Christmas Eve

Dear Kate and Riley,
(if you think I'm close to caught up, you're wrong!)
We decided to make it a little Christmas Eve tradition to head to Boomers for some mini golf. It was a pretty nice day and we had a lot of fun. Zach was very determined to golf all by himself (which sometimes took a LONG time!) he did, however usually lose patience eventually and just throw it in the hole. He is also very good at cheering everyone else along, yelling things like, "GO MOM!" or "WHOO HOO DAD!" Brady, as always, was a sport and just hung out in his stroller.

Since we had our fancy dinner out the night before, we just stayed in and had tacos. Later, we read some Christmas books, got dressed in matching pj's, opened one present (a puzzle) and after Brady went to bed we decorated a giant gingerbread man for Santa.

Zach was so excited that when Aaron went upstairs about an hour after we had put him to bed, he was just standing there in his room. Aaron reminded him that he had to go to bed in order for Santa to come and he finally did!



Mini Golf at Boomers

Christmas Pj's in front of the tree

I couldn't leave this one out because its what MOST of the pictures I try to take of the two of them look like-- poor Brady in a choke hold.

You also may notice that our tree had zero ornaments left within Brady reach and an obscene amount of ornaments on the top since they all eventually got moved.

I was really glad that we took these pictures since both boys wet through their diapers and onto these jammies during the night and we had to change them for Christmas morning! I was so bummed!

Zach was very insistent that we make our gingerbread man look just like the one on the box

Love,
mom

Santa Train

Dear Kate and Riley,
Another fun tradition leading up to Christmas is the Santa Train. The rain almost derailed our plans, it just wouldn't let up! Zach reminded me almost daily that he needed to ride the train so he could tell Santa that he wanted Cranky the Crane, Tidmouth Sheds and Hiro of the Railways (all Thomas the Train items). I loved that he very specifically wanted those three things and he was consistent through the whole season. He was a little nervous to see Santa and I'm sure that Santa didn't understand a word he said but I could tell he was relieved to have gotten a chance to actually voice his wishes.

I thought Brady might still be too young to be scared of Santa, but I was wrong. He took one look at him and started crying so I didn't force the issue. I am guessing we'll have at least one other bad Santa year before he starts to "get" it like Zach does.

After the train, we took the kids to Benihana's. Growing up we always went to a "nice" restaurant for Christmas eve and even though it wasn't quite Christmas eve we decided this might be the closest we could get to a "nice" restaurant and not be embarrassed by our kids. Zach really liked it and still talks about the restaurant where the guy threw knives (I don't think any knives were actually THROWN but that's how he remembers it!).

Brady, Annie, Zach and Will (and Nate doing daddy duty)
on the train ready to go!

SO anxious to see Santa!


They wanted to sit together and I was surprised at how serious they were, these boys had business to take care of!

Brady-- who the heck is this!?

Get me away from this crazy! (even Zach was over it at this point)

After the train they did the bounce house and played some games where everyone wins a prize. They got to choose a very obnoxious blow up toy and they both immediately gave their toys silly names and then started riding them! They were laughing so hard, these two think they are hilarious.



Benihana's

This kid was a trooper, missed his nap, up past bed time and just hung out during dinner!

Love,
Mom

Boat Parade 2010

Dear Kate and Riley,

In December we headed out to Newport for the Boat Parade. I didn't really want to go since last year we sat in traffic forever, walked about 3 miles (I was 8 months pregnant) and got there in time to see a grand total of zero boats. This year, though, the Carlsons had a plan. We parked at Newport High school and took a shuttle bus to the Balboa Bay Club. We sat in ZERO traffic, walked about 20 steps, sat on chairs set out on the beach, sipped glorious hot chocolate and had a prime seat to see EVERY boat (and we were just in time, got there about 5 min before the boats started passing). It was SO much fun! And who knew that to the boys, the shuttle bus was going to be the most exciting part of the evening! Zach talked about that shuttle bus for at least a week after.

All 4 kids on the bus, I have about 20 shots of this and this is the closest I got to all of them looking!

Best buds. Nicole said that if one of us moves we better keep in touch so that some day our kids don't look back on pictures and say "Mom why is this random kid in every picture with me?"

Brady all bundled up, he looks a little scared!

The coat was too big the hat too small but when you live here, you take what you get, we don't buy winter clothes!

