The North Pole Express

The Sunday before Christmas we headed out to the Grapevine Train station to board the North Pole Express. My parents, brothers and Kevin's parents joined us. The boys wore their Christmas jammies and we all had a great time!

Ryan loved playing on the little cars while we waited in line

Grayson was trying to get his morning nap in

Hanging out waiting for the show to start

Ryan sitting with Papa watching the show

On our way to board the train...Ryan loved the 'snow'

Uncle Steve and Uncle Nick...just thrilled with all these children activities :) They were good sports!

The conductor took our tickets

Just chillin

And Santa came!

All in all it was a cute little Christmas activity. Ryan is loving trains right now so I think it was pretty cool that he got to ride on one. I am sure we will be back next year!

Merry Christmas

Christmas Day

Santa came!

Ryan and Grayson's new train set from Santa! The adults had just as much fun playing with this as Ryan did!

He wasn't really interested in opening any other gifts after finding his train set!

Uncle Steve helped Ryan open his stocking goodies...straight for the candy!

This guy just hung out and watched...

Hanging with ProPapu & Bob

After we open gifts we had some breakfast - some fruit salad and a sausage casserole.

Eating with ProYaya

Grayson's first Christmas - and a white one at that! This was when the snow just started falling!

Mommy and Ryan by the tree

YiaYia and Ryan!

We all headed over to Kevin's parents house for dinner on Christmas Day. It was so nice of them to invite our entire family over - we had such a great time! I wish I would have taken some pictures but I forgot my camera! What a wonderful Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve

This year we hosted my parents, brother, grandparents, and Kevin's parents for Christmas Eve. Per the Vassilaros tradition we made homemade pizza! Yum!

Making pizza with my dad

The kitchen got a little messy...but you have to toss the dough!

It was a little tight but we managed!

Mom and dad

Gigi and Grayson

My Yaya and Papu

Mary made a yummy salad! My pizza was falling apart but this one was caramelized onions & jimmy's sausage - so delish!

And an assortment of cookies for desert! 

Everything was delicious and we all had a great time. I am so excited for next year when we can do this in our new house - with lots of space :)

 

As for the rest of the evening...the stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

 Ryan and Grayson put on their Christmas jammies, left some cookies out for santa and headed to bed!  

Santa liked his cookies! Yum!

Holidays with family

I was so excited for the holidays this year - so excited for my family to come in town! My dad hadn't seen Grayson since he was born and Ryan was starting to think that Papu lived in the computer (because we usually see him on Skype).

Nick arrived Thursday evening (after bedtime) so Ryan didn't see him until he woke up on Friday morning. When the UPS had delivered a package on Thursday I said "Who is it?" and Ryan ran to the door saying "It's Nick! It's Nick"...so I knew he was excited to see him. When Ryan woke up Friday morning and saw Nick he ran up to him and started showing him all his toys then grabbed his hand and took him upstairs to play in his playroom - so cute!

YiaYia, Papu, and Uncle Steve arrived Friday morning and Ryan was thrilled once again! He loves having everyone in town - lots of attention!

Kevin had to go to work Friday morning so we took it easy and hung around the house. We headed up to the new house so everyone could see it then went to Royal Thai for lunch. 

On Saturday the boys went to the Perot museum and my mom and I (and Grayson) headed to Northpark. We started at Dry Bar with blow outs then did a little last minute Christmas shopping- so fun! That evening we celebrated Christmas with Nick (since we was headed back to Florida on Sunday). My dad fried a turkey and my mom also brought a ham. And of course we had all the yummy sides that go along with...delicious!

Vassilaros kids

Our fried turkey!

My little christmas elf!

After dinner Uncle Nick and Ryan decorated a gingerbread house. This was extremely difficult since Ryan tried to eat all of the candy instead of using it to decorate. Oh well....

Ryan helped Nick open his gifts

Good work!

Ryan started out slow with his unwrapping....he hands you every little piece that he tears off and will not continue until you take it from him. He does not like messes - just like his daddy! After a while he managed to tear some larger pieces off which helped speed things up. I was starting to think Christmas morning might last all day....Anyhow, he had a great time playing with his (and Grayson's) toys that Uncle Nick got them. Glad we got to celebrate with Nick before he had to head back!

'Tis the Season

So I am getting a wee bit behind and decided that I would just do one big post with all the fun activities we have been up to lately...here we go!

This was back on November 30th (aka the last day of creepy mustaches). We had dinner at Mi Cocina and then walked over to the Lakewood Tree Lighting ceremony.  It wasn't anything too exciting but they did give us these light up santa hats that Ryan loved, so that was a plus :)

Kindermusik Christmas Party...Grayson really loved music class too so I think we will start going in the the Spring.

Ryan playing with the "snow" 

The (junior) Curcios hosted a toy drive/pot luck Christmas party on December 9th. 

She had an adorable kids table set up! Ryan had a great time decorating the Christmas tree and also discovered a love for smartees

Audrey LOVES Grayson. She always wants to hold him or touch him...whatever she can do. So sweet! Of course, when someone else gives Grayson attention then Ryan all of the sudden has major interest. So silly!

On December 10th we headed to Mi Cocina to celebrate Lyla turning 7!

Thursday December 13th we had a book exchange holiday party at playgroup. It was a lot of fun for the kiddos and the food was adorable! 

On Friday December 14th we headed to North Park with Ford & Charlie (and their moms) to check out the trains!

Fair Park at the North Park Trains!

Ryan was a fan - he loves watching the trains go by...of course he tried to touch them!

Watching with Mickey...

And then he took Fords hand and they walked out...good thing we saw them because they didn't really look or wait for us. Boys. 

These three guys might be trouble one day!

Sitting patiently waiting for lunch - couldn't believe it! Must have been hungry! After lunch we checked out the puppet show and they loved it as well! Such a fun little morning with friends. 

Next up - Andy's Mickey Mouse 3rd birthday party!

Colin playing with Ryan in the foam pit (which he actually loved!) Daddy and Grayson watching.

A little tummy time at the gym

Most of the kids actually listened. Ryan wasn't really one of them. 

And the adults got to have a little fun ourselves...

Being on the trampoline really makes you want to bust out your cheerleading jumps but I knew if I tried anything I would probably pull a muscle so I did this...I think its the jump from the doublemint gum commercials...or something. lol. 

After Kevin heckled me long enough I went for a back flip...

The party was adorable and full of yummy sweets! I am pretty sure we might be having a Mickey Party this year (if Ryan's obsession continues) so I will be stealing all of Nat's ideas!

Ryan's cupcake eating technique

The result.

Adorable bags given as party favors!!! So much fun!

Last up are a couple of pictures from Ryan's school Christmas party he had yesterday ...but I haven't gotten them off my phone yet...