Christmas 2013

Thank you everyone for making this Christmas so wonderful! More to come :)

Our Thanksgiving and the Beginning of Christmas

I wanted to start this post by posting some pics from our late summer and early fall trips down south.

On trip gave us the opportunity to visit with our good friends that moved to Texas. It was so wonderful to see them!

OK, so here's the events of our Thanksgiving.

The Monday that week Little H went in for his surgery.

Here he is after his relaxing drugs. They brought him so much cute stuff to help him through it all. He was much easier then Little M for this part because he just laid there and kind of fell asleep-- Little M wiggled and tried to jump off the bed.

After the surgery he was pretty upset, but easier to calm down then Little M. He eventually fell back to sleep.

We then waited for him to wake up. They gave him a yummy Popsicle, and then we were good to go home. Big H and Grandma came just as we were leaving, and the twins rode out together in a wheel chair.

 
Two hernia's repaired. He was so happy to get it all fixed. But his recovery was a little tougher then Little M's. He complained of pain a lot and then he got constipated. But we made it through, and he's feeling much better.

We had a small Thanksgiving with my parents this year. It was just us and them.

Oh and Little H's "baby kitty".

Like father. . .

. . .like son.

Goof Balls!

Craig's Movember 'Stache-- or beard. He grew it in two days.

Craig and headed to Black Friday Sales after dinner-- I was very upset about the times this year. After that we headed to my Aunt's for pie. Then everyone got their Christmas Jammies-- even Craig and I.

We are now trying to switch modes to Christmas. We enjoyed the Festival of Trees last Friday. Before we went we took Little H to pick out some glasses. or "Parker's" as he calls them. His right eye is weak, so his brain stopped using it. We need to convince him to wear a patch, and he'll have glasses from now on.

Here he is flashing The Flash.

We found some frames that suited his tastes, and then we headed to The Festival of Trees.

These are terrible pics from my phone.

Some highlights were:
. . .these Super hero trees.  . .

. . .this tree made out of plastic pop can rings.  . .

 . . .this huge Gingerbread house. . .

. . .Origami. . .

. . .and Santa. . .

 The next night my parents drove me and the boys-- Craig had to work-- down to Helper in a snow storm. My brother and his family live there now, and they invited us to come see the light parade.

The parade was cute and I liked seeing my brother's home, but the ride back was more than I ever want to experience again.

Wish us luck as we get ready for Christmas. I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

God Be With You Till We Meet Again

We've suffered some losses in the family.

On August 22, 2013 Craig's cousin passed away. He's younger than Craig and I and his wife is pregnant with their first child. The loss was felt deeply by us, but we know those who were closest to him suffered the greatest loss. Our hearts are with them, and we pray for them everyday. We didn't get any pictures, so we did a little "in memory" photo shoot with the boys. We attended his viewing on August 25, but were unable to make it to the funeral.

Somewhere between Nov 7 and Nov 9, 2013 my Grandma Andreason passed away. It was very unexpected and hard for the family. She was a sweet woman and I always hoped one day her and I would find a way to connect more than we had. Even so, I know she loved me, and she loved her great grandchildren so dearly. They brought her so much joy. My parents were the one's to find her in her home on Saturday the 9th. Because of how she died we couldn't have an open casket. I think that was a struggle for me, and I wonder if I should have asked to go see her before they took her to the funeral home. Her funeral services were held this last weekend, and they were very nice, and helped provide some closure.

Both losses are felt greatly by our family, and we look forward to the day when we can see them, and converse more with them, again. You just never have enough time it seems.

An Eventive Fall

I am a terrible blogger lately and there is just so much to catch up on.

First we had a Talk Like a Pirate Party in September, but I can't find the pics. The boys loved it. We didn't have much of a turn out, but we put some Pirate Booty-- Yellow poster board cut into circles-- all around the yard, and the kids went hunting for it. Then the boys, dressed in their pirate attire, claimed the shed as their boat, and had fun playing Pirate all night. We also provided dress ups for anyone who wanted to take a photo in front of the Jolly Roger flag. It was a pretty fun night that we shared with some friends.

We have also made some trips down south. One was a day trip to attend a baby shower for Craig's Cousin's. We really appreciate the opportunity to go, and we had fun hanging out with Craig's fam. Thanks for inviting us!

One fun fall day, late September or early October, the boys and I walked on the Trails up Hobble Creek Canyon. Got to take in as much pretty fall scenery as we can. 

 On the trail we encountered this ugly spider. The boys loved it. I found it to be creepy, but picture worthy.

We took a trip up to Gardener Village with Grandpa and Grandma A.

We enjoyed our annual Pumpkin Party the Saturday before Halloween. We had a good turn out this year and enjoyed everyone's company. We had the balloon Dart board, and I added a Milk Bottle Toss game this year. My cousin also had some doughnuts on a string for the kids to eat, hand free. It was so fun!

The boys were so excited to finally wear their costumes. We have Iron Man (Big H), Iron Patriot (Little H), a Thomas Pony (Little M) and  a Baby Pony (Baby S).

Some other cute costumes.

After our Party we headed to Nephew K's Grandpa's house. He LOVES Halloween and he does a great job with all his decorations.

We would have gotten more pics if it had been light outside.

Big H did his part to decorate our house. He hung up the decoration he won at the party, all by himself.

We also took a night to carves some pumpkins.

The boys had so much fun, especially Baby S!



We had a great Halloween too!

Baby S is starting to take some steps on his own now.

We made our trip down Main Street. . .

. . .and then headed out around the neighborhood. Baby S had to sit Trick or Treating out because he had a bit of a cough.

We ended at my Parents for Dinner where we got a quick visit with a Scary Circus Clown-- better known as Nephew K.

While at my parents house we went trick or treating to their neighbor that does a little magic trick for each of the kids that come to the house. We got there right before they did a drawing for five 1 lb Sugar Daddy's. Little M was the lucky winner of one. Do you like the remnants of his pony face?

 Since Halloween we have enjoyed some other fun events. We made trick or treat candy waffles one morning. I mixed up some pancake batter and gave the boys some. They each then chose some fun mix in's like Reeses Pieces or Candy Corn-- a favorite was Nutella.

Craig also had fun times in playing in the leaves with the kids.

The boys had fun helping me celebrate my Birthday. We had a pony party and showed of their skills by naming of all the ponies for everyone.

And the boys have enjoyed dancing and playing around to Christmas Music-- mostly Little M.