Merry Christmas!!

We arrived in Emmetsburg on Friday evening, December 21st. We were all together to celebrate April Corley's wedding and the boys partied like rockstars. They danced on the dance floor and Colton was completely mesmerized by the real live band that was playing all the music. He could not get enough of it! It was very cute and the guitar player even waved at him because Colton's intense gaze did not waiver from the lead singer/guitar player the entire night. There was also a 'Candy Table' for kids at this wedding which was a huge hit for both of the boys. Austin loved going up to the table and filling baskets with popcorn, candy and other goodies. Colton loved eating the baskets of goodies!

On Saturday afternoon the uncles and daddy took the little guys out to sled in the backyard at grandma and grandpa's house.  They even built up a ramp!  Colton really enjoyed building the ramp and then he just sat down so he could watch.  Austin on the other hand could not get his uncles to run fast enough!  He loved being pulled on the sled and jumping the ramp.

 

Saturday evening we opened gifts and the boys had a lot of great things to say.  Everything Austin opened was what he's always wanted!  So, watching him open gifts was a lot of fun.  Colton wanted to help open every gift . . . his or not!  Which worked out fine and kept him busy.  Austin did a pretty good job of waiting his turn, although he did get to help out mom and dad a couple times.  The boys had a wonderful time!

 Austin received these hulk gloves and coulen't wait to get them on and start pretending he was a real Avenger!  "Avengers Assemble!" and "Hulk Smash!" became two of his new sayings over the weekend.

We headed to Fort Dodge on Sunday evening and on Monday Nick took the boys outside to play in the snow.  Which led to Nick and Brian tying the sled up to Nick's dog Hunk!  Hunk pulled Colton on the sled and Colton fell out of the back so he was then done sledding.  Austin jumped on the sled and was flying all around the yard behind the dog!  It was so funny to watch and Austin had the best time!  I didn't get any pictures of it because it was freezing outside so I was watching from the windows but Brian did capture the moment on video.  I will have to watch that and try to send that out soon!!

Here is Colton opening a Team Umi Zoomi game! He was so excited . . . this was another gift he couldn't get out of the box fast enough. He calls it 'Colton's game' and he really enjoys having a game that is just his!

 On Christmas Eve Colton received hulk gloves and a hulk mask!!!  He put these on and left the mask on for about 2 seconds. . . just long enough for me to get a quick picture.  He liked seeing everyone else with the mask on but wasn't too sure about wearing it himself. . . I'm sure that will change very soon! 

 The boys also received cowboy dress up clothes from Jon and Clare.  From the picture below you can see that these dress up items were a big hit with the "big kids" too!  Nick, Brian, Dad, and Courtney played cards with these costumes on . . . although I think the two cowboys took it a little more serious than the Superheroes did! 

 On Christmas day we travelled to Remsen to see Grandma Sally and the some more of our family in NW Iowa!  It was a great trip and well worth it to get to watch Colton help Grandma open her gifts.  She was happy to have him help and he was VERY eager to be of assistance!  He wasn't as interested in these gifts once they were opened but he did enjoy showing her how to rip the paper off of them!

 

The below picture is as close as we could get to a family Christmas photo.  The boys were very interested in Rick's new puppy and didn't want to cooperate for the picture.  At least everyone's eyes are open!!  We had a wonderful holiday season and got to see so much family and some friends too!  It is hard to believe that it is over already and we have to take our tree down soon!! 

 Merry Christmas!

Boys being boys!

 

There has been a lot of wrestling at our house lately.  Every night it seems to be the finale of our evening before bedtime.  These two think it is great to wrestle and also just roll around on the floor together.  They also spend most evenings chasing eachother around the kitchen and living room.  They pretend to be super heroes and run from the bad guys OR they run at the bad guys and tackle them.  The bad guy is usually me or Brian!  So, we all keep pretty busy most nights.

 

 Here Austin and Colton are "Shoe Man" and "Shoe Boy".  Each night a new superhero is invented.  Austin does a good job of giving everyone a name so that we all have our own special power. 

 Colton is sporting a hat pretty much all the time these days.  He wears his stocking cap as much as we let him and he also enjoys wearing anyone's shoes that he can find.  He is definitely an accessories guy!  His wrists usually have some sort of bracelet on them or something wrapped around his arm.

