9 months old and Christmas in Maine

Here we are today for their 9 month birthday.  They are very good at sitting up, but not so good at staying in one place, so I'm there pinning them down.

December 23:

Let the gift-giving (and receiving) begin!  My mother-in-law insisted that we give the boys their first present-- a little tikes sport coupe.  Here they are, enjoying it:

Christmas Eve:

We went to Eric's paternal grandparents' for their annual Christmas Eve party.  This includes my father-in-law, his two sisters, and most of their children and grandchildren.  We are regulars, except for last year when I was stuck at home gestating.  Here is Benjamin on his great-aunt Annette's lap:

Here is Eric holding Asher.  Asher is wearing his "My 1st Christmas" bib.  I gave him some tastes of baked beans, watermelon, and a little shred of ham.  He seemed to like all of it.  Ben also had tastes, and my mother-in-law worried that I would upset their tummies, but it seemed to go down fine.

Here is Asher, sitting on his great-grandpa Whitten's lap.  Asher cried when Santa came, but was perfectly happy to sit on Grampa's lap.  Grampa loves his great-grandsons and it's so sweet.

Christmas Day:

We started the morning with opening the boys' stockings:

Their memere got them sippy cups, socks, yogurt melts, and bath toys.  Asher is eating a bath toy, not any of the things that are actually supposed to go in his mouth.

We were going to wait to open our gifts, but memere and pepere got excited and opened all the boys' toys.  They got a ton of stuff!  Here they are with a box, and their new cell phone:

Then the guys went down for their morning nap, and the rest of us opened our gifts and cooked a big breakfast.  I think my babies inherited their daddy's talent for waking up to the smell of bacon, because just as we finished cooking, they woke up and joined us for breakfast.

Here is Benjamin with some scrambled eggs:

"Asher Smasher" smashing his eggs on the table:

Here is a picture of me with Asher that I think shows just how similar we look:

The rest of the day was quiet.  My sister came up from Boston since she was all alone, and we took the babies on a walk and I gave my sister a brief tour of Main St. in Sanford.  My mother-in-law made a huge turkey dinner and we got totally stuffed!

And while I of course got many nice gifts, here are the two greatest gifts I got all year: