Merry Christmas!

One of my favorite things to do as a parent is play Santa. I think it's fun and exciting and I love to see the smiles and excitement the boys have as they come into the room and see all their loot. To me it's a priceless moment. This year we actually had to wake the boys up at 8:00 am to go into the main house to join the rest of the family that was waiting for us to open presents.

We tried to go around and have the kids all take turns and open presents one at a time but that didn't last long before they just starting opening everything in their piles. I love just hanging out in our PJ's for the morning while the boys play with all their new toys.  This time it was nice because we had a lot of family to share the morning with.

The rest of the day was spent cooking, watching movies in the theater room and playing with cousins.  It was a very nice, cold, white Christmas for us.

The piles of goodies.

 Logan's presents included Thomas trains, Ninja Turtle mask & sword, new clothes, a letter game, some slime and floam, a couple Blu-Rays, Legos and a remote control tank.

 Lincoln's presents included some games, a Shredder mask & sword, Minecraft beanie and Legos, art kit, giant Pop Rocks, slime, some Blue-Rays and a matching remote control tank. 

 The set up in Tutu's living room for Christmas morning.

 The boys are getting along better and starting to roughhouse more often.  This is how I found them Christmas afternoon, playing in the entryway. First they were having a snowball fight (with the fake little white snowballs) and then that turned into them tackling each other. 

Ricky made several different pies, from scratch, with his mom.

Logan loved watching movies on the fun chairs with the cozy blankets in the movie room. 

 Logan played Twister with daddy. 

Lincoln played his new Battleship game with mommy. 

The boys battled against each other with their new tanks.

Christmas Eve Night

Christmas Eve night is a special night. This year we re-enacted (thanks to Aunt Nat for organizing) the story of the birth of Christ. The five grandkids that were at Tutu's all participated.  Logan was a wise-man and Lincoln was a Shepherd and Joseph. It lasted all of about 5 minutes while Papa Tutu read the story from the scriptures and the kids acted out their parts. It was cute.

 After the play, all the grandkids opened a present which was a new pair of PJ's. Above is Logan's reaction...he was mad.  He really thought it was going to be a train that he's been really wanting so there was some severe dissappointment when it was just clothes. 

 Lincoln liked his PJ's and wore them to bed that night.

Christmas Eve was Elfie's last night with us before he went back to the North Pole. Lincoln wrote him a letter and shared a dollar and $.10 with him that he wanted Elfie to take with him...and he did!  I think the boys were actually concerned and sad to see him go.  They asked about him for several days after Christmas. I think they will be excited when he joins us again next year.

Day of Sledding

Ricky was a good sport and took the boys out to sled in front of Tutu's house. I was happy to let him take the boys down the hill and I took pictures.  Papa Tutu was a good sport and picked them up in the truck at the bottom of the hill and would bring them back to the top so that they didn't have to climb back up the hill. The boys had such a fun time.  It was priceless to hear them laugh and scream with joy as they sled down the mountain.  Their little voices echoed through the valley. It was so sweet. It was a blast for them and surprisingly, they stayed out for quite sometime and made quite a few trips down the hill. Sledding is one good thing about being in the snow...I'm not sure what the other good things are but I'm sure there is at least one other benefit of snow.

Museum of Clean

Where else to do you spend Christmas Eve in Pocatello, ID?  Of course, you spend it at the Museum of Clean. The boys love going and running around there and it was a good way to get out of the house yet be inside. It's a little extra special for our family because we are up on a billboard in Utah advertising the museum along with being on a huge banner outside the museum.  The boys like to see themselves on it when we visit there. Uncle Don was there so he gave us the personal tour, as he loves to do, of all of the exhibits he thought the boys would like. After that, we let them play and then called it a day.

 Pretending they got an old fashion bath.

 Inside the clock tour.

 On the unfinished 4th floor where he took us so Logan could look down to see the train depot outside.

 Logan playing trash can percussion.

 The boys played plunger hockey.

 Dressed in cleaning battle gear. 

 Lincoln earned a dollar for doing a little skit with Uncle Don in the theater room.

They got their noses painted with ash as they pretended to be chimney sweeps. 

Happy Birthday, Ricky!

Ricky just turned 42! It snowed all day on Ricky's birthday so we just hung out at the house that morning and then went into town for a late lunch at Cafe Rio. We met up with JJ, Jen, Nolan, Tutu's and Natalee. We went to the movies to see the Hobbit and Tutu took the boys back to the house. Tutu and the boys made Ricky's favorite, white cake and penuche frosting. It was a very laid back casual birthday but I'm glad that we all got to spend it together as as family.

 Lunch and presents at Cafe Rio

 Sporting his new North Face jacket that he got for his birthday. Very appropriate given we were in the middle of a snow storm in Idaho. 

 My cute birthday boy!

Singing happy birthday with the family at Tut's house.

Winter in Idaho

We spent two weeks in Idaho over the holidays. Rick's family was having a family reunion and all 37 immediate family members (all 8 kids plus spouses and grandchildren) were going to be there. I flew up with the boys and Ricky drove so we could take camera gear, Christmas presents and lots of winter clothes up and back.  Our poor new Explorer sure got broken in on this trip. The first day we arrived it was snowing and snowed for a few days.  The boys liked it at first but the novelty wore off pretty quickly and then you just realize that it's COLD! We stayed in the guest house at Tutu's so we had some space all to ourselves. The first five days was just us, Roo's family and JJ's family so it was not so hectic and we got to hang out, play in the snow, go to the movies to see the Hobbit and Frozen and visit.

 Our car made it just fine in the snow and drove really well but I don't ever like driving in the snow.

 At the house on the driveway. 

 Logan realized it was a little harder to ride his green machine in the snow than he thought it would be. He did a few sessions for about 20-30 minutes throughout the couple of weeks and then would come in and warm up. 

Ricky spent some time shoveling snow with his brothers to clear the driveway so the Heatizon would work more quickly. Logan was glad so that it was easier for him to drive his "tractor."

At Home

Some of my favorite moments come from times when we are just hanging out doing things at home.
Both boys really love to dress up like super heroes, army warriors, ninjas, etc. They crack me up with their creativity and what costume pieces they put together. It's always entertaining.

Logan with his boots, Woody cowboy belt and a ninja sword. 

Ricky is the one who lays down with the boys as they go to sleep. One night, he texted me this picture of Logan sleeping.  At first glance it's super sweet that Logan has his hand on Ricky. Reality is that that's how Logan makes sure Ricky doesn't leave. There always seems to be a hand or foot check happening each night. So sweet and peaceful when they are asleep!

I volunteer once a month in Lincoln's classroom and in December I was there for his class Christmas party. They made all kinds of fun crafts, ate yummy holiday themed food and watched Polar Express. I'm so thankful that I have a flexible enough work schedule to not miss important and fun times while the boys are growing up!