Christmas

We had a great Christmas and we hope you all did too! Sadly, I was so wrapped up in my kids reactions to everything that I didn't take as many pictures as I should have. Oops, I will have to be more careful of that next year. Anyway, we had an amazing holiday! It started on Christmas Eve, we were invited over to a couple from our wards house. They are like grandparents to our kids out here so it was almost like being with family! They have an amazing sledding hill at their house so we did a little Christmas Eve sledding. Clayton wouldn't go (his experience last week was enough to ruin it for him for this season), but Noah had a GREAT time! He went sledding for almost two straight hours, a lot of that he did by himself! He is such a brave boy. Then Sister Besette made an amazing dinner and told a wonderful story about Christmas that Clayton got to help her with. The boys fell asleep on the way home which was nice. We opened our ornaments when we got home and they were so cute! Finally the boys went to bed (it was a fun, but long, day).

Christmas morning started like most others. Clayton woke up at 7:00 ready to eat. He didn't ask about Santa or what toys might be waiting in the living room. I guess he forgot. So he ate breakfast and we waited for Noah to wake up and eat also. Finally we went into the living room. Clayton was so excited! It was a WONDERFUL reaction. He saw all the new toys and yelled, "I love new toys! They are so beautiful!" He got a Hot Wheels city set, some cars, a cash register, a football, a toy sink, and some play food from Santa. He couldn't have been happier. We have hardly seen him since! Noah got some drums, a volley ball, and the toy sink and play food. He didn't really get it, but he sure loved it anyway. Santa was also kind to Justin and me. Justin got a book, a video game, and some candy. As for me, I had the best Christmas of all! Santa got me...a DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY BAND (totally unexpected since our anniversary is in May)!! Needless to say, we were all happy. After a fun morning of oohing and aahing at Santa gifts, opening presents, and playing - it was time for breakfast. We had the traditional Christmas breakfast that I grew up with. I made crepes with vanilla pudding and strawberries, and Justin made cream cheese eggs and sausage. YUMMY! It felt like being back home. We then had a relaxing afternoon full of napping and playing. At 4:00 we had a delicious ham dinner with our good friends, the Goolds. It was nice to visit and spend time with friends. After we put the boys to bed our friends the Zinkes came over and we ended our day with a fun game of Speed Scrabble (such a fun game). It was a great day full of delicious food, great friends, perfect presents, and my guys. Being able to spend the day with my guys is always a perfect gift in and of itself. Being able to see my boys reactions was the best part of my day. I love Christmas as a parent! It's amazing! It was the perfect day and I hope that all of you had as great a day!

Winter Fun!

Justin is finally on Winter Vacation! Yay! We are so happy to have him home with us for two whole weeks! We have been getting a ton of snow lately (we will be having a white Christmas), and yesterday we decided to take advantage. We went sledding with some of our friends. Clayton and Noah had never been sledding before and it was quite the experience. Clayton and I went down for the first time together and, wouldn't you know it, Clayton ended up with a face-full, boot-full, and wrist-full of snow (time for a new snowsuit). Anyway, that pretty much spoiled sledding for him. He did go down one more time with his friend Gracie and he had much more fun going down with her than he did with me, but after that, he was done! Justin and I were so bummed. You plan to take your kids on these great adventures and they just want to go home! What is up with that?!? Noah had a better experience than Clayton did. He went down once with Justin and he actually liked it (he will be my daredevil child). However, after about an hour of Clayton refusing to go back up the hill, we went home. So much for that!
This is Clayton and Gracie coming down the hill (Clayton is in red).

This is afterward. He liked going down with her, but wasn't about to do it again!

This is when Justin and Noah went down together. They had a crash landing and Justin, in true parent style, did everything to make sure Noah didn't end up on the bottom (it was funny to watch)!

Also, Clayton finally wanted to write a letter to Santa. He has been the biggest snoop this year and has actually found a lot of things he shouldn't have! What am I going to do with this kid!! Anyway, he asked for letters and numbers, cars, a cash register, and a football. It was fun to be able to do this together and he was really into it. It will be great this year to see his face when he realizes that Santa has brought him the things he has asked for!

Christmas Party!

We went to a Christmas party last Friday. It was such a great time. The food was delicious, the company was wonderful, and the white elephant gifts were interesting! We ended up with a football (which Clayton loves), a candle (which I love), and a Napoleon Dynamite talking keychain (which we ALL love)! Here are a few pics from the awesome event:
This is what Justin wore. He is always trying to win an "ugliest Christmas sweater" contest. He actually got this sweater from my grandma (it used to be hers). I love that he wears it during the holidays! He cracks me up! (His face is so serious because he is always dead serious about that sweater!)

Here are some of the things we got from the white elephant exchange. (Justin is as serious about Napoleon Dynamite as he is about his sweater.)

Clayton LOVES this football. We have been playing catch ever since he got it. Sadly, since it is so cold outside, we have had to play inside. So much for my "no throwing balls in the house" idea! I guess that's what I get for having boys!

This is our family at the party. Clayton doesn't want to sit for a picture (story of his life) so he isn't being too cooperative. It was nice to be able to get dressed up and hang out with our friends!

These are all of the LDS med students in Justin's class and their families (with the exception of one wife and baby - we missed you Kathryn and Joshua)! It is a really fun group and we are so blessed to have such great friends out here. They have helped make Vermont feel like home to us!

Christmas Fun!

