Leaving Cookies for Santa

Before we went to our Christmas Eve party, Brendan left cookies & milk out for Santa (we figured he'd be asleep before we made it home from the party).
Brendan thought it would be a good idea to try to sample the cookies for Santa.

Our Tree

Merry Christmas!!!We got a new tree for this year (actually bought it last December -- on clearance of course!) but we really like how it looks and wanted to show it off!

Shoemaker Family Exchange

We have an exchange between immediate families for Christmas...this year we decided to draw names and just give to one person. It worked out really well. Joe & Suzi were the hosts and also set up a "white elephant" type of gift exchange. Lots of fun and lots of laughs as well!




Brendan's starting to take after his GrandBob---sleeping in front of the fire.
Mommy & Mamaw took some turns sleeping next to him as well.

Finishing the Basement

So, we've decided to finish our basement. Nothing horribly elaborate, a family room/game room, spare room - we're still debating the true purpose of this room (Chris' office, guest room, playroom for Brendan), a full bath and a small bar area.
Step 1 was nothing exciting...just waterproofing the walls...which is finally done. The white painted walls are waterproofed...where the gray cement is still showing will be unfinished areas. Now, it's on to the floors for Jen while Chris works on insulating/framing the walls.

Crawling up the mountain...

of playmat pieces... Looks like fun, huh?

Brendan & Mommy!

"Jail"