Lego Advent

At the end of November one of my Facebook friends posted a link to this:

Not only did I learn that Lego puts out an Advent Calendar each year, but this year they released a special edition STAR WARS Advent Calendar.  I bought it for the boys right away.

On November 30th we received a visit from the boys' Aunt and cousins. They came bearing a gift. 

That's right, my spoiled boys ended up with BOTH Lego Advent Calendars for the year. 

These ended up being a great gift to me as well.  Every morning, all month long, the boys woke up, got dressed and ran downstairs to open their next little compartment of Lego's.  Without bugging me.  Which means I got to sleep in a little every day.  It was lovely. 

 The calendars ended December 24th with these two little guys. 

This picture pretty much sums up our month.

Christmas Day 2011

I didn't take many pictures of Christmas Day.  I did video the boys opening their gifts.  I just didn't pick up the regular camera much.

The morning can be summarized by these two pictures.

Before:

After: 

The boys were up at 6:30am.  They were so eager to see if Santa had come that Preston burst into tears when I said he had to wait until after I used the bathroom.

Tyson's favorite gifts were Star Wars guys (General Grivous, Ahsoka, Anakin, Mace Windu, Yoda, and a bunch of Clone Troopers) an art book, and a stuffed Phineas (from Phineas & Ferb).

Preston's favorite gifts were Star Wars guys (Han Solo & Chewy), Ferb, Super Hero bed sheets, and Super Hero school supplies.

Nolan's favorite gifts were a football, a soccer ball and goal, a Little People tractor, a stuffed Big Bird, a yoda doll, and Perry the Platypus.

Dan's favorite gifts were an XBOX 360 with Kinect (which he says is for the whole family), some new clothes, a Flip camera and a BYU snuggie:

My favorite gifts were a Kindle Touch, and snow pants and boots (still waiting on the snow so I can break them in).

After opening gifts we went to church.  Dan sang in the choir, and I attempted, unsuccessfully, to contain the boys.  The two big boys were fine with paper and a pen to keep them occupied.  Nolan however was a terror.  He kept yelling "Daddy Hug!"  I don't think he stopped moving the entire meeting.  I ended up with a broken necklace and crayon all over my skirt.

Afterward we went home and played with our new toys and napped.  In the evening we visited Grandparents. 

Overall it was a lovely, relaxing day. 

Merry Christmas 2011

I'm kind of in love with this card.  I designed it myself.   

 My photographer is pretty amazing too.

Christmas Eve

The Evening of the 23rd is always spent with Dan's side of the family.  We have a huge Christmas party.  The family is so big now that our Christmas party is the only time during the whole year that the whole family is together.  The family is so big that we can no longer have this party at Grandma's house.  We have to reserve a church.  This year's party featured a nice dinner, presents for all the grand kids, a talent show, and a massive game a dodge ball.  With 51 grandchildren and 20 adults, it's controlled chaos.

The following night, the 24th, is always spent with my side of the family.  A huge dinner was interrupted by a surprise visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus. We ended the evening with a massive present exchange.  It could also be described as controlled chaos.  We have a much smaller group, but also smaller quarters.  We had 10 little kids and 18 adults.

After the party we brought our little group home where they opened their new Christmas pajamas.  The big boys were ecstatic about their Lego Star Wars jammies.  Nolan thought his reindeer jammies were pretty cool too.

Before we tucked them into bed we read a few Christmas stories and watched the Christmas videos found HERE.

The boys threw some reindeer food on the lawn and scampered off to bed.

They woke up three hours later convinced that it was Christmas morning.  They were very disappointed to discover that Santa hadn't come yet.  He didn't make it to our house until about 2:30am.

Edible Christmas Trees

I stole another idea from Pinterest. (Original link HERE) 

Creating these cute little trees were much easier than a Gingerbread house. 

They were also cheaper, faster, and tastier. 

All you need are sugar cones, frosting and round candy (I chose mini M&M's)

 The boys had fun frosting their trees and adding the candy.

 Even Dan got in on the action.

 Here's my finished tree

 Dan's

 Tyson's

 And Preston's

 We made a cute little forest.

 And they were fun to eat too.

It turned out to be a quick easy treat for boys.  They loved it! 

(Nolan was taking a much needed nap, so he missed out on the fun. But don't worry. I have a feeling we'll be doing this again next year.)

The Minivan Express

Last night we surprised the kids with a new Christmas tradition.  After dinner we had bath time and all the boys got in their pajamas.  While we were busy with this Dan warmed up the car and I secretly made hot chocolate (I was going to make popcorn too, but decided to forgo the mess at the last minute).

Just as the boys were about to climb into bed I handed them their jackets and told them to put on their shoes.  They were really excited and kept asking me where we were going.  As soon as they were ready I asked them if they had their tickets. 

What tickets, Mom?!

Well you can't go on the Polar Express without a ticket!

They squealed with joy as I handed them their ticket.

Then they rushed out to the car where Dan, playing the part of the conductor, punched their tickets with Polar Express music playing on his phone (a nice touch that was his idea!)

At this point we had to talk the boys down, because they hoped we were going to ride a real train.  I quickly explained that we were going to drive around looking at Christmas lights and drinking hot chocolate on our own Minivan Express.



Enjoying their hot chocolate in sippy cups.




Nolan with his ticket




Our favorite house of the night


I can't take credit for this idea. I found it HERE via Pinterest.

O Christmas Tree

I've been hinting, not so subtly, for several years that I want a new, pre-lit Christmas Tree.  The one we have is from our first Christmas back in 2000.  And I have terrible luck with Christmas lights.

