Random happenings from our week

This week we had the boys' friends Noah and Nathan over for an entire day while their momma was at work. The boys all had fun digging and swinging out in the yard (despite the freezing cold), and entertaining each other with silly antics. I'm so thankful for these little friends! Our boys adore them!!

Nathan (or Nathy as Drew now refers to him...pretty sure this is because he's heard Auntie Jenn refer to big Nathan as Nathy Poo)

Noah and Drew

Caught! Nathan has dimples, which you can't really see in this picture, but he has the best little mischievous  grin!!

"Hey Baby, Wassup?" ...yeah, that was bad. I have no idea what he's doing here though and those were the first words that popped into my head....

We also celebrated Auntie Jenn Jenn's birthday this week. Since Burke had to work on her birthday, the boys and I stopped by bright and early to bring Jenn a birthday balloon (princess, of course) and take her out to breakfast (a family tradition). Burke took Jenn out to dinner that night, so we waited until Thursday night to have her family birthday dinner. Clam chowder of course, aaaaaaand......

These bad boys! Caramel Toffee Cupcakes with heaps of frosting and goodies! Thank you Pinterest for the weight I'm sure I've gained as a loyal member to your site! ;)

Two boxes also arrived at our house this week. Their contents? Fairly mundane, but the boxes? PERFECT for two train cars! We laid down a painter's tape railroad track through the house, let the boys go to town decorating and creating their little box cars and voila! ...we had two very happy and entertained little campers!

We've been doing a lot of letter writing lately. I draw out the letters in dots or dashes, and Drew follows the lines.

Collin was all for drawing on his box, but wasn't really that enthusiastic about riding in his train. Sooo, naturally, Daddy had to show Collin how it all worked (or more like Drew convinced Nathan to be his sidekick)

I love the look of glee on Drew's face in this picture! Thanks Daddy, you're the best!! (even if your arms couldn't go down and the train car had to be worn sideways!)

Since I missed posting this on Thursday, I may as well show you what our weekend has looked like as well. I can even summarize in words if you like. Or rather, in one word: Building. Lots and lots of building! Thank goodness the boys (both big and small) are all about a good building project!!

The littles don't like the sound of the chop saw or the nail gun, so they usually wear a pair of Nathan's ear muffs. Collin had obviously ditched his when I took this picture.

And finally, a glimpse of how blogging happens in our house:

Yep, he's on the table. Laying on the table actually. Super helpful.

Three Things

This weekend we celebrated my birthday and our anniversary (7 years!). Since my birthday was on Saturday, the boys started the fun Friday night when Nathan came home from work with a princess crown and princess birthday balloons for me per Drew's request. I may have mentioned this before, but ever since Drew's construction birthday party, every birthday has to have a theme in his mind. Nathan's birthday this year was a golf birthday, Collin's was Dr. Seuss, and mine and every other girls' birthday has been a princess party. That's just how birthdays work in Drew's world these days. They have themes and he's always super excited to go along with it. :) Saturday morning Nathan took us to try out a local pancake place we'd been hearing about for breakfast. The pancakes were not only amazing, they were the size of the entire plate and a good inch and a  half thick! (All you locals, Batter Up is just as good as everyone says it is!). We walked away full and happy campers and I loved that Nathan continued the birthday breakfast tradition my Dad started when I was little.

Since our anniversary was Sunday and Nathan had to work on Monday, we decided to go out to dinner and a movie (yep! you read that right, an honest to goodness pre-child-like date night!) to celebrate our anniversary on Saturday night. We had a fun night that was made even more fun by the fact that when we came home Jenn and Burke had decorated and made me a birthday cake! It really was just an all around fun weekend celebrating!

The rest of the week was fairly mellow. Since the weather has been irritatingly warm for this winter lover, we have at least been trying to take advantage of the beautiful sunny days. The boys have spent almost every day this week out in the yard digging, riding bikes, and playing tag. We also met up with the Doman babies for a morning at the zoo. The boys love going and always come home ready to plop into bed for a nap. It's a win-win, really.

Our cute friend Hope

I'm not sure how I feel about the aviary, but the kids always want to go through it, so we usually do.

"Look Mom, it's the Rio bird!!!" (The bad guy on the movie "Rio" looks just like this guy)

And of course, the boys found a tractor ride near an area where the zoo is doing construction and were automatically glued to it. They drug Bradley and Hope along too (although they were pretty willing participants from what I saw)

Bradley and Drew

Ever seen a starfish stuck to the aquarium glass? That's what this picture reminds me of. Checking out the sea lions and the trainers that were in with them....

And finally, three things about each of the boys. Ok, it's more than three this month, but I skipped December; six it is this month!

DREW
1. Is very into Ninjas these days. I'm not sure where this came from, but he loves to run around the house "hi-ya!-ing" everything and declaring that he's a Ninja. Oh to be a little boy....
2. Is under the impression that his middle name is Christopher Robin, not just Christopher.

I have no pictures relevant to Drew's three things this month, so you just get a few random cute ones! :)

3. Tells the world's longest stories! If you look away or get distracted, he'll call you on not paying attention anymore.
4. His time reference is "last year". Everything was "last year". He took a nap "last year", had a friend over "last year", went to the park "last year"....you get the idea
5. If you ask him a question, his response almost always starts with "Actually". "Actually, I think I want milk with dinner". "Actually, I'm going to take my planes and trucks". The word is new to him and it is used often right now.
6. LOVES to wrestle with Collin...a glimpse into my future I guess

COLLIN
1. Loves to wear other people's shoes, especially Drew's boots.
2. Still sleeps sucking on his bottom lip. I discovered this the other day when I snuck into his room during nap time and couldn't resist snapping a picture. His infant pics (at 10 days old) also show him doing this and I love it.

