Christmas

The boys were up early but waited patiently until Benson woke up so they could all go downstairs to see what Santa had left.  This is them in front of their stockings.

Benson wasn't too sure what everyone was so excited about as soon as he woke up but once he looked down stairs he couldn't stop talking, he had seen his balloon!! If the only thing Benson got was a balloon he would have been more then happy. He was so excited and just kept saying "Bayoon, bayoon"  It made it even better that bubbles were tided to it at the end. Above each of the boys got a box of cereal which they were all excited about as well.

For Christmas they got a couple of different games and that is what they spent a lot of the day doing was playing them. Alden has a love of board games just like his dad.  Calvin, Benson, and Mom also play but just not with quite the same enthusiasm.

I think we probably have more pictures either on Michael's phone or ones we took with the camera, but if not here is what each person got...

Alden- He got a box of wood, a piece of sandpaper, and some nails. When people called on Christmas he told them in his super excited voice that he received a piece of sandpaper! There responses were always, "Oh, you got a piece of sandpaper for Christmas...that's exciting".  I'm grateful for Alden's enthusiasm and optimism.  Alden got busy right away, he had great plans to build a car but now that he realizes we would need to get a number of other things he has turned his wood into all sorts of things.  He has loved making and creating!

Calvin- He got a basket ball.  The boys started basketball just before Christmas and he has especially needed a ball at practices.  Calvin like Alden is just happy to be a part of everything and was happy with just all the excitement. I don't think he would have needed any presents to keep him happy.  Even before we opened presents Calvin was jumping up and down with excitement and continued to do so throughout the morning! He also got a hot wheels car that he can play with everyday as he plays cars and blocks.

Benson- Well you already know Benson's big gift.  He got two balloons and bubbles and couldn't have been happier.

Together- they received a telescope, and a couple of games.

I got- Some very nice long sleeve maternity shirts. This is my first time expecting a baby during winter months and I didn't have even a single long sleeve shirt and only one pair of pants.  I had been being creative with clothes but am grateful to have some warm things to get me through the next couple of months.

Michael- Got some running gear that is nice and bright so people won't miss him! :)

Overall it was a wonderful wonderful Christmas.  It was nice having Andrew here to celebrate with us.  The boys are already talking about how excited they are for it to come again.

 

Winterhaven and Andrew comes to visit!

One thing we love about being in Arizona is going to Winterhaven to see the lights.  They always do a great job.  It was fun this year because my brother Andrew was in town to go with us.  The boys have loved having their Uncle Andrew around to play with, read them stories, and watch them do all of their crazy tricks!

When we returned from winterhaven the boys got to open their first Christmas present. Aunt Tara had sent them matching Christmas PJs and then they got to spend the night sleeping under the Christmas Tree.  It was a fun end to a nice day.

Random pictures and it's cooling down!

This is before and after of Alden loosing his first tooth.  He couldn't have been more excited to have that first tooth fall out. It fell out while he was eating an apple at preschool.  He told me, "Mom this apple is too hard"  I looked over at him and said, "Alden where is your tooth". I then looked at the apple and found it stuck into the apple.

These are a couple of random pictures of Calvin and Benson. Calvin will often ask me to take his picture ad will then stand with a straight face, right after the picture is taken, he will get all excited and come running over to look at it.  Below is the day we learned about Charlemagne.  Alden loves it when we do some sort of craft with the history lesson and will often want to save whatever he makes for weeks.

It's finally starting to cool down.  We even have turned on our heater at night! In the morning the boys enjoy snuggling with a blanket.

Michael's birthday!

From what I could tell Michael had a great birthday.  He did have to work but we tried to make the most of the moments we had with him here at home.  I think the thing Michael is probably most excited about is that he has almost worked his last Thursday.  For the last few months Michael has been working 6 days a week but the end of December marked the end of 6 day work weeks!!

We were grateful that Michael got off early enough one night for us to go out, get and decorate our Christmas Tree together! I love putting up and having all of the Christmas things up in our home. It was fun to be able to do it all together this year!

I think this picture was actually taken on Michael's birthday.  In preschool we learned about the letter B and painted little banks.  (We also just learned about pennies.  Counting them and using them to buy things.) All of the preschool kids got butterfly banks to reinforce the letter B but after preschool Benson got to paint his Gorilla Bank.  Benson loves gorillas, it was fun to see how much he enjoyed painting his little gorilla.