Merry Christmas!

Despite every one's prediction that Greg and I would be up all night putting the boys' new room together, we were not - we were both in bed by 2 am. Now, if I had hung their pictures up, we probably would've been up at least another hour - but it wasn't worth waking the boys up and ruining the surprise to do that. We also got along just fine with no fighting between the two of us. On Christmas morning, Ryan woke up and said, "Mama, I hear Santa." We headed downstairs where the boys found new scooters. The morning before Ryan randomly said that he wanted Santa to bring him a scooter. I have no idea where that came from, but fortunately, my parents had already gotten them some. We then opened our presents and told the boys that we had a surprise for them upstairs in their room. They were so surprised and excited, as you can see in the video.



The boys had a great day playing with all of their new toys. They love their scooters. Greg asked how many vehicles my parents are going to add the house - I assured him that the scooters are meant to be outside, but since there is snow out right now, we will have to wait. Ryan is so funny on his scooter. He walks with both feet instead of pushing with one foot. I tried to show him how to do it, but he wasn't interested. They also used their new tool sets to "fix" their scooters when they were broken. Greg and I got some new Wii games and Ryan had a good time trying to drive in Super Mario Cart.



Below, videos of them riding their scooters and fixing them.




The boys in front of the tree before heading over to Papa and Grandma's house Christmas Eve.

Lastly, pictures of my big boys in their new beds. They look so small in them, but also so cute. They slept great last night once they settled down a bit.

Santa Claus and Broncos

After 3 trips to the mall, the boys finally got to see Santa. I am usually pretty strategic about things. I hate waiting in lines and I'm usually amazed how people will follow everyone else and never look around for the shorter line or the faster way to do things. However, this year, I failed in that with Santa. In the past, we've gone to see Santa right after Thanksgiving in the middle of the week when there are no lines. This year, things got too busy. One week the boys were sick and the next week it was incredibly cold and then Greg was out of town. So that brought us to the week of Christmas without seeing Santa. One of my requirements with Santa is that he has to have a real beard, so I knew the Santa at Park Meadows did - so we headed out Monday night. The mall has this new thing that you check in and get an appointment time. By the time we got there on Monday, all times were full, but we could stand in an additional long line and hope to get in that evening. We decided to come back the next day. I was going to take them the first thing Tuesday morning but Greg said he'd go if we could wait until lunch. When we got there this time, the next available appointment was 3 hours later or we could make one for that evening, we chose the latter. Santa is done and we've learned our lesson, we will be there early next year. All in all, the boys did great. Neither were scared to see him and Luke asked for the movie Up and Ryan asked for a new car (Greg is out buying Ryan a new car right now).

Waiting in line for our "appointment."

On Tuesday evening, after Santa, we went to Hudson Gardens for their Christmas light thing. We went to Zoo Lights last year, which is great, but it is on the other side of town and Hudson Gardens if 5 minutes away. It was really nice and Ryan in particular was really excited to see all of the lights.



Above, Luke catching snowflakes with his tongue. Below, Ryan enjoying hot chocolate afterwards at McDonalds.

Last Sunday, Greg and I went to the Bronco v. Raiders game. Denver lost, which was devastating to Greg, but I still had a good time. We had tickets on the first row, which was really neat.


Our plan tonight for the boys' Christmas is to put them to bed in our room and then dismantle their cribs and put together their new big boy beds along with their new Dr. Seuss room decor. I know we'll be up all night, but I think they will be so surprised to have a new room. We haven't talked at all about new beds with them, so I think they will be really excited.

A short video of the boys going in to see Santa.



And pictures of the boys with Santa from the last 3 years.




Merry Christmas!

School Art and Music Night and Bad Mama

We've had a wonderfully quiet family day at home. I went out for a short bit this morning and came home in time to watch all 3 boys give the dogs a bath. After that and a bath the boys were beat and took a 2-3 hour nap. I would call that a good day.

The boys had a school music and art night on Thursday. The school is entirely too small to have a concert, but it was still really neat to see the art work the boys' have done this year and to hear them sing a couple of songs with their classmates.

Pictures of the boys next to their pictures. I think they took the picture of the stuff and their art teacher obviously took the picture of them.

