oh will, how we love you

Have I mentioned how much we LOVE Will? Well, we do. He has some wonderful qualities, even as a three year old. Will is always up for a good time, is so loving and genuinely cares and thinks of others before himself, loves chocolate as much as his mom, has the capacity to have adult-like conversations on a daily basis, and makes anyone who knows him laugh.

He is growing up before my eyes, and I only wish I could make time go a little slower. He is so independent and seems older and older each day. My favorite thing about Will are the things he says these days. Let me share:

• Whenever Eli wakes up, Will runs over and says "Oh, he's just right awake!" Instead of "wide" awake. He even says it in a sweet little high pitched voice.
• When we were delivering our Christmas gifts to neighbors, he was walking out of neighbors house and said "I saw you out walking your dog the other day, and your dog looks like a cow!" Then, out the door he goes! They have a very large, very chubby Bassett hound. Scott and I were left speechless, and then rolling with laughter.
• Will makes up words he thinks he's heard. The other day, he came up with a "Hydrator" a machine that delivers presents for Santa.
• Ever since Christmas he's said to me multiple times "Mom, I sure hope you had a VERY Merry Christmas!"
• Instead of saying "startle" he says "starkle" and best of all, he says "That starkles my tummy!"
• Lovingly looking at his gingerbread house before we threw it out he said "Mom, next year we should build a gingerbread house and put a hose on it!"

• He's been watching Night at the Museum, the Smithsonian, and said to me "I really like Emelia Airhart, I like her hair, it's curly, and beautiful!"
• And my favorite. His little friend was over playing, his friend's mom had a baby just 4 days after Eli was born, so they are both very into babies. While they were playing, Eliza, Will's friend said "Um, Will? Your baby brother has dark skin, and you have white skin." Will responded very straight forward and said "I know, Eliza. It's because Eli is adopted, and his mom Keona couldn't take care of him, so now we get to have a baby!" Then he just went right on playing like nothing had even happened. I was so proud. He knows exactly what's going on, and I'm glad he had something to say because this is only the beginning of the questions he might get asked! Good job Will!

We just love our Will. He such a happy child. I told him to do something goofy for the camera, and this is what I got. I felt like a good Will post was needed, we've been bombarding the blog with our little E man. I really feel so blessed to have these two sweet boys in my life. I love spending everyday with them, watching them grow, and seeing what a fun little boy Will is growing up to be.

alert the media!

We've done it.... we've found the "world's cutest baby!" I guess I'm slightly biased, or obsessed. However you want to put it, I'm pretty sure I have THE cutest boys I could ever have. Not only are they cute, they are such good boys, I can't wait for the day they can run and play together.

Will is such a charmer, and he loves his little bro, more and more everyday. Eli is trying to talk, and is growing like a weed. I just love these little boys, I am so lucky.
Now, you can stop looking, World's Cutest Baby has been found.....

a christmas to remember

This Christmas was so fantastic. It was a Christmas I will always remember. We were going, going, going, and thoroughly enjoyed every moment. Above all, I was so happy and grateful for my sweet little family. I felt so content this Christmas, like everyone who was supposed to be here, was. It was a wonderful feeling, and our little Christmas was magical.

Warning: this is a long post with a lot of pictures... sorry!

To begin our festivities, we ventured to the "Christmas Story House." In case you were wondering, this movie was filmed right here in Cleveland.... if you listen closely, you can here them talk about "Cleveland Street." Well, it wasn't exactly ON Cleveland street, but very near downtown Cleveland itself.... a little bit of a shady neighborhood, but still very fun to see it. They also have a museum and gift shop across the street from the house, so that was fun also. It's open year round, in case you want to come visit me and go see it!!

Here's the house, with us in front.... They have restored it to look just as it was in the movie. Leg lamp in all it's glory shines bright.

Oh fuuudddddggge...... remember when they get a flat tire? This is the very car from the movie. Classic. We also saw lots of the other "classics" like the really LONG wool hats, the leather cap with googles that Flick wears. We even saw little miniatures of Skut Farkus, Flick sticking his tongue to the flag pole, and Randy in the red snow suit.
Several of these classic items were for purchase. We were REALLY tempted to purchase something, but the eye popping price tag of $109.00 for the pink bunny suit made us think twice. We were a little shocked to see all the leg lamp parafanelia, you can get one in every size!
I forgot to mention that we went to the Christmas Story house with our friends. Afterward, we came back here to do some warming up. We had yummy tortilla soup and let our kids play. This is Eli and his new friend Anderson. Aren't they cute? They are only a couple weeks apart, and are already great friends, I can just tell. The other night, Anderson was stroking Eli's hair.... EVERYBODY loves to touch "E's" hair!
Christmas Eve morning was really great. I woke up before everybody, went downstairs in the dark, turned on the Christmas lights, had some hot chocolate while I listened to Christmas music and planned out my day. Our house has been cozy during Christmas, I love the glow of the Christmas lights. I've been debating on leaving some up on my mantel all year just because I love it.... we'll see.

