Happy New Year!

I looked back at last year's New Year post and it looks like the boys couldn't wait for Eden and Elam to arrive then either.  They were the welcoming party watching for Jenn, Eden and Elam to arrive.  Unfortunately, David had to work so he wasn't able to join us this year.


Looking at last year's picture, it looks like I slacked a bit on the presentation this year.  Perhaps it was because Jenn and I didn't decide on the menu until the night before, or maybe I'm just forgot to get out a tablecloth.  :)

After dinner, we wanted to get a few pictures, so we told the kids if they took a few quick pictures we could open presents next.


I think this may be one of the best pictures we have of the four kids.  Those are real smiles, folks!


We got Eden a few classic games for Christmas, and the kids immediately got them out to play.  Connect Four started as trying to get four in a row then ended with everyone just putting the disks in the holder.


Jenn got Karsten these metal superhero signs.  They're going to go in frames in his bedroom to replace some prints that are too young for him now.  He told me that he got to decide where they should hang, and Scott suggested this spot behind the lamp.  Ummmmm, nope!


Jenn read the instructions for Sorry and tried to get everyone to play, but Sorry is complicated!  I sure don't remember it being that complicated when I was younger!  I just remember a lot of saying 'SORRY!!'


Karsten had to show Eden and Elam the new toy that Scott got for Christmas, Sphero.  It's like a remote control ball, but it does much more.


Karsten's showing them how you can draw a shape on the iPad, then the ball will move in the shape he created while changing colors to match his design.


Eden, Elam and Karsten stayed up, but around 11pm, they all started to get tired and grouchy.  We had just turned on the NYE countdown, and quickly decided that our celebration was going to take place at 11pm rather than midnight!  Since they can't yet tell time, no one was the wiser.  :)

It was another fun New Year's in the books!

Visiting Uncle Charlie

We made our annual day trip to Lincoln to have lunch with Uncle Charlie.  It's a long day, but it's worth it because he really enjoys seeing the boys.  It's fun to watch him watch them run around and chat and play.  He says 'they have lots of energy, don't they!'

We asked Charlie how he's feeling, and he always says 'I can't see and I can't hear, but otherwise, ok'.  I hope I'm doing as well as he is when I'm 96!

And now for the pictures!


Why didn't I get on a knee next to Karsten rather than this crazy pose?






The whole family.  We missed Cami, Brett and Michael who weren't able to join us today!

Liam's First Movie

Karsten was around this age when we took him to his first movie, and we finally thought Liam was ready to sit through the entire movie.  We took them to see Penguins of Madagascar.


I think their favorite part of going to the movie is having popcorn. They enjoyed the movie, but at the end, Karsten said 'that movie was really long!'.  I'd have to agree - it was a cute movie, but there were a few parts that could be cut out to wrap it up sooner.

Smokin' Saturday

We spent most of Saturday in our PJs, playing games and organizing to make room for new Christmas presents.  We're slowly but surely getting there - I've been tackling a project or two each day, this is vacation after all!




My mom got the boys these books where a mouse or squirrel goes through a hole on each page into more of the story on the next page.  They had fun playing with them and telling each other why their book was better than their brother's book.


Scott decided to try out his Christmas present - a smoker!  One of my coworkers who is an excellent smoker recommended starting with pork shoulder, so here it goes!


I think we'll all enjoy this new hobby!  Wish him luck!


The pork was originally planned for dinner, but apparently we underestimated the amount of time it needed to smoke.  Newbie lesson learning - we'll have it for dinner tomorrow!  We sampled it when it finished around 10:30pm and it was delicious!

Archives

One of my Christmas presents from Scott was a printed book of six months of my blog.  I love that he does this, because it's one of those things that I would always put on my 'to do' list and never get done.  Half the time I can never keep up with the blog posts, let alone formatting a book to print all of the posts.

I love looking at these books lined up on the shelf and knowing that they provide a great history that our family will have for years to come.

Goodbye Crib

The time has finally come to take the front off of Liam's bed and turn it into a toddler bed.  You may be saying, 'WHAT? You haven't done that yet?' And, the answer is nope - if he wasn't climbing out of it, why would we change when he was willingly staying in his bed.  But the time was here, we finally made the change and he is thrilled about his 'new' big boy bed.

The first night in the big boy bed went great, he stayed in his bed at bedtime and slept all night!  Success!

Oh Jingles!

