Christmas '10

Christmas is more fun every year--like experiencing it for the first time. Christmas Eve was spent at Luke's parents. We did a big unwrapping present party and a quick Oyster Stew dinner. I was in charge of music for the midnight Mass in North Platte.

The next morning, we opened presents as a family.

D opened his second his second St. Dominic Savio coloring book (great minds think alike, right Susie? :))

The boys played with (and fought over) the electronic drum set and keyboard they got from the G and G Deaver all morning.

Yep, Dominic...that's exactly what I was thinking...

Probably going to be keeping the keyboard and drums at Grandma and Grandpas in the future... ;)

After the 10 AM Christmas morning Mass, we drove to Wahoo for the Mach Christmas.

All the kiddos LOVE Uncle Jake.

The whole Christmas thing was a tiring event for little Leo.

Another favorite Uncle, Uncle "Yoo-cas" (Actual, all the uncles are favorite uncles)

And the annual Bruggeman Family Gift Exchange. The theme was "Disney." Somehow that got changed to "Jewish Disney" by a few family members...yeah...I still don't get it.

We did get these sweet Mickey Israel t-shirts for the twins. Not sure when the perfect occasion will be for them to wear them...

And Luke got Iced. Neither of us were really cool enough to know what that was, but when he opened his Bruggeman gift, he found a Smirnoff Ice in the bag. I think he really only took about three swallows before he gave up.

Lizzy, the Disney princess.

Chores

I guess I should be glad these littles are fighting over who gets to put away the silverware...?

Welcome to God's family, Little Leo.

Leo Mark was baptized into God's family on December 18th, 2010 during Mass. We were happy to have many family members and friends celebrate with us.

Our dear friends, Megan and Marcus Faltys are Leo's Godparents.

Leo's not loving this shot...

My good looking family.

Our parish is so great about celebrating all the big events! Here's the cake from the Daughter's of Charity Altar Society.

And we had a great time with friends while they were here. Before the baptism, we went to the Espresso Shoppe to decorate ornaments and cookies.

Pete and Mary had a good time, too.

Big thanks to all those who came to North Platte to celebrate with us and big Congratulations to our precious Leo!

Random happenings in our family

Blogging has taken a back seat to the rest of my life, but I did want to document a few of the fun things the kiddos are doing right now:

• Leo has become a BIG flirt. He is such a smilely, loving baby. He loves to be talked to and sung to and has recently started giggling. No rolling over yet, as I'm afraid to let him be on the floor very much :)
• D is such a good big brother. Any time Leo starts fussing, Dominic is right in his face singing "No Way in the Manger"--Loudly!
• Jackson has finally started talking. He isn't speaking in long sentences, but knows the words for pretty much anything he needs to say. He has the funniest little expressions when he talks, and he has the. cutest. smile. ever. This kid is going to be a heart breaker!
• Patrick is quite the little boss. I often here him in his room yelling at Jackson, "DADA'S NOT HOME!" if Jackson ever yells for Luke during nap time. He also likes to give commands to his brothers like "No pushing....K?"  He usually greets us in the morning with a, "Good morning, Mom. How are you?"
• D recently has been very interested in writing letters. He asks me to write notes like "I Love you" or "I Miss you" and he copies all the letters on paper. He's always pointing out letters he sees "Look, mom--V, like for vacation!" He's very excited that once he turns four he gets to go to school.
• The kiddos are all so into Toy Story (we watch it a few times a week) and Mr. Potato Heads.
• Despite the fact that the pediatrician told us to expect Leo to be sleeping through the night soon, we have no allusions that this will happen before he's one! He's up every 2 hours or so all night, but we've been coping relatively well. After all, at least it's only one baby! :)
• The older three boys made up a game--"Stuck in the mud" You'll often here one calling to the others, "Come on, let's play stuck in the mud!" One falls down on the ground and the other two have to take turns pulling him up out of the mud. For a month or more, I thought Luke invented this game, but I guess our kids are just that creative! :)
• Patrick has a huge vocabulary--most notably, the word "Why?" Isn't he too young to be asking that question??
• Dominic is the best three year old cleaner EVER. He gets super stressed when Jackson and Patrick don't help clean or insist on getting toys out that he just cleaned up. Many mornings, I'll find all the toys that don't belong in his room laying on the floor outside the door to his room. He also now refuses to wear socks with any holes and puts his coat and shoes away the minute he gets in the door. As they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...I'm talking Luke here...
• Apparently turning lights on and off is, by far, the coolest new thing to do for Jackson and Patrick.
• D still has a HUGE fear of the wind. After 9 months, he still remembers his balloon floating away in the wind. Since then, he is sure that the van, our house, various outdoor toys, etc., are destined for the same fate as that beloved balloon!!

Perhaps I'll be able to escape from the chaos soon and post pictures...dating back to Leo's baptism :)