Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. Drew and Avery had a fun day and enjoyed opening their presents. Here are some pictures of our Christmas morning. Before
After

Drew with his Hulk Hands

This is Avery hoarding all the candy she can find. She was on sugar overload for a couple of days.

Drew wore these Batman pj's for 2 days strait.

On Christmas Eve, we went over to my parents house for a special treat. We ate a nice dinner with everyone and then all the grandkids decorated cookies to put out for Santa. As they were putting the plate of cookies out for Santa, who should appear but Santa himself?! He appeared at the top of the stairs and then came down to talk to each child and hand them a gift. The kids were so excited and could not believe that Santa was at Grammy's house! My mom made the Santa costume for my dad and he was a good sport to wear it and talk to all the kids. They had no idea they were really talking to Papaw. It was a fun experience that has started a new tradition for our family.

Drew enjoyed talking to Santa.

Avery not so much.

Happy Anniversary!

9 years ago today Brent and I were married in the Seattle, Washington Temple. Look at how young we were!

Here we are today.
Who knew that the happiness and love I felt on that day would be exponentially multiplied as the years went by? I feel so blessed to have Brent and the kids and I look forward to what the next 9 years will bring.

Our Nativity

A few days before Christmas, we attempted to reenact the Nativity using our toddlers. Most of the kids were cooperative.
Others not so much. This is what Avery did when her costume was draped over her shoulder. She may be a diva but apparently not a stage diva. (This is a loud one so turn your volume down a bit.)

The story was read very quickly and at some point, props were being climbed on, knocked over or eaten. The boys of the bunch were very well behaved--the girls all had ants in their pants and all of them ended up laying in the manger with baby Jesus at some point. Doesn't Teik make the cutest shepherd?
Here is a picture of the whole crew. Avery still did not want to cooperate.(Nyah, Drew, Avery, Teik, and Sevy)
This is Avery and Drew the Sunday before Christmas. Luckily for Avery, she redeems her ornery behavior with her general cuteness (or at least I think so).

I will post Christmas pictures once I download them from the camera. We have had a fun time over the holidays.

Drew's Birthday Party

As I mentioned before, Drew wanted to have his party at Chuck E. Cheese. Hoping all our guests were current on their shots, we ventured out for a pizza party with the Chuckster. Drew had a great time and I think all the other kids did too. Since we had to reschedule, a few of our friends weren't able to make it this time around so we missed them. It ended up being a perfect night to go and we had lots of fun.

Jacob, Nyah, Drew, Avery, and Kassi

This is our cake that Wal-Mart remade for us. It's actually made of cupcakes and the icing left my fingers black for days, but it tasted really good. Drew wouldn't eat it because he thought it was chocolate icing.

Grammy and Papaw were the heroes of the evening because they got Drew the present that he has been wanting for weeks. Ever since he saw this Batcave in the Toys R Us Christmas catalog, it's all he talks about. Grammy caught wind of this and just made Drew's day when he opened it. He woke up at 3:45 am that night to play with his Batcave.

Happy Birthday to Drew!

I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Drew turned 4 this week and he is so excited to be one year older. The day before his birthday he kept asking, "Am I 4 yet?" He decided he wanted a Batman birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese so we had it scheduled for last Saturday. Drew had been sick all week so I was really hoping he would be well enough for his party. He was not getting any better so I decided to take him to the doctor the morning of his party. It turned out he had a double ear infection, a perforated eardrum, a stomach virus, and we were sent to the hospital for a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. He was obviously more sick than I thought so while we waited at the hospital, I called the guest list and cancelled the party indefinately. I had ordered a Batman cake from Wal-Mart and when I went to pick it up later that day, I asked how long it would keep in the freezer because we weren't able to have the party that day. And to Wal-Mart's credit, the nice girl in the bakery told me I didn't have to take the cake or pay for it and I could just re-order one when Drew was well enough to have a party. I was surprised and very glad I didn't have to pay for a cake I couldn't use. (I mean, I would have given it a valiant effort by myself but I don't think even I could have finished it in 4 days. Or at least I wouldn't tell anyone I did.)
Drew ended up getting a shot of antibiotics and about 6 prescriptions. We found out later that day that he did have pneumonia. So we cancelled the rest of our weekend and settled in for a few days of sick kids. Avery got sick also--not with pneumonia but she had the stomach virus and a double ear infection as well. She also got an antibiotic shot and both kids are almost as good as new right now. With both kids sick at once, I think I did 27 loads of laundry each day. Everyone got fresh sheets at least twice a day (including us--no bed was safe), the carpet got a good cleaning, and carseats were hosed down in the backyard. I have never dealt with so many bodily fluids at once in my life. Parenthood is definitely not ideal for those with weak stomachs.
So we had to wait until Drew felt better to have his party. I knew he wouldn't introduce any new germs to Chuck E. Cheese that weren't already there but for the sake of our healthy little guests, we kept him away until he ran through his antibiotics.
On his actual birthday, he was excited to wake up and have it finally be the day he turned 4.I got him some Batman balloons that he thought were so cool (score 1 point for mom!). I took an idea from my friend Erin and let Drew be in charge for the day. This meant he could eat whatever he wanted, which meant pizza for breakfast.
I can handle that for one day out of the year. He was most excited for the Leapster that his Grandma Dance got him and he played with that the rest of the day (if he could pry it out of Avery's sticky fingers.)
He had a great day and I can't believe he's 4 already. We love our little Drew and are so glad he's made the last 4 years even more fun than we could imagine. He is definitely a blessing to our family and we love him very much! Happy Birthday Drew!

