Welcome to Buffalo!

We left our house last Tuesday (the 20th) and arrived in Buffalo around 6 in the evening on the 21st.  We broke up the drive by staying with friends just outside of Washington, D.C., but it was still a long trek.  The weather was nice and the traffic wasn't too bad, so things could have been a lot worse!

On Thursday, Zach's brother and his family arrived.  Lee and Cassandra have two kids: Corinne, 4, and Davis, 3.  Dan and Ben loved getting reacquainted with their cousins and had a great time playing with them.  We all had lunch at Granny's house, followed by naps at the hotel, then dinner at Chef's (a Buffalo favorite) with Zach's father's side of the family.  They were smart and reserved us a private room so when the little ones got restless, we just shut the door and let them run around!

Thrilled with his new puzzle from Aunt Marcie and Uncle Marvin

Davis on his birthday eve

Santa came early!

Since we'll be in Buffalo for Christmas Day, Santa stopped by our house a little early this year!  Yesterday we opened stockings and presents and had fun playing with all of our new stuff.  Dan's favorite things are his new train Ferdinand, his Cars nightlight, a recordable book from Grandma and Grandpa, and a Cars lunchbox (to be used when he starts preschool in January).  Ben loves his Melissa & Doug car carrier, his new lamb pillow, and all the wrapping paper and boxes.

My favorite things are the scarves and hats and throw blanket, all hand-knit by Great-Grandma.  Zach loves his new boxer briefs and socks.  What can I say--he's easy to please!  We had a fun time opening up everything and I can't wait to do it all over again on Christmas morning.  Maybe there will be snow on the ground then!

Before anyone else woke up

A kiss for Lamby

Really excited over a $5.99 document clip for his monitor

The aftermath

New clothes from Aunt and Unc for church this morning

December? Really?!

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous!  (Good thing Granny Rash just sent the boys winter parkas.  At least they'll come in handy in Buffalo next week.)  We've been playing a lot outside and today all of our neighborhood friends joined in the fun!  Gavin even brought his John Deere cart over so they could take turns driving it.  Ben wasn't too happy at first but he managed to turn his frown upside down after just a few minutes.

Chris, the sales office manager, even drove by and handed out cookies left over from the neighborhood party last night.  Too bad he doesn't show up every day with treats!

Dan & Milana

Grace

Ben & Gav

Ben in the box

A big Christmas package from Oklahoma arrived yesterday, full of wrapped presents!  Ben only had eyes for the empty box, though.  He thought it was great fun to run the trains along the top, throw Blue Bunny in, and attempt to climb on it.  Hopefully he'll have just as much fun with his actual presents!

Gunny Clause

On Saturday, Zach's squadron hosted a big holiday dinner for everyone with all the fixin's: turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, bouncy houses.  The boys had a great time, of course, but Dan was not so sure about sitting in Gunny Clause's lap.  (A gunnery sergeant is a senior enlisted rank in the Marine Corps, so this Gunny Clause was a veeeeeery senior Marine, if you see what I mean.)  Ben sat with him but gave him a suspicious look.  We did manage to actually take a family picture, which will be on our holiday card, since it's practically the only shot of all of us from the entire year!

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Morning reading

Some people read the newspaper in the morning; Dan likes to take his milk with "Harry the Dirty Dog."  This morning he decided to read it to his brother who was too busy banging on the glass to listen.  Just a typical start to the day in Casa Rashman!

These pictures are from Tuesday when the weather was considerably more dreary outside.  On a normal day, after the boys are dressed, I give them their milk and they usually play or read while I make the beds and open the blinds and unload the clean dishes.  I like to get those chores done before breakfast and Dan and Ben are very good about entertaining themselves while I do a little work.