We had a wonderful Christmas. It started out at my mom's house Christmas Eve. We had dinner with my family and watched the Nativity movie. We all opened one present...pajamas. Preceis was a little tired.

Bubba Sud got a doll from Santa. Yes a doll and no I don't think it'll make him a sissy. If you look at the pic below you will see he is pounding his doll with a hammer. He only likes dolls that have a binky he can take out. The one Santa brought cries when you take out it's binky and Hudson thinks that is so funny.

Karter got Handy Manny Workshop. He has asked for nothing else for the last month. He was so happy. He ran out to the living room and when he saw it he said "Yes!". Silly boys. He has spent lots of time "builiding" things the last few days. It came with blueprints of different things you can build and Handy Manny talks you through it.

By four o'clock the kids were done for. Karter had gone to help feed cows with my brothers and Karl. When he got home he sat down in the chair and didn't move. Hudson took a late nap also so Karl and I ended leaving the kids home so they could sleep (with my mom) while we went to dinner at his mom's house.

Bubba has a new hiding spot. If you can't find him this is wherer he usually is...or sitting in the fridge. I finally remembered to take a pic of him while I was making Christmas dinner.

I'm sitting here in the computer room and I can hear Karter eating the gingerbread house in the kitchen. He's been told several times today that he can't eat it. I asked him "What are you doing out there?" he says "Ummm.....eating nothing." Oh ok. I believe you.

One evening while I was making dinner Karter and Hudson were busy terrorizing Sunny. Karter was pretending that his car seat was his sleigh, Sunny was his reindeer, the bag was his reigns and Hudson was catching a free ride. It was too funny. Karter would get mad at Hudson when he would make a horse sound. He would whine and tell me that Sunny wasn't a horse he was a reindeer. Hudson was having a blast and Sunny endured it as long as he could.

Last night was our church's Christmas party. Santa made his usual presence and Karter LoVeD him. He walked right up to him, past all the kids in line, stood in front of him and said "I want a Handy Manny buildshop." We went and stood in line and told him he needed to wait his turn. When his turn came he climbed up on his lap, told him his name and what he wanted. Then he posed for the cutest pic! Hudson wanted nothing to do with him and my camera battery died just as I went to snap a pic of him holding tightly to Karl while trying to get as far away from that scary man as he could.

After he was done talking with Santa he introduced his friend Logan to Santa. Just in case Logan had no clue who he was. He said "Yo-yo this is Santa. You tell him what you want for Christmas. Santa this is my friend Yo-yo." Ahh...that kid.

It's been a long three weeks at our house. Not exactly fun filled either. The boys got colds...then Karl got a cold. The boys started throwing up...then Karl started throwing up. Which led to a doctor visit, two shots and a few days of not moving from the couch. Then Karl got strep throat...serioulsy! I was lucky enough to make it through with none of the above. Thank heavens! It should be a rule that if you are a mom you do not get sick. It's bad enough caring for a sick husband and sick kids without feeling nasty yourself.
We had a great Thanksgiving with lots of family. I love the holidays. I love getting together with family, eating and playing games.
Here's a few pics of the none sick moments in the last three weeks. Enjoy!

Eating a snack while getting their TV fix.

Karter is outgrowing naptime....booooo-hoooooooo. What a horrible thing to happen. He is occasionally a little on the grouchy side but doesn't think he needs to lay down. One day I knew he was tired but didn't push the issue. He told me that he was just going to lay down on the floor for a minute. That minute turned into two hours.

Karl helped Karter build a gingerbread house. Karter loved it. He had Karl cut out a door and he pretended some "little people" lived in the house. He fed them and played with them and then demolished the house. Great!

Karter has started using his imgination a lot lately. He is a different person everyday and I often wonder where he comes up with his ideas. He has been superbunny, a fire engine, a cop not to be confused with a policeman...they are not the same! This pic is of him being a "scout". He wore Karl's belt like sash and for some reason had to have lotion on his face. He's such a character.
Hudson has developed quite the attitude. He throws a monster fit if he gets things taken away from him or if things aren't going his way. He is mad at me in this pic for taking my camera away from him.

Karter received a radio control four wheeler for his birthday. Hudson likes to "ride" it. It is so funny. He puts it down and works his chubby little bottom down on it and then makes a few sounds before it tips backwards and he hits the floor completely frustrated. I love those jammies. I bought them on super clearance after Halloween. They are so funny on his chubby, short body.

