The Boys' Nativities

My mom sent these cute pictures in the mail for the boys to color. Ian loved it! He colored and colored to his heart's content. I have never seen the tyke so enamoured with a project. Thanks mom!

This one was done by Taylor. He'll probably still be working on it well into the New Year. Notice the bit of blue directly over the eyes of one of the wise men. It is binoculars because Taylor said that that wise man wanted to see Baby Jesus better. How thoughtful and funny at the same time! Taylor always keeps us smiling.

Christmas Pics

Wearing the shirts that Grandma Olson Gave them and proud of it!

Now they are wearing jammies from Grandma Olson. Poor special bear didn't get any, but Ian made sure to pose him in the picture anyway.

A sleeping bag from Mom and Dad....

Ian gets one too, he just hasn't figured it out yet.

Sleeping in their tent. Aren't they sweet? I love sleeping pictures!

Taylor's Gifts

Christmas Presents from Taylor.....


We love preschool projects. This one came complete with a plant which has quickly outgrown its pot. We are hoping it will die soon and not get any more stinky blooms! It was pretty, but stinky.

Taylor made us this card in church. I love that Mommy is spelled backwards, and he wrote Kelby instead of dad. The gift is mostly for Ian because the rest of us know how to play the play station 2 by ourselves. We love our Taylor! He is so proud of these gifts he gave us.

Christmas Morn

Funny things said this morning.....

By Taylor-
How come Jesus' birthday comes on Christmas?

Wow Mom! You don't have to get this for me anymore because Santa Claus brought it!

How come we have to have a hot chocolate maker?
---Because it is a present from Aunt Tysi and daddy really likes it
But how come we have to have it?

Whoa! What in the heck?

My personal favorite...
Santa Claus could come because I said sorry after every bad thing I did.

By Ian-
When confronted by a room full of presents....
WOW!!!

Looky that Mommy, looky that, looky that, looky that....

At lunchtime when Kelby asked Ian if he wanted a peanutbutter sandwich, Ian said...
Nope, I want Pizza
Kelby then related we didn't have any, and Ian responds rather fast while pointing to the door
Go get some.

By Kelby-
First you have to understand the background, you see, we read the last few Harry Potters TOGETHER. We'd take turns reading out loud while the other one worked on things that needed to get done. For Christmas Kelby got, Tales of Beedle the Bard. I walked in on him reading it and he was almost done! How could I be so naive? So I ask, "You read the whole thing without me?" And that Kelby said....

Nope, I'm only on page 91.

Meaning- Nope, not yet, but yeah I'll have read it without you real soon.

My New Take On the Santa Claus Issue...
So I've decided letting them believe in Santa isn't so bad afterall. Is it really so terrible that they believe in a selfless individual who loves children? And after all the fun we had this morning I'm nearly sold on telling happy lies.
Taylor cleaned up his train track in his bedroom last night because he didn't want santa to step on it and break it when santa checked on him. Just before he went to bed he came and told me that, "Santa might come and give me a kiss tonight while I am sleeping." He is so positive that Santa acts out of love, (and we do, but we are really two and often go by the name of parents), and I love his innocence. I hope we have many more Christmases like this one to come.

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Aren't they so sweet? I love these boys! They usually love each other too, but sometimes a toy or two might cause some problems. Anyway, they are wearing their Christmas Pajamas. A very common family tradition and one both Kelby and I grew up with.

The boys are in for a treat come morning. The tent was my proud clearance purchase, and yes, Taylor & Ian got their Diego Tree House. Did you actually think Santa could fail this one request?

Poor Kelby has to put up with my crazy behavior. For all of you unenlightened as to my usual behavior this is just a glimpse. I usually am pretty good in public. Nothing like a little of Tchaikovsy's Nutcracker to bring out the diversity in me. Luckily this is only 3 seconds, (I started to laugh to hard).

Taylor wanted to sing Jingle Bells just like Ian because we cheered Ian on so much.



Ian singing for your holiday enjoyment. We don't really know what is up with the head bow thing or where he picked it up, but it sure makes us laugh.

Happy Birthday Taylor!!!

Our Taylor bug is 5. Can you believe it? We had a pretty busy day, first off we started with presents....

I set them all up on the dishwasher so they would be the first thing he saw when he woke up. Nothing like creating a little anticipation. So much more fun that way!