A Tail of Two Piggies

When Avery was first born, I waited so long for the bald spot on the back of her head to grow over so I could have something to put in a little ponytail or pigtails. One thing is certain, this mane needed to be tamed.

I loved being able to put headbands on her with cute little bows or flowers.

I even got a hat on her every now and then.

But that only lasted a few months until she started pulling everything out of her hair and refusing to even wear a hood on her head.

Now she is sort of rocking the mullet with these adorable curls in the back. I decided that it was probably long enough to try for pigtails (piggies) so I gave it a try. I am happy to say that she sat still long enough for the piggie installation and they are so cute!

(Please ignore the snot dripping out of her nose. I only got a few decent pictures to choose from!)

I have tried low piggies.

And high piggies. (These are my favorite. Brent even likes them.)

Piggie Bling.

This is a momentous occassion for me. I'm glad she will sit still long enough to fix (or at least comb) her hair. She still won't tolerate any kind of bow or headband but maybe our piggies are baby steps to bigger and better hair.

I Heart Twilight

Last night, I, along with 3 of my Twi-Hard friends went to the midnight showing of the Twilight movie. We enjoyed a late dinner and some girl talk and then it was off to the movie theater. At the theater we were at, the movie was showing on 3 screens, all sold out. We arrived at 11:00 pm and the first screen was already full except for a few single seats. We wanted to sit together so we opted to wait for the second screen to open up. We were at the front of the line and we were prepared to throw some elbows once the door was opened and the mad rush started. No one wanted to sit at the front of the theater. There were hundreds of people crammed in the lobby and as soon as the ticket guy gave everyone the go ahead, everyone started running into the theater. It was like the running of the brides when they mark down the designer wedding gowns at Filene's Basement in New York City (Google it--those brides are crazy). We scored perfect seats and were giddy with excitement to see this movie. There's something about it that brings out the teenage girl in you. So here is my review of the movie: It wasn't as good as it could have been but overall, I enjoyed it. It was a little cheesy in parts and some things were the complete opposite of how I pictured it, but it was still entertaining. It's hard to cram a 500+ page book into 2 hours so several details were left out. It was basically the book on fast forward. I don't think anyone that hasn't read the book(s) will really appreciate the story because so many intricate details were skipped over. As for the characters, I didn't think I was going to like the guy chosen to play Edward but I actually think he did a great job. He was a bit awkward in parts which I think is the opposite of the confident sometimes cocky Edward in the book but sometimes his awkwardness was endearing. I ended up really liking this Edward even though he is the exact opposite of how I pictured him. He has the crooked smile and the brooding glare down pretty good. One thing I did have a problem with was Edward's car was not the sleek, sporty Volvo described in the book, it was a hatchback. A Hatchback?! What is sexy about a hatchback?! (No offense, Hope) You might as well have given him a minivan!
So overall, I enjoyed the movie. I love the books so much that even though it wasn't a perfect movie, it was fun to see the story come to life. We had such a fun girls night and I love that so many people share our Twilight addiction. They have to make movies 2, 3 and 4 or I think the Team Edward's and the Team Jacob's of the world will mob the movie producers.

*side note: The song that is playing is Bella's Lullaby. I have heard a couple different versions by the same guy and this is the one I like the best. When I was reading the books, I would imagine how this song sounded and I think the pianist (Carter Burwell) did an excellent job with it. Listen from the beginning (either refresh your page or replay it on my playlist at the bottom). It is a beautiful song.

A Haunting We Went

Halloween was so much fun this year because both kids understood the concept and had such a good time.

Drew chose to be Spiderman. I made the mistake of showing him his costume a month early and he has worn it almost everyday for the last month. It acquired several holes and had to be replaced before Halloween with a super duper deluxe Spider Man costume.

As for Avery, what goes better with Spider Man than fellow super hero, The Incredible Hulk!

The reaction to her costume was mixed. Most people got that she was a little girl dressed as the Hulk, some thought she was a boy (I expected that), and some would answer the door and say "What a cute little.........thing you are!"

The kids had so much fun Trick-or-Treating. We got to go around the neighborhood with our super hero friends, Batman (Jacob) and Superman (a camera shy Noah).

Cousin Nyah joined us for the fun, too. For the record, she is not a scary witch, she is a pretty witch.

This was Avery's first year to go trick or treating and I think we have found a new favorite hobby for her. She loved the crazy concept of running around the neighborhood and people rewarding you with candy. She had to stop periodically to take inventory and she would not let anyone carry her bag for her. She ended up dragging it around because it was too heavy for our little Hulk.

They had a great time and came home with a nice haul of sugar. Ever since I bought Avery's Hulk costume, Drew has been chomping at the bit to try it on. I didn't want him to stretch it out so I made him wait until Avery had the chance to wear it and then he got his turn. Let me tell you, stretching it out was not an issue. It truly is one size fits most and Drew could not be happier.