Happy New Year!!

Tristan had to fly out super early in the morning on New Year's Day.  So our New Year's Eve was an early one.  We played games as a family, ate lots of munchies throughout the day and had fondue for dessert before turning in early.  Then it was back to the real world!

Sorry for the blurry picture.  It was from the iPod and didn't take well, but I thought they were such goofballs at church that I needed a picture.

 One day I pulled out all my old stamps and stamp pads.  This is still one of their favorite "crafts" to do. They love playing with all the stamps.  Good thing I kept them after I stopped teaching!

Christmas 2014

Christmas morning is always exciting.  Gratefully, our kids still don't wake up at the crack of dawn.  In fact, they slept in!  Once they were up, though, they were excited and ready for action!

 Ashton was ready, too!!

 Playing with the balloons left by the tree while I get breakfast going

 For some reason these posted out of order, but Santa brought them a play kitchen this year and they were very excited about it!

 They were almost just as excited to get the Planes DVD!

 So each year I buy an ornament for each of the boys that reflects what they are interested in or something significant in their lives that year.  Well, Ethan told Santa TWICE that he wanted a wagon ornament for Christmas...Do you have any idea how hard it was to find a WAGON ornament?!  I finally found one at Hallmark on Christmas Eve.  Phew!  That was close.  But he loved it and it was worth the endless searching!

We took our time opening and enjoying our morning as a family.  It was nice to spend time with our extended family later in the day and feel the spirit of Christmas.  It was a busy, fun Christmas this year. We are looking forward to a new year with new celebrations and memories to be made!

More Pre-Christmas Fun

I guess I was better about taking pictures than I thought, because I found some more!  I try to keep the boys as busy as possible when Tristan is working because it makes the time pass more quickly (for all of us).  So one afternoon we made some suncatchers for their grandparents.

About this time, we started trying to get Ashton more used to his crib.  As you can see he was super interested in his mobile, just like his two brothers before him!

Normally I would try to do some fun Christmas treats, but with a baby it was time for shortcuts!  I bought these precut cookies that had pictures on them so all I had to do was bake them.  The boys were super impressed.  Thank goodness for Tollhouse!!!

I also found this game at the dollar store that they loved.  It has a little ping-pong sized ball that it pops out.  I think you're supposed to play catch with it, but my boys just like shooting it all over the place.

Ashton liked his Bumbo seat from the minute we put him in it...He enjoyed sitting and watching the boys be crazy.  Too bad gravity works against us in the drool department when he's sitting up!

Ethan had a "Winter Program" at preschool that we went to.  He had both sets of grandparents plus his Aunt Desiree and Tennille there, so he had quite the cheering section!  He was being shy and this was the best picture I could get of him before the program.  It was fun seeing him in school and interacting with his teachers and friends!

We got a light dusting of snow one night, but it was still enough that they wanted to bundle up and go play in it.  Ethan took the opportunity to teach Carter what a snow angel was!

Look at that silly boy!

Ashton opted to nap inside during all the excitement...Look at those chubby cheeks and lips!

Tristan got in just a few days before Christmas so we spent those days doing all of our last minute preparations and enjoying the end of the holiday season as a family!  We sure love all of the time we get to spend together, especially during the Christmas season.

Pre-Christmas Festivities

The Christmas season was kind of a blur for me this year.  It's always like that when there's a little baby in our home.  But we did manage to fit in a lot of fun, although we didn't get pictures of it all.  We like to get our tree up early so we can enjoy it as long as possible.  So the day after Thanksgiving Tristan put the tree up and strung the lights and then on Saturday we hung ornaments.

Carter with his ball ornament from his second Christmas

Ethan and Carter finding the perfect spot

Carter seemed to think that the ornaments were toys (Ethan was guilty of that, too).  So they got a lot of playing with this year...most of them survived to see another Christmas!

Our elf was busy getting into all sorts of fun places this year.  I didn't take many pics, but Tristan had lots of good ideas this year.

So we usually go to The Barn to see Santa and this year I spaced on when he was there and when he wasn't.  I got the boys all pumped up to see him and then we got there only to find out he wasn't there that day.  They were so sad.  Then the next day I found out Santa was coming through our neighborhood on the firetruck.  We bundled up and ran out fast to catch him.  The boys stood in the driveway and we could see the trucks coming.  Then all of a sudden, they flipped on their lights and turned around and headed off to an emergency call.  The.  Boys.  Were.  Devastated.  I was sure that after two days in a row they were going to be traumatized by the thought of Santa.  We went back in and explained the best we could, but they were upset. 

  As we were reading stories, I heard the truck coming back.  So we raced out there again (this time armed with fire hats).  They were so excited that Santa made time to come back and see them.

 The truck finally made it to our house!

 This was the best I could do for a Santa picture this year.  So grateful for our local fire department.

A better view of the truck

 We decided to do gingerbread people for our decorating this year.  These are Ethan's and Carter's.  You may notice that they had already enjoyed some treats off of their gingerbread boys...

 These are Tristan's and mine.  Tristan's cracks me up.  Bloodshot eyes...grinding teeth.  Can you tell a dad who isn't getting much sleep made this one?  LOL

 I even found a little baby gingerbread boy for Ashton!

 These pictures of the boys in their Christmas jammies crack me up.  This is real life, folks!

 Enjoying candy canes from the fire truck visit.  I should say we caught the fire truck a second time when we were at my mom and dad's having dinner a few days later.  The boys were thrilled to see Santa again!

We also did our annual drive and look at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve.  We love enjoying family traditions while celebrating our favorite time of year.  We are so grateful for the joy that comes as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Day-After-Thanksgiving Fun

This picture was actually from Thanksgiving night, but I thought is was so cute that Carter likes to hold the scriptures and help "read" them during our family scriptures and prayers at night.  He's getting so big!

 I headed out as early as my body would let me to grab some Black Friday deals and Tristan stayed home with the three boys and tackled the leaves that we had been neglecting (sooooo glad we don't have to do the yard maintenance at our new house).  He got some pretty cute pictures of the boys having fun in the leaves.

Tackling each other...these boys love to play rough!

 Love that smile.  And that kid.

 Of course, there was some throwing of the leaves as well.

 Ethan made a "leaf angel".

 Buried in leaves!

 I managed to find some Christmas jammies.  Our Elf comes the day after Thanksgiving so we can spend as much time as possible enjoying our Christmas traditions.  They boys were excited to wear them (and still like to wear them even in March).

They were pooped out that night and once I looked at the pictures on the camera I realized why!  I was so excited to start the holiday festivities with my family!