And we're back!

So...I skipped March.  Something I have never done.  I've had at least one post a month since I started this thing... Oh well.  And we're almost through April! Here's to catch up week!  These pictures are from so long ago.  But we'll just put up a montage to keep the history going...

Probably doesn't need an explanation.  This captures two of Alan's most favorite things.  We had it for lunch at Joy School.

Our Joy School friends are so great!  We've had a wonderful year.  I found these guys playing with the Joy School house at free play time

And when I looked at the calendar later, it looked like this.  It was pretty funny.

And  these two guys sometimes get to get together while their big brothers are at Joy School.

Another picture illustrating two of Alan's favorite things.

Do you want to build a snowman?  They had fun.  And that snowman lasted FOREVER!

Playing pat-a-cake with his little sister

And she loves it!

Trying to transition James from the crib to a bed.  It has been...interesting.  Ups and downs.  Most of the downs related to poking, tattling, kicking, and continuous talking and laughing.  They did well at the beginning.  Then James was back in the crib.  Currently Alan is sleeping in the crib and James in the bed.  Go figure.  That's how they want it. :)  Ok.  We're hoping that James gets used to falling asleep in the bed and then we will make Alan get back in.  Hopefully with less poking. But we'll see!

Grandma Robertson's Birthday!  Here she is with all of her grandkids, which may be the best present of all.

Awesome dachshund cake that Sarah and Michael made. 

Always in on the action!

Big Brother

Little Sister (Other big brother won't eat carrots)

But he worked really hard doing lots of extra jobs to earn money to buy this Angry Bird blanket!

My family came up over President's Day weekend and we had a blast.  The kids went to their first movie in a theater and we saw Frozen (now a family fav).  I didn't get many pics, maybe mom did.  But here are a few poses before people left! 

Grandpa 

Grandma

And the Crazies!!!! Love this shot.

The Many Faces of Mr. James

So James, has been been doing this for months now.  He's in a bit of a two year old phase.  And he would have these melt downs and get really upset.  So I would ask him to show me his happy face.  And the whole thing went from there.  He loves to do his faces.  And they are pretty much hilarious.  Thankfully Megan documented it.  We never had any pictures.  But at the court of honor he decided to put on a show.

Of course Alan had to get in on the action too. These boys are pretty cute and are getting to be quite good pals.  We love them and their silly faces.

Yes, his mood can change about this quickly and this dramatically too.  It's hilarious.  Most of the time. :)

New Year's

Yes, I realize it's February 6th.  We're getting there. :)

I would blame my wonderful sister, Megan, for recently getting me all the pictures that she had on her camera. However, you do not blame people who take all of the pictures for you that you should be taking. You thank them. Thanks Meg! And it's not like she's been doing anything important like getting engaged or anything.  Congrats Meg!  We're so excited for you.

Anyway, that is what is happening currently, and we now need to backtrack a couple of months...

The drive down.  Sporting the royal blue classic cougar sweatshirt despite our bowl game loss the night before.

We stopped at Lindsay's house and got to meet her cute little Nora! So fun to visit with Lindsay and her mom!

Gotta love Grandma's house. He just came walking up the stairs like this one day. It was pretty funny.

I love how hard she is concentrating here.

And this one is one of my absolute favorites

Playing a little Stratego

We also got to go to Nathan's Eagle Court of Honor when we were there. Don't mind the smudges. Someone got into it before the event started.

The culprit himself. :)

Nate's looking pleased. :)

Congrats Nate!!!!

Everything went well and the food was delicious

A great pic of Grandma

And of these two.  (silly face pics to follow in another post. there were too many to post here)

Ahhh, ever competitive brothers

Sporting her new BYU pj's

Uncle Nate was tending some chickens over the time when we were there, and the boys got to go with him to feed the chickens and collect eggs.

And they loved it!

Our smiley goose!

Loving the Chinese buffet!

Love it!

Snuggles with Grandma

And Megan

We of course had to get in a little N-64 at Great Grandma's. The boys were in heaven.

I love the scarf look, Ginny.

Making some cookies with the Star Wars cookie cutters

And loving it!

Smooches from Grandpa!

We had our traditional fondue for New Year's Eve.  Grandpa thought it would be fun to get out the chocolate fountain for the boys.

And he had no idea just how fun...

it would be!

We had a great trip, and a wonderful New Years, with all of the traditional celebrations.  Alan had been wanting to be nocturnal or "octurnal" as he calls it, for months.  We kept telling him he could be nocturnal on New Year's Eve.  So when the time came, he of course made sure that we made good on our word.  I somehow thought he would fall asleep?  He is one determined fellow.  He stayed up til midnight, but was pretty tired.  He was still convinced at this point that nocturnal meant no sleep at all.  I convinced him he could pop another popper on the tree if he would then go to sleep.  He was exhausted and thankfully took me up on the offer. But I think he had a fun night, and we all had a very fun trip.

Christmas

Well, here is the long overdue post documenting Christmas 2013!  This year marked the first year we had Christmas in our own home!  It was a lot of fun, but we've decided it is a lot of work as well! It's a lot easier when your mom is taking care of having everything just so. :)  But it was fun to be able to celebrate here.

We had a early Christmas celebration with Michael and Sarah, and had a lot of fun singing Christmas carols together.  They gave us this Jenga game, which the boys love, and have renamed "Timber."  Alan could never remember the name, so Timber pretty much took over.

Our little Santa elf on Christmas Eve!

Here we are getting ready for our Christmas Eve dinner.  It was so fun to have Grandma and Grandpa Robertson with us that night and the next morning!

After the kids were in bed, the evening was spent assembling these blocks and other toys, wrapping last minute gifts, and finishing stockings.  We have a bit of an Angry Birds Star Wars obsession around here, and thought these little plushes and blocks would be fun for the boys.  On Christmas morning when Alan walked out he immediately yelled, "Yes!  Just what I've always wanted!" and without missing beat, picked up Chewbacca and threw him at the blocks.  It was pretty funny.

Here is our tree with entirely too many gifts.

Chillin in our bed before we went out to open gifts.  It had been a long night.  James had an ear infection. At least it was better than last year.  But still, a very long night.

The slinky was a hit.  Pretty sure we could have stopped after that with James.  We had to keep bribing him to open more gifts.  He loved each one so much he wanted to stop and play and had no interest in opening any more gifts.

And the obsession continues. He loved about everything he got.

Lucy took a nap during the middle of the present opening, and finished opening her gifts at Grandma and Grandpa Robertson's house after Christmas dinner that evening.

We had a wonderful Christmas and are so very blessed.  It was so fun to be able to still be with family, even though we were at our own place.  We are especially grateful for our Savior and this special time of love and giving!