Eli had his 2 mo. check up on Christmas eve morning. Yes, I know kind of weird, but it was the soonest available. So, we got up and got ready to head out the door. He looked so handsome in his button down shirt, I couldn't resist a picture. He is getting so big! He's in the 80% for weight, 50% for height. He's a sweetie, and we have loved watching him grow. He's even been sleeping in his bed!
Christmas Eve was so much fun. It was a very relaxing day. We had two families/friends over. We had the meal all planned, the table set, and everything ready to go. I even got to take a nap! That's what preparation and organization does! ;)

I'm wishing I would have taken a picture with all the food out, but I didn't get time to do that. I did take a picture of our name cards though. I thought they turned out cute. You probably can't see them very good, but they were all cute and glittery. I made white chocolate popcorn, and put everyone's name on their own bag, then on their plate. We LOVED using our Christmas dishes to entertain this year, it is such a fun tradition, I'm glad we started it. These are my yellow bird plates, they are out everyday (on my wall) but we got to use them as part of our Christmas stuff to make enough place settings. This was our fourth year of our Christmas dishes tradition, it's growing!! Now at least we have one place setting for each of us!
After our wonderful meal of ham, potatoes, raspberry jello salad, spinach salad with strawberries, wild rice and corn salad, we were stuffed. So we sat around and let our kids open presents, read the scripture story, sang some songs, and read the Night Before Christmas. The kids loved their PJ's and of course put them on right away.

Here's the cute kiddos. All these boys are really close in age and have a great time together. In fact, I thought it was funny because between all of us there are only boys! Six to be exact, and they are all almost the same ages!
This is Myrtle. Myrtle is a sweet little lady in our ward. She doesn't have family, so we decided to have her over for our Christmas Eve. I think she enjoyed herself, and all the noise. We got her some PJ's to open too!! I think she really liked that. Isn't she sweet?


And here's a picture of all of us, minus a couple babies that were sleeping. It was a blast to have everyone over. After PJ's, we put on a movie for the kids and we played some games, ate even more food, had hot chocolate, and laughed a lot.
The kids decorated sugar cookies for Santa, and were having a great time!

Here's Will posing by his creations for Santa. I bet Santa thought these were the best cookies he got all night!! wink wink.
Here's my boys. Eli looked like a little Elf in his "Baby's First Christmas" PJ's, I loved them.
CHRISTMAS MORNING!!

Our Christmas Eve didn't end until about midnight. Will didn't go to bed until 12:30am. That is the latest he has ever stayed up, I couldn't believe he was still going strong. He was so excited about Christmas. Since he went to bed so late, he didn't get up until 8am, which I was quite happy with. Eli gave us a great Christmas present by eating at 11pm, going to bed IN HIS CRIB, and sleeping until 5:30am, then getting in bed with us, and not waking or eating again until 8am when Will came in to get us. I was quite happy with that, he is learning to sleep in his bed!!

When Will started opening presents, he would take each little thing, and line it up behind the couch by the tree, it was so funny. He kept saying "I'm SO lucky!" "This is SO fun!" He was having a great time, and it was a lot of fun to see him so excited about such little things. Christmas is so fun with kids.

Here's little E Christmas morning, bright eyed and not a clue to what was going on.

Will's BIG gift was a pirate ship with a million little pieces and parts (half of which are already lost). He LOVED it. Has been playing with it a lot and was so excited to open it. It was his final present to open and ended Christmas on a good note!

Our Christmas festivities didn't stop after un-opening gifts. We layed around, took naps, and then headed to our friends house for fondue. Will played and enjoyed himself. When we got home, Will and Scott put up the air-matress, got out the sleeping bags and had a "Daddy's night." They watched a movie, ate candy, and slept by the tree. Eli and I went to bed.... and Eli slept again in his bed for almost 5 hours!!

