Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a good birthday week. I say week because we spread the celebrations out over a week. On my actual birthday Reed made breakfast and gave me my present - a Barnes and Noble gift card and some homemade coupons which are good for such things as laundry and nights where he will watch the boys while I do what ever I want. He worked late that night so we didn't do dinner or cake. The next weekend Reed took me out to eat at a Mongolian Grill. It was SO good...we both came away stuffed. Then on Monday Reed and the boys made my birthday cake.

As you can see below Reed had lots of help from the boys.

I chose a black forest cake - YUM!

All in all it was a great birthday!

Our newest Sunbeam

So, last week was Alan's first week in Sunbeams. I thought he looked so grown up in his dress pants, collared shirt and tie. He was definitely ready to move on from nursery. He was SO much bigger than all the other little nursery kids. The primary president said he did well, although he and the other Sunbeam boy (there are only 2 kids in the sunbeam class) would get up and run around the primary room when ever they sang an action song. We talked about that with him this week and I think he did better. Conner has suddenly become clingy when I drop him off in nursery now that his big brother isn't there with him. Hopefully that is short lived.

A sledding we will go

My parents gave us a blow up tube that was intended for the snow so we decided to try it out on Christmas day. Unfortunately it only lasted 2 runs before it got a hole in it. Luckily my parents still have their old toboggan that we used as kids.

My brother Reed going down with his dog, Ace.

My parents going down. You had to slow yourself down because at the bottom of the hill was a bare trail and we didn't want to sled over it.

Reed and Conner on tube.

Alan and I on the tube

I thought Conner looked so funny in all of his cold weather gear: boots, snow pants, mittens, coat and hat. It was hard for him to move around and after he fell down he couldn't get back up!
It was nice day to play outside because it wasn't too cold. After we were done we came home and started a fire in the fireplace so that we could all get cozy warm again. Both of the boys really liked playing in the snow. Alan liked to make snow balls and throw them and Conner liked to stomp in the snow and look at his foot prints. While we were in Canada Alan also got to make a snowman, something he has been wanting to do for quite a while.

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