Chillin'

Too bad the 'fire' always has to make an appearance...

Happy 4th Birthday, Barker!

Since we celebrated and opened 'birthday' presents last weekend,

we (accidentally because we forgot where we put them) saved

the stockings to open today. 

And then there is one more present this little fellow gets to open

once the rain decides to stop. Thank you G-Pa & Nana!

It's the never ending birthday celebration!

Santa HOOKED it up!

Even though we caught him in action, Santa still came through!

B's reaction is priceless.

(This gift is a present for Jake & I too - playing together & sharing

without hollering at each other for most of the day...this

may be our new babysitter)!

Christmas Eve!

We just got back from driving around town looking for Santa

(and at all the pretty Christmas lights) but didn't find him.

So the boys washed up in the tub, put on a shaving cream

'Santa' beard and then called it a night.

Oh my gosh! He was here, he was here, he was here!!!

I can't wait to show the boys!

Barker's 4th Birthday Party

So it was day 3 of our course of antibiotics and the fevers were gone,

so we decided to party on. We had the party at the local

'Sports Club' where they have an entire gymnastics area set up

with mats, bars, rings, and every type of bounce equipment 

you could ever dream of!

Barker & Nick

Barker & Brycen

Brody & Carmen

Nick & Aspen

Mylee

Rowan giving her 'un-oh' face. Nick got stuck in the red bouncer.

They had to deflate it to get him out...yikes!

Team 1 guarding their stuffy stash from team 2.

From left to right:

Back row- Gracie, Rowan, Audrey & Aspen (laying down)

Front row- Charlie, Barker, Brycen & Nick

Lukas is the sweet little nugget off to the left not on the mat.

A little clip of the obstacle course they had set up for the kiddos.

It was an hour and a half of non-stop high-octane wiggle extraction!

It's soggy outside, and we're still sick...

meaning we can't yet be let out back into civilization.

Wouldn't want to infect anyone else with this nasty bug.

So that leaves us with games in the car. We do that sometimes

when we run out of stuff to do inside. It's almost like playing 

outside. Almost. This time we even mixed it up and let Cheeto

join in on the fun! For some reason, unbeknownst to Mommy, 

we get a kick out of buckling and unbuckling our own seat belts. 

Between that, taking turns 'driving,' and jumping from

our seats to the very back of the car, we were set for

a good 12 minutes...

One of my favorite things

is when your kiddos come up to you and want to give you

a kiss. Nothing else. Just wanting to show you their love.

On their own terms. It's the most wonderful gift.

I'll never get enough!

Sent home from Preschool

Barker had a bit of a temp along with goosebumps, 

lethargy and a wicked cough after naps

at Preschool yesterday, and so was sent home.

Turns out Kingston was feeling much of the same way when 

we picked him up too...

They are both so sweet and cuddly when not feeling good.

It was kinda nice to have a quite night

and just snuggle. Although I wish it were

under different circumstances. Poor 

little nuggets.

What, are girls not allowed?

It's the only explanation I could come up with as to why I am

receiving the stinkiest of stink eyes from the likes

of these two.

Cardboard box saves the day (yet again)

We've had waaaaay too many cold, windy, drizzly days

in a row, and these two were feeling cooped up.

Thank goodness Amazon ships in hugely 

over sized boxes! We were able to whip out

a fort in no time - and sanity was restored.

Ice-keeeen

Hasn't quite mastered the lick yet, this one.

Doesn't stop him from enjoying a cherry

Dilly Bar at Dairy Queen though!

Auntie Krystle came to visit!!!

We baked Gingerbread Men and decorated gingerbread houses.

We rode the Polar Express to the North Pole.

 Where we picked up Santa and then got some one-on-one time

for some list listing duties.

 And of course, we posed for Momma!

Thank you for a spectacular weekend Auntie Krystle.

You are the best. You'd better be back soon!

Love the players

hate the game.

Kingston stealing a kiss from Quinn on Thanksgiving.

So sweet.

Tree hugger

Barker loves Christmas so much. He's been in hug and love mode 

(well, when he isn't being 'out of 'trol' -his words).  

Hugs for everyone, even little trees.

Cheese!

Brody and Kingston taking a whale ride through

a sea of blocks. It was a difficult journey, but somebody

had to do it.

Officially Official

The count down to Christmas starts tomorrow!

We gotta get our decorations up. And we have to be sure none

of the bulbs are out on the light strings.

Kingston checked 'em once.

Barker checked 'em twice.

