Christmas Trimmings

We spent the rest of Christmas day at Kyle's parents' house. Linda is also an amazing seamstress and she made this quilt for Noah. We are also grateful to the Robbins for giving us our first flat-screen TV. Now we can ditch our tube TV.

After an early Christmas dinner, Linda gave Noah his first hair cut. Yes, it broke my heart to do it, but I felt bad that his hair was constantly falling into his eyes. I was quite surprised at how content and happy Noah was throughout the haircut. He stayed entertained by the squirt bottle, whether it was holding it or letting it be sprayed into his mouth. He looks older now, but he still is dang cute.

before

after

Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning

We were so blessed to have a happy, wonderful Christmas. Christmas Eve and Christmas morning were spent with my family. The events started with a lunch of yummy appetizers, followed by some great sledding. Even Noah got to try the sledding, and he loved it.

After sledding a few of us went to the cemetery where we placed a luminary on Anne's and a neighbor's graves.

After the cemetery we finished getting dinner ready-- ham and twice baked potatoes. My mom always decorates the dinner table beautifully with her china, silver, and candles. It's something I want to do in the future when I'm not afraid of the boys destroying it all.

Following dinner we played another traditional Christmas favorite: Christmas BINGO. My dad calls out the squares, and we use M & Ms as markers on the cards. Kyle and I actually won big this year, taking home $150. Thanks, Dad!

Diane and Paul

My mom appropriately called this our African Christmas. My dad has been to Africa 10 times in the past 6 years helping with vision projects for the LDS Humanitarian Services. My mom has accompanied him on several of the the trips. Four years ago she brought home stacks of African fabric. She has spent the last four years making seven quilts-- one for each of her children. The quilts are beautiful, and all are unique in patterns and colors. She also made African dolls for all of her daughters and granddaughters, and snakes for the grandsons. I am amazed with her sewing skills, and I hope some day to be better at sewing.

We spent the night at my mom's and woke up to find that Santa had visited us there. Jason was thrilled with his new trains-- Noah was too. Fortunately, Jason is awesome about sharing them with him.

I love this picture because it shows how long Noah's hair got. We gave him his first cut later on Christmas day at Grandma Linda's.

12.15.2012

We made it to temple square again to see the lights. We went with Curtis, Linda, Valerie, and Sienna. Before we saw the lights we had dinner at the City Creek food court. We made sure to fit in a train ride on Trax for Jason. We had a great time, and we stayed warm enough all bundled up.

This is our first snow man of the season.

Noah and  cousin Sienna had fun getting acquainted. She was visiting from California.

Jason said to me the other day, "Mom, why do you forget everything?" Sorry Jason. It happened sooner than I thought it would.

12.6.2012

Pictures from the first snow day of the year:

Jason sledding with Ashton

Kyle and Noah

We spent Thanksgiving at the Hunsaker's. The meal was amazing, of course. I decided that Thanksgiving dinner is made especially for those with few teeth. Noah and I were in heaven with how many table foods he could eat: mashed potatoes, yams, rolls, green bean casserole, and stuffing. And he loved all of it! I am so glad Noah likes mashed potatoes, because it is my favorite, but Jason does not like it.

Thanks, mom and dad, for having us over. I know it is a lot of work to host, but you do a fabulous job!

Thanks, Kyle, for watching the kids so I could do a sewing project upstairs with my mom.

Jason often says, "Mom, take a picture of me and Noah doing _____". Here are some of the pictures we've taken, per Jason's request. You can see how Noah's hair is coming down into his eyes, and how Jason likes to put his hand on Noah's head.

I sometimes call Kyle "Hottie" as a nick-name. But lately when Jason hears me say that to Kyle, he says, "Dad is NOT a Hottie!". That always makes me laugh.

Noah is ten months old today. So big! We are so grateful for our easy-going baby.

Noah Nine Months

Noah is nine months old now. His hair gets longer and longer on top. His check-up showed:

• weight: 18 lbs 2 oz (14th percentile)
• length: 27.95 in (39th percentile)
• head circumference: 17.9 in (53rd percentile)

Noah also started his army crawl at nine months. Kyle used the same trick on Noah that he used on Jason to get him to crawl-- the cell phone. Come and get it! He has six teeth--four on top and two on bottom. He continues to be an easy-going baby. We are so lucky to have him around. Jason and Noah have a lot of fun playing together.

