Quarters

This morning I had a quarter on the counter and Cole asks, "Is that Jesus" (pointing to George Washington)  

I said, "No, that is George Washington, he was the first president of the United States."  

He flipped the quarter over which happened to be a Hawaiian quarter with an angel moroni looking statue on it and he asked, "Is that the temple?"  

I have to admit I was quite pleased with that little bit of confusion!  He then ran off to tell Matt that George Washington is on the quarter!

Life is a fight

and I might be losing.  

I don't ask for much.  All I really want is the boys to wear clothes, eat, grow and play nice.  However, sometimes they think that is too much.  So, they throw tantrums, and more tantrums, and more tantrums.  They throw tantrums to get dressed, get undressed, get in the bath, get out of the bath, eat, not eat, put the shoes on, and take them off.  I think between the two of them today we could safely say there was about three hours of crying.  

Maybe it was the sun.  They aren't quite used to that in January.  It must have thrown us all off.  

The Pleasure of my Company

So, today I was attempting to read my book "The Pleasure of my Company" and the boys were fighting over lap space.  Cole was singing Jingle Bells Batman smells into his microphone and Ethan had a book. Each one was using elbows and pushing a little to get a little bit more space.  I couldn't help but chuckle and thought to myself how nice it is for my boys to fight over "the pleasure of my company."

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam

Cole is a sunbeam!  I almost started crying.  He sat through opening exercises and even enjoyed class.

This is what Cole did at the Children's museum.  He was making his own Batman mask.

Ethan is 15 months!

We had Ethan's 15 month check up the other day.  He weighed in at a hefty 26 pounds!  The kid loves food and it shows.  He is a "side sipper" because he never wants to miss a beat by having his cup in front of his eyes.  He also loves to play.  He will spend a lot of time playing by himself.  He always pulls out the trains, cars and trucks.  If we ever hear him whining down the hall we know he is carrying the train bag around and wants us to open it for him.  He can nod yes or no to let us know what he wants.  He can say a few more words and it seems that the list is growing longer everyday.  He currently says: mama, dada, Cole, no, all done, uh oh, hulk, more, milk, and car.  He also makes car and train noises, acts like a dog, and is starting to identify body parts.  If we don't understand what he is trying to say he will drag us around to show us what he wants.  He loves to play with Cole and try to do everything he does.  He loves to read books especially the super hero books.  He is very happy and keeps us laughing. 

Ethan also has a special little blankie.  It is one that Matt's sister makes.  If it ever gets dirty I have to find the right moment to wash it because he loves to have it all the time.  Matt asked his sister to send us a new one.  It happened to be a tad different and Ethan spotted the impostor immediately.  Let's hope that nothing happens to blankie!

Top things of '08

Here are some highlights for the year '08 in no particular order.  

1.  We started remolding the windows and have almost finished.  This one has dragged out longer then we expected, but this is what the final product will look like!

2. Trip to Utah to help Nanny and Grandad.  My mother had a miraculous recovery from a 3 year illness and my father can still see out of one eye.

3. Another trip to Utah. 

4. Another trip to Utah for more family time.

5.  We discovered Prevacid.  It changed Ethan into a happy baby at 10 months instead of a baby that cried all day.  Too bad we didn't find this one sooner.

6. We tried out for Wheel of Fortune.  We made it to the second round, but it ended there!  Maybe in two years we will try again!

7. I competed in my first sprint triathlon and became a runner.

8.  Matt got a new job working for the man.

9.  I weaned Ethan and he started sleeping through the night.

10. Trip to Georgia to visit Becky and fam.

11.  We got Guitar Hero World Tour

12.  I got Lasik.

 

New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve we went to a party at the Elenbaas house.  There were a few other families and we had a great time.  Matt and I spent most of our time playing a new game called "Lips."  It is a singing competition and I think I found a new hidden talent!  I won every song.  Ethan crashed while I sung him to sleep around 11 and Cole lasted until we went home at 1:00.   He spent the evening chasing around the older kids and watching movies.

Nice picture I know, but it did capture my singing moment!

No wonder why housework takes longer than it used to....

I don't have a picture of this, but whenever I pull out the vacuum we begin Kung Fu Fighting or chase....

Gingerbread Houses

Making gingerbread houses is now a family tradition.  We started last year and it was one of my favorite days with Cole.  It was the first time that he discovered candy (yes, as a first child and a picky eater to boot he never ate candy until he was 2!) Not only did he discover it, but he ate enough to make up for his two year absence.  This year was no exception.  He was popping in the candy faster than we could put it on the house.  Ethan caught on quickly and was shoveling it in as well.  We invited the Rhynard's over to share it with us and we had a great night.

Seattle always does a gingerbread house display and this year was a super hero theme.  We knew we had to make a visit.  We went after Christmas and Cole loved it.  He looked at each house probably 10 times.  He kept going around and around catching every detail.  Of course he had to go in one of his super hero pajamas. 

The Bat Cave!

     

Let it snow! Let it snow!

I have mentioned the snow already, but I just have to mention it again.  It has not stopped snowing for a week!  We truly had a very white Christmas this year.  I can't remember ever having this much snow at Christmas even with all my years in Utah.  Here are more pictures of our outdoor fun!

Christmas Day

The boys loved Christmas this year!  The much awaited Bat cave finally made its appearance and Cole played with it ALL day long.  He also got well stocked with other Batman paraphernalia.  Ethan got the Geotrax plane set and enjoyed flying the plane.  Matt got a coupon for a ski trip in January and I got all set up for biking.  

I made an English roast with all the fixings including roast potatoes, roasted parsnips and yorkshire pudding.  I traded the normal roast with prime rib and it turned out delicious!  My taste buds are still thinking about it.  We got to share the meal with our friends the Covingtons.  We also popped our English crackers and wore our crowns for dinner.  The roast did take two more hours to cook then it was supposed to but it was worth the wait!

When I checked on Cole before going to bed he was clutching his joker, had the batcave on his bed and his Batman book had slipped off the bed where he fell asleep reading it.  I couldn't help but smile about the great day as I went to bed that night.