Boys Monthly Letters

The boys have posted their monthly letters to their blogs. Just click on their links or pictures to the right.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas! We were lucky that our kids actually slept until 7:00 this morning ... yeah!

Eric bolted for the tree as soon as he saw that Santa had come!

Kyle was so excited when he saw what Santa had brought for him! A Radio Flyer Sport Coupe!! He sat it in the whole time and never got out unless it was to push his car. He opened all his other presents sitting in his car. :)

Eric got just what he had asked Santa for ... a skateboard!


He was also super excited to get the movie UP in his stocking!

Brandon got some new K'Nex which he loves.

Santa also brought us a family gift of a Wii video game system! Santa did well this year! Thanks Santa!

And Grandpa Don & Grandma Jinx are some sort of amazing. They went to the trouble to check with Santa and found out that he was bringing us a Wii so they got us a whole bunch of Wii games and some extra controllers. Thanks Grandpa & Grandma!

Grandpa Pat also did super well by the boys this year. He got Brandon a cool new Lego set which he is so into.

He got Eric a robot piggy bank which he really wanted (and needed since he scatters his coins all over the house).

And he got Kyle a bouncing Tigger which is super cute! Thanks Grandpa Pat!

After all the morning chaos, Dad and Brandon spent some time putting together Brandon's new lego tank.

Eric tried out his new skateboard and played with all his new toys.

And Kyle continued to sit in his car and smile! :)


And of course it wasn't long before we had the Wii set up and the boys (Dave included of course) were playing Lego Batman and having a blast!

Dave and I got each other a few odds and ends, clothes and things like that. I got him a remote starter for his truck so that he wouldn't have to go out in the bitter cold to warm up his truck in the morning. Dave got me a new cool water bottle for the gym and a Rocket Blender (which I SOOO wanted) for my protein shakes. Yeah!

After lots of playing and a nap for baby we headed over to Grandma Chris house for some more Christmas excitement.

Grandma got Brandon & Eric the perfect gifts ... art sets! And Kyle got a GeoTrax train set which he loves! Thanks Grandma!

Christmas Eve

This year Darren & Cindy hosted our annual Christmas Eve party and they did a WONDERFUL job! It was such a great party.

After a wonderful meal the kids put on a nativity play which was so cute. Then Grandpa Clark read a Christmas story to everyone. Then the kids had a gift exchange followed by a White Elephant exchange for the adults.

When we got home the boys got to open their traditional Christmas Eve gift ... new cozy's!

This year they all got Toy Story cozy's!

Then the boys put out cookies for Santa and food for the reindeer and raced off to bed so that Santa wouldn't skip out house! :)

Let it Snow!

Winter can be a hard season for energetic little boys who are cooped up inside most of the day without the chance to go outside and run. Dave had to go outside tonight to shovel our driveway because we have gotten so much snow today and the boys were to happy to get to go outside with him and play in the snow.

The Elves at Gardner Village

It was apparent to us when we got to Gardner Village tonight that the tough economic times have hit Gardner Village as well. They didn't have nearly as many lights as they usually have and there seemed to be less elves milling around as well. But it was still fun to check out all the elves and get our traditional yearly ornaments. Each year we get one new ornament for each of the boys that we can write their names and the year on. We also get a family ornament for that year. The Christmas Shoppe at Gardner Village is our favorite spot for that.

Surgeries

Both Kyle & Eric went into the hospital this morning for surgery. They had to have tubes put in their ears to help with drainage and lessen the amount of ear infections they get. They also had to have their adenoids removed. Adenoids are masses of tissue high in the throat behind the nose and with constant ear infections they can become enlarged which obstructs breathing and swallowing. Hopefully now with this surgery they won't have to suffer painful ear infections every time they get a cold.

We had to be at the new Riverton hospital at 6:30 this morning ... ugh!

Kyle went first. The nurses were so in love with him. One even walked him around after, got him dressed afterwards and walked him to the car. She really didn't want to give him up. Isn't he cute in his little hospital gown.

They gave him some medicine that relaxes him before they take him off to surgery. It made him pretty loopy. The anesthesiologist said Kyle was cracking up laughing the entire time until he finally dropped off to sleep.

Eric went next.

It was pretty funny to see him on the meds to. He was slurring his words and totally giggly and out of it.

They were both very agitated and angry when they came out of the recovery room and it took them about an hour before the new pain meds kicked in and the anesthesia wore off and then they calmed down. They went straight home to a nap and slept for quite awhile and as of now they seem pretty normal. We have them on antibiotics and pain meds and are hoping for a good night. Hopefully they will be completely healed soon.

I am just grateful everything went well. Neither Dave or I slept well last night and I was very worried about them going under anesthesia and about handing them over to the doctor for the surgery but it was very necessary and hopefully they will be more healthy from here on out.

Gingerbread Building TAKE 2

So every year we like to decorate a gingerbread house with the boys, super fun! The boys were ready and excited to do it ...

It started out okay ...

But then we got a little too fancy with the roof ...

And despite our best efforts to get it to stand up ... it all came crumbling down! :)

That was Saturday. So this morning Eric and I were at the grocery store and he saw a display with all sorts of cool gingerbread kits and really, really wanted to do the Gingerbread Train. So I gave in and we tried again.

But this time we were smarter. Eric and I assembled the train during the day so that the icing would have PLENTY of time to harder before we started with all the fancy stuff.

Things went much better with the train.

And the boys had a great time. Eric of course spent the whole time talking about having a train eating party (right away of course)!

Success!

Scouts & Sugar Cookies!

My friend Heather and I are the Webelos Scout leaders in our ward. I know, with three boys, it was inevitable. :) Today instead of having a regular den meeting we decided to have a little Christmas party for the boys. We decorated sugar cookies ...

And watched a little Christmas movie in our theatre. Needless to say it was crazy ... but still fun!

My boys and Brandon's best friend Jace got to join in as well which was super fun for them.