Christmas Tree 2011

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is to cut down our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We had great weather, it was a perfect day for tree hunting.

Jacob loved that he could stand under this tree. He is so cute.
We found a couple of great trees, and Jacob found some large shiny rocks. So random I know!Here we are in front of our tree right before we cut it down. With Mount Si in the background.
Jacob and Andrew helped by pushing on the tree as Kelly sawed it down. Then Jacob used the saw to clean up the stump. He had fun using the saw.

Andrew helped Kelly carry the tree back to the car. Kelly carried the trunk and Andrew carried the top. What a great helper.

Jacob enjoyed jumping in the mud left over from a weeks worth of rain. Nice air buddy! --emily

Andrew's Surgery

Andrew had surgery to remove his adenoids this week. adenoids: "A mound of tissue in the back of the nose that can become enlarged by infections and lead to narrowing of the airway." We had a week to prepped Andrew as best we could without freaking him out. Jacob picked out this stuffed owl for Andrew to take with him. The owl is Andrew's power animal.

The day of the surgery, Andrew was noticeably apprehensive.

All the medical staff was very helpful and so kid friendly. After Andrew was dressed in his surgery clothes, they brought in his oxygen mask and let him decorate it. They had a tackle box filled with stickers and yummy smelling chap sticks. Andrew picked out some stickers to decorate the outside of his mask. His stickers of choice were Sponge Bob and smiley stickers. He then picked out a chap stick flavor to line the inside of his mask with a pleasant smell. Andrew chose banana flavor, it was sweet and sugary smelling.

With that, he was ready for surgery. I carried him to the operating room as we walked with the surgeon and nurses. We pretended he was going back to a space port. The operating room did look like a space station. Andrew was really worried, but he was a good sport.

The surgery was successful. Andrew was really agitated when it was all over and couldn't wait to get the sensor off his finger and the IV out of his hand. He was grumpy for a couple of hours after the surgery. Jacob said, "He's really grumpy without his adenoids. When are they going to put them back?"

After a little rest, Andrew was back to his old sweet self. He was running around and playing with Jacob. We are thankful for our cute boys. --Kelly

Snow day

With all the cold weather we've been having lately, we knew there must be snow in the mountains. So Saturday morning we drove up to the pass that is only about 20 minutes from our house to play in the snow. Andrew was having a great time laying in the snow and eating giant mouthfuls. No hands needed.

The snow was amazing! It was about four feet of powder. We had fun sledding and throwing snowballs. The snow was almost too soft to form into a ball, but we had a fun time throwing it anyway.

Jacob is totally a snow dude. He kept asking when we could go snow boarding. I think this might be the year to start hitting the slopes as a family. Yeah . . .

We brought the tripod so that we could get a family photo. After working out the hiccups of the tripod that kept sinking into the snow and the camera remote that wouldn't register because we were on a decline and the fact that it is super cropped because my left arm is way up in the air to line up with the camera sensor, I think it isn't too terrible of a family picture. I love my little family!

Everyone stayed warm and happy for the most part. It was a great Saturday adventure. I can't wait to do it again. --emily & kelly

Halloween Party

Jacob's Kindergarten Halloween Party. Some fun photos taken by the class photographer. Andrew was super sick so I didn't make the party, but it sure looks like they had a fun time. --emily

Halloween

The boys wanted to be M&Ms this year, so I made their costumes. They were so cute dressed up as M&M candies. We started trick-or-treating early. Kelly took an early bus home, we had a quick dinner and headed out. Andrew was feeling sick so he only made it a few houses before he asked, "Can we go home now?" Poor little Andrew wasn't even up for a good candy hunt. So Kelly and Andrew went home to hand out the treats! Andrew wanted to hold the candy bowl while Kelly put candy in the bags of the kids who came to the door.

Jacob and I kept on the hunt. We enjoyed a hayride, and more door knocking with friends

The boys checking out out their loot! It was quite the haul. --emily

Amazing Fall Afternoon

A few weeks ago the fall leaves were amazing and so was the weather outside. We found this great pile of leaves the wind had gathered, and played to our hearts' content. We then ended at the park with our friends to swing and play. Thought I would share this fun moment! --emily

Farm with the Kiddies

Andrew's Pre-School went to Remlinger Farm this week.

We pet the farm animals,

Andrew stood behind almost every face board and posed for a picture even without being prompted,

also with his friends Esme and Jane,

he drove a tractor,

and we picked out pumpkins! --emily

Andrew's Birthday Week

Andrew started his day celebrating at preschool.

He picked pizza for his birthday dinner, "But not like the kind we had for Jake's. The kind that they bring to our house." So we ordered a pizza dinner.

Andrew then opened gifts and has been playing non-stop with his batman cave and guys ever since.

Andrew's friend birthday party had an Owl theme. Here are his party invitations. Of all the invitations I've made, they are one of my favorites.

I made owl masks for all the kids; they looked so darn cute in them. Andrew is showing us his talons.

We did a kid owl craft.

Cute Jake in his owl mask! He was a really good helper at the party.

We played an M&M game with kid chopsticks.

Andrew picked out a Bat pinata.

The bird beak got in the way a little when blowing out his candles, but he made it work! It was a fantastic birthday week. Thanks for being such a darling little boy. We love you so much! --Mommy

Fall City Farms

Today was the perfect day for the pumpkin patch. The sun was shinning, the sky was blue. There were happy smiles upon little faces. The doughnuts were warm and yummy, cider was full of amazing flavor.

Going to the pumpkin patch is definitely one of the activities we most look forward to each October. This was our second year going to the Fall City Farms pumpkin patch. The boys got new boots this week, so they were all ready to hike through the dirt and mud looking for the perfect pumpkins.

We loved watching the process of make apple cider. They shredded the apples, wrapped them in a cloth, then pressed them in a hydraulic press to get all the juice out. They even gave us some free samples. Yummy . . . It was fun to see the whole production.

The Boys picking the perfect pumpkins.

Jacob has a wonderful smile, but he doesn't like to show it in pictures. In this photo, we are sitting on some large pumpkins that made excellent chairs.

The boys love to spray water, so we put them in charge of cleaning the pumpkins. Here is Andrew washing the pumpkins.

Here is Mr. Jacob having his turn. I think Jacob enjoyed hosing down the pumpkins more than he enjoyed picking them out in the field.

Here we are getting ready for a hayride. Kelly had to resort to tickling Jacob to make him smile for the photo.--emily