Merry Christmas

It's pretty busy this time of year, from our home to yours: "We wish you a Merry Christmas"

First Snow

The first snow that stuck around long enough to play in

Family Pics 2010

My super talented sister-in-law took our family photos again this year. I'm sure grateful that she was able to schedule us into her busy photo shoot schedule. I think that I ordered one of every picture. Wish I could post them all but it would take forever.

One of my favorites is this one of the boys, Jace was so proud that he was doing what the big boys were doing.

Halloween

I know, I've slacked on posting Halloween pics, the boys were a Pirate and a Pirate's Monkey. And yes, that is Levi's monkey costume from 2 years ago. It was too cute to not use it again, so I decided to "upcycle" it. The boys had a great time and really got into trick-or-treating. Too bad it was raining and we only got to do about 10 houses before we it got too wet. Luckily the boys didn't know the difference and had fun playing with their cousins.
My pirate's monkey.




Levi giving his best "aargh".

Tonsils

Our family is now tonsil-less. A few weeks ago I took Jace in to see our ENT physician to take a look at his tonsils for several reasons: 1. He is a constant drooler (we thought he would outgrow it). 2. I am concerned with all his allergies and want as much space in his little throat as possible if he has an anaphylactic episode. 3. We've met his deductible for the year.

The doctor thought that they were large for his age and would need to come out within the next year or so anyway so we decided to just go ahead and get it done.

The morning of the surgery we got there at 6:45 a.m., way too early if you ask me... Jace was the first surgery of the day and they were waiting for us. They did such a great job and really try to put the kiddo at ease. After getting weighed they let him pick out a stuffed animal. Then we spoke to the surgical nurse, the anesthesiologist and finally our surgeon. Then the anesthesiologist came back to give him a "ride" in the wagon (off to surgery).

The surgery lasted all of about 20 minutes and then Dr. Barlow came and told me that Jace did well and they took out a lot of adenoid tissue and his tonsils looked like they had been chronically infected, don't know why our family is so prone to strep. And we didn't even know Jace had a sore throat, usually they say under 2 they don't get strep throat, instead they get ear infections. Anyhow, he has done pretty well since, likes to cuddle a lot (that's a change), but we have been struggling keeping the pain under control for him. Hopefully we're past the worst part and he'll just continue to get better.

Pause

The other night I was reading stories to Jace and Levi in the little one's room. Levi pointed at me and acted like he was using a remote control and said "Pause", ran to his room, came back and made a clicking motion again and said "Play". Obviously too much TV.

Black Island Farms

This past weekend we went to the Black Island Farms in Syracuse. We bought the combo pass that included the corn maze, courtyard activities, and hay ride. I got a ton of fun pics:

In the courtyard they had a big bounce house shaped like a pumpkin and slides made out of hay bales and PVC pipe. Some of the slides looked really big and I thought that they might be too big for the boys. Levi saw the really big slide and ran right up and slid down several times. Jace followed right behind (I went on the big slide with him but he did the rest on his own).



We just did the kiddie corn maze (I get lost way too easily in the big mazes, I've actually never found my way out of one, just follow others that figure it out).

They had some barrels painted like pigs and cows for the kids to ride in, I couldn't fit it them darn it.

The hay ride was a lot of fun. The kids got to pick out their own pumpkin and really liked riding behind the tractor.

Levi actually picked the smallest pumpkin for himself. Jace's pumpkin was bigger than he was.

Admiring their haul.

It was a fun family outing.

SuperHero Birthday Party

For the past week Levi has woken up everyday and asked "am I 4 now?" Each day I would tell him not yet and he sigh and lay back down to sleep and be a little ornery for awhile. Well Levi's birthday was Sept. 30th and that morning we went through this same routine but he asked with a super sad/defeated voice, when I told him that he was now 4, his eyes got really big and he shouted "Hoooooray!!!"
All he ever wants is to play "super hero". He couldn't decide on which superhero was his favorite so we just combined them all. We had a Superman cake,

Transformer pinata,

Batman for a sidekick,

and a very happy Superman.

We invited all the kids from Levi's primary class and a few neighborhood friends. Suprisingly all but 2 showed up (brothers who were sick that day). We had anywhere from 15-20 kids, I didn't really count, I know that I made 24 cupcakes and barring the 2 the boys had at lunch, I passed the rest out to the kids.

We rented a bounce house/slide which was probably a little over the top, but the kids had a blast. I ended up with a sinus infection that day and was pretty miserable but how do you tell a 4 year old that he can't have a party that he's been looking forward to for a month.

Thankfully we had already rented the bounce house and it was worth every penny to have them come set it up, take it down, and not have to try to entertain 15+ 4 year olds or run games for them. They could just play, play, play, stop for presents, play, stop for the pinata, play, have treats and go home.

Our boys played on the bounce house off and on all day long and we invited a couple cousins to come over early, I think we got our moneys worth. I think that we may do that again.

