Jeanette

Yesterday was my sister's birthday, so we took the boys and my brothers and went to visit her.

The boys were very interested in looking at all the decorations and flowers.

We then went over and visited my Grandma.

And we visited some of my Grandma's relatives.

Happy birthday, Jeanette!

Christmas Night

Christmas night, we had the family over for dinner and to open more presents.

More fun presents.

Dylan is clapping. I guess he approves of his presents.

My brother, David, with all the boys.

Christmas

Blake woke up, comes in my room and asks, "Did Santa come to our house?"  After waking Aaron up, we hear Dylan is awake, so we grab him then go downstairs to discover that Santa did come.  A couple days before, we put the presents under the tree from Grandma and Grandpa and others who had mailed some gifts. Blake found this present, shook it, and said, "hey, these are legos!". We said he would have to wait to open them. So when he opened them he said, "See, I told you I got legos."

Super excited to get Bumblebee.

Dylan playing with his presents...but not super happy yet because he hadn't had breakfast yet.

Blake was in heaven..Playmobil...loved it!

One of the reindeers didn't eat his carrot, so it was left behind. Dylan found this carrot and ate it.

More Playmobil?!

Even more Playmobil?!!

Dylan loves dogs...can you tell?

He got lots of fun stuff!!

Dylan couldn't make it through opening presents, he had  to eat some food. Then he was happy!

The boys got Big money (as Blake calls it).

Dylan was excited about his Oreos and the candy canes.

Aaron's folks also got the boys a basketball hoop. Watch out Jimmer :)

Thank you to everyone! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Before the kids went to bed, Blake made sure we got everything ready for Santa.

He said we needed to leave 2 cookies...one for Santa and one for Mrs. Clause. He wrote a letter to Santa trying to convince him that he had been a nice boy. He then drew a picture for the reindeer and left some carrots for them.

Christmas Lights

We went to our favorite Christmas lights viewing spot this past weekend. This year there was fake snow, which Blake loved.

Both the kids are terrified of Santa, so this was as good as we were going to get.

Although the lights weren't as extravagant as they have been in previous years, it was still wonderful.

At first Dylan didn't want to walk around because he was just taking it all in. Then he was all over the place and super excited.

Cute boys enjoying the lights.

Dylan's favorite was the dog...surprise. This house also had some Christmas music playing, so he was dancing while he was watching the dog.  We were in this spot for a long time.

Naps

Blake loves it when Dylan takes naps, mostly because he gets to ride on his bike and other things without any competition.  Dylan thinks he is just as big as Blake so he loves riding the scooter.

On our way home from Disneyland, Dylan fell asleep. Totally out!

Gingerbread House

Last year we made a gingerbread house and Blake loved it, so we did it again this year.

Blake helped...candy for me, candy for gingerbread house, candy for me...

The completed product!

So happy they are done!

Nice picture Blake.

Messy, Happy Boy

Dylan sure loves to eat especially when there is a cookie involved.

Funny boy!

Music

Blake loves to listen to music and to sing.  Earlier this week, Blake, Dylan and I were in Walmart cruising in the cart. Blake then started singing in his very loud voice "row, row, row your boat..." There were people all around us, but one group of 3 adults starting singing along with him.

Yesterday at California Adventure, we were eating our lunch at the Mad T Party area.  For those who have never been, it is an area that is for dancing in the evening so not too many people are there during the day. They have oversized furniture there, which we have claimed as our spot to eat lunch. It works great because it is an area that Dylan can roam around in. Right next to this area there is an area where you can take pictures with characters, so there are still people around.  Back to the story...Blake stands up on his chair (sandwich in hand) and starts signing and dancing "I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, saying ayo, gotta let go"....this is "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz from the movie Hop.  I look at Dylan and he is eating his food, dancing along with Blake.  All the people in line look over and start laughing.

When a Spoon Isn't Big Enough

Gotta love it!

13 Months

Dylan is 13 months old. He has not been a happy camper lately. He has a cold and is teething. But that doesn't stop him from eating. Apparently he needs 3 cups and 2 spoons to eat breakfast. 

Here are the words he can say: mom, dad, hot, dog, up, down, no no, yuck and thank you. I'm probably missing something. He says down much more then he says up...the opposite of Blake. Dylan wants down so that he can run around. I get kind of tired thinking about it. Our pediatrician called us yesterday and all his tests have come back normal.  He was rather squirmy for his last ultrasound. The pediatrician told us to expect that until he is at least 2. I would imagine he will be like that for much longer. 

He is still eating all the time..no joke. If he is awake, he is pretty much eating. When you see how much he runs around, then it shouldn't be a surprise that he would need to eat so much. 

He laughs a lot. He has the cheesiest smile when we pull out a camera. He already doesn't like being in the cart while shopping because he wants to be walking around. He also doesn't love being in the stroller for the same reason, which makes Disneyland fun. So, I have let him out so that he can walk.

Playing Outside

The kids love having a backyard where they can go outside and run around and play. I love it too.

We had some friends over. They got the tools out and "fixed" all the scooters, bikes, etc.

Dylan rode on the scooter most of the time while the other kids "fixed" stuff.

Today, it rained...which is pretty exciting for Blake because we don't see rain all that much.  He ran outside and loved running around in the rain.

I kind of thought he was going to freak out from getting wet because he freaks out whenever his shirt gets wet (he insists on changing his shirt even), but he didn't.

Happy Thanksgiving

We were able to skype with my folks who are on their mission after our dinner on Thanksgiving.  They demonstrated how to eat Oreo suckers.  Poke white part of Oreo with fork, then totally dunk Oreo in milk, pull out and enjoy without having to worry about Oreo falling apart in your fingers, etc.  With this new knowledge, the boys had to give it a try.

Dylan especially enjoyed the Oreos. We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I made a turkey for the first time this year and I might have worried about it not turning out, but it turned out.

Later, Dylan thought he would be a big boy like everyone else and try to use the computer, so he pulled himself up and started "working".  I often call Dylan "midget" but he is not.  He has been able to open doors at our house for awhile, but now he can open the doors at church.  He doesn't sit and relax...unless he is eating, so church is already a joy with him, but now well, let's just say we can't wait until he is old enough to go into nursery.

Why is it so quiet?

The other day I was doing some dishes and couldn't hear the boys so I had to go check and see what was going on. I walked into the bathroom to discover them "making a cake" in the sink.

But don't worry, Blake shared the cake with Dylan.