Karter seems to be going through a jealous stage lately. He was never jealous of Hudson when we first had him but he is now. If anyone is paying attention to Hudson Karter will try to steal the attention. That usually happens by him doing something naughty. So when I was taking a picture of Hudson on the four wheeler Karter needed a turn too.

Karl put our Christmas train up for the kids. They have both loved playing with it. Karter layed on his tummy in the middle of it and watched it go around....and around.....and around. So cute!

My cute Karl snores like a bear. He has done it as long as I've known him and it has progressively gotten worse and louder. We have had people sleeping downstairs be able to hear him. Yikes! He did an at home sleep study and he failed it. He quits breathing for a total of an hour a night and had some crazy high number of how many of his breathes were snores. The doctor wanted him to have an over-night sleep study done but when we went to schedule it we found out it would cost $2500 out of our pocket. We were able to find a place that would do it for less but we had not yet scheduled it. On one of the many nights I would lay awake watching TV hoping for his snoring to go away so I could sleep I saw a commercial for puresleep. I showed it to Karl and he ordered one.

It came in the mail yesterday and I was so excited. Finally a night with no snoring. What would it be like? Would it really work? I couldn't wait!

We snuggle down in our warm flannel sheets and drift off to sleep. Snore free. For real! It worked. I was so happy as I was falling asleep I couldn't believe it....but wait. I hear something. It's not snoring. It's Karter throwing up all over his bed. Awesome! The first night I am actually going to sleep without having to kick my husband and my kid has to get sick.

Needless to say none of us slept much. Karter continued to throw up all night. Missing the garbage can that I was holding in front of him everytime. (Can you imagine the laundry I have today.) But at the times that I knew Karl was asleep he didn't make a sound. Super Fab! Hooray for puresleep.


PS - I guess the links don't work. And I really don't have the ambition to fix it. So...there you have it.

An over abundance of blessings....

This blog is amazing. http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/
It is so profound and touching. We have all heard about the people suffering in Africa and seen all the commercials asking for donations to help feed them....but this...this is shocking to me. To read a young womens account of her everyday life in Africa and all the struggles these people have is crazy. The blessings we have from living in this country are beyond belief. My children would never go hungry no matter how poor we were, we would not go without medical care, or the basic necessities of life. After reading this I want to do more, be a more giving person, sacrifice some of my "luxuries". I obviously don't have the option to jump on a plane to Africa but I know there is things I could do here.

When Karl and I lived in Montana seven years ago I worked at a home for children who had been removed from their homes for one reason or another. I wish so badly that I could go back in time and be more loving to those kids. Their lives were so sad. Many had no hopes of ever being adopted due to their ages and "issues", their parents had abandoned them or put them in horrible situations, most hadn't seen or heard from them in years. They didn't have a happy home to go to after school. They all had their own personal problems because of the things they had been exposed to and so because of that the home was run very strictly. They came home to counseling sessions, written schedules, if they acted out the were dropped a "level". They had no childhood. They existed and were trying to find their place in a world of people that had forgotten them.

Now that I have my own kids I look back and wonder how those kids parents could just walk away from their kids or worse do the things to them that had been done. How sad that they had to grow up in a state run home, no grandparents, no cousins, nobody. And when you turn eighteen you go out into the world and have no place to go back "home" too.

I wish I could see them now. Or maybe not. I can remember each of their names and faces like I just saw them yesterday. It makes me sad....

Any-who...I guess I am in an emotional/reminiscing mood. I'm going to squeeze my kiddos and find some ways to do more in my own community.

This is super cute and would be great if you have little hands around during the holidays. I am totally getting one!

2009 Little People Nativity $21 shipped! Hot holiday item!

I have started talking with Karter about "strangers". I gave him the normal example of "if someone offers you a piece of candy....". He listened, sort of processed it and went about playing.

So today the propane man comes to fill our tank and Karter ran and opened the door for him. I told Karter that he isn't allowed to open the door for anybody. I asked if he remembered what we had told him about strangers. He said, "Hey little boy. Come here I have a candy for you." (this is especially funny if you know how Karter talks) I said "Good job. Now what do you do?" He says, "Please."

Ummm....no.

Random Pics

Karter and Hudson have discovered playdoh. Karter likes to play with it...Hudson likes to eat it. Yum!
I'm not sure why Karter thinks he always needs to do a silly face.

