A Very Merry Bob and Papa Christmas

We have just celebrated Christmas #1 with Bob and Papa...and trains and underpants abound. Henry woke Sunday morning to a brand new, hand-crafted, big-boy train table made with love (and some tears) by daddy. Though it took many more hours, many more trips to Lowes, many more paint colors, many more late (or all) nighters, and many more dollars than anticipated, it is truly the most amazing train table that ever was...thank you daddy. Complete with a figure-8 track and a few Thomas (pronounced Bobby) trains, our piano room has been instantly transformed into the greatest play area ever. It was such fun to have Bob and Papa here to celebrate with us..and to provide the Thomas big-boy underpants. You can't have a big-boy train table without big-boy underpants. We're working on wearing the underpants UNDER our clothes, though for now it is more fun to wear them over our clothes so we can see the colorful pictures.

We have a couple of days to rest and regroup before heading to Grandma and Grandpa Beckman's house for a festive family Christmas...we can't wait!

Happy Holidays to all! Hope to see you in 2009!

ALL ABOARD...

...rings through our house from sunrise to sunset. Henry has become a conductor, and if he is not carrying a train, driving a train or choo-chooing like a train, he is shouting "All Aboard" at the top of his lungs. We're really into trains. So, it was a wonderful surprise to arrive at Bob and Papa's house only to discover a real train set for us to play with for the whole weekend. It was quite a hit. As was Thanksgiving dinner - delicious! Thanks everyone for preparing such a feast. Our weekend included a fun trip to see Cowboy Jim and Aunt Sheila (ant-eeya). Henry got to ride a horse and drive the Ranger around the farm - what fun! It was great to see Uncle John and Aunt Kiley's new house and Hopalong's super cute jungle nursery. It is so cute, in fact, that I must include a picture. Our weekend wrapped with a fun evening spent with our good friends Reagan and Cooper - thanks for making the drive to come play!