Austin is dressed up in elf pajama's.  He loves them because he thinks he looks like Robin from Batman and Robin.  I'm not sure he would be too excited if he knew they were elf pj's.  But, since he loves them so much it was not hard to get him to wear them.  Santa Claus came to our house last Saturday night and Sunday morning was a blast!  Austin woke me up at 6am to ask if we could go see if Santa came.  We crept downstairs and sure enough there were presents from Santa so we ran back upstairs so he could wake up Brian and Colton.  Colton was a little confused but he did get up to see what all the commotion was about. 
Austin tore right into his gifts and everything was "Awesome".  He pulled a batman t-shirt out of his stocking and said,  "Mommy, look this is so awesome.  I've wanted one of these for my whole life!"  It was the cutest thing.  His Batman Scooter was apparently something else he wanted pretty badly so he was excited when he got that open as well.  Colton opened his "Team Umizoomi" car and knew what it was right away.  He was very excited and kept saying "Team Umi, Team Umi".  It was fun watching them open things that they were excited to receive.  We spent the morning putting toys together and playing with everything we had received.  What a wonderful morning.  The only thing I think that would have made it better for Austin would have been a little snow.  He runs to the window every morning in anticipation of a snowfall.  So far he has been disappointed.  We are hopeful for some snow over Christmas so that both boys can go sledding!

First Snow of the year!

We had a fun filled weekend!  Annie and Papa came to our house on Friday evening so Brian and I went to an ungly Christmas Sweater Party!  Austin told us that our sweaters were sooo ugly.  And he thought it was so silly that Brian was going to wear a Santa necklace somewhere!  Saturday we did a lot of Christmas shopping!!  Sunday morning Austin woke me up at 7am to tell me that it was snowing and he asked if he could please go outside.  So, we didn't go outside right away but the boys did get all geared up so they could head outside with Brian around 10:30.  Below are pictures of each of them showing me the snow ball they made.  As you can see in the photo there was not much snow and by three o'clock it was completely melted so I'm glad they got out there in the morning while they could. 

 

Last night as Austin was climbing in the bubble bath he said, "Thanks for letting us go outisde and play in the snow today, it was so much fun. Thank-you mommy!" They were only outside for about 10 minutes and then they wanted to come in and have hot cocoa. Austin says "hot cocoa". Colton says "co co meas" . . . Cocoa please!! Hopefully we have more snowy days coming up so that they can have a real snowball fight. I think that is what Austin is most excited for. He talked about throwing snowballs at his friend Chris at school so I told him that he was only allowed to throw snowballs at his Daddy and his Uncles!!!  I also had more help than I needed wrapping presents.  Austin handed me pieces of tape while Colton helped hold the paper in place.  After a present was wrapped they would argue over whose turn it was to carry the present over and place it under the tree!  It took a little while but we did get all the gifts wrapped and spent the afternoon playing toys and watching The Polar Express.

Thanksgiving in Colorado!

We spent Thanksgiving 2012 at Jon and Clare's home in Monument, CO. Beautiful weather had us spending most of the days outside. It was about 65-70 degrees everyday. There is a great park just blocks away from their house so we were able to go to the park everyday! The boys loved spending so much time outside. Austin made a new friend at the park and also made friends with Gino, Jon's 8-year-old next door neighbor. He spent time playing in Gino's yard one afternoon as well. While at the park, Colton befreinded someone who had a dog and although I wasn't there to witness this, I am told he held the leash and walked the dog around the entire park three times. He was very proud of himself and has proved to be a true animal lover. He spent a lot of time also following Jon and Clare's cat around the house!

Jon and the boys also wrestled every day. Austin was constantly asking Jon to wrestle and of course Uncle Jon loved rolling around on the floor with his two little nephews. Jon even had Clare's brother, Clay, wrestling with them one night.

Colton wanted to be as close to the kitty cat as possible! He loved laying right by her and asking how she was doing. Austin also had a few good conversations with Phoebe. She was a good sport, who played hard to get but ultimately was loving the attention she was getting from both boys.

 And we can't forget about Reggie! Here Colton has put his little blue puppy dog in Reggie's kennel then he followed Reggie around telling her "Go, go", until Regging would 'go' into her kennel. After the puppies were in, Colton would climb in also!

It was a wonderful visit. We enjoyed a nice break from work and got to spend a lot of great time with family!!