We had a busy weekend!
Friday: ward party! I love ward parties. My kids get to run around while all the grandparents in the ward watch them and cater to them. We also have a man in our ward who looks like Santa. Seriously, it was the first thing I noticed about him when we moved into this ward. So of course he was Santa for the kids! As I said before, Clayton loves Santa this year. The ward party was no exception. This time, however, he knew that Santa would be giving him a present so he was a little antsy. He wouldn't tell Santa what he wanted, he just kept eyeballing the candy. Santa gave the kids candy canes and CTR rings this year. Clayton loved his ring. I thought that was a great idea! Noah was still indifferent. He just stared at Santa as if to say, "What do you want from me?". It was cute.
This is Clayton with Santa. He isn't looking at Santa, he is looking at the basket of treats next to Santa. He definitely understands what Santa is all about this year!

Here is Noah with Santa. The picture is a little dark, but I think it is really cute!

Saturday: baking Christmas cookies! I baked ALL DAY! I tried to blitz it this year and I am so glad I did because now I am done baking!! Yay! I made sugar cookies, hazelnut crescents, and chocolate candy cane cookies. They all turned out so yummy, it was hard to put them on plates and give them away. Clayton helped me do sugar cookies this year. I have been waiting for the day when my kids would want to help me decorate sugar cookies! It was so much fun! He had a great time decorating his cookies and they turned out so cute! He mostly used M&M's on his cookies. (He called them beans). He kept saying, "One bean on the cookie, one bean for Clayton to eat!". I tried to explain to him that we can't put our hands in our mouths and then touch the cookies (this is a hard concept for a three year old). He did great though! I loved doing this with him, it made it even more festive and fun!
Here he is cutting out his cookies! (Check out the CTR ring.)

He was such a great decorator!

The finished product!

Sunday: primary program! Justin and I teach primary and we have been practicing for our program for weeks! Our program was a little late in the year, but it was worth the wait! Our kids did so well, they brought a wonderful spirit and made me so grateful that I get to be their teacher. I don't have any pictures or anything (obviously), but it was an amazing program!

So that was our busy weekend. It was full of food, fun, and friends! It was a great weekend (but I am a little glad that it is over)!

Santa and Snow!

I recently took the boys to the mall to get their picture taken with Santa. Clayton LOVES Santa this year, he has seen him four times already. He always runs up to him (even if he isn't first in line...oops) and says, "Hi Santa, I'm Clayton. That's my mom!" It's pretty cute. Noah, however, is very indifferent to Santa. He didn't cry, but he wouldn't smile either. So here is this year's official Santa picture. (I think it's pretty funny.)

Another fun thing that has happened recently is the snow! It has been snowing here like crazy (there was no snow here last year until after Christmas)! Clayton loves to play in the snow and help Justin shovel the driveway. He has learned how to make a snowball this year and he thinks that they are the best things ever! I keep trying to teach him how to make a snowman, but he doesn't have the patience for that, he just likes the snowballs. So here are some fun snow pictures! Enjoy!
This was from the first snowfall of the year, Clayton is mad at me for making him sit for a picture. He just wanted to play!

Here is Clayton making a snowball.

I love this pic of Noah, he couldn't do too much in that outfit, but he was happy to be there!

Here is Clayton "helping" Justin shovel snow. For those of you who can't tell, Justin gave him a broom. So he is actually sweeping the snow. I think this is good practice for his teenage years!

Another cute one of Noah. I really need to get him snow clothes that fit him! It is actually snowing in these last two pics, sorry about the flakes in front of the camera.

After playing hard out in the snow, what could taste better than a nice hot bowl of Chili! Here is a cute pic of Clayton "making" chili after he "shoveled" the driveway. Say "Cheese"!

The moment you've all been waiting for!

So here are the pictures of OUR BRAND NEW BATHROOM! I know that you are going to look at these pictures and think to yourself, "wait, that doesn't look completely done". Well, it's not. However, it's fully functional which is all that matters to me right now. I will be doing the flooring myself (call me the toolbelt diva), and the next time my dad comes out the walls will be drywalled and textured and then I will paint it. But that is all that needs to be done. I am especially appreciative of the bathroom this week. Here's why: our family room and TV are in our basement. On Sunday, Clayton got the stomach flu. When he is sick, all he wants to do is cuddle on the couch with me and watch TV. This would have been impossible without our new bathroom. We needed to stick pretty close to a bathroom. Without our new downstairs bathroom, Clayton would have been forced to spend the day in his bedroom by himself (or else I would have had to do a whole lot of disgusting cleaning). So thank you, Dad and Justin, for all your hard work. It adds so much to our home and I LOVE IT! I will say it again: I LOVE IT!! So here are some pics so you can love it too!
They literally had to create a room where there was nothing! This is the bathroom from the "hallway". (I know the "hallway" looks ghetto, there is more to be done here too.)

This is what you see when you open the door. The toilet and sink are off to the left and the towel rack is on the right. I know it seems small but, (I say this with all seriousness) it is bigger than our other bathroom.

The thing I love about this toilet is I know everyone who has used it! Yay! Somehow that makes cleaning it not seem quite so disgusting.

Our new sink. Eventually I will hang a ring for hand towels next to it, but I need drywall first.

Here's the tub. Clayton loves to bathe down here now because this is the frog bathroom.

So that is our super cool new bathroom. Can you believe it was created from nothing in just 4 days!?! My dad and my husband are awesome!