Mr. Adventure

Lucas had many adventures today. While Evan was asleep we built his fireman legos he got for Christmas. It was my first time and took us at least an hour. Then he kept everything together for while and then couldn't resist taking it all apart again. It's back in the ziplock now.

At 4:00 we headed to the park. Lucas and I played pirate while Evan watched, then thankfully our friends showed up. So, he got to play hide and seek with lots of kids. Eventually Lucas threw our friend's ball over the fence into the pool area, so the kids went to get it. Unfortunately, being so close to the pool was all too tempting for Mr. Adventure and he jumped in the baby pool - shoes, jeans, and shirt. In January. He had a great time splashing around for 5 minutes or so. Then we had a cold walk home (it was beautiful today - he lucked out) and headed to the warm bath.

After dinner Ben brought a huge box full of packing popcorn down. We let the kids play in it. Lucas loved it, Evan hated it. Lucas eventually dumped it all out and had to clean it up. It was a disaster!

And now it's time for bed. Let's hope everyone sleeps well. Gooood night.

Finders Keepers

Evan found an Oreo in the pantry today. I had to let him keep it.

Birthday Teaser...

Happy Birthday, Beautiful Boy!

Lucas's Mural

The other day I was in search of something to do with Lucas, so I decided we would make a mural. Lucas just recently started drawing people and I love it! We decided to draw our Christmas Vacation. It started with a giant Christmas tree and included everyone we saw at Christmas. I drew a few and Lucas drew the rest. Everyone is wearing a black hat for good measure.

In the front row: Ben (green), Lucas, Evan (in Lucas's arms), Christmas tree, Me, my mom, Oscar (dog), and my Dad.
Top row: Maddie, Brian, Lisa, Carrie, Rob, Hunter, Stoney, Andi, Sadie, Ellie, and Tina.
I have it hanging up in the kitchen and Lucas loves to look at it on the wall. Today he sat down and said, "Mom, I love looking up and seeing my picture!" Perhaps it will be there for a while...

Evan will be one on Friday. ONE. I can't believe it. For Lucas's first birthday I made a fancy schmancy cake. I worked on it all week. For Evan's first birthday I can't even decided on a flavor. And I'm also kind of hoping to be working a hair show on his birthday. Poor baby. We WILL have an awesome party and there will be a delicious cake, just not a fancy tiered cake with fondant icing.

Speaking of the precious man we refer to as Evan, he is doing great. He loves doors. LOVES them. He recently learned to open doors, so he spends a lot of time closing himself in the pantry, opening the door, then sitting down, closing the door again, standing up to open it, etc. He thinks it's great. Other things he thinks are great: food (he can eat more than Lucas), baths, books, cupboards, drawers, and more doors.
Here is a picture I took of Evan today and one of Lucas right before he turned one. I love them.

And a pic of Lucas from today. He's playing Indiana Jones with Ben, who got to come home from work at 3:30 to make up for working a 12 hour day yesterday... on a holiday... when he was supposed to be off. Anyhow, no one is bitter or anything. I think we'll go celebrate our togetherness right now. Happy Tuesday night.

Christmas Was...

Beautiful

Delicious. We Ate. We Drank. We made Merry.

We saw Sisters.

And Brother. (And Cousins)

We explored.

We discovered.

And we had a good time.

We had several firsts. And we were exhausted.

But all in all, Christmas was pretty fantastic. We apologize for bringing the stomach bug with us from the airplane. But, you would have all gotten it eventually :). Thank you for playing with our kids, showing them that they are loved, and being patient. Sorry about all the diaper changes requiring baths... didn't quite expect that, nor the late-night screaming fits. Thank you, Lisa, for being the live-in doctor. I don't know what we would have done without your handy otoscope and prescription pad to heal our ear infections. Dad, thanks for handing over your trusty rocking chair. We miss it. Mom, thanks for all your hard work and love. Carrie thanks for providing Lucas with a great first sleep over. Maddie, thanks for being Lucas's "best friend" and for the personalized cookies. I think we should go into business!
Rob and Andi, thanks for letting us come play with the cousins! We love us some cousin time.
Pat and Nancy, we missed you this year and can't wait to see you again!
Congrats to all my newly impregnated friends. There are too many of you to count. Don't worry, I'm sure your babies will never have diaper changes that require baths afterward.
We enjoyed this time of year to reflect on our love for our family, our Savior, and to think about the year to come. Happy 2011, everyone.