December 2013

December was an interesting month...We didn't do a whole lot, but we had a couple of things happen. 

We went to a Christmas celebration at one of the mini PX's on post cause they had a Santa there where they let you take your own pictures. Well, we went and they basically had this big bingo game and karaoke. They did have a "Santa" who was in a Santa outfit, penny loafers, VERY fake beard to where we could see the elastic holding it on and a very obvious pillow in his suit. He also did not look happy and had dark circles under his eyes. I was thankful he was willing to do the service of playing Santa, but honestly, I wish they had tried harder to make him look a little more believable.  :( Anyway, so, this was the day before Christmas Eve. They had a great Santa at the PX who was only there until Christmas Eve. So we brought the kids there to get pictures. Travin did awesome! He wasn't scared at all! Kind of wish Santa would have smiled, but he was being really sweet with the kids anyway. 

I just noticed the creepy gingerbread man next to the chair.
Aah! LOL

Chase had his first Christmas program at school. I had no idea they were having one until a day or two before. He did great! It was fun watching him. 

He couldn't find us at first and got the saddest teary eyed look on his face. Then he saw me. :)

We got really spoiled having daddy on half days from the 16th on. And then he had a few days off. The boys had a great time playing video games with their dad. School starts again tomorrow!

My little mischievous boy.

When I tell him "no," or "ah, ah" I guess I kind of squint my eyes. I kept wondering why he glared at me every time. LOL

He did finally start taking unassisted steps toward the middle of the month. But it's only when he feels like it.

Being goofy with Mommy!

After another unsuccessful attempt to save enough money to go and visit my parents in NH, we decided we would head to Tucson to be with Kylann's family. As it got closer to the date, we realized we probably wouldn't have the money to make it out there either. So we decided to stay home. :( I was disappointed we weren't going anywhere, but we've never done Christmas with just our little family. We've always gone to visit someone that day. So it was fun. We ended up having my best friend, Sonja, her two kids and her mom over for Christmas dinner. It was great to have the company. Even though I had gotten sick two days before. 

That is another big thing that happened. This may be TMI, but don't read it if you feel it is. After bleeding for pretty much the whole month of December, I found out I was pregnant and was having a miscarriage within a few days. :( It's really ok though. We didn't even really have enough time for the pregnancy to actually sink in. We think of it as another child we get to raise during the Second Coming. This was my first (and hopefully my only) miscarriage. I honestly don't know how I could have handled having two children so close to the same age (18m/19m), maybe Heavenly Father knew that. :) Yes, there is a chance we will have one more child, but I don't think it'll be any time soon. But then again anything is possible. :)

I pray that you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you will have an amazing year this year!

Some videos from December!...

Kyler singing Itsy Bitsy Spider

Our Christmas Elf

Ok, so I wasn't so sure about this whole Elf on the Shelf thing. Honestly, I always thought they were a little creepy. But after my mom bought us one, and I looked around online at different ideas, I thought about it a little more and figured the boys would really get a kick out of it. For those who don't know what it is, the Elf on the Shelf is a special scout elf sent from the North Pole to help Santa Claus manage his naughty and nice lists. When a family adopts an elf and gives it a name, the elf receives its Christmas magic and can fly to the North Pole each night to tell Santa Claus about all of the day's adventures. Each morning, the elf returns to its family and perches in a different place to watch the fun. Kids love to wake up and race around the house looking for their elf each morning.

There are two simple rules that every child knows when it comes to having an elf. First, an elf cannot be touched; (Though in our family, adults are a allowed to touch her) Christmas magic is very fragile and if an elf is touched it may lose that magic and be unable to fly back to the North Pole. Second, an elf cannot speak or move while anyone in the house is awake! An elf's job is to watch and listen.

The boys named her "Candy." Which was very fitting cause the first thing she did when she came to us, is get into the Halloween candy. Haha!

I tried to take pictures each time she got into mischief, but I forgot a couple of nights. 

