happy frosty

we had almost 2 feet of snow saturday, which set a december record for the DC area. my parents are here to enjoy it with us. we built a snowman and nate named it frosty, happy frosty. we are very excited to have a white christmas and are especially excited to have my family here!

jack did a great job decorating our tree and really got into it. nate helped too, but mainly just wanted to climb the ladder and fall onto the tree. jack was really sad that he couldn't put the big star on top. we told him someday he would be tall enough, maybe even taller than daddy (he liked that)!

turkey day

we had a wonderful, relaxing thanksgiving and didn't even eat any turkey! we went untraditional and had ham and crabcakes. we didn't do anything but eat, relax, hang out and watch movies. the kellers were great company and made our holiday weekend very enjoyable! jack and katelyn couldn't get enough of each other and they loved playing monster with nate. nate was a good sport and played the monster role well! thank you dave, chantel, katelyn and carson for making our thanksgiving wonderful!

the kids watched dora while they ate so we could enjoy our yummy food. i had the table set for them to eat with us, but it was much more enjoyable this way!

jack and katelyn loved each other (and loved watching videos too)!!!

Jack's 4!

we decided to do a last minute party at chick fila for jack's birthday. jack had a blast with all of his best buds! we also did a family party, but only got video. if we get around to editing it, we'll post it. thanks to everyone who made his birthday special!!! Happy birthday my sweet jack jack! we really are so blessed to have you in our family! (the cute little blond girl ~carys~ jack is sitting next to is the one he has a little crush on)

best neighbors ever!!!

many of our neighbors told me they had little goodie bags for the boys since they missed trick or treating. they all insisted that we come trick or treat at their homes. i wanted to get the boys dressed up for pictures anyway, so it worked out perfectly. the boys had a blast and got a taste of trick or treating. thanks to all or our neighbors!!! we really do have the best neighbors ever!!!

halloween

luckily jack had a school halloween party, because we all ended up getting the flu (probably the dreaded H1N1) over halloween weekend. sometime when we are all better i'll get nate dressed up and take pics, but if we don't get around to here are a few of jack.

me crafty??? not!

for anyone who knows me, you know i'm not very crafty. i avoid crafty things for many reasons. i'm not very creative, but more than that i like things to be perfect but don't have the frustration tolerance. i don't like to spend much time on things and like to get it done quick especially with kids around. when my friend tami said she would put together packets to make this cute spider chandelier, i couldn't pass it up. she did a lot of leg work which made it easier for me. it still wasn't easy, but i did it and it's all worth it now. thanks tami!

cox farms

the big slide

jack and zack, so excited

jack and jake having a blast

my baby is 2

my sweet baby boy turned 2 today. wow, how the time flies! seems like yesterday he was just a newborn. we are so blessed to have nate in our family! he is the sweetest little boy and he sure knows how to bring a smile to our faces! it's hard not to laugh when he makes his cute goofy faces and shows off his dance and silly attitude! he and jack are best friends and play together really well (most of the time). here are a few of the reasons we love our baby nate!

1. his cute, head turning dimpley smile
2. his sweet kisses (see the kissy face) he really gets into his kisses and grabs your face with both hands and goes in for the kiss. he will do this with just about anyone, but really loves to kiss moe (his future wife)
3. his curly locks
4. his pouty face
5. even his tantrums are cute
6. he shares so well with his big bro!
7. he likes to tease, but always gives into his brother if the whining starts
8. he's a mama's boy
9. he's such a cuddly baby
10. he's just recently started sleeping through the night (we're definitely loving it!)
11. he says his favorite color is purple (probably because he hears jack saying it all day long)

nate is still my baby and will be until we have another one i suppose! we love him so much! happy birthday baby nate!

nate's birthday present (gotta love craigslist)

just hanging out

silly face

he goes down every which way and loves it! he was so excited when he saw the big red and purple slide!

jack's college fund

jack is already starting to make his own money!!! a few weeks ago johne got an email from youtube saying his video was very popular and suggested he puts on ads. then we get a few cents for each time someone watches the video and more for each ad clicked. we are putting it in his misson/college fund, so click away!

He is currently averaging $2/day. One day he got $5. Expectations were low at first but now he might be making $30/week.


youtube video here

just chillin

my 2 cute boys outside in their sunday clothes just chillin and being cute! it was a nice day and such a nice weekend, we had to take advantage and be outside.

9 volt

it's 6:44am, johne's on his way to work and everyone else is sound asleep. i wake up to a loud chirping sound. realized it's the dang smoke detector telling me the battery is dieing. i ran around as quiet as possible looking for the step ladder and when i came back up the stairs from the basement, the boys are up. it took 10 minutes to try and figure out which one is chirping, unplugged it, since we didn't have any 9 volt batteries. layed the boys back down and 5 minutes later 2 others start. normally i wouldn't be so worried about it since it was almost 7am a pretty normal wake up time, but nate has had a rough week with sleeping, not getting more than 7-8 hours of broken sleep and not very good naps. ironically, the morning before we were all up at 6am and the morning before that it was 4am. did it really have to happen today at that time? why not yesterday or even an hour later??? i was really hoping for some good sleep, but even more so wanted the boys to get good sleep so they wouldn't be tired, clingy and cranky all day. well, we got ready for the day, dropped jack off at school and i went to costco to get loads of 9 volt batteries! i got home and put new batteries in every smoke detector. i hope i can remember to change out the batteries next time before we get a very unexpected, unwanted wake up call! so if you haven't changed your batteries lately, you might want to check them or invest in some batteryless smoke detectors! a little pricey but might save money (in the long run) and save me some sanity!

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/11/batteryless_smo.php

first day of pre-school

jack was a little apprehensive his first day. i couldn't get any smiles out of him. he cried the whole walk to the classroom, but as soon as he saw it he stopped. the classroom is AWESOME and has so many fun things! there is a big rug with big polka dots and jack excitedly pointed out that there was a purple dot. each of the kids picked a dot to sit on and then they did introductions. i waved bye to him and he happily waved back. afterwards he came out really exicted and told me all about his day. hopefully tomorrow he will go without any crying! (jack picked out his outfit, notice the purple shirt and crocs)

jack, charlie and jane

jack and charlie

jack coming out afterwards with his teen teacher tiffany

the only good smile shot i got that day

messiah

the boys woke up this morning and immediately found some cars and started playing. i took benedryl the night before and must have still been sort of out of it and dozed off. in my dream i heard handels messiah, then realized a little bit later it wasn't a dream. for a few seconds before i opened my eyes, i thought i was back in high school with my mom playing music really loud to get us to wake up. then i heard the boys, a little shocked at how loud the music was blaring, say "mommy, mommy we need help!" i went and showed jack how to turn it down and turn it off. i guess i need to stay away from benedryl. who knows what they will get into next time!

gorgeous utah

what we did during our utah trip:

visit grandma, grandpa, gran, papa, cousins, aunts, uncles, great grandparents. temple square. liberty park. kangaroo zoo (2x). mcdonalds, more mcdonalds. cafe rio, more cafe rio. swim lessons everyday (except sunday, thanks monica). played at 6 different public pools, all fun (wish we had more in va)! haircuts for all (thanks monica again). visited my good friend kristina. bloody noses, fat lips. lots of potty stops on the side of the road. shopping. park city. purple crocs for jack. dinosaur museum. big early birthday party bash for jack and nate. discovery park. pizza factory. enjoyed very nice weather (with no bugs)! long, hard runs up and down big hills. costco tortillas.

we had such a great time and wish we lived a little closer. we miss everyone!

to cut or not to cut?

this is what nate's hair looks like in the morning. pretty crazy, but we love it!! it is getting a little long though and some people (even when he's dressed in very boyish clothes) come up and call him a her or a she. so the question is, to cut or not to cut?? maybe just a little trim?

saturday morning cartoons

saturday morning the boys get to watch cartoons when they wake up. during the week they don't get to unless they are up at the crack of dawn (which jack has done quite a bit this summer) or it's been a really bad night. here are the boys cuddled up on the truck chair in their matching jammies. gotta love the blank stares they have in the morning! they get it from me!

kissy face

we love nates kissy face and caught it in action! he sticks out his bottom lip and goes in for the kiss! he's such a lovey dovey kid. giving hugs and kisses to just about everyone!