A few random pictures:

Breakfast

Milk and apple juice at the same time. Yummy!

Jason riding a pony in October around Gardner Village.

Batmen

I had THREE batmen this year for Halloween.

My awesome parents spent Halloween with us. They brought a pot of soup for dinner and handed out candy while Kyle and I trick-or-treated with Jason (Noah was asleep in his bed). And the temperature was so warm! No jackets required. What an awesome Halloween. We are so lucky to live close to grandparents.

Note to self: the Costco bag of candy is more than what we needed.

Kyle's Golden Birthday

We celebrated Kyle's golden birthday this year-- he turned 28 on the 28th. In honor of the golden birthday, I planned a pirate birthday party in which we went on a hunt for gold. Pirates in attendance included Jason, Noah, me, Heather, Mitch, Kelli, Tom, and Kyle.

We had butternut squash soup in pumpkin bread bowls first. After dinner we went on a treasure hunt around the neighborhood looking for gold. I left clues in friends' yards. One of the houses we stopped by actually had a haunted house going on that we previewed early (before any actors haunted it). We eventually found a bag of golden Hershey's Nuggets buried in our sandbox, marked by an X. 

We returned to the house to carve pumpkins and eat a treasure chest cake--filled with gold. Jason was an excellent helper putting the birthday candles in the cake. 

I also want to note that earlier in the day I set up a surprise tennis date with Quinn and Kyle. Poor Kyle hadn't played tennis in over a year (babies, work, house projects, yard maintenance, and scout campouts happen). When Kyle got home he said, "That was the best birthday present ever!" Yes! I'll have to remember that easy present in the future.

Kyle's mom made a fried chicken and mashed potatoes (Kyle's favorite) dinner in honor of Kyle's and Quinn's birthdays.

Happy Birthday, love! We are so glad we could celebrate with you. 

10/24/2012

My sweet dad offered to babysit the boys so Kyle and I could attend the Brigham City Temple dedication together. When we got back I found these two playing "Uno" together. So cute. Thanks, dad. 

We finally got a fall hike in with Megan. The leaves don't stay colorful long enough. I brought a large bag of chocolate kisses to motivate Jason to walk on his own because he is too big for our backpack. You can see the chocolate all around his lips.

This is Noah in his favorite sleeping position. He still sucks his two fingers. We are mostly down to two naps and a 7:30 bedtime. He wakes up at 7:30 every morning, which works for now, but I am dreading daylight savings.

Noah has started rolling around all over the place, trying to get to things. Unfortunately, rolling has its limits and he gets frustrated easily when he can't get where he wants or gets stuck. I know if he started crawling he would be much happier, but he doesn't seem to be close yet. He is really good at sitting up, however. And the ever-expanding repertoire of food means he demands to eat whenever he sees us eat. French fries and real chicken (not pureed) have been a big hit.

I hung up a canvas print of my favorite family picture, and Noah is enchanted by it. He always wants us to take him up to it, and then he squeals with delight as he touches our faces.

This is Noah's first time eating waffles. Yummy! He still has a hard time figuring out how to get the food in his mouth after he picks it up. Those pesky fingers keep getting in the way.

Jason has a renewed interest in trains, particularly "Thomas and Friends" ever since I started checking out Thomas the Train DVDs from the library. He builds tracks and drives trains all day long. He also does puzzles over and over every day. Kyle brought Jason a couple new puzzles after traveling, and Jason is thrilled to have an expanding collection. He already knows which puzzle he wants next. I am quite impressed at how his practice has paid off-- Jason is really good at doing puzzles with 24+ pieces all on his own. Preschool has been so good for Jason. He loves what he is learning and the new friends he is making. He loves to practice letters, shapes, and numbers at home. Jason continues to love his scooter and the swings.

I am suddenly a huge fan of batman now that he rides a scooter in front of my house and rides around in my back seat. Jason chose to be batman for Halloween. I'm not sure why-- he's never seen a batman show-- but he is set on batman. He even talked Kyle into being batman, too. So now Jason likes to wear his mask around, and it is really cute. But don't try to call him "batman" because he still wants to be called "Jason."

Barnyard Boo at Thanksgiving Point with Grandma and Grandpa Hunsaker and Natalie's family: