Just Sharing Some Smiles :)

We don't have daycare this week between the holidays so I stayed home with the kiddos the last couple days and it was such a change of pace! I definitely enjoy my job and staying mentally busy... but it doesn't hold a candle to keeping up with my kids! What an absolute joy they are, sure there's a couple time-outs here and there, but it really made me miss being at home with them.

Yesterday morning I gathered up some leftover scraps from Brooklyn's Halloween costume and made her a tutu/skirt from the pink netting. She was so excited to wear it and Boston would not stop telling her how pretty she looked :)

I wanted to get a picture of her in the tutu & Boston wanted in on the fun, so here's some smiles from both kiddos! Happy New Years everyone!

He's GRRRREAT!!

Boston decided to color with markers yesterday afternoon... even though he knows he's not suppose to. So I tried really hard to keep a straight face and not laugh when I had to scold him for being naughty, but I couldn't resist taking a couple pictures!

At first I wasn't sure if he was a zebra or tiger, but when he started growling it was a dead giveaway :)

He even gave himself whiskers!

As you can tell, he wasn't one bit sorry... in fact, I'd say he was pretty darn proud of himself!

It finally came - Merry Christmas!!

Last year we had placed most of our gifts under the tree before Christmas day, so I don't think Boston really understood the idea of Santa leaving gifts because compared to what was already there, it wasn't much of a difference. So this year I didn't put anything under the tree - when Christmas morning came around... Boston could definitely tell that there were things under the tree that were not there before!

"What the heck? Dad look at this!" Boston's first words on Christmas morning :)

What a blast it was to watch little kids open presents! I remember being excited about Christmas when I was little, but not half as energetic as the kiddos were! Boston actually put a list together for Santa this year- he asked for guns for shooting deer on tv, Batman, and a firetruck. He got them... spoiled rotten! When we asked Brooklyn what she wanted for Christmas, she replied, "McDonalds"... which she didn't get :( But she got other fun things instead!

The kids both got stick horses from their Grandpa & Grandma Jordan which they immedately started riding around the living room! We had to force them to corral the horses until all the presents were opened... Boston stuck them under the kitchen table and pushed all the chairs in to keep them locked up :)

Brooklyn got lip gloss from some girly elves - when you put it on her lips she feels so pretty like a princess... but then she licks it right off cuz it's so yummy! She also got a couple baby dolls and she is such a good mommy.

Boston got a digital camera so he can see the pictures he takes right away... it's pretty interesting to see pictures from a child's point of view - and to see what they find is interesting or picture worthy!

Christmas Eve

We had a fun Christmas Eve - went sledding in the morning, did some last minute Christmas shopping for presents & yummy goodies, had dinner with Gram & Pop-Pop, went to church for a special Christmas program, and drove around town to look at all the pretty lights.

It was incredibly foggy all day - I asked Boston that night how Santa would find him and Brooklyn through all the clouds... he replied, "Rudolph must be working super hard!" Rudolph has been his bedtime story for almost the entire month of December, except there is a few dragons & lions in the story too :)

I was able to catch a couple pics of the kids dressed up in their Christmas church clothes - it was pretty fun to tell Boston the story of Christmas and how Christ was born in a stable full of animals. When I would ask Boston who's birthday it is on Christmas he would reply "Baby Jesus" and then remind me that we needed to call Jesus on the phone and tell him Happy Birthday :)



The kiddos got to open one gift on Christmas Eve, they opened a gift each from Gram & Pop-pop... new pajamas! They loved their new pj's, and they came with matching bath robes that the kids wanted to wear right away- I think Boston looked snazzy in his robe, like a young version of Hugh Hefner!

Sledding

We took the kiddos sledding for their first time ever on Christmas Eve - It was a blast! We went to the arena where UW plays basketball on campus and slid down the side of the building, it wasn't anything extreme but it made big enough hills for the kids.

Gingerbread House - Where the Elves Live

Boston went grocery shopping with me the other day & we thought it would be fun for him and brooklyn to create a gingerbread house together. We found a cute little kit that had the house with santa's sleigh and reindeer.

By the time we got home, most of the pieces in the kit had gotten broken, so I used the frosting to "glue" the chunks back together! It worked great and the kids did a good job covering the seams with candies.



I gave a shaker of sprinkles to both kiddos and let them decorate the house with candies however their little hearts desired. Brooklyn decided that there needed to be mounds of red sprinkle snow - mainly in the same corner of the scene, & all over the kitchen counter! Boston was more interested in eating the skittles and sneaking a couple peppermints to the dog!



Brooklyn will occasionally push a chair over to the counter and pick candy off the house and eat pieces of the gingerbread - it's actually starting to look a little bare without santa, only one reindeer, & a house with half a roof!

