More family time, part 2

On to Christmas Day!! For breakfast, Jim and I were in charge of cinnamon rolls (I think this was our 6th or 7th time to do it for the family), and Noah was in charge of eggs (his 3rd year, making a favorite baked egg-ham-cheese rouladin), and we even splurged and made J&J homemade applesauce this year, too. For the cinnamon rolls, we decided to make the rolls on Christmas Eve; we put them in their pans and then straight into the freezer. On Christmas morning they took 2 hours in a slightly warm oven to defrost and rise. And then they baked up perfectly.  A win. Unfortunately Jim and I failed miserably to get any photos from the whole week of the two of us together, so you'll just have to imagine Jim coming from behind the camera to be in this scene.

hmm, do we have a little helper?

David and Timo are 2 months apart so we tried to get a photo of them together (like we did when they were babies in Christmas 2012) but it didn't quite work out...

Opening present time! It was chaotic but wonderful!

Timo's new car carrier truck (which was enjoyed by all)

It didn't take very long for Timo to get overwhelmed by the presents and he headed back to his favorite spot...the basket of cars and trucks. In fact, this morning at breakfast we were talking (again) about Christmas and all the things we did, and suddenly Timo said, "Trucks. Nonna's house. Davey ("D-bee"). Fun!" Most impressive for a boy who only started using sentences yesterday. His first sentence yesterday was when we were discussing going to the gym with all the cousins, and Timo said, "Throw ball, hoop!"

Millie, 6 months old and SO smiley and content

This next photo is called, "Study in blue and orange". 

Timo's new football, which he hasn't let go of much since opening it

The day after Christmas we continued a family tradition by going over to the Wheaton College gym to run around.The kids and Dads (and me with baby Mattias in the carrier) loved it!
 

A photo session with the two youngest. Mattias turned 2 months old on Dec 28, and Millie is 6 months old.
 

We arrived a day later than the other sibling families, and decided to stay one day after. Timo was able to have some special one-on-one time with Granddad.
 

Lining up the cars - but of course!