Hugs Hugs

The other night Coy started this new game

called Hugs Hugs. He stands there and says

hugs hugs after which Hayden hugs him and
Coy pulls him to the ground and they
proceed to wrestle. Eventually they brake away and he does it all over again. They kept this up for a half hour until Travis and I had to settle them down for bed.

















They have so much fun together and love each other so much. I was luckily able to get them to pose for one sweet brotherly love shot. After which they went right back to Hugs Hugs. Moments like these we have so much fun watching them and it reminds you how great they are and how much you love them.

On a side not these are the new pajamas Grandma Sue got them for Christmas. Hayden was putting them on for the first time and as he was sliding his foot in he giggled and said "Oooh Fluffy" it was a cute moment I hope I always remember.

Merry Christmas

We had a very Merry Christmas. Coy woke up first of course, he always does, so we woke up Hayden and brought them down stairs to see what Santa brought them in their stockings. They dove right in. The stockings are the one things we just let them go at. Santa brought them the usual toothpaste and toothbrush, candy, and of course some fun toys.

Our tree is all the way down stairs so when they finished their stockings I think they thought that was it. We proceeded down stairs to what turned out to be, to my surprise, a very organized gift unwrapping.

Daddy plays Santa and gives out one gift at a time, while mom juggles the still camera and the video camera. They got lots of fun stuff, what you see here is only the tip of the ice burg. We would like to say thank you to everyone and if you ever get a chance to see the home video you can see the boys saying thank you too.

We are now play dough experts. The boys just started getting into it, so Uncle Eric and Auntie Kristyn go them two big kits. I think we have all the play dough gadgets there are and the boys love it. I love it, it's actually something I enjoy sitting down and playing with them.

Santa brought Coy a little toy cat and Hayden a helicopter. I don't believe Santa should bring so much, the stocking and one or two gifts under the tree is enough. For goodness sakes he is buying for the whole world you know. Travis and I are still trying to find a compromise, because the majority of his gift came from Santa when he was a kid. I just don't want to push the Santa thing too much since it really is not the true meaning of Christmas.

My theory is let them believe, but not so much that it's traumatizing when they realize the truth. Travis says I just want all the glory and I said that's right, I bought them, I wrapped them, I wracked my brain what to get them, why shouldn't I get the hugs and kisses. Of course Travis gets the hugs and kisses too, so for him he gets the prize without the work. Call me selfish, but my mind travels to the future all the time when hugs and kisses won't be so plentiful and it saddens me, I want all I can get now.

I was very impressed with the boys and how well they took turns letting the other open their gifts and opening their combined gifts together without fighting as well. There are moments when they don't fight and I was thankful that Christmas morning was one of them.

For those of you who don't know the story of Hayden's birthday presents, let me just review. Years ago Travis was given a train set he held on to, so for Hayden's birthday we didn't actually buy him much because we were giving him the train set.

Well it was a piece of crap and broke after them using it just twice, so Coy's big Christmas present this year was a train set, that is sturdy, and we got Hayden an extra engine to go on it. I am so happy we got this for them they play with it all the time and love having their own engine. I no longer feel guilty about gypping Hayden on his birthday.

Hayden's big gift this year was a new bike. He was too interested in the train set to care too much on Christmas day but now he is very excited to get it outside and play. If we can get a day when it didn't just snow or the driveway isn't a sheet of ice. Of course Coy needs a turn to sit on it too and I'm sure he will have few turns when I'm just pushing him. This spring should be lots of fun.

Ginger Bread Houses

We finally decorated our ginger bread houses, after a week of making dough, rolling, baking, cutting, drying out, assembling houses, and waiting for Daddy's next day off we were ready.

Hayden has seen the whole process and was actually quite patient through the whole thing and extremely excited. He especially wanted to put lolly pops on his house which I did not have and could not find at Wal-Mart.

So the day before we decorated I finally ventured into Hannaford and the only lolly pops I could find were blow pops. Good thing they are for decorating and not eating. Although you couldn't tell Coy that. Coy also did exceptionally well placing his gumdrops and marshmallows. It was a fun start to our new Christmas tradition. I love traditions and love that my kids are getting old enough to enjoy them as well.

We all in all had a great family day, and as if it couldn't get anymore Christmasy for our ginger bread day is was snowing outside. NO surprise to any of you who know how much we have been dumped on this year. We proudly displayed our houses on top of our cabinets and threw on our snow clothes to go play. We tried to slide and had a few successful runs and I pulled the kids in the sled. Between a few snow balls, shoveling, playing, and the ginger bread houses the kids were incredibly cranky by late night and went to bed early. I guess we wiped them out. I guess I was wiped out too and I hit the bed at 9:00 last night and apologized for being such a pooper.

