fun times

Don't you love it when everyone just gets along? The other day I pulled out the window paints for the kids, which kept them entertained for about an hour and a half, which is pretty sweet when you are trying to clean the house. What made the hour and a half even better was that the boys did this activity without any fighting, and Lily was pretty entertained watching them and trying to stand up. After the window painting the boys got on the floor and played with Lily without my even suggesting it, which is pretty shocking. The boys love Lily but don't get down and play with her all that much. Lily was eating it up. She loves to follow the boys around and be part of the action. All the kids laughing and playing happily at one time; that, my friends, is pure heaven.

school birthday

Today was Carson's "school birthday." Since his birthday is in the summer he got to celebrate his half birthday today at school. The treat he chose to bring to school was lollipop cookies, which are adorable looking but not the best eating. Oh well, he sure did have a great time handing out the treats he helped make to his classmates. Carson's teacher, Mrs. Squire, asked him to tell them one birthday wish. Carson's wish was to be a T-Rex dinosaur. I am a little shocked he didn't wish to be a killer whale or a Jedi knight killer whale (that's a new type of Jedi my kids made up). Ya, this is a kid who's not afraid to dream big.

growing up

My little boys are growing up. Lincoln became a sunbeam this year. Lincolns first week in Sunbeams was a rough one with him refusing to sit with his class and having to be carried out of primary because he was crying so loudly. After his first week in primary I was tempted to ask the primary president if they would let him stay in nursery one more year, after all he is the very youngest sunbeam possible. But this week he redeemed himself and was an absolute angel in primary, so hopefully it will go smoothly from here on out. Carson lost his first tooth on Christmas day. I can't believe he is old enough to be loosing his teeth! It makes him seem so old, big kids loose teeth not little kindergartners. As much as I would like to slow it down Carson is growing up on me, he is now one of the big kids. These kids grow up way too fast.

New Years Eve

We ended 2010 with what is becoming our New Years Eve tradition, bowling with family. The kids had a great time, especially Carson who had the high score on the kids bowling lane. Latter that evening Carson asked me if there were going to be trophy's for the best bowlers. Apparently he was very proud of his bowling skills. Nate and I were glad to see 2010 go it was full of a lot of joy but also a lot of anxiety. We are looking forward to 2011 and hoping for a much more peaceful and less tumultuous year for our family.

Lincoln turns 3

Lincoln had a great birthday! He was in good practice from opening presents at Christmas and made quick work of his birthday gifts. His hands down favorite thing that he got for his birthday was this puppy that talks and wiggles its ears. Since Lincoln is obsessed with Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear he of course wanted a Buzz cake. Feeling that a Buzz cake was a little beyond my skill set I ordered Lincolns birthday cake this year. He was not disappointed and loved his special birthday cake. Lincoln has had a rough year with lots of "pokes," but he has been a trooper and we are very proud of him. Lincoln continues to be a mamas boy and still loves to cuddle up with me. He loves to play Buzz, do puzzles, and build things with Lego's. He is a sweet boy and hates to see his siblings sad, but at the same time when he is feeling a little mischievous has no problem pushing his older brothers buttons. Lincoln continues to be a fun energetic little boy who brings much laughter and love into our home. We can't believe that he has grown so big so soon.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas! Christmas Eve we went to my Aunt and Uncles house. The kids love going there and playing with their cousins. Per tradition we ate a ton of yummy food, sang Christmas carols, and acted out the Nativity. The boys played the part of the Shepard's. They did a good job in their roles, except Lincoln kept swinging around his Shepard's crook and almost hit baby Jesus (aka as baby June). On Christmas morning the kids ran down the stairs to see what Santa had brought them. Christmas morning brought excited exclamations like "this is all I ever wanted" (Lincoln talking about his Buzz lightyear stuff) and "This is exactly what I asked Santa for in my Letter" (Carson talking about his killer whale shark toy and battle bugs). Lincoln kept saying he wanted a million Buzz Lightyears for Christmas, I think he got 3 Buzz action figures but when my mom called he told her he got a million Buzzes for Christmas (too cute). Carson also loved the wii games that Santa brought our family. We spent a good part of Christmas day playing the wii. Carson was thrilled that he beat everyone at most of the wii games. Nate and my brother Sean spent quite a bit of time trying to defeat Carson on the wii without success. It was a great day of food, games, fun, and family!

traditions

This year we kept up on our old favorite traditions like: doing a advent calendar, baking LOTS of cookies, and decorating our gingerbread house. The kids kept up the tradition of eating about half of the candy meant to decorate our gingerbread house before we actually started decorating. So our poor gingerbread people had a sparely decorated home again this year. A new tradition that we started was our elf Mr. Squirt. Mr. Squirt is a magic elf who watched the kids so he could tell Santa if they were good or bad this year. I would often remind the boys that Mr. Squirt was watching, this did help to quickly resolve more than one dispute at our house. Also Mr. Squirt would move to a new spot in the house every night. The boys LOVED to get up in the morning and try to find where Mr. Squirt had moved to . I think that Mr. Squirt is a tradition that we will keep for some time.

Christmas kids

Cute kids. Cold days. Christmas decor. Need I say more. I just couldn't resist taking a few pics on a cold day when we were stuck inside.

To Grandmothers House we go

The weekend before Christmas we loaded up our family and headed over to Rexburg for a little pre-holiday fun with my parents and siblings. While we were there we ate way too much, stayed up way too late (especially me who was sick the entire visit), played way too many games and had way too much fun. One of the highlights of the trip was sledding in my brother-in-laws backyard. The kids had a great time! Carson loved to go down the hill on the airsboard, and was a bit of a airboard hog, but we forgive him because he is five and because the airboards were awesome. Lincoln liked the airboard, but liked having a buddy go down the hill with him on one of the more traditional sleds more. The adults got into a bit of a competition to see who could go the farthest on the airboards. It got a little intense as you can see from the facial expressions of those on the airboards (and yes my Dad is going down the hill in his church clothes he could only stay a little while because BYUI had graduation that day). Anyway, although it's not important who won, we definitely rocked every ones world in the sledding competition. The trip to my parents was a great start to our Christmas vacation.