Greg was gone most of this past week and Ryan had a few challenging moments. His teachers at school even asked about his behavior. I think it stems from him wanting individual attention and the easiest way for him to get it is to act up. We went through this with him last spring and we took him out for a day (rode the train downtown and ate lunch). I think we'll do something with just him again when we're in Lubbock. He loves to throw the football with Greg (he has quite an arm) and had a meltdown tonight when Luke wanted to join in. In his mind, that his special thing to do with Daddy. During one of his time outs this week he had an anger meltdown and shouted "Bad Mama." I thought it was pretty funny. He can get so angry, but he was already in timeout, so I thought it best to ignore him.

Luke's thing this week has been pretending to have a "nice quiet picnic." He loves to bring his blanket from his bed downstairs and spread it out on the floor in the playroom. He has the best time getting us all to sit down while he runs around the house pretending to get food (like marshmallows for some reason). He must have gotten his G-Nanny's compulsion to constantly serve and never sit down and join the rest of us. It totally cracks us up - he gets so in to it.

While Greg and Luke were giving the dogs a bath, Ryan chose to sled down the half melted hill in the back yard.

Luke loved spray the dogs with the hose.


Video of the boys doing some sort of song with their class about a snowman. I'm not really sure what Luke is doing at the end of it.


Lastly, a little glimpse into the attitude we've been dealing with lately. He is really such a sweet pleasant boy, but he works so hard to try to make us think otherwise.

Wii! and Santa Cow

I took the boys to Chick-fil-a tonight for dinner because Greg is in New Mexico this week. We often go on Mondays when he is gone because it is family night and the boys usually eat free (and they get to play on the playground). Tonight was "Picture with Santa Cow" night. We haven't seen Santa yet this year to get our annual picture, but I thought this turned out pretty cute.

Greg got me a Wii for our anniversary. I've wanted one since they came out but it hasn't really been a priority around here with other things going on. I was totally surprised and excited - I think it will be a fun family thing for us to do. The boys are already loving it. Luke is an excellent boxer - he knocked the guy out in the first round. Ryan is a descent golfer and I'm impressed that he understands the concept.

Ryan playing golf. He has pretty good form for a 3 year old, I think.

Luke the boxer - no surprise here that he is good at this.

Video of the boys boxing.

Happy Anniversary

Tomorrow is our 10th Anniversary. That sounds like such a long time! In our 10 years we've lived in 5 houses in 4 cities, had 3 cats and 2 dogs (now down to 2 cats and 2 dogs) and have had 2 wonderful little boys. The last would definitely be the best.


This last week has been brutally cold in Denver (highs in the teens, maybe, and lows below zero). Luke was sick and missed two days of school with an ear infection and eye infection and Ryan came home today with an eye infection all of his own. Fortunately we already have eye drops for Luke, so Ryan started taking 2 doses tonight.


We had a short break from the cold on Saturday and we were able to go on our neighborhood's annual holiday hay ride. The boys had a good time and wanted to wear the reindeer antlers to add to the holiday mood. They loved looking at all of the Christmas lights and singing Christmas carols with Santa Claus. Since then, we've stayed inside as much as possible. It is supposed to warm up this weekend and we're looking forward to getting 2 cooped up little boys out again.

The boys have been asking Greg to put up Christmas lights on our house. He got out on Saturday and put some up across the top of the house; however, we haven't been able to plug them in yet (except to test them, which is shown below). It has been too cold to get back outside and run an extension cord from the lights to where ever we can find an outlet (which has yet to be determined). The camera work isn't great because I was holding the video camera at the same time while they went outside.



Greg took the boys to see his car - they were really fascinated with not only Daddy's broken car but all of the broken cars at the body shop. They have since been fascinated with the rental car even though it is a Dodge piece of junk (the sliding passenger opens up on its own, even when the car is locked). There is a reason why Chrysler should go out of business.

Christmas Tree and Daddy's Broken Car

We had a really nice Thanksgiving with Nana and Grandad and a 1st birthday party for Baby Thomas in the last week. We put up the Christmas tree and the boys had a great time helping to put up the ornaments. This is the first year that they've really been interested in Christmas and everything that goes with it.




Baby Thomas turned one last week and his birthday party was on Saturday. I guess now that he is one, we can no longer call him Baby Thomas - that will take some getting used to for us. I made his cookies and cake - one of his favorite books is called That's Not My Hair, so his cake is based on four of the pictures from that book (this is my hair when I wake up, this is my hair with shampoo in it, this is my hair with a hat on, and this is my hair when I see a bear). He was so cute digging into his cake, but he seemed to really love his cookie.





