Christmas

Christmas pictures

Christmas Eve - hanging stockings

Cute boys

Max has taken to wearing a cap. He origionally tried it forwards, but ran into the wall so he switched to a backwards cap.

Ben

Ben is out of school for 3 weeks now. Monday we made a ginger bread house (or at least a graham cracker, cardboard and hotglue gun version). Ben enjoyed making it. Mostly he liked the huge bowls of frosting and candy which he had complete access to. Today Ben dropped a large wooden cutting board on his big toe. OUCH! That has slowed Ben down ... a little. Mostly he will be wearing sandals for a while until it heals up. Ben is getting excited for Christmas. His Christmas list he wrote at school includes roller skates, a skate board, a snowboard, and a reindeer (he said he wants to feed it lunch....). Ben continues to do great reading. It is very fun to listen to his progress. Ben has taken to writing love notes to our family. He has a very loving and affectionate side. Ben will start playing basketball at the NAZ church in January and keeps telling me he needs to be eating healthy food for his basketball. It is always fun to watch Ben do sports. He normally plays the whole court. He is kind of a one man team. His current favorite sport is soccer and due to the rain the past few days, he has taken to playing soccer with a small ball against the wall in the kitchen....and to think we have 3 boys.... Anyway, we love our sweet Ben and are grateful for him.

Sawyer

Here is our sweet Sawyer. He has taken to pointing and talking lately. He has very specific ideas he is trying to communicate. If Sawyer wants something he is very clear on the matter and you get the message. He is very aware of where Max is and goes looking for him if he's not in the same room. The other day he tried to help Max get out of the tub. He can be very sweet to Max. Sometimes he gives Max toys he knows he likes. And I have even witnessed him trading out toys on occasion (... I want what you have, so why don't you take this ...) But mostly he is the aggressor and just takes what he wants. Max has taken to doing a full lunging (and unfortunately biting) tackle on Sawyer on occassion to protect his toys. Once the shock of the tackle wears off, Sawyer does not seem to be discouraged from getting what he wants. Sawyer is full of excitement and energy and has a smile that will melt your heart.

Max

Ben helped me get these pictures of Max today. Ben is great at getting the boys to laugh. Anyway, Jason and I love these photos. They are so like Max. His hair is getting long and may be cut soon. But we still love it....so it stays. Max is doing great walking. He still is unsure of himself, but he does it. He holds his arms way up high when he walks. It is very cute. He is starting to thin out (a little) due to more movement. We will be sad to see his squishiness go. We often call him Mr. Squish. Today Max has a very sweet sounding husky voice. He has a little cold. Max is pure joy.

The past week....

Last Saturday we decorated the Christmas tree. Sawyer "helped" me put the ribbon on while Max finished his nap. Ben did a great job helping me put the ornaments on after the babies went to bed. Unfortunately, I was in such a hurry to get it done, I did not get a picture. Ben used the step stool and stood in one place to decorate. Most of his ornaments we "grouped" together. We had fun decorating. As you see in the pictures, the tree is surrounded by a large gate that we inherited from a friend. This has been VERY helpful. Max and (especially) Sawyer have been circling the tree all week. Sawyer has made off with a few glass ornaments and he goes running. Luckily, we have caught him every time and we think we now have everything moved out of reach. We often hear the whole tree go jingling which means Sawyer has a hold of a branch and is shaking the tree. We have a fake tree so we just go in and bend them all contorted so he can't reach them.

Note the green broom. Sawyer has been hauling this around. He loves it. He hasn't yet used it to swat at the tree, but it's not Christmas yet..... Sawyer has also taken to eating with a plate. For several weeks now he has been quite adamant that he have a utensil when he eats (no matter what it is) and now often he wants a plate too. He seems to have stopped throwing them.

The last picture is of Max. This little chair is in a corner behind kind of hidden in our Family Room. Max often goes and climbs into the chair. Last week I heard him talking and went to look and he was sitting in the chair reading a book. By the time I got back with the camera, he was on his way out. It was very cute. Max is really starting to do good walking. He is a cute walker. I have a great video clip I took on my camera and have been unable to get it on the blog. I will keep trying.

Ben continues to do great. He has a busy schedule of school and play dates. He is a wonderful big brother and often makes the little boys laugh. Ben is in a discovery stage in regards to reading. I often hear him sounding out words he sees on signs when we are in the car. It must be nice to finally be able to read all of the words around you.

Ben's 6th Birthday-Star Wars

Yesterday was Ben's Birthday. It's hard to believe he's already 6 years old. I was remembering the day, back in Texas, when I went into long and very painful labor with him. It was very worth it. Anyway, Ben chose Star Wars for the theme. We made light sabers out of pool sticks and the boys beat eachother. That was really all the entertainment needed. We had games all centerd around Jedi training (mastering the force, using the light saber, shooting into a galaxy, an obstacle course and then the final battle was defeating the evil foe Darth Vader. This was Jason dressed up in a very home made costume. The boys attacked him viciously (evidently the training was excellent). I finally had to dive in and help get him off the floor. The boys had a great time. It was a lot of fun. Patty, of course, helped me to pull off a great party. She had lots of fun games and decor. Natalie and Kaylee Marsh came and played with Max and Sawyer in their room so they would not be trampled. The last picture is of Sawyer after the party (and just out of the bath) on clean up crew helping to vacuum. He wanted to take the vaccuum part to bed. So here is to another great birthday party. This one is going in the box and you will see it again in 5 years for the little boys.