And there are the goggles yet again.

Cute pudgy legs.

Karl said this picture looks like him when he was little. I thought it was so darn cute. Hud is so darn cute.

Karter loves to "wash" the dishes. Dishes that are already clean but what little kid can resist playing in water. By the time he's done he has pretty much washed the entire kitchen. Tonight while washing he came up with a fabulous idea to dunk his head in a bowl full of water after a few tries he decided he needed his motorcycle goggles. They are his new obsession. He wears them to the store, resturaunts, while he does his "homework school" just about anywhere. We took this video so he could show Grandpa what he was doing. So....here you go Grandpa. Enjoy!

PS - Hudson is sucking on a dish rag but it was a new clean one. No worries there.

I was looking forward to Halloween this year. It was fun to watch Karter. He would knock on peoples doors and say "knock knock...tricker treating" and then he would get his candy and as he was walking away he would say "thank you...tricker treating". We had to tell him more than a few times that he was only allowed to take one piece of candy per house. Once he figured that out he would ask the people for more instead of just taking it. When he knew the people at the door he would invite himself in and play with their toys or ask for a drink. He is quite a kid. We let him pick out his own costume and he changed his mind quite a few times before he finally decided on Spiderman. I was hoping for something a little less generic but he loved it.
Hudson was a GROUCH when we started out the evening. We attempted pictures but he was not having it. Contrary to what it looks like he LoVeD wearing the clown nose. He would get mad if you took it off. He made a cute little clown...tears or not. Once we got out and started trick or treating he did good. He held a big ole taffy in one hand and a sucker in the other and enjoyed the walk.

Ahhhh.....finally. No smiles but no open mouth screams.

After trick or treating Karl took Hudson home and I went with my mom and some friends to the pumpkin walk. It was stinking cute this year. They did a fabulous job. There was a lot cutouts to take your pic in. Karter loves Dora and lucky us he got to be her...and I had the pleasure of being Boots.

We carved pumpkins last night for FHE. It was fun and not nearly as messy as I was anticipating. It helped that Karter was not interested in pulling the insides out. He thought it was gross. This coming from a boy who has smashed worms in his bare hands. Go figure...

I thought this picture was funny of Hudson. I was trying to get a picture of him looking at the insides and this is what I got. Dang those are some cheeks!

Karter waited patiently while Karl cleaned and carved his pumpkin and then he decorated it with stickers and colored/stabbed it with his crayons. My camera died (like usual) so I'll have to post a pic of his finished product later.

The night I was supposed to go the hospital to be induced with Karter Karl had a lot of anxiety. Rightfully so...and a little more because the hospital called and said they didn't have any room for us. So we had waited all day to go have a baby just to find out we had to wait another. For some reason we had a pumpkin at our house so Karl went and bought a pumpkin carving kit and made an elaborate carving. It was really cool. If I remember right it was a witch riding a broom flying through the sky. I recorded him while he was doing it and he was in such a bad mood. It was funny. He wanted to go have a baby!

Any-who...since that year Karl has carved a fancy pumpkin every Halloween. He always keeps it a suprise and we aren't allowed to look. This is what he did last night....

Lovely! A barfing pumpkin. Who wouldn't want one of these.

This is the latest flower Karter "picked" for me. I thought it was so darn cute. It's nice to know you are loved enough to get a flower like that. Karter is always picking me flowers or giving me rocks. It's so funny how little kids do that. I remember picking out rocks for my mom all the time. She had a wooden bowl full of them that she kept on the fridge. A few days ago Karter was playing trucks in the dirt and I saw him start stuffing his coat pockets with dirt. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was going to bring it inside. One pocket full was for his buddy Logan though. I told him I thought Logan probably had enough dirt at his house but Karter was sure he needed some more. I am scared for the days that it's bug and reptiles that will be finding their way into his pocket.

It was Karter's 3rd birthday on the 15th. :( It makes me sad how fast my kiddos are growing up. We didn't have his party until the day after but we tried to make his birthday fun. Karl and I got him a "skooger" aka a skooter. If we are ever at someone's house and he spots one he always "calls" it. He was so excited he had to go outside and ride it at 7am and was begging me to call Logan to come and play for an hour before I finally gave in and called Jenny at eight.
We ordered him a "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" cake from Walmart. When Karl went to pick it up they didn't have it. Uhhh....luckily we had scheduled to pick it up the day before his birthday party so we weren't up a creek. They told us it would be free because of the mixup AwEsOmE!! Karl brought Karter home a little cake for him to have that night.

