lily and sam

Matt, Kim and Lily have been visiting for Christmas for the past week. Sam and Lily are having a ball together! Sam can't wait to wake Lily up in the morning and they will play as long as you let them. And the best part... they play GREAT together! They love chasing each other or fixing things with their tools. They will play in Sam's room or living room or downstairs, doesn't matter, as long as they are together. Sam normally gets a bath every night (hey, he's a boy!) and one night Lily jumped in there with him and they played in there together for forever. I had to warm the water up twice! The night before they were leaving we let Sam stay up late and play with Lily a little extra. The next morning when Sam woke up Lily was already gone and he was sad. Every couple days he would ask where Lily was and why she wasn't there. I know that he can't wait to see Lily again!

Bath Pictures Here!

Cute Video Here!

christmas day!!!!

The kids actually slept in longer that I thought they would, which was a GREAT thing (since I did not get to bed until after 1:00am). Sam kinda woke up like it was a normal morning, but he was excited about something, I just don't think he really knew what. Andy reminded him it was Christmas morning and that we needed to go downstairs and see if Santa came. Then he got really excited! He made sure Jacob was awake and busted into Ben's room to wake him up. We made it downstairs and Lily was sleeping on the fold out couch in the living room, so Sam made sure she woke up too. Within minutes kids were ripping into presents and throwing wrapping paper all over! It took about an hour for everything to be opened (except for Ben's stuff - which some of it was not opened for days). The kids were very happy and were playing with all their new toys for the rest of the morning. It was a great morning and a lot of fun. Loud and full of energy... just like Christmas morning should be.

Later in the day Rob, Patti, Kelsey and Lucy come over and we had a nice dinner and opened even more presents!

I put more stories about each of the kids on their own blog pages - links are at the top of this page.)

Christmas morning pictures are here!

Christmas afternoon pictrues are here!

christmas eve with pam's family

Tonight we went over my sister Becky's home and celebrated Christmas with my family. We had a really nice evening and the boys got some awesome toys! Sam even got the same fire engine from Grandpa and Grandma that Santa was suppose to bring him that night! Sam just LOVED it! Jacob got some books, Legos and gift cards and was very happy! Ben got some of his own trucks that light up and make noise. Afterwards we took the kids back home and snuggled them into bed, before I headed back out with the midnight service with my parents and sisters. It was a nice relaxing evening and we had a really nice night!

You can see all the pictures here!

making christmas cookies

Sam is certainly at one of the perfect age's for Christmas time. And everything is revolving around making sure that Santa is coming and we have everything ready for him! This of course includes making cookies! Since I wanted it to be a fun experience for Sam I waited until Ben was taking a nap. Jacob would joined in the "fun" (don't know that he is really into this kind of stuff anymore) but him and Andy went to the movies and escaped. Sam and I just made simple sugar cookies. I had some leftover green food coloring (Sam's favorite color) so we made some of the frosting green and Sam heaped that on the cookies as best he could. He also made sure they had lots of sprinkles! We also made two snowman, one for Jake and one for Sam. Of course they were left out before he went to bed with some milk and carrots for the reindeer. Santa said that they just delightful...

more pictures here

ben's birthday

I have finally updated Ben's blog and added birthday pictures... check them out on his blog here!

just playing around

Just thought I would take a couple updated pictures of Sam and Ben playing around. At night they normally will play in Sam and Jacob's room for a little bit before taking a bath. Tonight Sam was "fixing" his bed and Ben was just happy to be naked! Enjoy some pictures here!

you know it's a bad day when...

your three year old wants to show Daddy the cake for his brother's first birthday. But you are not really paying attention to exactly what he was doing (you are trying to get dinner ready and everything else ready for the birthday party for the next day), you hear, "Daddy, Daddy, look what we got," and you know he is in the dining room. You don't think much of it... until you hear "thump." Silence... crying from your three year old... you don't want that sound to be what you think that sound is... and you ever so slowly walk into the dining room... to only confirm that sound it what you thought it was. Your son's first birthday cake is frosting side down, smooshed on the floor. Your three year old, "I didn't do it on purpose, it was only an accident," with sad puppy dog eyes. Your husband consoles him, while you have to turn away, you know it was an accident (he really did think he could carry that cake over to the kitchen to show Daddy), but you are still steaming mad! Of course it just puts the icing on the cake to the "wonderful" day you have all day...

...thank goodness, the local grocery store was able to make another cake and have it ready by 8:00 the next morning.

trick or treat! (smell my feet)

Sam was soooo excited for Halloween this year! He talked about it for weeks and weeks. He changed his costume every week. First he wanted to be a firefighter, then he was set on a storm trooper fro Star Wars. He talked about being a Power Ranger and Batman too. But in the end (a few days before Halloween) he wanted to be a witch. Yes, my son wanted to be a witch. So we made it work. Ben of course had no idea of what Halloween was or what was going to happen. And he had no choice of what his costume was going to be and so he was a mouse. The weather was actually pretty nice, so the kids didn't have to wear coats and boats over their costumes. There was a house that we drove by everyday on the way to Sam's school and they had a huge Halloween display and Sam could not wait to go trick or treating at the "Halloween House." So we went trick or treating in that neighborhood. Of course Sam was super scared of the house once we walked up to it and Andy had to carry him up to get a piece of candy. We went around the whole neighborhood and after about 5 houses Sam was really getting the trick or treating down. He got a lot of candy and had a ton of fun. Ben spent most of the time in the stroller but did get to walk up to a couple houses. No one could figure out Ben's costume, most people thought he was a bear and he was called a girl several times! and Sam's loved say, "Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet." Cracked him up every time!

Lot of pictures here.

pumpkin carving

After we got done playing in the leaves and getting my crazy picture done, the boys went to work on the pumpkins. Andy did all the craving, Jacob picked out all the pumpkins seeds (which he just loves). Sam watched mostly, he wanted to help, but didn't want to touch that yucky stuff (he gets that from his mom). Ben really had no idea what they were doing, but he did know that he saw some bright orange things out of his reach and he wanted to check them out! Andy did a great job craving the pumpkins and I think that they all had a lot of fun! See all the pictures here!

that last picture (and playing in the leaves)

There was one final fall picture I just had to get to make my photo book for the year. I had planned to get this picture while at the cider mill, but the first time we went it was just Sam and Ben (this picture had to have all three kids). The second time we went to the cider mill, we had just finished with family pictures and Sam was not in the picture taking mood. And there were mosquitoes everywhere down the path that I like to take the picture at. I had thought about trying to get back up to the cider mill again today, but it didn't look like the weather was going to cooperate with me. It was cloudy, then it started to rain. But while the kids were eating lunch the sun started to come out, Andy said maybe we could head up to this Christmas Village down the road to take the picture (but that just was not the "scene" that I wanted for my picture). There was a nice large area in the backyard that might work. But it was still really wet out from the rain. I said screw it, so the kids get a little dirty, I want my picture! After lunch I started to get them dressed in their "cider mill" outfits. Meanwhile it starting hailing outside! But I saw a huge patch on sun on the way too. The kids thought I was crazy, Andy started to think I was a little crazy too! But as I finished fixing up Jacob's hair the hail went away and the sun came out. All the kids were in a great mood (once we told them they could play in the leaves!). And I got the picture I wanted (actually I got quite a few that turned out good)! It's the cover for my photo albums and it just has to match the previous years (I am so anal about these things!). Afterwards we let the kids play in the leaves for a little bit. Jacob and Sam had fun throwing leaver all over each other. Ben kept trying to walk through them, but kept falling down and getting frustrated. You can see all the pictures here, but below is that one picture I wanted...