Our Elf on the Shelf, Jingles, appeared at odd spots all over our house.  Each morning the boys had fun searching for Jingles.  They were most entertained if Jingles was doing something silly.

We snapped a few pictures of Jingles' shenanigans, but we forgot some good ones.

Jingles wanted to watch out the window and see the snow!


Jingles put money in their piggy banks.


Jingles played with all the dinos


One night when the boys stayed at grandma and Papa's house, Jingles even slept in Karsten's bed with his stuffed animals!


Jingles also drove the remote control car, hung from a chandelier, perched on a variety of spots around the house, and kept a watchful eye on the boys.

Two front teeth

The dangling front tooth that's been getting pushed further and further forward each day has finally fallen out.  He was just one day past being able to say 'All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!'

I think he has a pretty cute toothless smile!  We'll see how long this lasts, I can already see the permanent teeth peeking through his gums!

A wooden Christmas

We received several beautiful, wooden Christmas presents this year.  The beautiful cutting board on the bottom left of the picture was hand crafted by Scott's Uncle Kevin.  Isn't it beautiful - we just love it!

My dad made the awesome plank of wood that we're using as a candle holder and the matching tray.  Both of these have the natural edge which make them really unique and unlike anything else we have!

The cylinder in the middle is a salt holder that my dad created.  The cool part about it is that it's made from a tree that was cut down from our backyard - how cool is that?

We're so lucky to have two talented woodworkers who made these beautiful gifts for us!

Christmas Day

When Karsten woke up on Christmas morning, he was so intent on watching TV that he totally forgot it was Christmas.  It wasn't until Liam got up and my dad told them both Merry Christmas that they both remembered and immediately headed downstairs!


Yay - Santa came!


Santa must have seen how much fun they had playing with the marble run at the toy store, and thought they would have fun with one at home.


We always have egg casserole for breakfast on Christmas, and this year we added Scott's homemade cinnamon rolls. They were just as delicious as they look!


After breakfast, it was finally time to open all of the presents.  My dad went to the Louisville Slugger factory earlier this year and got personalized bats for Liam, Karsten and Scott.


They were all pretty excited for their bats, and the homeplate bat hanger that Chuck made to hang the bats!


Liam stopped and played with each present after he opened it.  After he had played for a bit, he would come back and get another present from his stack, and continue opening.


He was having so much fun!


These poppers were the hit of the day - the boys had so much fun with them!


Karsten ID'd this box as Legos as soon as it was under the tree.  He carefully shook all of the presents and guessed what was inside.


And, for some reason, my parents gave whistles to the boys.  Yes, whistles. WHISTLES.  Sigh...these whistles WILL find their way back to their house.


While the adults opened our presents, Karsten started building his Legos.


Scott was excited about this ball that he can control with an app on his iPad.  It's kind of like a remoe control car, but it's a ball.


More building!


Then we watched Polar Express.  I may have taken a short nap, and Liam kicked back with some popcorn on Grandma's lap.


We ended a wonderful Christmas with a great dinner.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve Part 2

When we got back to my parents house, we took our traditional Christmas pictures in front of the tree.  The boys did a good job smiling, because they knew it was a requirement before they could open a present!






I love looking back at our family picture from each Christmas and seeing how the boys change each year.  Scott and I obviously don't change - we just look perpetually 25.  :)


And finally, the long awaited present, and JEEZ, I wanted a picture of it too!  These smiles look a bit like 'comon' mom, I'm DONE smiling!'


Turns out Grandma and Papa wanted to let them open a present too.  Grandma had made them matching Christmas PJs and a pillowcase.  They were all waiting for them on their bed, so they got into their cozy new PJs to play.  Then, since dinner was taking a while to cook, Papa decided to give them a present he had made for them!  Karsten got a cement truck and Liam got a dump truck.  They're beautiful - I even asked if they were sure the boys should play with them and they shouldn't just be decoration.  I was quickly informed he would be unhappy if they didn't play with them!




After dinner, we got two very worn out boys ready for bed.  They read some Christmas books with Grandma, then we realized we had forgotten to get milk and cookies ready for Santa.


I wish I remembered what Liam was telling my dad.  Check out that finger wagging at him, he was very serious.





They decided that Santa needed 4 chocolate chip cookies and the reindeer needed 9 carrots.  We asked if they would have room for all that since they were getting a lot of snacks, but they were adamant that this was the correct amount.