I wish I could tell Travis my pooping out on him early was going to end soon, but I can't since I truly feel it's due to the pregnancy, which is still going well, and after the baby comes it will only get worse for at least another 3 months. Such and understanding Husband and family.

Winter Picnic

For at least a month now Hayden has been bugging me for a picnic. I have told him over and over again that it is too cold outside for a picnic, I even offered an indoor picnic, but that wasn't good enough the pestering continued. Finally the weather said it was suppose to be between 30 and 40 degrees so I decided it was now or never because that is as good as it gets this time of year. So I secretly pulled out our card table and put together a quick simple winter picnic. I knew full well this could go either way, he would be quite excited to finally have his picnic or not impressed at all because it was cold out side. The latter was true, Hayden looked right at me and said, but Mommy I want a warm picnic that doesn't have wind. I had to laugh because if you know Hayden at all it was typical. When he has a vision it has to be just so. We made the best of it and had a good time out anyway. I haven't heard a lot about having a picnic since so I guess it sunk in.

Hayden's 4th Birthday!

Hayden's Birthday was a blast. We started with a Blues Clues game that led us to a room full of balloons. He had some friends over Kathryn and Vivian, daughters of our friends Abby and Curtis, and of course Grandma Ree Ree came with Papa. We socialized while the kids played with the balloons and the spaghetti dinner was cooking. Dinner was good as always and so was the cake and ice cream. Is there such a thing as bad cake and ice cream? Then to the presents. Thank you to everyone. Hayden got some clothes, cars, train set, t-ball set, bike helmet, and more. He is very spoiled and we are happy to do it on his birthday. We can't believe he is 4. He is getting so big and we love him more and more all the time.

Twas the Move before Christmas.....

Twas the move before Christmas and all through the house the boxes were piled up and mom felt like a louse.

The kids were screaming and running everywhere, in hopes that Mom's sanity soon would be there.

Our callings keep us running like busy little bees, but we are happy to serve with smiles and glee.

Empty boxes are flattened and piling here and there, off to the dump for there's no garbage pickup here.

Christmas bells are ringing the season's coming quick, and I'm still not ready I wish there really was a St. Nick.

The Christmas tree is up and things are in there place, could it be that I may win this race.

At night my head is resting I'm caught up, ready, and finally all done. November moves are bad thinking unless you want to non stop run.

First Big Snow Storm

We got over foot of snow last week. Thank goodness it was light Utah snow, but unfortunately that meant no snowman. The kids still had fun with their sand bucket and shovels helping me remove the snow from the deck. I wasn't cold out at all for winter time and they still didn't last long. They actually wanted to go inside before me. I had to convince them to stay out longer. If only it was always like that. It was a good day and the fresh snow filled air, felt good in my lungs. One of my favorite smells in the world is the smell of rain and snow. When I was in Utah once in a while that humid smell would fill the air and it always sent me traveling home for a moment. I loved it and still love it.

3 more months.

6 months a long and 3 more to go. I swear it's a boy if my intuition tells me anything. My sweets craving is back ten fold. Give me lucky charms, ice cream, and Oreo's double stuffed dipped in milk. My mouth is watering just writing it. I feel quite big, but don't feel like I look that big. I'm really feeling the extra weight now during my sleep and especially going up and down stairs. I am definitely in a don't touch me mode. Which is not like me because I am normally very affectionate person. It's not obsessive I still want to hug and comfort my kids, or give Travis a kiss good by, but I that is enough. I have heart burn and am starting to feel my energy drop a little more every week. The count down is on. I'm ready to meet the little guy and not be pregnant anymore.

Helping out at Grandmas.

Fortunately my mom got a new job, unfortunately after her first week there she slipped in their bathroom and broke her wrist. She is having surgery on Monday and will be fine, but the Holidays are probably one of the worse times to lose you dominant hand. No wrapping presents, no putting up lights, and many other delights and responsibilities are missed out on if your not able to use your hand. So me and the boys have pitched in and helped my dad do the things my mom takes care of, like putting up the tree. Once the tree was assembled and the lights were on we let the boys have at it. They had a blast putting all the ornaments on. I can be a bit of a perfectionist, so normally having clumps of ornaments on the tree would bother me, but instead I think "oh there is one of Hayden or Coy's favorite spots." We are looking forward to doing our own tree this weekend.

From There to Here.

From this one bedroom living quarters at Grandma Ree Ree's to our own home watching the first snow from our new front windows. We are so grateful for our space and now that the house is settled in, pictures are being hung and soon our home will radiate with Christmas red and greens. Travis and I slept in the bed with the orange and white blanket, Coy slept on the bed on the floor, and Hayden slept on the other bed. We were grateful to be together for the almost 3 months we were there. It was an experience we will never forget.