The Polar Express

As I mentioned in our Thanksgiving post, while my parents (aka: Pinkie and Pa) were in town for the holiday they took Kolbe on a special trip on the Polar Express. Last year a group in Lubbock started this Christmas time activity and it has been quite successful. Kids and families get to board a real train that travels around the outskirts of Lubbock while The Polar Express is being read aloud. "Elves" join them on the train ride and assist with Christmas carol sing-a-longs and even serve hot chocolate and cookies. About half way through the trip, Santa Claus boards the train and visits each kiddo and gives them a little gift. The kids even get to wear their jammies on the train so it makes for quite the exciting evening. Kolbe had an absolute blast and even now, about a month later, he still mentions the "chain" that he saw "ant cause" on with "pe-e" and "pa"!

A little brotherly nonsense...

I was flipping through our camera and came across a few fun pics of the boys cruising in their car. It seems like yesterday that I was taking pictures of Kolbe riding around by himself. And just one year later, he has a riding companion! Reagan definitely gets a kick out of this and Kolbe loves showing him how it's done!



And I couldn't pass up on posting this one of my favorite spaghetti face! Being his mom is so much fun!

Thanksgiving 2009...a few weeks late!

I really have no excuse for not getting our Thanksgiving pictures posted sooner. Maybe I thought that I already had or something. The Asmussen House has pretty much been business as usual...just with lots of Christmas decorating, baking, and Frosty the Snowman reading and watching. (Kolbe got both the Frosty the Snowman book and DVD from Pinkie and Pa and he's obsessed...)

But a few weeks ago, we had a lot of fun celebrating Thanksgiving here in Lubbock. My parents came in on Tuesday and Pat came in on Wednesday evening. We had a great time eating and hanging out over at Abby and Andy's house. There was SO much food that it provided for about a week's worth of leftovers! Here are a few pics:

Roo-Roo flirting with Pinkie

Mom, Dave, and Andy celebrating the not-so-favorite part of Thanksgiving...dishes!

Pinkie, Pa, and their precious pumpkins!

Also, while my parents were in town for Thanksgiving, they took Kolbe on a very special trip...The Polar Express! Unfortunately I didn't send my camera with my parents so the only pics we have are on their camera. Hopefully when my mom comes for the Gaschen Family Christmas this week, I can snag them from her and get them posted. He had a blast!

Happy Birthday, Kolbe!

With the crazy year that 2009 has been, it's hard to believe that another year has passed in the life of our little Kolbe! It really does seem like yesterday that he was born, yet at the same time feels like a lifetime ago. Mark and I continue to marvel at the beautiful, unique, spirited child that he is. As we always say, he's full of personality! We are so blessed that God continues to allow us to be his parents!

After mass this past Sunday evening, we all met up with lots of family at Rudy's BBQ to celebrate. Kolbe had a blast visiting with everyone and opening presents. He gave his best effort at blowing out the candles on his cake, too! While he's still a little bit young to fully understand the birthday concept, he could definitely tell that there was something special about this day. He was full of excitement! My favorite thing is when you ask him how old he is, he now says, "TWO!" and holds up four fingers. Too cute! Here are some pictures from the fun evening!

The Birthday Boy!

Uncle Dave and Reagan...wearing the same outfit Kolb wore for his b-day last year!

Kolbe spending time with G-ma

BBQ! Yummmm!

Giving the sweet new trike from G-ma a test drive!

Kolbe and his best friend, Uncle Ben, working on a puzzle from Aunt Abby and Uncle Andy.

Kolbe got some awesome new boots from his cousin, Adan. How cute!

Back at home, Kolbe tried out the sit 'n spin from Uncle Dave.

...and spent some time playing in his tent that Pinkie and Pa gave him.

He also loves playing with his new train set too!

Uncle Pat comes to town!

This past week during his move from Mississippi to Las Vegas, my brother Pat stopped in Lubbock for a few nights to visit. Since we rarely get to see him, both of my parents came up for the visit too. It was so good to see Pat! Even though they haven't seen him in a long time, both Kolbe and Reagan took to him right away. Kolbe had a blast playing with Pat in the backyard. Hopefully we will be able to have him back in Lubbock for Thanksgiving or Christmas...or even better...both! The boys also had a blast playing with Pinkie and Pa while they were staying here. They sure do love and miss their grandbabies! Come back soon, Uncle P!

Happy Halloween!

Mark, the boys and I had a ton of fun yesterday for Halloween! First, we headed up to the hospital in the morning to visit Mark's dad. He and all the nurses in the nursery loved seeing the boys all dressed up. After lunch, we headed over to Mandi and Joe's house to watch the Tech game. Luckily, the Red Raiders were able to pull off another win! After, we picked up Mark's mom and went up to Monterey Church of Christ where the rest of Mark's family was checking out their "trunk or treat". Finally, we headed over to Abby and Andy's house to show off the boys costumes one last time. Reagan wore the Abu monkey suit that my mom made for Kolbe last year and Kolbe wore an Aladdin costume that I made for him this fall. They looked too cute together! (Although, it was nearly impossible to get a pic of them at the same time!)

Needless to say, Kolbe had his share of sugar...

Is it just me or is the pet monkey just as big as the owner???

The Asmussen Men

Grubby Little Red Raider

Even though Mark and I don't have season tickets (or any kind of tickets, for that matter) to the Tech games, we have made it a habit of going down to the tailgate that our friends have set up prior to each home game. Mark and I enjoy getting to hang out with other adults and Kolbe loves running around with all the big guys, especially his best friend, Ben. He follows "Uncle" Ben around like a loyal puppy! Reagan usually just gets passed around amongst the ladies!

This past weekend, our good friends Jared and Katie were in town for the game too. A lovely professional camera that is probably worth more than all of my possessions combined was given to them as a baby gift recently. The each took a little time to shoot a few pics of Kolbe and they all turned out really well! These are the best pics I think we've ever seen of him! Too bad he was a grubby mess from eating chips and cookies! Thanks again to Jared and Katie for these awesome pictures of our little Red Raider. Here are my favorites: