Wii Wish You a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Shuster's! And for a few hours, we even had a white Christmas! Oh ya, and we bought into the Wii craze just like the rest of America. (it really is cool though!)

Anticipation

Christmas Eve - the excitement and anticipation is almost too much. We had our typical family event at Mom's house with the Willey's, Westby's and Spicciati's. The boys got to open presents from Grandma (Power rangers with motorcycles and 'bad guys') and Grandma Jan and Papa Ron (a tent for Nate, a sleeping bag for Ian). Having cousins around makes it that much more special, and crazy!!! The boys had a VSmile tournament on Grandma's bed. Everyone was passed out in bed by 9:30pm, just in time for the arrival of Santa.

(Not So) Silent Night

What's almost as great as the arrival as Santa? The arrival of cousins. Andrew (7.5), Sam (5) Nate (4.75 and Ian (2.5) at their first 'slumber' party where slumber was the last thing on their minds!

Away in the Manger...

Grandma Jan invited us to Haggs tree farm this past weekend to feed the "manger" animals. We few sheep, goats, llamas and even a donkey! The boys loved to use the feed machine to get the pellets that the animals love. After, we went up to Grandma Jan's house for lunch and got to feed even more animals on the way - horses, llamas and more sheep!

All Aboard the Choo Choo train! ZOO Lights!

Keeping up with holiday traditions, we took our family trip to the Oregon Zoo for ZooLights! It was a bit rainy, but that didn't stop the boys. Along with some new neighbor/friends, we hopped on the zoo trian for a ride around the zoo an a look at the lights. They do a wonderful job wrapping trees and with animated lights - the crocodile lake lights and the swinging monkey were favorites. Most zoo animals were alseep, but we did manage to see the elephants having their bedtime snack of hay.

Santa Clause Came to Town

The boys went to visit Santa Claus on Saturday. Grandma (Rita) and Grandma Jan took them on the MAX train downtown, then to see Pioneer Place Santa. Nate hopped right on but Ian needed a bit of coaxing! BUT, no tears this year! The visit went well and ended with a trip to Starbucks for Vanilla Milk.

If you build it...

Never mind first Thursday, the Shuster boys are into First Saturday - at Home Depot, that is! The first Saturday of each month, Home Depot offers a kids workshop (for free!) where kids age 5 and up can build a creation to take home (ok, so we fudged the age a bit!) Each completed project earns them a pin to add to their apron. Safety goggles are a must. This month they made serving trays - we've also made a Firetruck crayon holder, bag recycler, and race car to name a few. Very cool!