Girls Night

My sister procured tickets to the Lion King and we had a night out. We went to Boccia's for dinner, mmmmmmm! Then we walked up to the theater and enjoyed a spectacular show. The costumes and artistry were amazing. The Lion King has always been one of my favorite cartoons so it was neat to see it brought to life. I think that it will be something that I take my boys to when they are older and can appreciate (sit through) it.

Birthday Boy

The big 2. He is such an independant little boy and loves to do anything that his brother is doing.
I think that his favorite phrase is "I do it". He also loves to climb on just about anything. It was a little suprising when he let Levi help him blow out candles and open his presents. I think that Levi was more excited for Jace's birthday than anyone.


At Jace's 2 year old doctor appointment he weighed 33.25 lbs (94th percentile), and was 35.5 inches (77th percentile). Yes, he is on his way to be a linebacker.
During his immunizations I told him that he was going to get a shot and that it was going to hurt but it wouldn't hurt for long, so he needed to be a big boy and not cry. He said "okay, I big boy". As they gave him the shot, big tears welled up in his eyes and he began to cry. I told him "it's all done" He looked up at me with those big blue eyes and said "All done" wiped both cheeks with the back of his hands and said "No tears, no tears, I big boy". It was pretty cute.

Birthday Cake

Jace turns 2 tomorrow! I can't believe how big he's getting. I will post pics later of the party. I decided to try to make a Lego cake. My cake decorating skills leave much to be desired but I wasn't up to trying to do Fondant.

Preschool orientation

Levi's orientation for preschool was on Wednesday. He got up and didn't want to get dressed until I told him that we were going to meet his teacher (that was at 7:30). He quickly got dressed and put on his backpack and said "let's go to school". I told him that I had to go to work for a couple hours but then would be back to take him. He wore his backpack until I got home at 11 and met me at the door ready to go.

His teacher was really nice and he talked about going back all day long.

Bear Lake 2010

We went up to Bear Lake for Raspberry Days. How is it that we love going up there to visit my brother and his family but we never make it over to get the famous raspberry shakes? We tend to get so busy that it's suddenly Sunday and we are heading home.

The kids had a ton of fun playing on the inflatable toys and seeing cousins.

We went to the town breakfast and the raspberry syrup was stinkin' yummy!

It was a fun little get away.

Train Ride

On another much needed day off, Rick and I decided to take the Front Runner to Salt Lake and go to the Children's Museum. The boys were very excited to ride on the train. Bribery to ride on the train worked fantastically. Waiting for the train.

On the train, can you see the excitement in their eyes?

The Children's Museum was fun, there was a ton for the boys to do, float things in water, be in a construction site,play on life size animals,

Climb walls,

Dress up and be a star on your own stage,

and figure out how to make things work.

At the end of our outing we had two very tired little boys on our hands.

Scaredy Cat

Last week I had the day off so Rick and I took the boys to the Tracy Aviary to get our annual pass ($40/year and admission to a ton of great activities). It is amazing to see some of these birds so closely.

With the vulture.

During the bird show we sat right under where one of the perches that the birds fly to during the show. The barn owl below buzzed our heads. I didn't have my camera in sports mode dang it!

After the fly by, Levi wanted to leave and said that he was scared (Jace was digging it!). Rick turned to me and said "I think that we have a little scaredy cat" Levi turned and replied "No Dad, I'm a LOT of scaredy cat!"

Levi-isms

Levi has been cracking us up lately. Some of his funny sayings this past week:

At cousin Nate's wedding: "Ariel looks like a princess... She is beautiful...Mom, you are beautiful too"

When Rick was putting him to bed: "Dad, am I afraid of the dark?"

Eating cinnamon burst bread from Great Harvest (in a very serious tone and matter of fact): "Dad, this is fantastic"

Jace and Levi playing hide and seek with Dad. Jace was standing at the top of the stairs and Levi opened the closet door, "psst, Jace come hide in here"
A separate time playing hide and seek (they giggle the whole time and aren't very good at hiding) Rick walks into Levi's room (boys hiding in the closet) and said "Are my boys in here?" Jace "No" giggle, giggle, giggle

I've taught the boys correct terminology for body parts, sometimes that's a good idea...
I was ordering Levi jeans online and was measuring Levi's waist and inseam. Levi looks and me and says, "Mom, do you want to measure my penis?"

Boogers

4 a.m.
Levi: "Daddy, I have a bloody nose"
Daddy: "Don't pick your nose, that's why you get bloody noses."
Gets him cleaned up and back to bed
7 a.m.
Levi: "Daddy I have another bloody nose"
I go get him cleaned up and ask "Why did you get a bloody nose?"
Levi: "cause I was pickin my nose"
Mommy: "are you supposed to pick your nose?"
Levi: "but I like to pick my nose"
Keep cleaning him up
Levi: "I got 3 boogers out of this side and 2 boogers out of this side"
Mommy: "What did you do with the boogers?"
Levi proudly: "I ate them"
Mommy: "Don't eat your boogers, that's yucky"
Levi: "I like my boogers... they taste good... my boogers have juice in them..."
I keep telling myself, it's just a phase.

Choosing a movie