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).

Primary Temple Trip

Saturday we attended the Primary temple day up in Denver. The tour was running 30 minutes late, so I took the boys into the waiting area to look at the statue of the Christus. I was talking to Jake and pointing out the nail marks in his feet and hands. I said, "But Jesus still looks happy, right?" Jake said, "No, he looks mad." Better luck next time.

My son Rich

I found three pennies in the car today and handed them to Jake. I said, "Look! You're rich!" He got that frustrated look and said, "Me not Rich! Me Jake!"

Josh's Birthday

I'm a little out of order here (with school Halloween pictures before Josh's birthday), but here they are! Josh turned 7 a few weeks ago and is soooo happy! For three days, he told EVERYONE he knew that he was finally seven. He had a Star Wars party and broke the Darth Vader pinata with one hit. Bummer for the other kids, but he was pretty proud of himself.

Happy Core Fictional Character Day!

Whatever happened to regular holidays? No Halloween at school--no, they had to make it "educational." Pbbbtttt. Josh had to dress up as a character from a book in the school's curriculum and tell the story to parents and other visitors. He chose Puss 'n Boots. At least it was a do-able costume (unlike Jim Henson from last year--I'm waaay too embarrassed to post those pictures). THANKS to Mom for speed shipping the cat accessories. And thanks to Carol Lee and Kathy for being in the dance festival twenty years ago. And thanks again to Mom for saving them for twenty years. And thanks to Ashley for sewing the boots. (Did I actually do anything to create this for my child besides ask everyone for favors?!) He looked awesome and had a fun day. Jake was a frog for his preschool Core Fictional Character Day (if they're going to make it educational, can't they at least come up with a better name for it?). We had many, many "discussions" about why he had to be a frog instead of Batman. When it came down to it, he played nice though. I have good kids.

Photo Ops

I tried to take a few pictures of the boys for this year's Christmas card (Photoworks was having a sale) and these are some of the best outtakes. Jake was adamant about wearing two different shoes, one on the wrong foot, and his winter gloves. Josh carried his toy rifle with him and was quite upset when I didn't want it in every picture. Despite all that, the final result was passable. Too bad you have to wait until December to see it!

Bikes

When I was trying to take pictures of the first day of school, the boys wouldn't stop riding their bikes. But they're just such fun boys I couldn't resist posting pictures of their never ending energy.

First Day of School

Well the first day of school was over a month ago, but since school starting means works starts again for me, I've been a little slow in updating. Jake started preschool at the same school Josh and I are at this year. It's a lot of fun to have the boys together and see how proud they are of each other. Jake loves to go to Josh's classroom to say hi, and Josh loves to wave to Jake as he walks through the halls. They also have found the joy in jumping from table to table in the science room. It gives everyone a heart attack, but they love it.

Teacher of the Year

Yep, I'm the winner. Today while teaching sixth grade music, I was trying to discuss accidentals--sharps, flat, and naturals. During my classes last week, I had no problem explaining that a sharp raises the note--like when you sit on a tack, you go up. Sharp tack makes you go up. (And a flat tire makes you go down, but that's neither here nor there.) Must've been this terrible cold, but today I had a little trouble enunciating. Instead of saying, "when you sit on a tack" I said "when you sh** on a sharp tack." Nice. At least my observation by the principal isn't until next week.

Splish

On our last day in Arizona, my parents took us to the Chandler water tower. Just a small area next to the historic water tower with fountains in the ground that the boys could run through. They LOVED it! We only had a few minutes there, so I'm sure Josh will put this on his list of "must-do's" when we go back.