Christmas Morning!

This year for Christmas we had the pleasure of having Uncle Tom, Nina Barbara and Cousin Gabriel stay with us for a few days. The boys love having them here with us! Plus it is so nice to enjoy the holiday with them!

The boys are waiting so patiently for all the adults to wake up and be ready to open gifts!

Kale was so happy that Santa listened and brought him the Leap Pad Explorer. I think that Kai is happy too because big brother has been a nice boy and let Kai play with it lots too. Santa would be so proud of them!

Kai was so happy to see that Santa made him his very own turtle blanket for his big boy bed!

The boys had so much fun opening all of their gifts and playing non-stop the rest of the day! Hope your Christmas was as merry and bright as ours was!

DuBransky House Christmas Eve

So another year of Christmas fun at the DuBransky house has come and past. We are so thankful to all the DuBransky's that they count on in on this yearly tradition of opening gifts on Christmas Eve. Each year brings changes as we grow larger and larger. The boys love getting gifts from their entire DuBransky family - Uncles, Aunties, Cousins, Grandma Marianne and PopPop!

Christmas Eve Brunch

One of our recent traditions has been to host a brunch on Christmas Eve morning. We bake lots of yummy treats and open the house to friends and family. It is always so fun to have everyone stop by for a visit. Sadly, as I looked back at the photos I realized just how busy I must have been that day because this is the only photo I took. It was one of our many fun items we baked. It was bacon pinwheels and they are so yummy. Enjoy! (Let me know if you want the recipe!)

VCA Christmas Performance

The school that Kale attends holds a Christmas performance every year. The children spent a few weeks getting ready for their performance and Kale was so happy for to sing his songs. The church was very crowded and the lights were down so that the stage was the only thing lit. When Kale walked up with his class he couldn't see us even though we were only five pews in front of him. At the end when the house lights were turned on, and he finally spotted us the smile on his face show us how happy he was to see us. The children did an amazing job and it is so awesome to watch children educate us adults about the reason for the season.

Breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Claus

One of our favorite new restaurants in town, Central City Market, hosted a wonderful breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Claus this year. The restaurant has a great brunch and the boys thought it was so cool that the Claus family stopped by for a visit.


The boys are so happy!

Mrs. Claus read "The Polar Express," to the children while the parents enjoyed finishing their meals.

A Visit with Santa

One of the local law offices in town has a great display every year with Santa. This year Santa brought with him some of his elves and another holiday friend too. The boys were so happy to be able to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.


Kale really enjoyed the Snowman too! Notice that Kai is not in the picture, I think Kai thought the snowman was a bit strange.

Funny Faces = Funny Brothers

These glasses have brought tons of laughs to our house (thanks Barbara Taft!) These two boys love playing with each other and know how to make us laugh! Enjoy the silly faces!

Goodbye Baby Tooth

Kale lost his upper baby teeth last year after having them removed surgically but he recently lost his first baby tooth naturally. I feel like that is a big milestone in his life! Sometimes I just can't believe how much he has grown.

This photo is so meaningful to me. Kale is standing there waiting for Grandma to pull his tooth. She has a piece of string wrapped around and it about to pull. He has no idea what is coming! I find so much in this photo because I had photos of me just like these ones. I never allowed anyone but my Grandma to pull out one of my teeth. (So my Mom never got to and had to wait for her grandchildren to have this honor!)

The tooth is being pulled, Kale had closed his mouth and the tooth is flying towards the camera. Hard to see from the photo, it all happened so fast!

Kale has finally realized that his tooth is out and that it hurts a bit. He begins crying I think more from the shock then from pain! Once he sees the tooth and realizes that it means the Tooth Fairy will be visiting he stops crying!

Our Version of a Gingerbread House

So after our trip to Solvang to the child-size version of a gingerbread house the boys were begging for us to do one here at home. Grandma felt inspired and got all the supplies put together. The boys started off happy to help but then quickly gave up when they saw how much hard it took to make the house look perfect. Grandma was trying her best, the boys just wanted to eat it and could care less how it looked.

The fun has started!
Noticed that Grandma has been left behind and is now doing the work by herself!

The final masterpiece! Or as Grandma said, "The first and last time I ever do a gingerbread house!"
The part the boys most wanted, just to eat it!

More Fun in Solvang

The day we took the boys to Solvang to look at the gingerbread house we had a a bit of heat wave and the boys really didn't want to walk around the town and shop. So we headed over to one of the town parks and just let the boys run around and play. It is one of the best designed parks in the area and the boys had so much fun.

Kai is a bit unsure of himself when crossing over bridges.

The water mist was a great idea and on the nice warm day felt great. During the summer I imagine that this is where all the parents stand while the children play.

Kai found some fun!
This is one of the few pictures of Kale at the park he was having so much fun running from one thing to next it hard to grab a photo of him.

A Child Size Gingerbread House

One of the hotels in the nearby city of Solvang builds a child size gingerbread during the holiday season. We went and saw it a couple of years ago and the boys talk about it all the time so we made it back this year. As you can see the boys still think it is pretty awesome.

Getting the House Ready

As always getting the house ready for Christmas is lots of fun for the boys. We had a great holiday season (as you will see in the next few posts) and we hope you had a great holiday season as well!