First Tooth Fairy Visit

Mark and the boys spent the week between Christmas and New Years in Montana, while I stayed home alone and worked. When they left Kale's tooth was pretty loose, and every night on the phone I made sure Mark new how upset I would be if he pulled it out while he was in Montana, because I wanted to be there for the experience. So...when they got home I was so glad to see he had no holes in his smile. Then the night they got home, New Year's Eve, while I was at work, I got a picture message from Mark, and this is what I saw when I opened it.....
oh, I was heartbroken! I mean, look at that face!! You can tell he was upset, but trying so hard not to show it, but excited all at the same time, and I wanted to hug him so bad! Kale doesn't do well with pain at all, and I know losing a tooth can sometimes hurt just a little, but for Kale a little is a lot. I found out later that those tears dried on his cheeks weren't from the 'pain' but from the anticipation. He had bitten into an apple and his tooth was basically sticking straight out the front, so he and Mark yanked it out, and the waiting, and having dad's big fingers in his mouth got him a little nervous. But he made a point to tell me that it didn't hurt at all :)

Kale turns six

Kale turned six this year, and every one of his birthdays makes me cry. For some reason his are harder on me than the other boys' birthdays. Must be because he's my first, and by the time Jack will turn six it won't be such a big milestone for me. This year we had a small present/cupcake party at our house, just the five of us, but then we met the Mineers at Chuck-E-Cheese's to play, and then to Arctic Circle for ice cream and cupcakes a few days later.

Mark and I were really excited about our present for him....we finally got that boy a Nintendo DS, and he was so excited. I just couldn't capture it on camera though.

I think Chuck-E-Cheese was designed with boys like Kale in mind (and his dad, of course) These guys could have played for hours and hours. And I was surprised at how much fun even I had.

Here's the little dudes chillin at the Cheese

...and the big kids at the Circle....

.....and the big boys too!

Happy Birthday Kale, we love you so much!

Christmas, 2009

Christmas was fun, and low-key for us this year. This was the first year we weren't within driving distance of any grandparents, which was fun and sad at the same time. It was nice to not have any company or go anywhere, but kinda lonely. I also had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas day this year, so we celebrated a few days early. We had a talk with Kale and asked him if it was ok if we called Santa and re-scheduled, and he said, 'no problem!'

Here is Kale playing with his favorite toy, his legos. This kid is so in love with legos!

And here is Jack with his favorite toy, a new train set. It's great because the trains are battery powered and drive around the track all by themselves.

And here is Luke with his favorite present, a barrel of cheese balls. He pushes the barrel around the house and snacks all day long.

Here are the boys in their Christmas pajamas from Grandma Wendy. This was the first year I didn't know what they were going to look like, so it was fun for me to watch them open them as well.

All dressed up for church!!

Oh....and we have another Christmas surprise as well........we are pregnant! We found out in August that we were expecting, but decided to keep it a secret from everyone until we were able to find out if it was a girl or a boy. My entire family came down the first weekend in December for my niece's baptism, and we told everyone over lunch that we are expecting a little girl in May. We are all so excited, and a little anxious about what a little girl will bring to a house full of boys!

December 2009

And here are a few shots of December....

The boys got new bunkbeds for Christmas, and Luke moved from the crib to the toddler bed, all in one night. It was a huge success! The boys love the bunkbeds, and Luke hasn't gotten out of bed once.

Grandma Janice wrote and published a children's book this year, and here she is reading it to Kale.

When Grandpa came to visit he and mark and Kale changed the brakes on the car. He was such a good helper!

November 2009

Just a few random cute shots of some going-ons in November...

Here are the boys watching the air popper. It was super exciting, and the caramel popcorn it made was icing on the cake!
Luke has finally figured out how to monkey up onto the table, and he lives up here, literally. It's impossible to keep him off of it.
The big boys showing off their fall craft.
Luke has a fettish for eggs. Two different instances at the grocery store where he got into the egg carton in the cart and tried to bite into them like an apple. On this particular day I had brought in all the groceries and had the bags lined up on the floor in the kitchen while I was unloading. After putting them all away I realized I was missing a carton of eggs. Right about then Jack came in telling me something about Luke and eggs, so I ran into the toy room and found this......raw egg on the carpet, in the toys, on the table. YUCK

First good snow

Here are just a few pictures of our first good snow of the year. Funny how we get so excited for it in November and December, but dread it in February.

Disney on Ice (Princesses)

In November I won tickets on the radio to Disney Princesses on Ice. I had told Jeannie the week before that I was planning on win the tickets, so when I actually did, it was kinda funny. The original plan was that Jeannie and I were going to take her two girls and have a girls night out. Well, it just so happened to land on a weekend when Jeannie was out of town, so after lots of debating, I decided to take Mark and the boys. The place was full of little girls in princess dresses, but I thought the boys would love it anyway, and I was right! It was such a fun thing to do together, and they really enjoyed every minute of it, even Mark!

(I didn't think enough ahead to take my good camera, so all the pictures of the actual performers are dark and unclear.)