Dan had an idea.  He suggested we wait until after Christmas this year to buy a new pre-lit tree on Clearance.  And in the meantime he wanted to get a real tree this year.

We did something this year that we've never done before.  (And likely will never do again.)

We found a Christmas Tree farm near our home and picked out our own tree. 



The boys with our Tree



 And then we strapped it to the top of our minivan and drove it home.

We made a couple of mistakes.  First, we picked out a tree that hated us.  That stupid tree is so sharp.  It is painful to the touch.  The needles are so sharp they draw blood.  Decorating it was torture!  The only good thing about this is that I don't have to worry about the boys bugging it.  They know better.

Second, I have seen too many Christmas movies where the family brings their tree home only to discover it is WAY too big.  So I made them cut it down.  A little too much.  Now it's too short.  It's a dinky little thing.  Oops. 

With any luck we will never have to do this again.  Next year I hope to be setting up a nice fake pre-lit tree. 

A Visit to Santa

Nolan thinks Santa is pretty cool.  He knows that Santa says, "Ho, Ho, Ho."

Although it sounds more like, "Nanta.  Ha Ha Ho."

He gets really excited anytime he sees a Santa anywhere.

But when I asked Nolan if he was going to sit on Santa's lap the answer was simple.

"No"

I can't say he didn't warn me.



For the record, Tyson asked for General Grievous and Ahsoka.  Preston asked for Han Solo and Chewy.  Nolan asked for Mommy to please remove him from Santa's lap.



After this picture was taken Santa gave each of the boys a chocolate sucker.

Nolan loves suckers. 

A lot. 

If you ask Nolan about his visit to Santa he will tell you about the sucker Santa gave him.
"Nanta. Sucker. Messy." 

It was messy.  Really messy.  This is what I found when we got home.

And that's why we keep baby wipes in the car.

*Funny side story: There was a cute family in line near us with a little baby.  I commented to my boys how cute their baby was.  Shocked, Preston said, "Hmm, I guess there are two cute babies in the world."

Reverence & Respect

Preston gave his first talk in Primary.  He did a great job. 

His assigned topic was "Reverence for God Helps me Love and Respect Others."

Heavenly Father loves each of us. 

We are all his sons and daughters. 

He has commanded us to love one another, just as He loves us. 

He has asked us to treat each other kindly. 

Reverence is love and respect for God.

We can show Him that we love and respect Him by loving each other. 

When I am Reverent I can feel that He loves me and all His children.

Once There Was a Snowman

We always seem to get one snow storm before Halloween and one before Thanksgiving.  After that it's usually pretty quiet until after Christmas.

When the boys woke up to snow, they threw on their snowsuits over their pajamas. They took advantage of this early snow by building their first snowman.  It took every bit of snow we had, including quite a bit hauled in from the backyard.  The boys loved it.  Frosty lasted several days before he finally melted.



His eyes and mouth are make out of Cheerios.  It was still morning after all.



The Leaves are Leaving

We've had these huge trees in our backyard. 

They have provided us with great shade and a nice privacy wall.  But they have also caused us some damage.  You may remember a couple years ago when one of them was struck by lightning.  The roots are tearing up our yard and our neighbors yard.  And just last week one of the little old ladies in our neighborhood warned me that the wind was going to blow them onto my house.  So after much consideration, we decided it was time for the trees to go. 

The boys (and their cousins) enjoyed playing in the leaves for the last time.





Conner, Vika, and Preston



Tyson 7.5

Preston 4



Nolan 21 months



 I keep telling Cheryl that these two look like brother and sister.  What do you think?



Nolan & Vika



Snug as a Bug in a Rug

After being tucked into bed at night Preston often sneaks out of bed.  When he gets caught he often makes up some excuse as to why he is out of bed.

"I need another drink"

"I need to go potty again."

"I need to tell you something. . . . . I love you Mommy."

"I need a Lego."

And often when he's out of bed he manages to smuggle toys into his bedroom.  He's pretty sneaky about it too.  One night, before I went to sleep, I went into the boys' room to check on them one last time.  Preston's pillow looked a little lumpy. I found this little stash hiding under it:

He cried when he woke up the next morning and his toys weren't there anymore.

Touchdown!

(I'm almost caught up.  Really.)

In a moment of insanity I let Dan sign Tyson up for two sports in the same season.

(actually, Dan signed him up on impulse without even mentioning it to me. . . or Tyson.)

I got mad at Dan for overscheduling my life without even checking with me first. 

Soccer practices, soccer games, football practices, football games every week

"Don't worry!" he said, "I will take him to every practice and every game."

"Yeah right," I said.

"I have to because I'm the coach."

Tyson had fun. 

Dan had fun. 

Preston enjoyed playing on the playground near the field.

Nolan was intensely jealous of Tyson.  He wanted to be on the field too.

I kept Nolan happy by playing catch with him on the sidelines.



Photo by SportsPix Utah




Photo by Sport Pix Utah



The Good Lookin' Guys

(Another late post)

  Tyson finished up another season of fall soccer.

Photo by SportPixUtah



Photo by SportPix Utah

   This year his team was known as "The Good-Lookin' Guys". 

 For the first time this year, his team had a goalie, a position that Tyson loved to play.  To add an additional level of difficulty, Tyson had to keep his baby brother out of the net as well as stop the ball.

Tyson improves each year although he still isn't very agressive.  He is looking forward to Spring Soccer.

Wordless Wednesday

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Family Portrait by Preston age 4

Preston: Mom, come look at my picture!
Me: That's great buddy.  Who is it a picture of?
Preston: It's our Family!  See, that's you, that's Tyson, that's me and that's Nolan.
Me: Where is Dad?
Preston: He's at work in my picture.