3. Talking up a storm. He now says "hi", "bye", "hot", "Drew", "eye", "nose", "shoe", etc. His gibberish is also getting closer and closer to actual words.
4. His favorite book is The Very Hungry Catepillar. Ok, so it's not really the book per say that he loves, so much as it is the pages with the "bites" out of them. You have to read the first three or four pages at lightening speed (or from memory) and the last few in the same manner since Collin immediately starts flipping to the pages with the holes for bites.

5. Loves to ride in Drew's carseat if Drew is not in the car with us.
6. Will shower with anyone willing to allow him to get in with them, it does not matter if he has already showered three times that day or not. Visitors to our house, beware!
7. If you ask him for kisses or hugs, he now folds his arms across his chest and says "Hmph!". I have no idea where he picked this up, but I get a kick out of it!

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A random favorite

My sister Kell sent this to me the other day. Made me laugh. Aunties are the best!

Christmas 2011

It seems that the older the boys are getting the more pre-Christmas excitement they seem to have and the more fun they are having with all of this Christmas stuff. The funny part is, Nathan and I seem to be having more and more fun right there along with them! Their giddiness during the holiday season this year was so contagious!

My parents and sisters arrived on Friday afternoon and the Holiday energy in our house escalated by about ten. After Thanksgiving we were having a hard time explaining to Drew how long it would be before Christmas arrived, so after a while I stopped trying to explain time and started explaining that Christmas would come shortly after Lala and Poppi arrived. Well, Drew didn't forget that one. Lala and Poppi walked through our door and the very first thing Drew turned to me and squealed was, "It's almost Chriiiiiiiiiiiistmas!!"...and although I'm not sure Collin truly understood what all of the hoopla was about, he was more than willing to be a thoroughly enthusiastic sidekick and follow right along with his brother in all of the excitement.

This Christmas season my heart was so full. I feel like there was so much to be grateful for aside from all that I received. Grateful for my beautiful boys, my gracious husband, and the best-friends-I-could-have-ever-asked-for sisters (that includes you Kimmie!). Christmas day itself was just icing on the cake. While I could go on and on and on about all things Christmas this year, I won't. However, there are a "few" things I'd like to remember about the Christmas season this year:

-Our elf "Broc" and his many shenanigans throughout the month.

-Having my parents join us at our house this year and all of the fun that went along with that.

-Tamale dinner on Christmas Eve with my family (my absolute, hands down, favorite meal of the entire  year!) . With this, my mom's beautifully pieced story of Christmas that we all went around and read....I loved this.

-Walking Candy Cane Lane Christmas Eve with the family (Yes, it was our third time walking this in the month of December. Yes, I love it that much.).

-The boys finding that Santa had come early while we were out at Candy Cane Lane and had left them each a gift on the hearth.

-Matching Jammies and Drew's "shake your booty" dance upon putting his on.

-Waking up on Christmas morning and opening stockings in bed with all my sisters (and hubbies, and the munchkins). I tried to explain this tradition to someone a little while ago, and it wasn't until halfway through explaining that I realized how ridiculous it all sounded. ("What's my favorite holiday tradition? Oh,  that would be waking up Christmas morning and opening stockings with all my sisters in bed". "One bed?". "....Uh, yeah. Did I mention we also cram our hubbies and my kids into the bed as well??").  Ok, so now that there are a few more of us, we've spread out to one room, but still. My sisters and I have been doing this as long as I can remember and I love it. Santa has always placed our stockings by our bedroom doors (I think it was my parents' plot to keep us entertained and allow them a bit more sleep when we were younger) and we've just continued the tradition and added to who joins us in bed over the years. :)

-Having our family friend, Kristen, from Eugene join us for Christmas. She was originally the girls' friend in Oregon and I have shamelessly stolen her as a friend of my own. She's currently a flight attendant out of San Franscisco and happened to be on the schedule for the afternoon of Christmas day. This meant that she couldn't go home to Portland to be with her family, so we stole her away from San Fran to be with us. Unfortunately, a few days before Christmas she came down with something and called to tell us she wasn't going to make it. We weren't having any of that business...she couldn't be alone and sick for Christmas! To our house she came!

--The pure excitement of Christmas morning on the faces of a 3 1/2 and a 1 1/2 year old

-Giving Kelly the quilt I had made her (and you all wondered where all of my free blogging time went....)

-Watching my Dad and Kelly argue over who had the rights to said quilt. (Every time Kell left it unattended my Dad would be found all snuggled up in it).

--Enjoying an afternoon of fun, laughter, and good family time opening gifts with Nathan's side of the family.

--Christmas dinner with the Hagens (apparently I like to eat, because once again, just like on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve dinner, I have only a photo of the table...no people or food.)

- I almost forgot this one, but it was one of my favorites of the season! Drew and Collin playing "Baby Jesus in a Manger" (and yes, that's what they actually called it). Drew would usually be Joseph and Collin was "Baby Jesus Collin" almost every time. 

All in all, a really enjoyable Christmas season surrounded by the people I love most in life!