Daddy hung them outside in the dark and 25 degree weather!

One of these things is not like the others...

Yep, you guessed it. 

One of these people is a girl.

;)

(Kingston's first photo bomb).

My boys

all sweet and snuggly and ready for bed.

Stay like this forever

They have been doing most things together for awhile

now. But being still and enjoying a book/magazine

without ripping it out of each others hands happens

pretty much never. And then K puts the cherry on top 

by resting his head on B's shoulder. I melted and did

a back-flip at the same time.

Kingston can RIP IT!

This was taken a few weeks back, but was too

good not to share!

It happened.

All 4 of us are now in the same bed...

Kingston is too young to realize how good he had it in the crib.

All that space to himself, no round-house kicks to the face at 3am.

Now we are all miserable. At least we are miserable, together.

So, it's not all bad.

These 2 smell pretty delicious when they are sleeping.

And they are oh so cozy when they aren't kicking.

Another bonus - we got our guest bedroom back (YAY)!

Sometimes Jake and I sneak out (leaving large

stuffed animals in our place) and go sleep in the  guest bed. 

It's GLORIOUS!

 We get about 4 hours of kick-less sleep before anyone 

notices we're gone. Then it's back to square one.

It's a game we will play for the next 10ish years, I'm guessing.

Our version of hide-and-seek.

I'm hopeful B & K's future wives won't want to sleep in our bed, so there's always that.

Monster Ball

is a game these 2 made-up and coined a name for.

I am unsure of the specifics. I just know it entails lots of balls, 

running up/down the stairs, and ear piercing screaming.

I hope it's not a favorite for long.

Snow Angel

Sheila had the kiddos out in the snow the next day

making glorious snow angels. Don't worry, her house is

is slightly hotter than the Sun, so no kiddos

were harmed in the making of said angels.

Snow Day!

These were taken at the beginning of the day yesterday, 

so there isn't much snow on the ground here.

But it snowed non-stop the ENTIRE day!

Boys are convinced that as soon as it gets 'deep enough,'

Santa will come and bring them presents!

Counting

the number of seconds it takes the high school science

mice to get through different sized paper towel & toilet paper

tubes. Who knew mice could be so educational!?!

Preschool is definitely keeping B on his toes!

Guess what's on the 'ole Christmas list this year...

This is November!?!

We'll take it!

Everyone is unique in their own way. 

Even in the way they prefer to 'slide.'

Family fun day

Yesterday we spent half a day in Portland for our adventuring.

We went to the Portland Aquarium.  Many of the exhibits were

'interactive' meaning you were allowed to stick your hand in and pet 

the fish... I was able to muster up some motherly courage 

(you know when you somehow have the strength of 10 men

because your children are involved and you have show them it's not

at all scary) even though this has been a lifetime DEATHLY FEAR

of mine. And actually. After all was said and done, I didn't hate

touching them as much as I thought I would. Getting IN the tanks 

with them, however, would have been a definite NO!

We also had the chance to feed the sting rays. Sharks were in

the same tank. By far this was the best part of the visit for all of us.

The sting rays are really strong and on a couple occasions they were

so eager for the food we had, they nearly propelled themselves 

out of the water and out of the tank! Needless to say as they

commenced their propelling by flapping their 'wings,' we would get soaked!

Then the boys canoed me out to Bali and back.

So sweet of them.

Last, we took the boys for their first trip to Pok Pok.

We were a little nervous we didn't pack a back-up PB&J, 

but thankfully their naive palates didn't go into overload, and they

both loved it! Mommy & Daddy were in heaven.

This little gem was mixed in one of our dishes.

At first I thought a creature from the aquarium

hitched a ride, or that one of the 3 toddlers I live with

snuck it in...What is this thing!?!

Our Mom is C.H.E.A.P.

When we go out for pizza, she makes us play the games 

without any quarters! She's the worst.

Best Buds

Barker & Brody headed to Pre-School

together, ready to seize the day.

More flannel fun

Thank goodness for indoor slides on wet,

soggy days!

Happy Halloween

From your favorite Super Heros!

"Captain MerrKah"

Hiiiii-yaaaaa!

 Getting Iron Man to smile was one difficult task.

Rowan (Sock Monkey), Brody (Captain America),

Barker (Iron Man), & Kingston (Captain America)

We were the cool Moms.

Brianne (Cat-woman) & Carmen (Pink-a-licious Doll)

We met up with Quintin (Anakin Skywalker)

 Finally a smile from Barker.

 Protecting their night's booty.