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We went to a model train show at the Volusia County fairgrounds last weekend with James (the person not the train).

They had a neat train ride out front. Nathan provided his own train sounds.

Both boys loved it. Nathan even got to drive a model train!

Don’t even act like he didn’t. We have documentation.

He’s an engineer now.

If my grandpa could have seen Topher eating corn on the cob he would have said “all pigs like corn”. Nathan calls him “corn face boy”.

We spent Christmas Eve at Nana and Grandpaw’s house. We all had a great time visiting with each other, eating an awesome seafood feast, and watching the kids play together.

We attempted a group shot of the kids, which sounds easier than it is.

Christmas day we spent at home opening gifts and playing.

Nathan was excited to find a piece of chocolate in his stocking.

The boys each got new pajamas from Nana and Grandpaw on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas morning they got bathrobes, sleeping bags, and flashlights. Nathan liked his sleeping bag so much he camped out in the living room last night.

They also got an easel

After opening gifts we ate breakfast and played for awhile. Then we headed to the park for most of the afternoon. When we got home from the park, we did something most people wouldn’t probably do on Christmas… we took down the tree. We really wanted to plant our little potted tree in the ground yesterday. So we did just that.

We hope you had as wonderful of a Christmas as we did.

This year Nathan has been pretty into Santa. He told Justin that he needed to see Santa, so today we took the boys to Bass Pro Shops. We assumed that Nathan would be pretty excited to see him, but we didn’t think Topher would share his brother’s enthusiasm. We were wrong about Topher, I think he was more excited than Nathan. When it was their turn both boys went right up to Santa. Nathan got a little shy when it came time to talk to Santa, though, so he told Justin to tell Santa that he likes trains. This is the picture that was taken, which unfortunately doesn’t capture the boys’ excitement at all.

Bass Pro Shops really does it up right and creates a whole little winter wonderland for the kids. We had fun riding the carousal. Nathan rode a bear and Topher rode a reindeer.

There was also a representative from Gatorland there with a young gator. Nathan thought that was pretty neat. I got to tell Nathan that Justin used to work with gators like that, he was impressed. Nathan held the alligator, while Topher pet him.

We had a fun early Christmas with the Hoad family yesterday. The GROWING Hoad family!

The boys got to visit with their new cousin, Noah, again. Noah isn’t very good at playing with cars yet…

Despite having a brand new baby to take care of, Aunt Kati found time to make us all some awesome santa hats.

We haven’t seen Kari’s grandma in two years. It was great to see her with her new great grandkids.

Topher always gravitates to the older men of the family. He loved Sante.

And of course both boys loved their presents.

Merry Christmas!