The boys....

Since it's been awhile.  This is what they look like now.  Still pretty cute if you ask me. :)  And super into bugs, exploring, and making "experiments".  They are best friends, and I am their princess.  Daddy is always the "bad guy" who has to go to jail.  But I am always the princess.  Pretty good set-up if you ask me. Love, love them.

So I've been thinking....

    .....after a few years of being MIA, I think it's time to start blogging again.  I know, I know...don't pass out.  Not really at all because I have anything very important or profound to say, but because I LOVE how blogs act as a scrapbook.  I am such and old family movie/picture person.  Looking back at old albums can bring a flood of memories back that I would have otherwise forgotten about.  And I love looking back and seeing what the boys were doing years ago.  Plus, I was talking to a friend who is a blogger, and she said it is super easy now to turn your blog into a scrapbook at the end of ever year.  Even better!!  And you may remember the other blog I switched to on Word Press, well....I'm done with that one. :)  I guess you can't teach THIS old dog new tricks because it totally confused me.
   So right here, right now - I am starting over!  I will not be a daily blogger - that's for sure.  But I will try to keep up every now an then.  Let the memories begin!!

New blog

Okay, people. I have started a NEW blog! You can now find us at http://ourlifeincrazytown.wordpress.com Some posts will be password protected, so all you have to do is enter the STATE we live in, and you will be able to read everything! So, that's it!
I will miss you old blog. You have been good to us. :)

What?!

This morning at breakfast...

Evan: "Mommy, you're too big to fit in my mouth."
Me: "What?! I'm too big to fit in your MOUTH???"
Evan: "Yeah. I don't want to chew you."

Thanks, buddy. That's good to know. One less thing I have to worry about....

Christmas 2009

So everyone get excited...I am FINALLY posting Christmas pictures!! I considered skipping right over Christmas and just moving on, but this blog serves as a kind of a scrapbook for me, so here we are a month late posting Christmas pics. Oh well. Also, the order is not really correct, but we are just going to have to deal with it. :)

I have to start by saying that every year that I can remember as a kid at Christmas or Thanksgiving, my dad had my sister and I do a "Turkey Dance". Now you may think, "oh, I bet that's a funny looking dance." And you would be right. Because we would dance with the dead turkey that he was about to put in the oven. My dad would make up some crazy song about how Tom the Turkey was dead, and my sister and I would each hold a "hand" and make the Turkey dance. (And you thought YOUR family was weird!) Anyway, since having kids that dance with the actual dead turkey doesn't happen anymore because, well....the kids would probably be grossed out. Instead, this tradition has morphed into something more theatrical. For instance this year, the three little boys dressed up like Shepard's, my sister dressed like Mary, Katie was Jesus in the "manger", and my dad and uncle played the saw and the bones (yes, literally a saw and bones) while we all sang a Christmas song. After the Christmas song, the kids got down to a little John Denver. Anyway, after that LONG explanation...here are the pictures. (They are only from scene 2 - John Denver's "Thank God I'm a Country Boy". I didn't have my camera for the first part)

My mom and my aunt. Sisters or TWINS??? Sisters, but crazy, huh??

(she's thinking, "how did I end up in this crazy family??"

Whew. Now that that is over with - time for cake! Notice the contrast in how the three of them eat cake! :)

Some other random pics...

This is my new favorite picture. They are watching a "Big Green Rabbit" video on Dad's computer and they all three ROAR when the dinosaur in the movie does. So cute.

A few pictures from Christmas morning at home....

Nice, Casey. Thanks for smiling for the picture.

We also got to spend some time with Casey's family at Christmas. His oldest brother, Chris came to town from Texas. We had a lot of fun, and the boys loved their Uncle Chris!

Santa

I took the boys to see Santa a couple weeks ago. Every year at Nick's Garden Center, they have Santa and a couple reindeer come in for the kids. The best part - it's totally FREE. You bring your own camera, and leave with a goodie bag! This is great, because these past few years, Evan has been kinda freaked out by good 'ol Santa. So I LOVE Nick's because I knew if it was a disaster, it hadn't cost me a penny! We waited for probably an hour, but the boys did really well! We went to see Dasher and Prancer first, before they had to go back to the North Pole.

Finally, we made it to SANTA!

