Family Pictures--November 2012

In November we managed to squeeze in a quick family photo session with our friend, Christie Marlatt.  She is new to photography and I had seen several of her shoots with some other friends of ours and saw her natural gift for it.  So we decided to ask her if she wanted to "practice" some more on our little family.  She agreed and did a wonderful job--as good as I would have expected from anyone.   It was chilly and the boys were rather shy and not all that smiley, but she captured some priceless memories for our family.  I was so appreciative that she was able to do it on short notice so we could have some new family pictures for our Christmas cards.  Thank you, Christie, for the wonderful memories!!!

Christmas Celebrations

We had a lot of fun leading up to Christmas, enjoying some of our favorite family traditions.  We went to The Barn to visit Santa again this year.  He is the best Santa!  When we got there Ethan was acting really shy, so Santa suggested we walked around the store for a few minutes to let them warm up to the place.  When we got back (there was no one else there yet) he spent about 10 minutes just talking to the boys and helping them feel comfortable.

 After a little talking, Ethan was ready to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas this year:  a car ornament for the Christmas tree.

 Afterward, Ethan sat in the special chair and got his candy cane and toothbrush!

 This was the best we could get of both boys...the joys of multiple children!

 Carter did great, too.  No crying at all!

 We also built gingerbread houses.  This year we had a Snoopy set, so each of us had our own little dog house to build and decorate.

 We broke in the Christmas jammies for sure!

 We also put up the tree and put the lights on it.

 We had traditional ham dinner before Christmas, because my parents had invited us to have Christmas dinner with them.  Tristan was serious about his carving!

 Back to decorating!  Time for ornaments.  Carter did really well with the ornaments this year.  He loved to pull them off, but we had no major issues.

 Ethan hanging his favorite dump truck ornament

 Putting the star on top!  After we got it up there we found out it was broken!  I was hoping to find one on clearance the day after Christmas, but no such luck. So next year we will have to buy a new one.

And then the plague hit our home.  About a week and a half before Christmas Carter, then Ethan, then I caught a horrible stomach flu that was going around.  The poor kids were sick and throwing up for more than a week.  Luckily, I was only really sick for a few days.  Tristan was spared and was taking care of all of us through the nights of being sick.  He was wonderful and I was so grateful he was here to take care of us.  I can't imagine what I would have done if I had been on my own.  January kind of slipped through our fingers because we were just recovering, so we laid low a lot.  But despite being sick (even still on Christmas day) we still enjoyed celebrating the birth of our Savior and giving to others.  

November Tidbits

With November being the beginning of the holiday season it also means things pick up and we get a lot busier.  The boys are getting so big!  One day as we were packing up for church that hit me.  So I decided to snap some pictures of our big boys.

 Carter is hilarious!  He is constantly making us laugh and smile.  He's really in to drinking things with straws lately.  He loves it.  Here he was one morning drinking his yogurt.

 Ethan and I had some fun doing projects in November.  One day we had "Turkey Apples" for a snack.

 We actually made this apple print wreath in September, but Ethan wanted to get his picture with it.

 I love it when they do things together and actually get along!  They were watching a DVD together one morning and they just laid there so nicely!

 I was so grateful Tristan was home for Thanksgiving this year.  He actually flew in on Thanksgiving Day, so we got up early and went over to my parents' house for breakfast and the beginning of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  We left from there to pick Tristan up around 10.  Surprisingly, traffic was great and the airport wasn't too crazy.  We were back in town by 12 and we got to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with Tristan's family this year.  His sister, Tiffany, and their family were here visiting from Utah so we went over to his mom's house to visit and, of course, EAT!

I headed out the next morning with Kelly to do some traditional Black Friday shopping.  We went around 5 a.m.--so we weren't as crazy as some people!  We didn't do any door-busting, but we did enjoy some Starbuck's treats, the Fred Meyer sock sale and some other good shopping.  It was actually kind of nice that it wasn't so crazy since most people seemed to have gone out on Thanksgiving night.

That evening the boys opened their Christmas jammies so we could start getting ready for Christmas fun!

 I also let them open their book early this year (every year we give each of them a book to add to our library) because it was Elf on the Shelf.  I wanted to be able to have fun with our elf before Christmas was over!  It took a few days, but Ethan finally decided that she (I didn't even know there were boy and girl elves) should be named Penguin.

 Penguin sitting at her post taking notes for Santa.

 One morning Ethan found her reading in a fort!

 Carter's reaction...can't tell if he's impressed or not!

 Another morning she was making mischief in the bathroom.

Penguin is actually kind of a lazy elf.  She doesn't always get into trouble at night, but the boys don't seem to mind, which is good for me in case I forget.  I'm sure as they get older I will have to be more on top of my game, but for now I'm enjoying being low-key.  I'm sure it will be a fun tradition for our family for years to come!

Boys Weekend

The first weekend in November I got to attend Time Out for Women in Portland, OR.  I was gone for a night--my first night away from Carter--and left my boys here to fend for themselves!  The conference was wonderful and it was so nice to go and spend some time with some friends and be uplifted!

Saying goodbye on Friday morning

 Tristan dropped me off at Denise's house and then he and Brian took the kiddos out a nature trail since they were both single dads for the weekend!

Carter looks like he had a great time exploring and running around!

 The next day Brian and Tristan took the boys out to Priest Point Park.

Ethan and Caitlyn

Enjoying the playground

 Carter looks like he loved this toy!

 Cute little Emma

 Ethan trying out the slide

 Carter lovin' the swing

 All worn out at lunch time!

 Saturday afternoon Tristan took the boys out to try to get a handle on the leaf situation in our front yard for me.

Putting the dump truck to work!

 Silly boy!

 Lovin' fall!

I got home Saturday night just in time to put Ethan to bed.  It was a wonderful weekend and I was so grateful for Tristan taking the boys on all on his own.  I know that's not easy, but he did a great job!