Decorating the Tree

We put up our tree the night of Thanksgiving... what a task that was! The boys loved it.... they were emptying boxes, taking ornaments on and off the tree, throwing stuff around the room, fighting over certain ornaments..... but finally we finished putting everything up and only broke one ornament in the process! We let Andrew and Matthew hang all the ornaments and they hung them all in one tiny part of the tree until the branches were drooping over. Andrew kept saying, "Our tree is looking great!" It was a lot of fun to see them so excited but not so fun to deal with the stress of putting up all your Christmas decorations! This is definitely not a favorite for Rick or myself, but I am happy the boys had so much fun! We know these are special memories!

We knew it was going to be a frustrating process when wrestle-mania started inside the Christmas tree bag! They rolled around in this thing forever....  both boys are inside the bag in this picture!

What a happy Elf-- Santa would be so proud!

Santa's other helper-- Ricky the Elf

Mommy and Matthew hanging ornaments together 

Andrew LOVED hanging ornaments on the tree!

Andrew was so excited about the tree! When he woke up the next morning, the first thing he said was "Is the tree still up?"

Matthew never misses a photo op!

"Seriously, mom.... I can't touch this stuff for a month?????"

At the end of a very long night this was the best picture we could get of the boys. We were all tuckered out.... although Andrew looks like he is still ready to party :)

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Hatfield family. It was a nice day so the boys went outside to play for a little bit before the big Turkey dinner. Here are a few pictures-- hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!

Matthew loves to smile :)

Stopping to pose.... he is my little model!

This is one way to get Andrew to stand still for a picture, put him in a tree where he can't move! He is such a handsome little boy!

Our family picture

Christmas Pictures 2008

We got up bright and early this morning to head out and get Christmas pictures taken of the boys. We were the first ones there and were in and out in 35 minutes :) I was very happy with them. My boys are so cute!

It was very hard to get a picture of Matthew because he was cracking up laughing in every shot!

I didn't get this pose, but I sure do love it! Andrew was trying so hard NOT to smile, it was funny!

Didn't get this one either, but I think it is so cute!

Didn't get this one either..... but again.... so cute! 

My sweet boys....

I love this picture!

This is my favorite picture :)

He is such a happy boy!  I didn't buy this one either :) 

A new discovery for Matthew

So, this is another classic Matthew moment. If you keep up with my blog, you are probably thinking "Geez, does she ever watch her children?" Matthew is so busy and into everything that he is impossible to keep up with. I just let him go and hope for the best :) OK-- that was a joke before someone calls CPS on me. I do watch him, he just gets away from me sometimes. When I get out of the shower, he is holding dental floss, tampons, tweezers, toothpaste..... you name it. One time I found him sitting on the top step and he had taken out the entire thing of floss from the container..... another time I found him sitting on the stool and splashing in the toilet water. Ahhh, life with a busy toddler. Never a dull moment. Can't wait to have another one. 

Andrew the photographer

Andrew loves taking pictures with my camera. The other day I was talking on the phone and he takes my camera and starts snapping away.... here are some of his highlights. I had about 20 random pictures on my camera when he was done!!!

Isn't this a flattering picture?????? Don't you love the way I am so involved with what he is doing!

I was actually helping him with these pictures-- this one isn't bad, but he cut off Matthew's head

This one is really good! I love Matthew's expression. He is thinking, "um, why does he get to play with that and I don't??????"

Random Pictures

Well, not much has been going on around here lately! Andrew is still loving school and he is learning so much. He is talking all the time now with an unlimited vocabulary. Matthew is starting to talk more, but just the basics....up, down, no, go, bye, hi, mama, all done... you get the point. His talking has started to pick up in the last few weeks. If you tell him to say a word, he will attempt something. His new word this week was "bubble" because we got new bubbles for the bathtub :) Matthew is still Andrew's little shadow. He copies everything he does, good and bad. He is just too funny!!!!! Rick's birthday was on November 16 (Sunday) and he is now 29. He still has one more year left in the 20's!!!!! Here are some pictures.

Happy Birthday, Rick!

We are so lucky to have little Jacob in our life! He is so much fun and the boys love him sooooo much! Here they are going down the slide.

The boys like to climb behind the couch to play. It is a tight squeeze, but they love it. Matthew climbs up all by himself and goes over the top by himself, on his way down he waves and says "bye-bye!"

I am not sure if I told Matthew to smile or close his eyes, but either way, this is a funny picture! See that hole in the background????? Well, that was used for a cable plug when this room was our office. Now, it is just an empty dining room. About a month ago, I was upstairs getting ready and I heard Matthew open the silverware drawer and take out something. I come down to check on him and he had a knife (a sharp one!) and he was sitting on the floor sticking it in and out of this hole. Seriously... the thought process there... would love to know what was going through his head!!!!!

Here are the boys enjoying their crackers. See the dinosaur shirt? When Andrew got out of school he said, "Mom... everybody LOVED my dinosaur shirt today." He was so proud, it was the first thing he told me when I picked him up.

My boys LOVE, LOVE, LOVE trains. Matthew drives them all around and makes "choo choo" sounds. Matthew is no longer a train wrecker (andrew is thankful for that) and loves to play at the train table. In the picture above, they spent about 20 minutes just driving their trains around the living room. 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Well, as usual-- my pictures are out of order. We had a good time on Halloween and both of my boys enjoyed themselves completely! It was a great night!!!!!

This dragon got a little tired. He preferred to just sit and eat candy, he was over the whole walking thing. 

Here are the boys with their buddy, Jacob, who was also a dragon.

Our family

Andrew and Matthew (who was a very happy dragon!)

First Day of November

Here are some random pictures of the boys.