Christmas

Well, we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We certainly did. We spent Christmas with Robbie's family this year since we went home (well, to my home) to St. Louis in September for my ten year reunion and couldn't afford to go out there again. We spent most of the holiday break at Robbie's parents' house. We went to the traditional family party on Saturday with all of Robbie's extended family where the kids exchange gifts and the adults do a white elephant gift exchange. I got a toilet set, toilet paper, and a johnny light. It was so appropriate since we were in the middle of potty training Jared. Surprisingly though no one tried to steal it from me. Weird. Church at Robbie's parents' ward was wonderful. They have an amazing choir, which Mom, Aimee, and Josh sing in, which brings in the Spirit so strong. I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ who can bring us peace and happiness in a world filled with war and sadness. All we have to do is "Let Him In" like one of my favorite songs from "Forgotten Carols" extols. I hope we will all do more this year to let Him lead us and guide us so that we can truly enjoy the peace and happiness that only He can give.

Enjoy some of the highlights from our Christmas Day!

The cutest boys ever! Alex (9 months) and Jared (almost 3 years).
They love each other so much!

The whole family after church.

Alex liked the wrapping paper as much or maybe even more than the toys.

Grandpa Haertel gave Jared a VTech laptop computer so that he can be like everyone else in the family and always be working on their computer. Alex was very excited about it to and didn't have any qualms about climbing over Jared to get to it.

Alex throwing the wrapping paper.

Jared got his train for Christmas. He had been talking about it for a couple of months and told Santa 5 times when we went to visit him that that was what he wanted. We told him if he was potty trained (because that's what I wanted for Christmas) that he would get his train. He was wearing underwear for 3 days and no accidents before we went up to Grandma and Grandpa's a few days before Christmas. All the people, excitement, and being a big house caused a setback for him, but after the holidays and going back to our normal routine he proved himself to be a big boy!

Alex was so excited about the train too, since it is really for both of them. He loves grabbing the different pieces and putting them in his mouth. He especially loves taking the track apart once Papi and Jared have put it together.