As for the other part of the title - Greg's car is broken. He got in a minor wreck this morning after he dropped the boys off at school. It was snowing and another car was going too fast and slid into the intersection in front of Greg. He is fine, but his car is not. Both boys were quite fascinated and concerned with Daddy's car. Ryan told Greg "Daddy when I am bigger, I will fix your car." He also put his hand on Greg's shoulder and patted it while saying, "I so so sorry Daddy that your car is broken, it will be ok." Luke was mildly concerned but then asked, "Daddy, how did you get home if you don't have a car?"


Lastly a video of the boys putting ornaments on the Christmas tree. Luke liked to tell stories about all of the ornaments. He would pick one up and say, "I made this ornament when I was nine years old and in high school."

A Day with Superfrog

Greg and I went to the TCU v. Wyoming game on Saturday. We had a good time watching the Frogs win again - and in much better weather than the Air Force game we went to in October. Who would have thought that Wyoming in November would be nicer than Colorado Springs in early October?

The boys and I had a pretty good week with Greg in New Mexico. They went to 2 Kung Fu classes, which was adorable. I got a card when we went Trick or Treating at Aspen Grove for 6 weeks of free Kung Fu at a place in Littleton. I called the guy and he said we'd try it out and see if they would be interested. He is really impressed with how social they are for 3 year olds. He said most of the kids that age will freak out when they walk in the door - Ryan and Luke marched right in and followed everything he did and asked. He was impressed with their coordination, he sees many 5 year olds that can't do the Kung Fu moves. I don't know if we'll make it 6 weeks - the boys may not stay that interested - but it is so cute to watch them kick and do all of the Kung Fu stuff - which is alot like dancing. Ryan, in particular, is really good - he is so dramatic, so it isn't really surprising.

We've had some bedtime issues lately. Ryan and Luke (especially Ryan) think that bedtime means party time for about an hour (which means they get one less hour of sleep at night). On Monday, after several warnings to stay in their beds, I closed the door. Luke freaked out for a few seconds and tried to open the door, but he then said to Ryan, "It's OK, Bro." When Luke started to cry again, Ryan said, "It's OK Bro, don't cry." They went back and forth for about 5 minutes and then proceeded to talk about how guys with moustaches are scary. I sat outside the room and just listened to their conversation. Within 10 minutes, they were asleep. We haven't had any more parties this week, they have gone to sleep quickly and quietly.

Nana and Grandad come in a few days and the boys are getting excited about that. We are all looking forward to a few days off.

Below is a short video of Ryan singing and playing his Xylophone book.

Rah Rah TCU

In case you haven't kept up with college football this year, TCU rocks. When Greg and I were in school they were pretty awful, 1-10 when I graduated. Since then, they have been really good and this year they are really really good. Greg and I went to the game against Air Force in October and we are going to the game in Wyoming next Saturday (hoping for better weather than the last game). Anyways, this weekend TCU played their biggest game of the year (perhaps ever, considering the implications) and it was expected to be tough. They totally dominated the whole game and are now undefeated with 2 easy (hopefully) games to go. It looks like they'll go to a BCS bowl game and perhaps (with a whole lot of help from other teams) the national title game. I'm hoping we can go to the BCS bowl game - it looks like it will be in Phoenix or New Orelans. Airline tickets and hotel should be covered thanks to Greg's business travel, so we would just have to get the game tickets. And I'm sure my parents would come and stay with the boys (mom and dad, are you interested?).
Besides watching football yesterday, we had a pretty quiet weekend stuck in doors thanks to more snow.

Nothing like riding your bike in the snow and eating it at the same time.

Even better is drinking hot chocolate from big boy cups after spending time in the snow.



For fun tonight, I swaddled the boys in our king size blanket the way I used to when they were newborns. They thought it was really funny.


Video of Ryan climbing up the hill in knee deep snow. It was almost dusk, so the light isn't great. By the way, Greg rescued Luke right after I recorded this.


Lastly, I made this cake for a baby shower last weekend. Cristy is expecting twin boys, so Greg and I are excited to share our stuff (and clean out the basement). Greg and Jeff have been friends since early childhood, so it is neat for them to share this in common. Unfortunately, Cristy has had a tough pregnancy and is now in the hospital on bedrest for the next few weeks. In the end, it will all be worth it to bring home to 2 healthy babies. Our advise to them has been to have someone stay with them for the first few weeks. My mom staying with us for the first 6 weeks was a life saver for us. I know they've already got their guest room set up and family in line to come over.


Greg will be gone this week, so I'll probably not update until next weekend. Hopefully I'll have good pictures to share of Greg and I at the TCU v. Wyoming game.