New Year's Eve

OK--a full moon and new year's eve. Not a good combination. It just solidifies my decision to avoid the ward family new year's party. Who wants to be around my kids at midnight? Certainly not me. I see enough of them at 2 a.m. We partied hard tonight--bacon-wrapped TaterTots for dinner and letting the kids create makeshift beds out of couch cushions. They're supposed to be falling asleep during "Flushed Away" but they'll probably outlast me. Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas in Review

What a week! It was so much fun to have Mom and Dad and Susan come visit for Christmas. We had a great time going to the North Pole, taking (literally) freezing walks on the Arkansas Riverwalk, consuming massive amounts of calories, making graham cracker gingerbread houses, and of course opening presents! Josh said it was the best Christmas ever so we must have done something right. Between the four adults, we took over 600 pictures (you know Dad) so this is a bigger batch of pictures than normal, but it was so hard to pare it down to just these 15. The boys are just too much fun. Oh, and we're now signed up with Skype so if anyone wants to web chat with the cutest boys ever, just let me know!

Josh & Aunt Susan (she tickles!)

The perpetually frozen North Pole

Thanks for taking a turn, Dad.

Grandpa's hat

I couldn't wait to give this sweatshirt to Jake. It's my favorite!

Best buddies

The end.

A Little Christmas Spirit

This is how the Christmas Spirit has gone around our house. It's been a lot of fun--filled with lots of Batman smells and shouts of "poopy!" Merry Christmas!

20

After raking 2/3 of my front yard--interrupted only by one desperate call to my nephew to come help me bag the leaves--I have TWENTY bags of leaves for the trash man. And I still have the side yard (which was covered in snow) and the entire back yard! It just may be worth it to pay Yard Crafters $75/hour to come do the rest. Stinkin' aspen trees!

The Perfect Snow Day

Well, we had to wait almost a full year but we finally used the snowman pieces Grandma gave us for Christmas last year! A week ago (or was it two?), it snowed all Saturday night and we woke up to a beautiful white Sunday morning. I promised the boys we would play in the snow after church, so I bundled them up and began making dinner. As soon as the chili was simmering, Jake came inside and there was no convincing him to return outside to make the snowman. I bundled myself up and joined Josh outside where we created the masterpiece. Snowmen are so much cuter with real pieces instead of random bits of rock and tree bark! I went inside to check on Jacob (and dinner) and found him stark naked. Guess all those snow clothes really got to him. He finally agreed to put on underwear and watched Josh and I have a snowball fight from the front door. He thought it was hilarious that we kept throwing snow at him but couldn't hit him. Once Josh was all snowed-out, we went inside and ate chili with thick slices of cheese and biscuits with homemade strawberry jam. Perfect!

Jake's Birthday

I love the boys' birthdays. They are so clear on what they want. I asked Jake what kind of cake he wanted--BATMAN! And of course, when he saw it his birthday morning he said, "BATMAN! But it's not blue!" He turned four this year but told everyone that he was two.

Catch up time!

Let's just face it . . . all my posts are going to be a little bit behind the calendar. Thanksgiving is upon us and I'm posting Halloween. They're still cute though! Josh was a dirt bike rider and Jake was Batman (again). We went to the church trunk or treat where they "got the most candy EVER!" (according to Josh--about 1/2 a bucket full).