The day after Christmas, we did some shopping with some gift cards, and relaxed some more. I used Scott's time off work to PUT him to work on taking down the tree. I know, bit sudden, but I wanted his help and it is back to work on Monday. So, we took down the Christmas stuff, to which Will was saddened to tears. Crying and crying saying "I'm NOT ready for Christmas to be over!!" It was cute. He sure enjoyed himself. That night, we called some friends to see if they wanted to get in the hot tub. We were hoping to do it Christmas Eve, but ran out of time. So, they came over, we ordered pizza, and the boys enjoyed the hot tub while Stacey and I stayed inside with Anderson and Eli.
The boys had a blast and Will is talking about doing it again real soon!

It has been such a fun holiday, one of our best as a married couple. We look forward to many more Christmases in our home, and making more memories as a family. Life is great. I love Christmas and I love the strength it gives us to go on and start another year. We are looking forward to another year, getting back on our "routine" and see what the year has in store for us. It is always a little sad to take down the tree, but we are looking forward to a visit from Grandpa and Grandma in February, and Will is excited to get back to pre-school and our regular library visits.

I hope you all had a great holiday! We missed our family and are grateful for them more than ever during Holidays. Love to you all~

the elf on our shelf

A few days ago, we received an exciting visitor. His name is Toolsmidknob, we just call him Tooly. He is an Elf sent straight from Santa himself. He came with very precise instructions and detailed information about himself and why he was at our house. He is here to remind us to do good deeds during Christmas, to serve others in remembrance of Christ, and of course to record all of our doings to pass along to Kris Kringle himself. The best part about Tooly is that he is quiet during the day, just observing our home, and then at night, he bounces off the walls, runs through our halls, steals our holiday treats and leaves crumbs everywhere, and has gotten himself into some predicaments. When we wake up, we never know where he'll be hiding or what trouble he may have caused in the night time. One morning we found him swinging from our chandelier, that was the same night he ate a chocolate kiss and left crumbs and wrappers everywhere.

This morning we found Tooly hiding behind our bench in the kitchen, he was holding one of Will's squishy snakes! Yikes! I think he likes it at our house and we will be sad when he leaves on Christmas Eve. We hope he is putting good notes in that book of his, and we hope he comes back next year!
PS - Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for adding a bit more magic into our Christmas holiday!

PSS - If anyone would like more info regarding the Elf on our shelf, write me an e-mail! :)

really caught on camera

First things first, yesterday was lovely. After church we came home, put on our comfy warm clothes and just hung out. Lit the fireplace, played with Will, made some illumarias, snacked, munched, and received numerous gifts from neighbors and friends. It was great, and I'm loving our house all decorated for Christmas, it feels cozy and warm and full of light.

Now, for the title of my post. Last week I thought we caught a few good smiles of Eli on camera. Well, I was wrong.... yesterday he was super smiley and we got some great big ones from him. Look how he wrinkles his nose, I love it. I can't wait for him to start laughing, I feel like it is just around the corner.

Isn't this sweet. Will is still super excited about his little bro. He loves to lay by him, give him hugs when he's crying, and help mom do all sorts of baby things.

These boys are the best part of my day every day. I love them both and love watching each of them grow and learn in different ways.

o holy night

First of all, thank you everyone for your wonderful, inspiring, uplifting, encouraging comments. I think everyone has days like the one I was feeling, and luckily, those days aren't forever. We are doing great. Eli is such a sweet baby, I have been so blessed with very sweet children.

Not only do I have wonderful children, I have an amazing husband. I was just watching Scott the other day. He is such a support and help to me. He is a wonderful husband, and is so involved and active in helping me parent. He plays with Will for hours, literally. Just the other night, I was trying to get something done and Will wanted to go outside. It was dark, and cold, and Scott piped up, "Okay Will! Here, let's put on your coat, hat, gloves, boots and go outside." Here I was thinking of excuses not to have to take him out in the cold and Scott just sucked it up and did it. And they had a blast, they took flashlights and were walking up and down our sidewalk. It was the cutest thing. Scott could have easily thought of excuses just like I did, or stayed and watched his football game, but he didn't. What a man. I'm lucky.

This weekend was beautiful. Here are the highlights:

-it snowed!!

-we got our fireplace to work and I love it

-we had a fun christmas party with friends, where I saw some of the best white elephant gifts EVER....

-we finished up a little Christmas shopping, and wrapped presents

-we listened to Christmas music non-stop and wore our sweats.... a lot.

