Highlights from December...

Here is a sampling of some of the fun stuff we did this Christmas!



We made, shaped, cooked, and painted salt dough and then glued magnets on the back to give as Christmas presents. I'm not the craftiest mom on the block, so I was a little nervous, but they turned out great and we enjoyed it. (All the fun of sugar cookies without any of the sugar. Alright!)





We went to "Jolly Days" at the Children's Museum! This is Ethan baking some play food goodies. We got to see a puppet show, a play in a live theater, and Ethan even got to be in an organized snowball fight (using huge cottonballs and letting the kids go crazy throwing them at each other for 5 minutes. It was a riot! )



This is called the "Yule Slide." They convert the staircase, every year, into this slide. Man, are we going to miss this place when we move!





We counted down the days until Christmas...



And basked in the magic. Reading stories and singing songs by the light of the Christmas tree was one of my favorite parts of the season again this year.



Look at this big boy in a sweater vest! Hardly a baby anymore, huh?




The elves came to help me clean and fold laundry...

And one elf even helped Jake get ready for church! Ethan did this without even being asked, and Jake was so patient about the whole thing. (You can see from all the pictures it took a little while--those buttons are pretty small!)









The boys got to sit on Santa's lap at the ward Christmas party...





And of course Santa came to our house and left a few fun things for each of us! These blocks, though, were from Nana. Thanks! We love them!! We are putting them to good use already.








I'm sorry to say that it RAINED on Christmas Day. This Colorado girl was not amused. I think my order for a "White" Christmas got jumbled up and they thought I wanted a "Wet" Christmas. Next year maybe we can put the h and the i back in. But, the day after Christmas we did get a little bit of snow so we got out and enjoyed it!


Golly gee, I sure love those guys.




And, Kyle is enjoying his new ipod! Here he is playing a top gun video game on it. This picture gives the illusion of the boys snuggling up to Daddy, but really they just have to sit that close to be able to see. There is something about boys and video games, and it starts at an even younger age than I thought... they are riveted to the screen. :)



We missed getting to be with our extended families this year, but it was fun to be together with just the four of us. On Christmas night, I said the word "spiffy" about something Ethan showed me, and then crunched up my face and looked at Kyle and said, "spiffy? I haven't said that word in YEARS." Ethan, who never misses a chance to make someone laugh, jumped right on it and decided to just freeze in random poses and then say, "spiffy!" (and of course, after a whole day in out pajamas, not going anywhere, and not showering, we were kind of at the point of stir crazy slap happiness anyway...) That catapulted us into a good half hour of laughing so hard we were crying. Ethan, delighted that he was making us laugh, kept going and going, thinking up new poses and changing things up to keep us rolling. Just as we were trying to gain control so we could breathe, Jake came running into the kitchen, totally out of nowhere, tilted his head to one side, put his hands in the air, and said, "Spiddy!" and then laughed and ran out of the room. We about died. That is a memory I won't soon forget. It's fun that our kids are getting old enough where their personalities really come through and we can laugh together and be slap happy and silly. That was a fun cherry on top of a very Merry Christmas. :)

"Loo, Loo ,Loo, I'll take you dreaming..."

So, this is one of the cutest things going on in our family right now--Jake is starting to sing. He's so funny about it though, because he usually just says the last word of each phrase. I think it takes him so much effort to think about what the word will be and then anticipate shaping his mouth to say the word, that he only has time to get in one word per line. The other day in the car I heard:
The ants go marching one by one (and then Jake said, "wah! wah!")
The ants go marching one by one ("wah! wah!"
The ants go marching one by one the little one stops to suck his (dum!")
And they all go marching ("down!")
To the ground, to get ("out!")
Of the ("wane!")
Boom Boom ("Boom!")

I kept looking in the rearview mirror to watch him because it was so adorable to hear, that I wanted to see it. His rhythm was perfect. It was hilarious.

And, this is the best video we got of Jake doing his favorite lullaby, Loo, Loo, Loo. (It's the one from the movie, "The Court Jester," with Danny Kaye. Kyle and I watched this movie together when we were first married and promised that we would learn that lullaby and sing it to our kids. We had no idea what a hit it would be!)






Here's a fun video of Ethan, too. He loves to dress up in superhero costumes, and the other day, when he was Dash, he said he wanted a turn on the treadmill so he could run "so fast, like Dash."

Pretty fun.

Leaves in October...

This is a silly slide show I made for my brother on his birthday in October. I decided to post it here because these pictures are irresistible!





Hey, Uncle Zach!! Happy Birthday!

I got you a super cool leaf for you. See?




And I think it's time for your surprise...




Oh great. What is Ethan up to this time?!...



I will now lead us all in singing "Happy Birthday" to Uncle Zach.



Um, I don't think I wanna do this guys....



Jake--"We sing together play together, all happily." That's what the song says. So, it's time to sing together, and you need to be happy about it.




Alright, everyone! Rrrrround tones! Long vowels!! Here we go!




"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Uncle Zach... Happy Birthday to you!



Alright. I guess that wasn't so bad. It was actually kind of fun.






Okay Jake, I'm buying you some time... Hurry, eat your candy before mom knows... Are you done? Okay, look at mom and smile!



We love you Uncle Zach!!

Alright, later everyone. I gotta go visit some hobbits.