Sleeping Boys

Tonight Dave is at the church for tithing settlement.  Kate went to sleep right away, but Jack was scared, so I let him cuddle with me on my bed for a little while.  Ty didn't want to go to bed either, so he yelled until I let him join Jack and me on my bed.  After a few minutes of very quiet cuddling both boys fell asleep.  Then Ty wiggled a bunch until he got comfortable.  This is where he stopped.

Snowman

Dave and the kids made this snowman yesterday afternoon.  I love how it made most of the snow in the backyard disappear.  When I walk past the patio door I see the snowman out of the corner of my evey and think that there is someone in the backyard. 

The kids wanted to have a photo shoot with the snowman.  They planned these two poses: crazy faces and then look at the snowman.

 Ty was happy because I didn't tape his gloves to his coat, so he got them off.  It was pretty warm out, so I guess it was okay.

Santa Visit

Santa sent one of his "Santa helpers" to the ward party on Friday. The kids were excited to sit on his lap. Oh wait, Ty was NOT excited to sit on his lap.





Stockings Hung With Care

On Friday, I finally sat down and made Ty a stocking.  I've been meaning to do it ever since he was born, but kept putting it off.  Hopefully it will hold up for a few years (I don't make the sturdiest stockings).

Ty's favorite drink is...

HOT CHOCOLATE!

Ty loves hot chocolate so much!  He asks for it several times a day (and he doesn't talk much, so it's hard for me to turn him down when he actually says something)

We have a routine down to make hot chocolate.  Here are our steps:

1. Ty asks for "ha chacha"
2. Set Ty and hot chocolate mix on the counter.
3. Get a spoon and hand it to Ty
4. Heat up whole milk in mug
5. Spoon a small spoonful of chocolate mix into the mug
6. Let Ty stir.
7. Pour into sippy cup
8. Enjoy! 



Snow Delay

One of the things that I love about living in Los Alamos are the snow delays that we get sometimes when it snows.  We got our first big snow storm of the season on Thursdsay night, so Friday morning Kate didn't have to go to school until 10:00 and they closed the lab, so Dave got to stay home.

We all went out to shovel and play in the snow. 

Ty didn't mind the snow, but he did mind that I duct-taped his gloves to his coat so he coiuldn't get them off.  He got mad that he couldn't hold the little snow shovel and cried for a while. 

Winterball

What's a Winterball, Mom?  (Okay, Ty's really not saying that but I can't get this picture to move to the bottom, so we'll just start the post with a lovely picture of Tys' huge eyes.)

On Friday, December 12th, our family went Kate's Winterball at her school.  It was basically just a dance for the kindergarten through third graders.  For a few weeks before the "winterball" Kate learned dances like YMCA, the Chicken Dance, etc.

Jack was a little confused when we said we were going to the winterball.  He didn't realize that not all "balls" involve athetlics.  He was even more confused when we told him it was at the elementary school gym where they have basketball on Saturdays.  Once we got there Jack found his friends and had a great time.

Ty danced a little too and kept busy while walking all around.



Jack's Christmas School Work

Every afternoon while Kate is at school and Ty is napping, Jack and I sit down for a little while and do "school" together.  Sometimes it is pretty hard for Jack to tear himself away from playing basketball and acting crazy, to sit down and write or read with me.

One day he wrote his letter to Santa.  You can tell about where he started to lose interest (on the third line with the giant "M").  

SANTA,

LIGHTSABER
AMBULANCE
FIRETRUCK
ROCKET

JACK  (by the end of the letter he refused to write anymore, so I wrote his name for him)

On December 1st, Jack and I made this paper chain to count down the days until Christmas.  He'd been asking me everyday since Thanksgiving when it would Christmas. On each day we wrote down and drew pictures of what we would do that day. 

I told Ty to go stand by Jack.  This is what he thinks "go stand by Jack" means.

We {Heart} the Park

The weather this last week has been so nice (in the 40s and 50s).  The boys and I spent a few hours at Fireman park on Friday.  And today we went there again.  We could have stayed there for a lot longer, but it was lunch and naptime so I made the boys come home.

I snapped a few pictures of the boys with the phone to document their joy from being at the park.

Give Ty a spoon and some dirt and he's happy.  (And, yes, Jack did "scoop" Ty with the digger bucket a few times.)

Jack really wanted to bring his hoop to the park.  He spent a lot of time underneath the firetruck retrieving his ball.

Jack and Ty went down the slide lots and lots of times.  They LOVED crashing at the bottom.

Look at that smile. :

I think I could definitely live somewhere where it never snows.  Who needs a White Christmas?  I might be okay without one this year if it stays warm. :)

Thanksgiving Week w/some Judi's

Vaughn and Marianne and Mike and Maggie and their kids came to spend Thanksgiving with us. It was really fun and busy.

After getting the turkey in the oven on Thanksgiving morning, Maggie and I went to the YMCA and tried to do ZUMBA. We burned a few calories and laughed a lot.

The kids made these fabulous turkeys while we were getting Thanksgiving dinner ready.



Jack and Jace played trucks for a little while.

Jack, Austin and Grandpa played HOURS of basketball.  I never snapped a picture though.  Jack LOVED it!

Avery set up a dancing booth across the street and sold "dances" for a while ($2 a dance). They both made over $4.

Kate and Avery mid-dance for Mike.

 The day after Thanksgiving Marianne, Maggie and I got up at 4:00 am and headed to Santa Fe to do a little shopping. We got to Walmart a little late to get the really good deals, but did a bunch of shopping and were home by 8:30.

Then we went to or usual Christmas Tree cutting place (near Abiquiu -- an hour away) to get a Christmas tree.

Ty wasn't so sure about walking around in the dirt. He got used to it (and got really dirty).

We found a tree pretty fast, so Maggie and I were keeping the kids busy feeding them goldfish and looking for rocks.

Everyone loves Grandpa (and Grandma too).

The TREE!

On our way home we tried a new road (which ended up not being passable since there was a creek going through it), but we found this near old house in the middle of nowhere.



Saturday was the BYU/U of U football game, so Maggie, Marianne and I took the Avery, Kate, Jace, and Quinton to Bandelier to do a little hiking. Ty, Jack and Austin stayed with the big guys to watch the game.

Lovely Maggie and Jace

Cute Avery!

We looked out the window and noticed Vaughn in this position.  It ended up that he was talking to Jack and Austin who were playing in the storm drain.

Thanks for coming everyone!  Good company.  Good food.  Good times!