-we went to Church, took the Sacrament and listened to beautiful Christmas music. (Scott even performed a duet which was beautiful)

-we went to the Nativity activity at Kirtland which was AMAZING. Here are some pictures:

I loved this tree.

It was really pretty, everything on it looked natural. My favorites parts were

the chili peppers, the dried oranges, and

dried apple slices strung with popcorn and cranberries,

I am doing this next year! It was so pretty.

A family picture.

I realize this is kind of a weird family picture... or at least I'm weird in it.

The nativities were amazing. There were probably thousands of nativity displays, a room where kids could play with the nativities, and a really beautiful exhibit of Christ's birth and life. I love Kirtland, there is always a wonderful uplifting Spirit there.

When we were driving home, I said I was hungry, and Will said he wanted a snack. We said "where should we go? Should we just go home?" Will piped up "I know where we should go! We should go to Five Guys!" So.... Five Guys it was.....

Who knew it took so much concentration to break open peanuts?

This is how Eli enjoyed the evening. He didn't move from this position for like 3 hours. Since no one who ever reads my blog has heard me talk about his chubby cheeks, I'll point them out to you once again. Look at the those cheeks, and those lips! He's so dang cute, I can't get enough.
Life is good my friends. 5 days until Christmas. Snow on the ground, short days at work for Scott. I love it.

Today has been a good day. I've been feeling slightly overwhelmed lately. As most of you know, I love to read blogs, and read some almost everyday. Okay, I read a lot every day. Sometimes I get caught in the mental mind trap of degrading thoughts like "why don't I do that with my kids?" Or "Why am I not creative like that?" Or "My house does not look like that.... ever" Or even "I wish we did stuff like that...."

Well, the other day, after doing some low key blog reading, I was feeling particularly down. My house was a mess (yes, I know, I should have been cleaning instead of blogging), dishes from the day before and all meals this day were piled up on my counter, there were two very large baskets of laundry to be folded, and Christmas cards to be addressed and sent out. I put the babe down for a nap, stuck in a movie for my other babe and set to work on the dishes. While I was grumpily, self-pitying myself doing dishes I had an amazing thought. Not so much of a thought as more of a comforting voice that made me instantly feel 100% better. I was thinking about the blogs and the things I wasn't doing and got this overwhelming impression that the most important thing I could be doing right now was exactly what I was doing. Being a mother. Spending happy moments with my babies, and loving them unconditionally. I also had a very overwhelming impression that LOVE is what is important. Do my kids know I love them? Do I tell them enough? Do I show them enough? They could care less what our house looks like, their just happy they got to stay in their PJ's all day and a have a "picnic" on the couch for breakfast AND lunch. They don't care about my latest crafting obsession... or lack of, they are just happy when I let them cut up paper and hang up their bits and pieces to look like "snowflakes." They especially don't care about MY personal imperfections, they just want my unconditional love and attention....

So that is what they are getting, and it's enough for all of us. I need to be more mindful of the really important things in our lives instead of getting wrapped up in my own selfish desires. And most of all, I need to keep our lives simple, so we have time together and time to do those important things, like making paper chains counting down until Christmas! Only 7 days left!!!

rub a dub dub

Eli is learning to love his baths! He likes laying in the tub just relaxing. He usually looks like a little frog most of the time because he holds his legs up really close to his body. Of course, when I was snapping pictures, he was completely stretched out..... but now you can see how much he is growing and how big he is getting.

He's flexing his muscles for you!
Nice and clean and toasty warm!! Isn't he yummy?!

sugar cookies

Two posts in one day! Can you tell I have a spare moment? Well I do, so you're lucky. :)

On Sunday afternoon we made sugar cookies to decorate. It was great fun, and Will really had a good time. We had giant Christmas trees and Gingerbread men that looked more like snowmen.

Here's Will's handy work, alongside his steaming cup of hot chocolate. Look appetizing? I think he had hot chocolate, topped with halloween marshmallows, with a few sugar cookie chunks thrown in. He thought it was great. I didn't think it was great when he spilled the whole thing....
My snowman. I thought he turned out pretty good!
We had some really cool blue sprinkles and Will wanted some on his cookie. By this point I think he had already had about 3 giant cookies, but wanted to decorate some more. So I handed over the frosting and he went to work. A few minutes later, I look over and he has like a TINY speck of frosting on his cooking and a huge mound of blue sprinkles and he's licking the sprinkles up off the table. He had blue lips for two days.