Baby It's Cold Outside

FREEZING temps have convinced us to break out the snowpants & heavy winter coats - just wish we could finally get some snow with that cold! I may be the only one... & I may be a little crazy... but I really like winter! I'm dreaming of a white christmas with sparkling snow - not a bitter, windy, frigid, scrape the frost off your windows type of holiday. Maybe we'll get the winter I'm hoping for in June :)

Daddy-Daughter-Date

Brooklyn really LOVES to color - but she enjoys it even more when someone will sit down and color with her. Her and Daddy got to spend some quality time together one night and I was able to catch a couple pics. Yep, she's wearing her Halloween costume still! I can't convince her not to wear it when she looks so darn cute :)

Tricks? No thanks... just treats please!!

Happy Halloween!

The kids had their costumes picked out for weeks before the holiday. We happened to see a Tinkerbell costume for Brooklyn that was adorable... but didn't cover her bum and legs very much, so I sewed a pink tutu into the costume under the skirt.



We thought it would be a fun idea if the kiddos dressed to a theme, so we asked Boston if he would like to be Peter Pan since lately that's been one of his favorite movies. He replied that he wanted to be naughty on Halloween, so he chose to be the naughty Captain Hook! Not only did he get to be naughty, but he could carry around a pirate sword and have a hook for a hand!



The kiddos were also really excited for a big Halloween party planned at their daycare on Friday! Sadly, we had to leave on Friday morning to travel to a funeral in Montana. But on the upside, their daycare changed the party from Friday to Thursday so that Boston and Brooklyn could participate. (It really meant a lot to me that someone went out of their way to change plans just so my kiddos could be involved in something they were looking forward to- thanks Angela!)

While in Montana the kiddos also got to see their cousin Toto(Colter)! They went trick-or-treating at their great-aunt's house and Toto read them a Diego Halloween story!



We even made it back in time on Sunday afternoon to take the kiddos trick-or-treating! They had a blast visiting friends and family and seeing so many other kids in their fun Halloween costumes! I think it's funny that for the past week after Halloween, the kids have asked to wear their costumes to daycare almost every day :)

Oh... to be 3 again!!

Happy Birthday to Boston!!!

I'm a little late in posting this, but Boston's third birthday was October 24th and he had a wonderful day devoted all to him :) Mommy & Daddy took Boston to the movie theatre to see 'Toy Story 3' and he had a birthday party to celebrate with friends and family.

Funny story- Burger King is the only fast food place in Laramie that has a kid's playground, so whenever we pass BK Boston gets really excited and wants to eat there (whether its dinner time or not). To avoid the argument, we've resorted to telling him that BK is "broken." Now when we drive by, he insists that somebody needs to fix BK so he can play there again. On his birthday, we were at a stoplight right in front of BK... like other days, he agreed that it was broken, but then he noticed that there were cars going through the drive-thru. "Who are those cars? Is BK still broken?" The only reply I could come up with was that the cars belong to the workers who were fixing BK (I'm a terrible mom for lying). Anyway, to top off his birthday, we held his party at BK so he could play with his friends on the toys. When he saw us pulling into BK's parking lot that night he was so excited!! He was very glad that the workers worked so diligently that day to fix BK for his birthday ;)



Boston is really into "Go Diego Go" lately, so of course we had everything Diego for his party!



Boston even got a Diego backpack! He loves being an explorer and animal rescuer just like Diego :)

Zoo Pictures

Boston wanted me to post pictures of some of the animals we saw at the zoo - not sure why these ones are so special... but he insisted :)


Gorilla


Pink Flamingos


Elephant


Polar Bear

Quick trip to the Denver Zoo

With all the nice 80 degree weather we had in September, it's hard to believe that it really is officially the fall season. We decided to take advantage of the warm sunshine and headed to Denver to take the kiddos to the zoo!


Boston enjoys "sneakin up" to animals and growling at them to chase them away. He enjoyed doing this to the ducks and geese along the walking path (poor birds)


Brooklyn had fun with Pop-pop... she convinced him to carry her everywhere!


Boston getting a closer look at the birds


Boston was our little tour guide! He's big into the Diego & Dora cartoons and following a map, so he navigated everywhere we went all day. He didn't let go of his map once, and stopped at every big map to double check we were in the right spot!


The kids were so excited to see how big a polar bear could be while standing - Boston says he'll be that tall some day - I believe him!

I learn something new every day :)

I must have been confused all these years... I thought bathtubs were for taking baths in, boy was I wrong!



According to Boston, bathtubs are more useful for playing in, & "stretching your bones"

And Brooklyn tells me that the dryer is definitely not just for drying clothes!







I do know one thing for sure - Boston & mama are "best buddies" (for today)