Christmas Morning

I thought that being a kid and waking up on Christmas morning was the best thing in the world! Now that I am a parent and have kids of my own, I realize that being a parent and watching the excitement on your children's faces is priceless. It is so captivating to watch as their eyes open wide in awe of a stocking full of goodies that Santa brought and all of the presents under the brightly lit Christmas tree! This Christmas was so much fun! I relived my childhood memories of Christmas morning through my kids as they make their own Christmas memories. The gift that Ethan has been asking Santa for over and over: a marble toy!Uncle Mark joined us:)Caleb opening up his presents! The kids drinking hot chocolate out of their cups Santa brought them! The Geo Traks were a hit!

Merry Christmas!!

Update Needed!

Sorry to all who follow our blog for the lack of updates lately. I could list a bunch of excuses, but they all boil down to laziness on my part! I was asked about updating our blog the other day and was touched that this person and many others follow our blog and so here is a much needed update!!

The Boys

The boys are super excited for Christmas and love watching the snow fall! Here are what they have been up to this month:

Decorating Christmas ornaments:)

Santa Picture 2010

Ethan: " This man is not so bad after all!"
Caleb: " Get me off this bearded man in a red suit now!"
Me: "Quick, take the picture!"

Love these two!

Precious moments!

Tree, lights, ornaments, snow - Christmas is here!

The day after Thanksgiving, the boys and I, along with my mom (Jim had to work), decorated the house for Christmas! This is the first year that Ethan is really getting into the spirit and excited for Christmas, which is so much fun for us! With Christmas music playing, we put up the tree. Ethan helped decorate it and had so much fun looking at all the ornaments, many belonging to him or was something that he made. Caleb undecorated the tree and broke all the candy canes, but what do you expect an 18 month old to do! I did find an ornament with a bell to keep him busy :)We had a blast- let the Christmas season begin!

The finished product!

Very Thankful!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving...twice! On Thanksgiving day, we had my mom, brother, aunt, uncle, and cousins over for a big Thanksgiving feast. As we slaved in the kitchen all day, it was totally worth it for the yummy spread that we had. Then a couple days later, we headed to mom and dad's (Jastifer) house for another yummy Thanksgiving dinner. Lets just say, leftovers are great, especially Thanksgiving leftovers! We are very thankful that we were able to spend time with our families. I did not get many pictures, but here are a few.I need to give a shout out to my cousins Ken and Sara for playing with the kids while we cooked. They had a blast and slept well that night :)

Here is the proof that my little dining room held 10 people!!

Long n' lean

Caleb had his 18 month check up today and did great! He is growing really well and is happy and healthy! Here are his stats:

Height: 35 inches - 97th percentile

Weight: 26 pounds - 50th percentile

Head Circumference: 51 cm - 97th percentile

"Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah!"

Here is a cute video of Caleb trying to sing the same song that mommy and Ethan were :)

Halloween 2010

Highlights of our Halloween Fun.....

Carving Pumpkins!

Playgroup Halloween Party

Trick-or-treating at the mall

Caleb the cute elephant
Ethan the Lowes worker (Ethan LOVES going to Lowes!)
Thanks grandpa and grandma Jastifer for trick-or-treating with us!


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Brothers

There is no better sound then listening to my two boys chase each other around the house laughing, or catching them reading together, playing with the cars downstairs, dancing in the living room, or Ethan telling Caleb that he loves him and Caleb smiling back. I would like time to stand still sometimes and soak up as much as I can of them at this age. They are so free-spirited and caring towards one another and truly enjoy being brothers. Trust me, they fight and tell on each other, but they would not be brothers if they didn't. We are so happy and proud to be their parents and watch this amazing brotherhood develop. Why do they have to grow up so fast???

For Grandma

Here is a picture of Caleb FINALLY eating his first Oreo cookie!

Needless to say - he loved it and wanted another "cook-ie" after it was gone :)

Fall 2010

Fall is upon us and we are loving it! The boys absolutely love jumping in the leaves and having leaf fights in our backyard. Today we went and picked pumpkins and we plan on carving them on Sunday. Happy fall!

Loving the pumpkin patch!

Meet Crawls

This is Ethan's newest buddy, Crawls (named by Ethan of course). One afternoon a couple days ago Ethan wanted Crawls to eat lunch with him, Ethan made sure to get him a plate, cup, and some cheerios. It was really cute and Ethan loved having Crawls join him for lunch!