She TP'd the bathroom! What a mess!

She drew on the boys' pictures one night.

Took a nap in Travin's diaper

A "bubble" bath in marshmallows

She started to color a picture.

The other toys held her hostage!

She wanted a hug from our magnet
monkey.

Hiding in a plant

Snow angels in flour

She had a little accident. Pooping chocolate chips

She wanted to wear Chase's rudolph hat he made in school.

Decided she needed clothes one night. She made herself a skirt and some boots.

She missed her friend Frosty, so she made a picture out of him from our fridge.

She put up streamers to the boys' room one night. They loved this one!

She added icicles to our tree.

Last night. Saying goodbye. She wrote the boys a letter and gave them a coloring sheet along with some candy canes filled with skittles.

November 2013

Not a whole lot went on this month...I turned 23 and we celebrated Thanksgiving. The boys went to a little birthday party for the girl next door to us. They had someone there who was doing face painting. She did an awesome job!!

He figured out real fast how to get into these drawers in the kitchen. Mommy had to put up lots of child locks and move things to different drawers. 

We met up with my best friend, Sonja and her kids one night. Went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse.

Josie eating a lemon. Crazy girl!

The boys had fun chasing each other around the Christmas tree at Freedom Crossing. 

Kyler was a little memorized by the Christmas tree for quite some time. LOL

Little monkey all bundled up. 

Josie, the photo bomber

I love this picture!! These boys love each other! 

Just goofing around...

The one day we got a little bit of snow. So I added the snow actually falling, but who could tell. lol...I missed when it actually snowed, but we saw the aftermath in the morning. Of course Chase wanted to go and get his boots and play in it. I had to explain to him that he really didn't need boots for this kind of snow. Haha!

Happy little boy!

Chase did awesome coloring this picture! 5 years old!

Selfie for Kylann while he was at field training

Left one of the kids in a time out for too long. lol (Putting away Halloween decorations).

Such a handsome baby!

Look mom! All by myself!

Since I took a picture of Kyler, Chase had to have one too. :)

Kyler fell asleep during Sacrament meeting one Sunday. Something he NEVER does! He was not feeling well this day. Of course it was a Sunday when Kylann was away at training. Luckily I have some awesome friends who held Travin for me, while I moved him to the foyer to finish his nap. Poor kid.

Snot and drool. My shirts look like this just about everyday by the time I go to bed.

Messy Travin!

After several weeks of Daddy gone with field training, he was finally home. The boys love it when Daddy reads them bedtime stories!

So ever since we moved into our brand new town home, the stairs have been REALLY creaky! So loud that the kids would hear us coming. Sometimes it would even wake Travin from his naps. So I sent in a work order to see if they could fix it. Cause, being in a brand new house, I wouldn't expect this to happen. We have other friends who have the same layout as us and their stairs don't make a sound! Anyway, they came and ripped up the carpet. And the maintenance guy worked away on the stairs with glue and nails. :/ Of course they were still creaky when he was done, so we had them work on it a bit more. It's tons better, but still creaks a lot. Oh well. 

There were about five steps like this.

This was their solution at first. What??

One night we let the boys have their first sleep over. Ben spent the night with us. They boys had so much fun! They made their own puppets and everything!

Daddy read their bedtime story.

Little stinkers were up until after 10pm playing. Oh well. At least they had fun. 

"What, Mom, I'm not doing
anything."

Getting ready for bath.

Time for some more videos!...

He was over tired. He was upset cause Kyler wouldn't let him count something on in the book. 

\

Travin was eating pancakes and noticed his fingers were sticky.

The cutest thing ever. I asked Chase to go up and comfort Travin until I could get upstairs to get him. This is what I came up to. :)

Boys and their video games...

Kyler used to always try and sing the songs on the radio.

He was so frustrated cause he couldn't get the snacks out of the cup. And he got mad when I tried to show him.