Santa Came!

This year Santa found us at my parents house. We all received a lot of presents, especially the boys.
On Christmas morning the boys woke us up at 6:30 am. We waited for a few minutes for Grandma and Grandpa to wake up and then we went down stairs. Here are some pictures of the boys opening their stockings:

Alan received a Lightning McQueen umbrella in his stocking and he was thrilled. That was the only thing he asked Santa for.

Conner probably thinking "What's in here?"

Alan and Conner received matching little chairs from my parents. It was so cute to see them relax in them.

Alan showing his excitement that he found a Kinder Surprise egg in his stocking.

Conner received an ambulance that lights up and makes noises from Santa. He was pretty happy about that.

Alan got a race track with cars that you shake up to make them go. Both of the boys had fun with that.

Alan was especially eager and efficient at opening presents this year.

Conner was a little slower about unwrapping things but he seemed to enjoy ripping the paper off.

Conner was very interested in the cameras. He wanted to take pictures, not have pictures taken of him.

As you can see we were all spoiled. Reed and I have really enjoyed watching the boys get excited about Christmas. Alan especially is old enough to anticipate what is coming and his enthusiasm is contagious.
These last few pictures were on Christmas Eve. That night we went to the live Nativity that the stake puts on every year. We were kind of late so we didn't get good seats but the boys seemed impressed when they saw the angel appear on the Stake Center roof. Then we went home and had dinner and my parents gave the boys some new pajamas.

This was just a cute picture of Reed and Conner

Here is Conner driving his car on Ace's head. Ace was busy eating a bone so Conner became very brave around him. He kept piling toys in front of Ace, and Conner finally ended up laying down and using Ace as a pillow. It was pretty funny.

Santa reactions

This year visiting Santa brought mixed reactions: pure excitement for Alan and terror for Conner. We went to our ward Christmas party and at the end of the night jolly old St. Nick walked in. Alan's eyes got so wide and then he got this huge smile on his face. He was so excited he kept bouncing all over and when it was his turn to sit on Santa's lap he was so excited that Santa had a hard time getting him to sit on his lap. I wasn't close enough to hear what they said but when ever anyone asks Alan what he wants from Santa he always says "a gorilla". He means an umbrella, a Lightning McQueen umbrella to be exact.

I had hoped that if Conner watched Alan sit on Santa's lap he might be okay with doing that too. No such luck. I set him on Santa's lap and he gave him a look that said "Who on earth are you?" and started to cry and arch his back.

Let it Snow!

The weather outside is frightful, but it has nothing to do with the snow, it has to do with the temperature. This morning when I woke up it was -39 degrees outside with the wind chill. Brrr!!! This weekend we had our first real snow of the winter.
From the picture below you can tell what Alan's feelings about the storm were.
Alan has been asking me for over a month "When is it going to snow?". We bought him a snow shovel that is his size and I think that is the greatest toy he could have. He was SO excited to go and shovel our driveway.
As I watched him get so excited about snow this year I remembered his first reaction to snow when he was about 22 months old. He walked to the window and after surveying the snow covering everything and said "A mess". He didn't love snow then but he sure does now!

Pre Thanksgiving visit

Alan was playing the piano and after he played the lowest note he said "What is that grumpy note for?"

We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bassett the week before Thanksgiving. We had fun doing projects and just hanging out. We also went to their ward Thanksgiving dinner, which was delicious, although our kids had had it by the middle of the meal.
Below Grandma and Grandpa are playing Jenga with Alan. Alan caught on to the game quickly and he was pretty good at it.Alan helped Grandma make some pie crust snacks with cinnamon and sugar on them.
Conner was so tired before church that he fell asleep while Grandma read him and Alan a story

Thanksgiving

Before Thanksgiving this year we had a Family Home Evening lesson about being thankful. Then we all made feathers to put on our turkey of things we were thankful for (these lists are not all inclusive).
I am thankful for: Mountains, A loving husband who works so hard to provide for our family, Indoor plumbing, Magic kisses from Alan and closed mouth kisses from Conner.

Alan is thankful for: Health and Strength, My 2 grandmas and grandpas, Scones, Day time

Conner is thankful for: Yogurt, Big trucks, Marshmallows, Mom and Dad (I helped him with his)

Reed is thankful for: Treats, Friends, Our house, Alan and Conner and I

For Thanksgiving this year we went over to the church and had dinner with 2 other couples. It was so nice to not have to cook everything and after we ate we let the kids run around in the gym while the adults played the Farming Game. My brother Reed met us there after dinner. That night we examined the black Friday adds and planned out where to go. Conner gave Reed and I an early start on the day by waking up at 2 am and staying awake until 4 am. Then my husband and brother went out to get in on all the crazy action. They got some good deals and came home so that Reed could get ready for work. Then Reed (my brother) and I did a little shopping - Reed was a huge help with the boys. That night we went to eat at the Golden Corral. Luckily my brother got there before a huge bus arrived and saved us a place in line. Here we are spending the night together.

It was really fun to have Reed come and visit - the boys loved it and so did we!

Conner's well child check up

I took Conner in for his 18 month check up last week. Here are his stats:
Weight: 23lbs 23rd percentile
Height: 33 1/2 inches 80th percentile
Head: 50 1/2 cm 98th percentile

Besides an ear infection that they discovered he is a healthy, active little boy. Here are some facts about Conner:
--Words he can say: mama, dada, uh-oh, all-done, hi, truck, ball, dog
--Words he can sign: all-done, more, milk, please, thank-you
So his speech is very normal for his age. I have to keep reminding myself of that because Alan spoke so much earlier and more at this age. Sometimes it is hard to remember that Alan was the unusual one, not Conner.
--Conner is very affectionate. Earlier this week Reed came home after a rough day at work. When Conner saw him he ran over to Reed and when Reed picked him up he gave him a big kiss and then he snuggled his head on Reed's shoulder and gave him a hug. It was very cute.
--Conner is fairly brave around animals, especially dogs. He doesn't mind being licked and he likes to pet dogs.
--When Conner is done eating something he dumps his plate on the floor...every time.
--Conner loves nursery. There was no crying when we dropped him off. I had opened the door a crack and then stopped to talk to someone...well, Conner didn't want to wait. He yanked the door open so that he could get in and then he grabbed the first toy that he saw and never looked back to see if I was still there. We have taken him a few times before this and he did great. About a month ago we were walking the halls with him and when he came to the nursery door he started banging on it and crying (I interpreted that as "Let me in!")
--He has the cutest laugh ever and it is easy to make him laugh.
--He loves to do anything that his brother is doing.
--He loves to hide things. I often find his toy dog stuffed in the compartment of his push toy. One day Reed let Conner play with his keys and then when we went to find them the next day they had disappeared. I looked and looked for an hour and a half. I was so frustrated. Then I had the idea to look in the garbage and there they were, at the bottom of the bin. Crazy boy.
Conner showing off his dance moves.

New Windows

The windows in our house are very old and drafty. The window in the boys room was especially bad - when the wind blew it rattled noisily and you could see the curtains move in the breeze, even though the window was closed. So we replaced 3 upstairs windows and one downstairs window. They look so much better now. The top picture is a sample of the windows before and the one below is one of the new windows. The pictures don't do it justice.

Alan was SO excited to have the guys come and fix the windows. He looked like he had springs attached to the bottom of his feet because he kept bouncing all over. Two of the guys were very friendly and understanding and they answered all of Alan questions (which was a lot) and they even let him help throw the old wood pieces out the window.