Christmas 2011

We spent Christmas with my family this year. Christmas Eve we spent hanging out and played some friendly competitive games, including cup stacking...

...filling pantyhose with balloons to look like a reindeer...

...and some cookie face race!

I think everyone had fun.

Christmas morning we let the kids see what Santa brought before we went to church.

After we got home we opened the rest of the gifts.

Ethan was probably the biggest gift giver of anyone. All month he's been wrapping up little trinkets to give to everyone. His cousin Spencer was spoiled the most. 

The highlight of the afternoon was when my grandma opened her gift from my grandpa. Grandpa passed almost 6 years ago, and yet every year she gets something special from him. We all just laugh when she opens it, because we all know that she bought it for herself! Well, this year my brother decided to play a joke on her and switched out the ring she bought and put in his own ring. Apparently when she bought the ring early in the year she wrapped it up right away, and had forgotten what it had looked like. When she opened it, we could all tell she was confused, but she was trying to look happy with her gift. Trevor eventually fessed up, so funny!

Our big family gift this year was an Xbox Kinect. They've been asking forever for a Wii or Xbox, so I thought we'd get a pretty good reaction when they opened it...wrong! They hardly reacted at all! Eventually after opening a few games I think it finally sunk in!

We spent the rest of the day spending time with family.



The boys loved being with their cousins.

A Special Visitor

This month we've had a special visitor at our house. We received a special package from Santa letting the boys know that he sent us this elf to keep an eye on the boys and make sure they were being good. The boys got to name him, and quickly picked "Sam". So, Sam has been with us all month. Every night he left and reported to Santa what he had seen that day, and when he got back, made himself a little more comfortable at our house. The boys have loved looking for him every morning.

We found him all cozied up in front of the tv...

...and using my computer too.

 Then he started having some fun. Like when we caught him in the act of sliding down the stair rails...

 ...and playing games with a new friend.

He also got into a little trouble when he started playing some practicle jokes on the boys!

Sam will be returning to the north pole tonight. He left the boys a sweet note letting them know that he was going to give Santa a good report, but also gave them some tips on some things they could work on.

We'll miss Sam, but we know that he has a lot of work to do, and that we'll see him next year.

Teddy Bear Love

 My grandfather had a huge collection of teddy bears. Growing up, I always loved going to my grandparents house and playing with all the bears. When each of us grandchildren were born, we were each given a bear of our own, and the tradition has continued with his great grandchildren.  I remember when my niece was born, and I went with them to visit my sister in the hospital. As we drove, he showed me the bear that he had gotten for her and said, "I don't know if I can give this to her, he's a good lookin' bear." He always picked out bears that he loved, and that's what made it so special.

My grandpa passed away just a few months before Porter was born. My grandma has carried on the tradition so each of my boys have a "grandpa bear". They each love their bears so much, and I love it! Even at 7 years old, when I check on Ethan at night, I find his bear clutched in his arms. I miss my grandpa, but with these bears, I feel like he is always close.

Some Needed Christmas Cheer

After being in and out of the hospital last week with kidney stones, I feel like I'm so behind on Christmas this year! I tried to keep some traditions going through the craziness, but a few were delayed. The boys have been begging to do our annual gingerbread house. We finally got to it tonight.

They always do a great job, and take it very seriously! ;)

Rob is usually the creative mastermind behind the project. I was pretty impressed with their creation this year.

Ethan couldn't wait to dig in!

I love these boys!

A Little Bragging...

Today both my boys received awards for being on the honor roll. We are so proud of them, they work so hard and love school.

Ethan also got to wear the first in math badge today for being the top player of the day. He was quite proud to display both!

After watching all the kids go up on the stage, Lincoln decided that was where he should stand too.



He has good examples to look up to, and I'm sure he'll be there one day too!

One of the perks of being a mom of boys...

...always having fresh flowers in my kitchen window!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We spent Thanksgiving with Rob's family this year. It was a very nice visit with family...and I forgot my camera. :( Saturday we headed up to my parents house for the rest of the weekend, more family fun. A lot of game playing, and laughing. I remembered my camera... but forgot to use it much. I did catch a catch a classic moment of my dad and brother Bryan having fun with the boys. Maybe too much fun! :)

Just The Usual...

Cuteness, that is! He was really enjoying his chocolate donut this morning!

Ooblek

Today we made some oobleck to play with. The boys are still into science projects, so I thought they would get a kick out of this. It only takes cornstarch and water to make, but provides hours of fun! It made quite a mess, but it was worth it!

Forts

What little boy doesn't like to build a fort? The boys decided to take over the living room today so they could each build their own.

Riley's Farm

We took the boys up to Riley's Farm in Oak Glen. It's the perfect place for little boys to run around and just be boys. They climbed trees,

jumped out of trees,

and even the biggest boy couldn't help himself from getting in on the action!

We met up with our friends, and the boys just explored everything.

There were great bridges, streams, and docks for them to check out, and only a couple of them got wet! :)

It was so much fun to just let the boys loose, everyone had a great time.

My Little Book Worm

Ethan's reading has really taken off in the last couple of months. He constantly surprises me with the huge words he can read.  He's become the bedtime story reader for us, and he loves that. He's been asking me for a long time to get him one of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books for him. I didn't think he was ready, but with the progress I've seen in him lately, I knew it was time. The school had their book fair going this week, so I surprised the boys and took them after school to pick one out. 

Guess what Ethan picked...

He was here all afternoon, and read 54 pages! I'm so glad that Ethan loves to read!

Halloween

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. We started the weekend with our ward trunk or treat on Saturday night. The boys were very happy to get a early start! The boys as usual looked great in their costumes! 

Frankenstein, Buzz Lightyear, and a fireman.

  Ethan and Porter both had a costume parade at school today.

Ethan stayed in character and did his monster walk the whole time. It was pretty funny. 

We decided that the boys had enough candy from the trunk or treat, so we decided to stay home tonight and carve pumpkins. We had a great time getting messy!

I even caught Porter trying to taste the pumpkin! He wasn't too impressed. 

They didn't think the pumpkin was scary enough, so they added their own scary faces!

We roasted the seeds, and the boys practically inhaled them. 

It was a nice quiet evening. We didn't even get a single trick or treater!

A New Friend

A friend of mine bought Ethan a set of Buzz and Woody dolls when he was just a year old. Ethan LOVED them. He took them everywhere and slept with them every night!

After Ethan grew out of them, Porter took them over. Unfortunately Woody didn't survive Porter's rough love. So Woody was "shelved" after getting a good sized tear down his pants. I put him up in a cabinet with the intention of fixing him, but he was soon forgotten. I came across him recently when looking for something else, and this morning decided it was time to sew him up. Lincoln was so excited when I finished and gave him to him. The first thing he did was sit him down on the couch, climb up next to him, and request that he and Woody get to watch Mickey Mouse together. 

I hope he enjoys him as much as the other boys have! 

(Just a little gentler!)