It was Spongebob and Karter had a complete meltdown when we sang Happy Birthday to him because he didn't want to share his cake with us. He wouldn't even blow out his candles.

Then Logan came along and Karter was more than happy to share with him and Hudson.

We took Karter and Logan bowling for Karter's birthday "party". They had lots of fun and did pretty good paying attention and staying on task. I told them to smile for a pic and this is what I got.

Thank heavens for the ramp! It made things so easy.

After bowling we went to Artic Circle for some greasy lunch. Yum! Then we headed over to Walmart to pick up the cake. And guess what....they had it this time but had made it wrong. I had ordered 24 cupcakes and they had made me a cake. Yikes! The lady was so embarassed. She was the same one who had told Karl the day before that they didn't have the cake. So I got a free cake and they made me some cupcakes for free also.

We were going to take the boys to the movie but after waiting around for Walmart to get the cupcakes ready the boys were a little antsy. We decided to hit up a super fun park in town and call it good.

That night we did cake with all the family. It was fun. Lots of kids, cake and presents. I forgot batteries when we where dealing with the cake dilema so my camera was dead. So no pics of the party. Darn! Thanks for all the gifts!

Today while the kids and I were eating lunch Karter was counting the spaces on his lunch tray. He said "one, two, one" I said "what comes after two?" he said "October" I said "no your birthday is in October. How old are you going to be?" he said "Red." Yikes! I think we are a little confused.

We went to Las Vegas last week to see some friends and go to a wedding. It was loads of fun! We weren't able to see all the people we had wanted to and the burb had some oil issues but it was totally worth the hassle. It was the first time we had been back since we moved. I was amazed by how much new growth there is there. I guess I thought since the economy isn't so hot that things would have slowed down. I was wrong.

This is Karter on the first leg of the trip. We drove to Salt Lake and stayed the night with Karl's great aunt. Gotta love DVD players in the car. The kids did fabulous on the way there and on the way home. Not a single meltdown. Halleluja!

Sudsie slept a lot and had fun having screaming wars with Karl. I have no idea what Karl was thinking but it entertained the boys. Hudson got car sick in the middle of Utah but was thankfully out of the car when he threw up.

This was just outside of Pocatello on the day we left. It was cold and rainy...and snowing! We were glad to be heading to a few more days of warm weather.

We stopped at Cove Fort to take a break for lunch and let the kids run around a little. I have always wanted to stop there but Karl is the type that wants to get in the car and go. So it was nice to have the kids along so we HAD to stop.

It was pretty cool. They have the rooms all restored and have some neat history stuff. The little window above is where they would look to see who was at the gates and also to shoot their guns out of.

The fam at the Shark Reef. The boys loved it. Hudson kept saying WoW!!

This is where Ryan and Allison were married. It was so pretty. Fabulous!

So sweet.

Karl was able to catch up with some of his old work buddies from Countrywide at the wedding. He loved seeing them. I don't know how much work was accomplished when all these guys were together but I know there was lots of horseplay. This is Ceasar and his wife.

James and Ernie.

Karl and Santa Clause....I mean Nate

Karl and Ryan (the groom). Thanks for a fabulous evening Ryan and Allison!

This was an attempt to get a pic of our kids and Steve and Julie's together. Our kids had so much fun with Sammi and Tyler. They all got along fabulously. Karter has talked about going to our "friends" house everyday since we got home. He doesn't grasp why we can't just get in the car and go see them again.

Ahh....good ole Joles. I love this girl. She is so much fun! It was so nice to see each other, catch up and learn some good old dark secrets from our pasts. We tried to get a sitter every night we were there and finally had some luck the last night. We met up with the boys who were at Buffalo Wild Wings (yum!) wathching the Steelers game. We stuffed ourselves silly, went bowling and then rode the rollar coaster at New York New York (pictures to come). Good times!

This was the only group picture we took. So sorry....not so fab. Julie and Steve were great to go along with Karl and I eating out just about every meal so that we could hit all of our old time favorites. DeLiSh!!! Thanks so much Julie and Steve for a fabulous weekend! We have to do it again. This time lets not wait so long.