Count them, 10 New Posts!

So I finally got around to updating the posts. I don't know why I can't seem to do this on a regular basis. I'm on the computer enough it shouldn't be an issue! I posted 10 new posts so you will probably have to click on older posts in order to see them all.

Christmas Day

We got up early on Christmas morning and drove down to Edmonds to celebrate Christmas with my family. We had a beautiful drive down on this white Christmas morning. It wasn't snow it was frost, but it was still pretty. We had such a great couple of days with family playing Settlers, Nertz and watching movies. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a few. Okay so this pic wasn't at Dina's house, but this is Allison in her new snow outfit, gloves and hat. Isn't she a cutie?

Christmas with the Cousins

This year we got together with Fred, Trina and the boys on Christmas eve for a yummy dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy and biscuits. It was very impromtu but Trina came through with a pecan pie and apple pie. We had a great time eating, opening gifts and playing Settlers.

I bought Trina a gift card but decided to wrap it in a box and put a whole bunch of garbage like end of the roll wrapping paper tubes and an empty hotel size botel of whiskey to make the box seem like something was in it. We knew she would get a kick out of that!

Allison got a new kitchen and has lots of fun playing with it. She especially like the egg that came with it.

Christmas Eve

Since we were going to Dina's house for Christmas we decided to open our gifts on Christmas Eve morning. We bought the kids a Wii this year and wanted to give them a chance to play it before we left.

This is them opening up the "big" gift. They were so excited to get a Wii this year and we have had such a great time playing all the new games together!

Visit From Santa

The big debate has been on this year as to whether or not Santa exists. Collin was so sure that he didn't, but between the neighbor girl and the boys the debate was getting pretty serious. We were going to be having Christmas on Christmas eve so the problem was getting Santa to come to our house the night before Christmas Eve. So that day the boys sent an email (I love technology) to Santa letting him know they needed him to come a day early. We made cookies and left them on a plate along with a note from each of the boys. The next morning they got up and were so excited to see that the cookies had been eaten and SANTA HAD LEFT A NOTE!!! The look on their faces says it all!

Christmas Program

December 20th was our church Christmas program. The kids did a great job. Brian sang 2 songs and said a memory verse then they got to dress up as Angels and run around the church while the choir sang Angels we have heard on high. It was very cute. Collin got to sing with all the big kids. They sang several songs and did a very nice job. Then there was a drama that went from the birth of Christ all the way to his death on the cross set to a song. It was very powerful!

First Snow of the Year

In December we had our first snow of the season. Allison couldn't wait to get out into the snow and of course Collin and Brian were very pleased to find out school was 2 hours late. They had lots of fun playing in the snow before having to go to school.

Halloween

I know what you are thinking. Halloween? It's almost the new year. I know, I know I am once again playing catch up. Just enjoy the pics and be glad that I finally got them posted. We had a ladybug, Spiderman, and a Seahawk this year for Halloween. We went trick or treating around the neighborhood and then went to our church for a fair. Lots of fun was had by all. Allison really got into the whole candy thing. Here she is with her best friend, Hannah.

Allison is Two

The day after Thanksgiving Allison had her birthday. She turned 2! She wasn't very interested in opening her presents, but after awhile she finally got into it. She got a baby doll and stroller and then put all of her present into the stroller and ran around the house pushing them all in the stroller the rest of the day. She seemed very pleased with what she got and was so cute to watch. I made ladybug cupcakes for her and she certainly enjoyed making a mess with them!

6...Really?

Thanksgiving day Brian turned 6. Wow where does the time go. It's hard to believe that he is the age Collin was when we moved here. It's also hard to believe that he wasn't quite 3 yet when we moved. He is doing well as a kindergartner and loves to go to school. He is big into transformers and super big into legos. He loves to go online and show me all the different lego sets. He will sit there for hours if I let him and just go through all the different sets. He is still my cuddlebug and needs to cuddle with me every day. Which I am happy to do! He also loves to cook with me in the kitchen. He is learning how to read and surprises me how quickly he is picking it up. He is good at math and even goes to a 1st grade class for his math. He is such a joy to us. Happy Birthday Brian! You can tell that he fits right in with this family. The theme he chose for his birthday was Seahawks! He was very adamant that he did not want his cake to say happy birthday but instead he wanted it to say SEAHAWKS ROCK!

Brian Baking

Brian was really excited about his birthday this year. It happened to fall on Thanksgiving which meant that we had family here to celebrate with us. He couldn't wait to help make his birthday cake. He had been begging me since Collin's birthday to let him help with his cake. So here we are making his birthday cake with all the proper attire that goes with baking!

Merry Christmas

This year I have made a Christmas letter online. You can check it out here and remember to sign the guestbook.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Four Eyes?

Collin gets to sport some pretty cool glasses now. Doesn't he look handsome? He was pretty excited when they came in and for the week beforehand I got to listen to "are they ready yet?" It was worth the wait though and he did a great job picking them out. He was pretty excited to show them off at school and thinks it's funny that he can be called 4 eyes. Don't ask me why. Don't mind the boxes in the background... ;)

Another Year Older

A week ago Sunday Collin turned 9. It's hard to believe that 9 years ago I was in the hospital with this tiny little bundle screaming at the top of his lungs all night long. We were just beginning this journey of parenting. 9 years later he is in 3rd grade and very much his own person. He is an amazing young man who is very bright, very caring and a great artist. He has a huge imagination and I love reading the books that he creates. It's hard to believe that he is already halfway to technically being an adult. Will the next 9 years go as fast as the last 9? I don't know if I'm ready for that! We love you, Collin and can't wait to see where the next 9 years takes us (but can you slow it down just a little?)!

Collin wanted a Ben 10 cake (it's a boy thing). It was actually fun to make it.
What better way to decorate than using the white board and Ben 10 drawings courtesy of the birthday boy himself. I did the writing though.

He was super excited to get a Bakugan (again a boy thing).

He was also excited to get 3 transformers. The boys took off for the rest of the evening playing with them. Lots of fun!

Uncle Fred, Aunt Trina and their cousins came over to celebrate.

Even Grandma and Grandpa got to be here!