This is Evan, trying to bolt....
But we convinced him to smile for ONE picture.

...and then we was at a safe distance, he asked Santa for what he wants for Christmas.

A car.

Santa was so sweet. He was asking "What kind of car? I like cars! Especially race cars!". Best Santa EVER. And Caden did really well. He just stayed on Santa's lap. He looked a little concerned...but he did great!

...and I totally win "Mother of the Year" because it was pretty nice when we left the house, so I was like, no coats needed!!! But, Colorado gets me every time. Even though it was sunny, it was cold. Especially when the sun started to go down. Oops. Sorry, boys. Evan was literally shivering by the time we left. Like I said, mother of the year right here.

A couple Evan-isms

We have been trying to teach Evan the real reason for Christmas this year, because he is old to enough to really get it. We have a great Christmas book that talks about Jesus, and we've been watching the new Veggie Tales Christmas movie a lot. Well, every time we go to Target (which is a lot), he wants to look at the Christmas section. This was what he said when we were there the other day:

"Christmas isn't about Christmas trees. It's about Mary, and Joseph, and baby Jesus. Yep, Christmas is about Jesus."

A different time we were at Target, in the Christmas section, he said:

"Christmas is not a time to be sad, it's a time to be happy!"

So, yeah. He's been scoring some serious cute points lately. Then on the hilarious side...this morning he was reading his book at the table instead of eating his breakfast. So this was our conversation.

Me: "Evan, you need to eat your breakfast. Otherwise, I will have to take your book away."

Evan: "That's rude. Mommy, that's rude".

I am laughing as I type this, because it caught me totally off guard, and was HILARIOUS. I say that to him a fair amout (like when he steals a toy from Caden, or says something, well, rude). But to hear him say it to ME was priceless. Ahhh. Evan. You always keeps me laughing....

Halloween

I wanted to get a few Halloween pics up, even though they are LATE. But, the boys were just too funny to not post. Evan was a dinosaur (this is him roaring...)

...and Caden was a caveman. It was hilarious!

(he is chewing a pretzel in these pictures which is why his mouth looks so funny. But hey, it makes for a great caveman face!)

We went to Southlands to trick-or-treat first, then our church had a big Fall Festival. This is Brandon with James....Mandy stayed home with Katie. :) And both grandma's joined us for the festivities! Fun, fun!

Evan turned 3!!!

Last month, my baby turned 3!! I have been meaning to write about it, but the month has somehow gotten away from me. However, even though it is a month late, this blog serves as a journal for me, so I don't want to forget what Evan's 3rd birthday looked like!

The day started with a special breakfast...just Evan and me! We rarely do things just the two of us, so it was really fun! I asked him these questions:

Favorite color: black

Favorite zoo animal: Elephants and rhinos

Favorite toy: Dinosaur costume

Food: Cookies (that's my boy!)

Toy to play with: "all kinds of things"

Place to go: The Zoo

That was about as much as I could get out of him. He was pretty wound up!

Then, he went to lunch with Daddy. But I forgot to get a picture of that. After naps, we went to Anderson Farms. Hay ride to a pumpkin patch, and all! It was SO fun!

....he also got to open some presents from the mail!

That weekend, we had a birthday party at home with grandma's and grandpa's, and my sister and her family.

...and a gymnastics party with his friends! **I didn't get a lot of pictures because I left early to be with Mandy when Katie was born! :)

It was a whirlwind of activities, but I think my sweet boy felt celebrated and loved! And now, so I can remember what he is like at 3.....Evan LOVES dinosaurs. (which was the theme at both birthday parties) He can name almost all of them, and has a ton of them! His favorite shows are "Dinosaur Train", and "Word World". When he his playing with cars, or dinosaurs, or whatever...he lines everything up in one big line across the room. He LOVES his brother, and says all the time, "I love you, Caden", "Caden is my favorite brother", "Caden is so cute!", "Hey Mommy, meet my best friend, Caden". He talks all the time, and is constantly cracking me up with what he says. He is very sweet and kind-hearted. He is concerned with how people are feeling, and loves to make people laugh. He is also pretty independent, and likes to do things his way. He loves to color...and use every color that he has! He is very smart, and truly is a GREAT kid! Happy 3rd Birthday, Evan!!

We love you!