Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas!!! We hope you have a wonderful Christmas day and that you remember the true reason for the season. Also, a (belated) Happy Hanukkah!

Since we stayed put this year we were able to participate in some Christmas activities at our church during the past week. Last Sunday was the childrens Christmas play. I have never seen one at our church before but this year they returned to the classic Christmas story which I thought was so touching to see performed by the sweet little kids. Grace was an angel and had a line which she said very well and took very seriously. Will was a Holstein who was not allowed on stage(by his mom) because he kept pulling the donkey's ears and the donkey was getting very upset. Grant starred as baby Jesus. He fell asleep on stage in the little girls arms which I thought was very precious. There was a nice turnout to watch the kids and they were all excited. Afterwards, we had a birthday party for Jesus complete with cake and party favors for the kids.

This evening we attended the candlelight service. Will acted like a wild monkey and was blowing kisses at the little girl in front of us. He also saw a lady in a red outfit with white hair and a white scarf on and said "HO HO HO" at her....Brad is hoping he whisked the Little Man away before the lady made the connection that Will was referring to her!

Birthday Girl

This has been a week full of celebration around the Kozmo house....lots of birthday excitement and holiday events!!!! Grace loves birthdays and was especially excited to be the girl getting to blow out the candles. Even though I feel bad for her having a birthday so close to Christmas, I must admit that all the anticipation, good will, and excitement surrounding the holidays makes for a pretty fun filled birthday week.

We started the week with a party at an indoor playland in town. Grace and her friends ran around like crazy playing video games and climbing on the play equipment. She was one happy gal and I must admit, it was very nice having our birthday hostess worry about setting up, serving, and cleaning up for the event. The only blip was that the bakery lost our cake order which caused me some stress but they pulled together something for us to which Grace replied "that is exactly what I wanted!" I have always made the cakes before and I might go back to that because it was not a good feeling thinking I was going to have to have to tell the birthday girl there was no cake with pink sprinkles.

Next stop was Grace's dance open house. The girl's had been working on a couple of dances for this day on which parents were allowed to come in and watch. Grace has a great "ho,ho,ho" and if you check out the videos, you can see her doing her ballet at the bar (in pink sweater) and performing her tap dance. I stopped taping right before she started getting into it and hitting the moves really well.... She is the youngest girl in her class by about 7 months with girls ranging up to age seven and I think she holds her own quite well. She is learning a lot this year and really enjoys going to her class every week.

At the library, we celebrated one day with a visit from Santa and another with a visit from the holiday pirate (nothing like a little variation.....arghh--that's supposed to be my pirate sound). Will would have absolutely nothing to do with either. The librarian made Grace a tiara for her birthday so she felt extra special and has been wearing it around the house since.

Grace got to be the special helper at school on her birthday and take cupcakes, which was a big deal since we encourage healthy snacks. Then we headed out to lunch where I proceeded to shoot a straw wrapper into Grace's eye. She was tough about it but I felt horrible. I mean, those straws NEVER ever shoot and then I go and zap her directly in her eye on her birthday...great move!!

Despite Mom caused injuries, Grace had a fabulous birthday. She received a TON of phone calls, cards, and well wishes from friends and family. If you happened to call and did not sing "Happy Birthday" to her, she would kindy request that you sing to her. Seriously, the girl loves the birthday song. All day long she felt so special and I must extend a thanks to everyone who helped make her feel like the most important little princess in the world.

In the pics....before and after of present opening.

In the end, Grace hopped in a birthday bag and said she was a present. Yes, little girl, you are the best present ever.

Happy Birthday Grace, we love you!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Craig!!!

Due to your birthday card's status of sitting on our counter waiting to be sent, we thought we'd try to make up for it by blogging you some birthday greetings! We hope you have a wonderful day!!!

A Message from Leo

Leo is doing fabulous and wanted to send his globe trotting family a special message! Enjoy your time with Madeline...

Feeling Blue ( and a bit red, too)

We got a new camera way back in May and I'm just starting to figure everything out on it....this past week I was torturing the kids by taking even more pictures than normal as I'm playing around with some different features. Grace is such a good sport (at least for a while), Will is not so thrilled when I keep trying to snap a pic (he's got better things to do!), and Grant moves too much. Here are a few I deemed worthy of posting.

Happy Adoption Day!!!

We are so excited for Jessica and Ryan!!! Although it's been official in our hearts from the beginning, it is sure nice to have it on paper!

We love you Tessa!!

Musical Bath

Grant is being sung to, held, or talked to pretty constantly around here. The other day we had a impromtu bath after a diaper blow out and Grace wanted to help. The singing and washing continued for quite some time and Grant was as equally entertained as I was.

Will's Christmas Moose

No, this picture is not to show off my stellar Christmas light display, it is for you to look really closely at and see Will looking through his bedroom window. This week, the kids and I put up the very minimal lights that you can see (Grace is requesting lights on the roof but I told her she has to take that one up with her Dad). Will is OBSESSED with the deer which he has given the majestic honor of being called "MOOSE." He stands in his window for long periods of time (like 20 minutes...an eternity for a 2 year old) and will shout "MOOSE, MOOSE" while Grace, Grant, and I take turns sitting with him and looking at the moose out his window. I must agree with him that the moose is pretty darn cool--it moves its head and is all lit up. I love how this one decoration makes him so happy. He also goes crazy when we drive up to the house at night when it is on or if we pass another house with a similar decoration. Will is just showing us how to take pleasure in the simple things in life...seeing the world from the eyes of a two year old truly brings life into perspective and makes you slow down quite a bit. If you click on the bottom picture, you can get an upclose view of him yelling and pointing for me to notice the moose while I am outside taking his picture.

Two Months Old

Grant turns two months old this week....we cannot believe how quickly the time has flown. He is now smiling and cooing and especially loves his Big Sister and Big Brother. We'll have to say that we are pretty smitten with him too. At his two month appointment he weighed in at 12lbs 3 oz and was 23 1/4 inches long. He is still at the 75% percentile for both height and weight....to give those of you who haven't seen him in a while/or at all some perspective Grant is smaller than Grace at this age but a lot bigger than Will....just perfect to us.