Chillin' on the bus

Sleepy boy

Love,
Mom

Holiday Fun-- Preschool party

Dear Kate and Riley,
I will catch, up I will!
I don't want to forget Thanksgiving. It did happen and I did NOT take any pictures! Poor Brady what a shabby job I've done of covering his firsts. We went down to Uncle Adam's house, had a wonderful fun, relaxing weekend and ate way too much good food.

Then we kicked off our Christmas fun with a little preschool party. The kids sang "Christmas Bells" which was really cute and did a little book exchange.

Love,

Mom

Happy late 4th Birthday

Dear Kate and Riley,

Your birthday did not pass unnoticed but it has been so crazy busy around here I did not have time to blog about it.

I wanted to involve Zach as much as I could this year. Zach is at a hard age where we want him to understand and know about you but the concept that he has sisters that he doesn't know but who live with Heavenly Father is a pretty hard concept for a 3 year old. He also is a little crazy at the cemetery wanting to take things off headstones and be a little wild. But I still think its important that he grows up knowing about you and I know that some day he'll come to understand better. We went together to pick out balloons, pink for you and blue for Zach and Brady. Dad picked up some flowers and met us up at the cemetery where I realized the camera battery was dead and Zach got a little too crazy. It was a short but sweet visit.

I couldn't help but be struck by contrast of what I expected my life would be like-- pink, barbies and bows with what it is like now-- trucks, dirt and cars. I love your brothers of course but it just made me laugh to stand there with my two boys, sometimes I think Heavenly Father has a sense of humor to send me these crazies. I am grateful for all of you and the things you have and are teaching me.

I hope you had a wonderful birthday. I know you watch down over us and keep your brothers safe (and laugh with us). I always feel your presence in our home around your birthday and during the holidays. You are missed and remembered. We love you.

Love,

Mom

Halloween

Dear Kate and Riley,

As much as I just want to skip ahead to Christmas, I am determined I won't skip things like Bray's first Halloween! Even though with my laptop dead it takes HOURS for each blog post, I am determined to catch up so this kid will have a record of his first year.

For Halloween we had a party with preschool at our place, celebrated on Sat at the church first followed by some fun with the neighbors on Sun. Every time that we have pulled into the parking lot since the trunk or treat Zach says "Oh, its not Halloween here any more." I'm wondering how many Sundays in a row he's going to be disappointed! *I wrote that long time ago and the good news is he doesn't ask that any more!

Preschool costume parade

Zach and is preschool buddies


Zach and his buddy Ryan at the ward Trunk-or-Treat


Brady the bat

2nd year in a row as a pirate. Zach insisted and I had no problem not buying a new costume!

Don't touch my stash!

Out with the neighbors on Halloween

After trick-or-treating to a couple neighbors, we came back to our house and made marshmallow candy corns to put in our hot chocolate! It was such a fun little project.

Love,
Mom

(now let's see if we can catch up to Christmas!)

Pumpkin Patch

Dear Kate and Riley,
Still feeling behind but I'm hoping not much will happen between Halloween and Thanksgiving and I'll get a little break in here!

We like to head to the pumpkin patch by our house every year but until this year we've been able to get by with just walking around and looking at stuff. Not so this year, Zach wanted to do EVERYTHING. Thanks to some coupons we found we were able to do it for cheap but let me tell you, that place is making a killing on all the sucker parents like us!

We met up with a bunch of people from our ward but of course all Zach cared about was running around with his buddy, Will.

He talked about the big slide for like a week after

They were being SO goofy and having so much fun on this ride, laughing so hard and yelling at the guy every time they went past him.

He loved driving the tractor but was not the best driver, he kept running in to stuff!

More Halloween to come!

Love,
Mom

My Birthday

Dear Kate and Riley,

This year, when I turned 29 AGAIN (wow, that just keeps happening!) I decided to just take the day into my own hands. Aunt Jenny and Uncle Chris were here and I stole Jenny along with a few of my girlfriends and headed up to LA to see "Phantom of the Opera". We had a nice, quiet, childless dinner, saw a great musical (Raul was to die for) and then partied it up after with dessert at the W hotel. It was so much fun and definitely made me feel younger than my 29 again self. Dad was a trooper to get stuck with the kids pretty much all weekend but I really appreciated it!

Love,
Mom