Christmas festivities

This Christmas we stayed here in good old Logan. It was a really nice and relaxing holiday. It seemed like the month or two before hand had been super busy, so it was great to have such a quiet and mellow time. The two days played out as follows: Christmas eve Bryan worked and the kids and I made and decorated cookies for Santa. We went to visit some friends(the Huffakers) early in the evening and then came home to have our traditional dinner of cheese zombies, tomato soup, and eggnog punch. Then it was time to open gifts. The kids were SO excited!

Here they are each holding up their first gift of the evening.

Here is Bry with his huge mug of eggnog punch.

Here is Ian, obviously thrilled with this gift:)

After opening all the gifts from family, the kids played for a while and then they were off to bed. Bry and I got to spend a good chunk of the night doing prep work for the next morning that we should have done before, but never quite got around to. After being up late and feeding Ian during the night, we were hoping Jake and Kate would sleep in a bit Christmas morning. When I heard whispers and footsteps at 6:30 I was not quite ready to get up. The kids did not seem to care too much about how tired I was, they just wanted to see what Santa brought.

Here is Jake just before they started to dig in.

And here is sleepy looking Kate ready to go.

Here is the aftermath of the two of them.

By about three that afternoon here is what everyone was doing...

Ian was just hanging out in his Christmas p.j.'s.

Jake had a very Transformers Christmas so he was transforming away the day.

Kate passed out in the chair watching a movie.

And Bryan disappeared for a while. I found this.

What a great Christmas!

Ian came home!

December 9th we got to finally bring Ian home. His big brother and sister could not wait to see him.

All ready to head home.

Checking him out. I love how you can see pickpocket Kate's hand stealing Bryan's pen.

Jake's first time holding Ian.

Kate's first time holding Ian.

That is one proud big brother!

An ode to Kate

December 6th our girl had her 3rd birthday. The last 3 years have flown by, but she sure seems older than three sometimes. The things she talks about and says never stop surprising or shocking us. Here are a few photo highlights from the last month or so...

Always posing.

Boy can she put an outfit together. Snow boots, bike helmet and knee pads? Really?

In her "exercise clothes". Just like mine, so she said. Please tell me that is not how I look when I work out!

Oh the chapstick!

Fake glasses and shifty eyes.

Breakfast with her babies, princess cell phone, crown, and stroller. Can't forget the necklace, bracelet, and tutu. She can be quite girly.

Breaking into her birthday gifts.

This girl keeps us on our toes every day, but nothing would be the same with out her. Who knew a girl could be this fun?!

Decorating the tree

The first week of December we got the tree put up and decorated. Here are a few action shots of the kids.

Not sure what this is about...


All pooped out after. Was it really that hard?

The finished product.

Our V.I.P.

This week is a big deal for Jake at school because he is the V.I.P. To say he is excited about it would be a huge understatement. We got the paper to fill out from his teacher, he picked the pictures he wanted to put on the poster and I wrote while he answered all the questions. Since I don't think you can see his answers here are just a few.

Favorite food: Lasagna and Reese's peanut butter cups

Favorite things to do: Go to Thanksgiving Point, Ocean World, and to the beach

His hero: His teacher (he told me it was because he likes how she looks, but we left that part off the poster:)

Food he does not like: Mushrooms and peas

If he had three wishes:

1)Pretend dinosaur bones

2)A pet

3)A swimming pool

And because Kate can't stand not being in at least one picture...

Tiny shoes

My sister-in-law Janna made these tiny little booties for Ian. I took them up to the hospital last night and tried them on. They fit just right. As cute as they are we are hoping that he grows out of them fast because that will mean that he is that much closer to coming home. He is growing every day and seems to be figuring out the eating thing a little more every day also. He is such a sweet little guy. It will be great to have him around:)

Here is Kate holding one of the booties so you can see how tiny they are.

Happy Thanksgiving!

After a great morning with the big kiddos at home, a great lunch feast with great friends, Bry and I got to go spend some q.t. with the little guy. Here he is in the middle of getting his hair washed.

After a bath he was a bit worn out, but kept his eyes opened long enough to get a picture taken in this sweet holiday onesie. Not looking so happy:(

Check out their castle...

and how grown up does Kate look in this picture?

Here's our newest little guy!

Here are a few pictures of Ian...finally. He was born November 18th at 9:45pm and came in at a whopping 3 pounds 7 ounces and 16 1/2 inches long. He is doing great and hopefully we'll have him home in time for Christmas.

All ready to go to church

The other day before church the kids wanted us to snap some pictures of them so here they are.

Pretty and Pretty Tough

Here are the kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes for 2009 provided by Bryan's dad and his dad's wife, Gail. Kate referred to herself (Snow White) as pretty, and Jake (Wolverine) as pretty tough. Unfortunately, Kate got sick this year so Jake took over and was a great big brother for her and got candy for himself and for her. Below is some pictures of the booty.

Family Pictures from September 2009

A co-worker of Bryan's, Amber Tanner, has been getting into picture taking and offered to take our pictures. Obviously we have recently added a new addition to the family so we'll have to meet up with Amber again sometime, but here are some of our favorites. Thanks so much Amber.

Halloween Cheer