoln on his first not-so-little canoe trip. We drifted and paddled for 10 miles down the river.
He enjoyed it at first…
But, started to get bored. We stopped frequently so he could throw rocks into the water, his favorite part!
Here, he is showing me a little shell he had found.
He even got to use a paddle just his size!
We had a picnic lunch and threw more rocks into the water. The river was so quiet and peaceful. I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with two of my favorite guys!
New Glasses
After trying on several styles of eye glasses, Warren chose these for me. I’m not so sure I would have picked them, but he loves them!
First Day of School
As always, Summer has flown by and I’m left wondering where the time went. Another school year begins and our boys have moved up to 4th grade and 2nd grade. Again, where has the time gone?
Don’t they look handsome? I love the clean, new shoes!
The boys seemed calm, not too nervous about their first day. I overheard Ethan telling Isaac they should sit together on the bus. When Ethan’s best friend, Stevie said, “Hey Ethan, I’m sitting with you on the bus!” Ethan replied, “OK, but Isaac is sitting with me, too.” It was uncharacteristically sweet and I know it made Isaac feel special.
Here are some of the cul-de-sac kids. There are 15 kids in all at our bus stop!
Zoo!
I love this picture of the boys running through the mist trying to stay cool.
Our favorite, the baby bonobo.
New Look
The dark green shutters and white front door/side-light have been painted a chocolate-brown color. We also replaced the outside lights and they match nicely with the brown. It’s amazing how much it’s changed the appearance of the house. We both agree this should have been done long ago!
Aunt Lisa visits!
It was nice having my sister around for a few days! She was so helpful with the boys and I enjoyed hanging out, shopping, and drinking coffee with her. These pictures are from our hike through the woods at a local park.
The boys found an old tree with a strong vine to swing on. This entertained them for a good half hour.
Even Mom tried it out, but only after convincing the boys that it ‘probably’ wouldn’t break! They laughed and laughed as I took my turn. It was surprisingly fun and held up just fine.
