Christmas Village

25th street always has Christmas lights, little houses and Santa. The snow stopped falling so we decided to go and try Max and Joe out in public. They did well. Max was a little frightened at the houses that had moving characters inside. And getting either child to look at the camera when there are people walking all around you is impossible. So here is our best shot. After we went to Grandma Brewers house for hot chocolate and watched Max's favorite show. The Discovery fish and sharks show on Grandma's cable is a must every time we go over there. I am glad that we have two wonderful kids and family close by.

Gram houses and rice snow men

Kaity has been out of school for the past week so she has been playing at our house. We have been creating all sorts of yummy treats. We made gram cracker/gingerbread houses. They had to have flat roofs because the frosting was not thick enough to hold a pitched roof. They still turned out cute. Kaity and Tyler's houses stood just fine. Max's on the other hand never made it. Max squished, licked, knocked, ate and crumbled his house. The picture is of Kaity's because it was the last one standing.

We also made snowmen out of rice crispies. Trying to get Max to look at the camera I think is harder than actually making 1000 rice crispy snowmen. This is the best we could do.

Five Years

Ben and I had our 5th wedding anniversary this month. We were so lucky to get a baby sitter and go OUT on a date. Ben made reservations at a sushi restaurant down on 25th street. It was so nice to eat great food WITHOUT kids hanging all over you. We were in a quiet corner and had a great time. Before we went out the door we snagged a picture with the kids in their pj's. I think this picture is our second "family shot"...ever. The other picture is Joe having fun in the bucket while we were gone. Thanks Grams.

Puzzle

Max is very good at putting his puzzles together. He will put them together, take them apart and then put them together again. Sometimes he puts them together upside down on the glass table. And then he will crawl under the table and look up to see the finished picture. This picture was taken after he had made his gingerbread house (that is why there is frosting all over his shirt).

Presents

Aunt Tammy left a present for Joe's b-day and Max ended up opening it. Joe LOVED the tissue paper. Max LOVED the train. It is a good thing Joe is to little to NOT share. I Tried to explain to Max that he has his toys and Joe has his but that idea is not sticking. Here are the boys enjoying their spoils. Grandma Green gave Joe a little book that sings songs. I put that in his crib so he can be entertained in the mornings til I wake up. Here he is with his stick/happy face enjoying his new book.

Joe's 1st b-day

Joe has turned one. He is a little spit fire. This week he was sick with a little cold. Lucky for us Max and Joe haven't caught the flu. Joe did great at his 1 year appointment. He about threw the nurses off when they were trying to give him his shots. The nurse exclaimed, "Man, he is a strong one." Joe weighed in at 22.1 lbs and is 32" tall. My favorite thing about Joe is is sweet personality. He is always smiling and telling you what is up. He jabbers way more than Max ever did.

Max's 3rd B-day

Max LOVES Cars the movie. He was SO excited to get a Doc Hudson for his Birthday. We had cupcakes at our house and then went up to Logan to hang out with Max's cousin Abran. They had a blast at the little kid fun zone. He is growing up so fast. He also loves Toy Story the movie, so he got a Buzz. It is great I wake up in the mornings with a tazer beam in my face or Buzz saying things in my ear. My favorite thing Max does is when we are reading books at night before bed time he curls up in a little ball and cuddles with me and says, "scratch my back". I wonder which side of the family he got that from???