merry Christmas!

posted by mommy and daddy

the scene all set for Christmas morning...yule log on tv with music, 
candle lit, warm vanilla milk ready, and coffee brewing.
(grammie is still working on everett's stocking, so his is a stand-in)

goodies left out for santa and his reindeer

a thank you note from santa and his thank you gifts to the boys

the sausage cheese ball never left everett's hand, 
even when it was his turn to open his gift from santa!

owen opened his santa gift and everett just kept
holding his sausage cheese ball!

finally a reason to put away that sausage cheese ball

stockings full of toothbrushes, movies, playdough tools, 
trains, zoo animals, and phones!

and new sandwich cutters - fun, fun, fun!

santa during Christmas

posted by mommy and daddy

we wrestled with the whole santa thing for quite some time until we decided that we wanted to figure out a way to incorporate the magical idea of santa along with celebrating Christ's birth. we both remember how magical and fun it was to wake up to gifts delivered by santa and how special it made Christmas. so we didn't want to give up creating that feeling for our boys. we decided to make sure our kids know that santa himself knows that Christ is the center of Christmas and that he too understands that Christ is the greatest gift of all. our decision was to have santa deliver personalized bags a few weeks before Christmas and tell the boys that he would like for them to put some of their toys in the bags for santa to fix up and deliver to other boys and girls who don't have much. he would then thank them by putting a new toy in the bag on Christmas day. the bags were wrapped nice and came with a neat little poem (written by daddy!) for the boys to read.

Christmas bags delivered by santa

santa's letter

texas sized thanksgiving

posted by owen and everett

we spent thanksgiving in texas with umma and uppa this year and had a blast. we got lots of new things to play with including the disney planes movies and planes toys. they also got owen his own bed from ikea. it has a fold out bed under it so both of us can use it at some point. while there, we got to visit friends, go to the park and eat lots of yummy food. it was also everett's first plane ride and he did great.

everett enjoying his new toy

owen enjoying everett's new toy

um, shouldn't the older one be pushing the younger one?

no remote needed on this remote control car

owen loved his new cars

everett playing with the doggies

umma helping everett with his snack

ready for thanksgiving dinner

owen especially enjoyed the cornbread

warm hooded towel from umma and uppa

each boy got his very own

everett was not a fan of this furry hat

everett smiling

owen smiling

thanksgiving revelation

posted by daddy

i usually associate thanksgiving with time off from work, good food and football. it wasn't until recently that i really thought about the meaning of the day and what it helps us celebrate. i heard a beautiful song the other day that made me really think about thanksgiving. the lyrics reminded me of how blessed i am and how i really do have more than i ever thought i'd have, a wife, a family and a home. so this year i'm finally looking past all the festivities of the day and reflecting on what thanksgiving really means, an opportunity to look back and be very thankful for all that you have. it's funny that after so many years, i've finally embraced what this holiday means. happy thanksgiving!

decorated pumpkins

posted by owen

i decorated pumpkins a few weeks back with my buddy ryker. here is the result of all my hard work. mommy and daddy ended up putting them outside since the paint started to fall off the pumpkins.

brothers

posted by mommy and daddy

learning with mommy

posted by owen

mommy recently found a couple of really neat learning notebooks from two of the homeschool blogs she follows (here and here). she put them all together in my very own notebook that we work on a few days each week (nothing very structured as mommy still wants me playing and doing activities for most of my learning!). some of the pages are even in sheet protectors so i can use dry erase markers on them. i really love erasing! it's so cool to get to do daily activities with mommy like learning my days of the week, months of the year, numbers, writing, letters, shapes, and the weather. my favorite part of my notebook is drawing clothes on the little boy based on what the weather is that day. like all my cousins, i am going to be homeschooled in a couple years so activities like these are great starting points. mommy says i get better and better every day at holding my pens and following the lines.

looking at time and temperature

learning the days of the week and today's date

mommy helps me draw in clothes on my little boy

learning to write my name, we'll see how different it is in a year!

connecting the dots mommy does for today's number word

learning and coloring in my shapes...i love markers!

tracing the lines for the shape word

writing today's date on the monthly calendar

determining what today's weather is like...maybe we'll see a pattern?!

sunday school project

posted by owen

today we learned about samuel and the importance of listening. mommy and daddy couldn't resist taking a pic and sharing.

my normal ears

my cool super ears

lets see if they help me listen to mommy and daddy better

snacking outside

posted by mommy and daddy

we all went outside to share a snack and take a few pictures for eliana's mommy since she was nice enough to make these shirts for us to show off.

mouths full of food

mouths full of food and smiling

for ev, it seems his hand is always in a snack cup

enjoying the awesome weather

decorating pumpkins

posted by owen

last weekend, the andreasens came over and ryker and i painted some pumpkins and gourds, then enjoyed some yummy homemade pizza. i had a blast playing with ryker while everett hung with brax in the playroom.

artists at work

the babies preferred to eat

2013 albuquerque international balloon fiesta

posted by owen and everett

we have both been to the albuquerque international balloon fiesta every year since we were each born. so naturally, we made another trip there this year and had an awesome time! this year we decided not to get up so early to go to the field (everett's still waking up a few times a night!), and instead cuddled under blankets as we watched them fly right over us on grammie and gampa's balcony...five even landed in the park right behind their house! we did, however, go to the field one evening for the last balloon glow and fireworks show which we all enjoyed immensely, once we finally got to a parking space that is!

a fire truck!!!!

early morning smiles

we spent one morning with greats

so happy to hang with greats

i made cookies with grammie

the best part of helping

yummy!

decorating our spiderweb cookies