First he opened the gift from Grandma Western because it was around for the longest period of time. I guess he just couldn't take it anymore. Then he wanted the one from Mom & Dad which he already knew what was because he snooped. He came in by the computer last night to tell us that his gift felt like a leapster. I asked if it felt like a leapster or looked like a leapster, but he held firm to his story, he didn't look, he just felt it. Sure I say. Now I don't know that a leapster really has a feel, but Taylor will contend otherwise.

Next came gifts from Grandma Olson, Jill, Great Grandma Western, another one from us, and stickers from Grandma Western. Now that was one mess when he was all done. Ian loved his superman from G. Olson. I hope she gets one for Ian just to save our sanity.

I planned on making him pumpkin waffles seeing as he loves them so much, but nothing would do but cocoa puffs. A mom can't complain. Nothing like the simple life.

Next we headed off for Bouncers America for a birthday party for Peyton. He just happens to share a birthday with Taylor. How crazy is that? Even crazier is Peyton's little sister shares a birthday with Ian. I should ask their mom when Peyton's brother has his birthday so I'll know when I'm having my next kiddo.

Ian loved this party! He kept running in and I would have to pull him back into the lobby while Kelby filled out the release form. He also cried when we left.

Even I got in on the fun. Kelby and I need to do this for a date!

I don't know what is up with the tongue. Truly, he is a crazy child.

Taylor and the rest of the party. Most of the kids were from his preschool class. What fun!


Here are the birthday boys together. Two five year olds with fake smiles. What happened to the real thing?

After we got home we all took an overdue nap. That place saps you of all your energy. When dinner rolled around Taylor wanted a pizza sandwich. Wow! Today was so easy. I should let him pick the menu everyday. Kelby whipped up a killer sandwich for both boys while I did the dishes. If only every birthday was this easy I'll have less wrinkles in the future. I'm sure of it.

To top off the night we invited Taylor's friends Kyla, Audrey, Josey, and their families over to share in the cake.


Taylor blew out his candles on an icecream cake this year. He wanted a train cake again like I tried to make last year, but really, that cake was obscene! I think this worked out better in the end; I've never seen him eat so much cake. Usually he picks out the icecream and the rest gets chucked. I'll have to remember that for next year.

Whew! It has been a busy day. I am tired and the boys are already out for the night. Until next time.....

The Making of Christmas Ornaments

Ian worked hard on the painting part, but as soon as he discovered glitter he decided he had found his calling in life. Now how does that translate into a career path?




I don't know where he learned to be crazy. It must have been Kelby:)

Taylor took great care in choosing what went where on his project. I can only imagine a class of 18 preschoolers creating their masterpeices.

Soooo, we are slow on the gun, but the boys still wanted to make our Grandmas and Grandpa a Christmas gift. Lots of paint and glitter mess later we came up with Christmas snowflakes which we finished today. Ian was so proud of his painting and glitter techniques that he kept telling us it was, "So pretty!" Taylor was slooooow and I couldn't get Ian to stop being so fast. There definitely are no two kids alike, and mine are no exception.

Here is our messy glitterly finished project. It is only December 20. As long as they keep their trees up until the New Year we did just fine.

And yep, you guessed it. Our Christmas cards aren't done, but we'll get there. Nothing like a Christmas day email. You'll see.
And for those of you just dying to know if Taylor got his Diego tree house, well it isn't Christmas yet and you'll just have to wait. Those of you who know better not say! It's just as bad as telling someone how a movie turns out before they see it. Just terrible!

Just testing the waters

So I am not really sure I want to do this whole blog thing, but I am willing to give it a try just because some people out there, (and I will leave you nameless), keep harrassing me to do it. Are you happy now? Yeah, I thought so.

We went to some of the church sites close by Cleveland while Kelby's brother Brock and his family were here. This is in Kirtland in the kiddo room during the Nativity display. Kelby thought it would be funny to dress our boys up like angels and Ian took his part very seriously as you can tell. Personally I thought he could polish his angelic skills a bit, (especially during Sacrament Meeting), so as far as I'm concerned, what a great idea!

Aaaahhhh. The ward Christmas party. Nothing like long lines, screaming children, and carols sung with your mouth full. Santa told us to hurry up so he wouldn't miss the football game that night. So we bustled on over and even though Ian got a slinky out of the deal he still didn't like it. Taylor was sure to tell Santa that he wanted a Diego Tree House Rescue Center. Will Santa pull through? Will he get one? Tune in next time for the Olsonator Christmas to find out!

If there is a next time :) Actually, this hasn't been so bad. Quick and easy. I kinda like it.