Just a Few Little Things

Carter's friend Logan came and played at our house a little while ago, and we decided to make pancakes for lunch. I just thought this was a cute little picture of the process, nothing like teamwork...

One of Carter's latest tricks is "the eye". He uses this to encourage everyone to close their eyes when it is time to pray. Sadly, this picture doesn't do it justice. How are you supposed to have prayer without any giggles when Carter is pulling this face at everyone?

And, the prepping of the Valentine cards. Since this is Sydney's first year of school, it is also her first year of classroom Valentines. In the past she has made some for her brothers, but taking them to school is a whole new ballgame, and boy is she excited. She has been begging for days to get to the store to buy her Valentines, which we were finally able to do yesterday. I totally enjoyed watching her yesterday as she cleaned off the table, opened her boxes and began getting everything organized. They all had to be sorted and stacked, and arranged in rows...

After they were all organized so carefully she began writing her name on each one, gotta love the tongue...

Something about this whole process, and her cute "big girl" attitude just made me smile. Amazing how these little tiny things can just make my day!

Parades and Snow, But Not at the Same Time

One year ago today we were hunkered down in our house enjoying cinnamon rolls, games and 18 inches of snow. We lovingly call that Snowpocalypse. Yesterday and today we have enjoyed 50 degree weather with a touch of spring in the air. While we haven't had much snow this winter, and none right now, we have received enough to get some cute pictures. Our first snowfall came weeks after Christmas and seeing as we never had any snow for the Jolly Holiday, I felt like I should set the Christmas tree up all over again. That snowstorm only awarded us a sprinkling of snow, but it was enough for one little girl to get excited and head out to make snowmen...

In case you couldn't tell, that little pile of snow with the carrot sticking out of it is Sydney's first snowman of the season. It was the best we could do.
A little while later we got some more serious snow, and Carter enjoyed his first ever outing in the snow, you know, with boots, mittens, snowpants, hat, etc. I quite enjoyed watching him try to maneuver in all of his gear.

"This stuff is cool"...


Carter did the standard, take 15 minutes to get ready, go out and play for five, and then head on in for hot chocolate. It was a pretty cold day. But hey, he got to throw some snow and tromp around in his cool boots.
In other news, we got the distinct privilege of attending Sydney's "Teddy Bear Parade" at school. All of the students were instructed to decorate a box (like a float) and come to school in their jammies, with their teddy bear of choice. Not sure why Sydney chose the bear she did, as there are lots of others she plays with more, but what do ya do? Sydney loved decorating her box, and looked forward to this day for a week. Here are the boys anxiously awaiting the parade (Sydney's friend Ella goes to preschool with her, and this is her little brother Logan).

And here they come! Teddy bears on parade! Do you get a more excited looking little girl? I don't think so!



If you look all the way to the left you can see Ella with her giant unicorn. Ah, the things we do for our kids!

Sorry you all had to miss the big parade, you most certainly would have enjoyed it!

Happy Two!

So, it is about time to get back to posting on the blog. I guess I have taken a little hiatus from posting, but after having been chastened, I am ready to post again...
This last week my baby had his two year birthday! How does that happen?! How did we go from this...

to this so quickly?

It is hard to know how much a 2 year old understands about his birthday, but Carter did seem to enjoy seeing a birthday banner up for him (even though he can't read)...

... and he spent all day singing "Happy Birthday" after which he would practice blowing out the candles.
Our big plan for Carter's birthday was to take him to a train-themed restaurant where your dinner is delivered to you on a choo-choo. But, seeing as we had a bit of a snowstorm that night, we ended up staying at home with some friends, and eating pizza. As a bit of a concession for missing the train restaurant, the boys set up a train track on the table and the kids ate their pizza and cake all while watching Thomas the Tank Engine make his way around the table.

And, of course the train cake and the cheesy birthday boy...

Carter and his friend Logan, anxiously awaiting the big moment...

We all sang "Happy Birthday" and then told Carter to blow (as if we needed to tell him, he had been practicing all day!) But this time when we said "blow", he started blowing kisses, perhaps he was all caught up in love for his magical choo-choo cake...

He did finally get to the right kind of blowing and he blew those suckers out all by himself!

Having lost my family photographer (Ann, who kindly took care of all our photography needs this Christmas, leaving me quite spoiled) we failed to get a lot of good shots of Carter on his birthday (come back Ann!). But, he still turned two, and we had a very fun "Choo-choo" Birthday! Happy Birthday to Carter! We love you and all the antics you bless us with!

O Christmas Tree!

I think I must be getting old. See, when I was a kid, it took Christmas FOREVER to come! I remember hearing those "old folks" exclaiming at how quickly the last year had passed, and their surprise, and it seemed, almost a distress, that Christmas was here again. Now I find myself saying those very things! Don't get me wrong, I am no scrooge! I love Christmas, but I do feel like I just put all of those boxes of Christmas things away! And yet, here it is again!
Well, last weekend we pulled out the Christmas tree and decorated it up! The kids love it, of course. On Saturday, Steve took the boys (minus Carter) to a BYU basketball game right here in Chicago, the boys were super excited to go. While they were gone, Sydney, Carter and I set up the tree. Sydney requested that we watch the movie with the people singing Alleluia. It took me a minute to figure that one out, but then I recalled that last year we had watched a Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert while we set up the tree. And thus a tradition is born.
On Sunday night, we watched the new David Archuleta Concert as a family and put the decorations on the tree. I LOVE those concerts, and I think the kids do to.
Here are a few shots of the fun...


Carter was especially interested in all of the "balls". Thankfully, we have shatter-proof balls for our tree. We will leave the rest up to your imagination...


Ahhh, David Archuleta...



And then came the grand ceremony of placing the star upon the top of the tree. After much debate, Sydney was granted that "high" honor. Up the ladder Daddy and Sydney went and all seemed to be going well...


Reach Sydney, reach! So close...

Suddenly that honor didn't seem so fantastic any more! You should have heard Sydney shriek! All the while Daddy saying, "I've got you Sydney, I've got you". But, to no avail...


And so, down she came. The star did finally make it up, but Daddy had to do that by himself.
Thus, Christmas season begins!