60 seconds

It's amazing how Nicholas can go from this...

to this...

and back again in 60 seconds (and no, I didn't take his cereal away like the pictures might suggest. I'm not that mean a mom).

Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma & Grandpa Burnham's house where the grandkids acted out the nativity story. Riley was Joseph, and Nicholas was a wise man.

The ensemble cast sans Sadie (who was a sheep), from L to R, Emma (as the angel), Riley, Ashley (as Mary), Athen (as a shepherd) , Nicholas, Carly (as a sheep) and Brayden (as a wiseman).

Christmas day was especially nice because it's the first time since we've been married that both Jim and I had Christmas morning off. We don't anticipate that happening again for a while.

We got Lulu for Nicholas in hopes that he would quit "abusing" the cats. He loves them so much, but love coming from an almost 2 year old doesn't translate well. Lulu will purr, meow, and move, so we were hoping he would start loving this cat instead of the others, mainly Feets.

It's been a few months since our Lulu addition, and while Nicholas does love her and will bring her to us to turn her on, he still loves Feets just as much as before. Thankfully, Feets handles his love pretty well.

I remember Lulu looking a lot less real in the store

This next video is for my mom, however, everyone is invited to watch it. Here's the story behind it. A month or so before Christmas, the boys and myself had lunch with my mom, Heidi and her kids at The Rainforest Cafe, which I highly recommend. However, the menu at the downtown Disney store is different than the one in Ontario, which is the one we went to (and the menu I prefer). The boys loved it. On our way out, Riley wanted my mom to buy him a small crocodile toy for more money than it was worth. She didn't, because if she buys one, then she has to buy one all the grandkids present (equal grandparenting). For the next month he asked about the crocodile. Later my mom was at a store, probably Target, and found this big crocodile for less money than the small one at the restaurant and gave it to Riley for Christmas. Here he is opening the gift.

The Pumpkin Patch

Even though we went to a pumpkin patch with Riley's preschool class, and he got a small pumpkin there, we wanted to take the boys to a pumpkin patch where they could pick out a big pumpkin to carve with Jim. Riley found his perfect pumpkin.





And so did Nicholas...or so he thought. He kept trying again and again to pick it up (but never let go of his car while he was trying).

He finally moved on to a pumpkin more his size.

We took pictures on the BIG pumpkins.

After we picked picked our pumpkins, we took a tractor ride. It was really windy that day and pretty cold too.

The tractor ride went through the strawberry fields.

enjoying the scenery

The Painted Pony

I'm doing a great job of taking my camera with me everywhere I go. The problem is finding time to download and edit the pictures, and then write a post. So, here's is the cliff notes version of some things we did in October.
Riley had his first field trip for his preschool. We went to The Painted Pony. It's a small farm with animals and a pumpkin patch. First, we got to hold some baby chicks that were a week old. At first Riley would only pet them while Jim and I were holding one. Then he would hold one as long as we were right next to him.

By the end of the day, he was picking them up and putting them down all by himself.

Next they all got to pick a pumpkin.

They got to feed the animals, then they let the animals out to run around. Nicholas loved chasing the goats.

Then we gathered together and ate some yummy apples...

and homemade muffins.

and took a few pictures with the tractor.

They had this old bathtub filled with flowers that I thought was really cool.

It was a lot of fun packed into a couple of hours and made for a perfect day trip. I'd highly recommend it if you're in the neighborhood.

More October cliff notes to follow.

Golf N' Stuff

We have a miniature golf course in town. You can see the windmill and the castle from the freeway and Riley loves pointing them out as we pass by. We thought it might be fun to take him there. Jim and I always have a friendly bet when we play miniature golf, and it took playing two holes before we realized that it was going to be impossible for us to keep score. After I hit my ball at the first hole, Nicholas ran down the green, picked up my ball and brought it back. At the second hole, all it took was Jim just placing his ball down on the black mat for Nicholas to quickly pick it up and run with it down the green.

Jim showed Riley how to hold the golf club, but after doing this once, he remembered when he was a kid, his dad would do this, and Jim would get mad, and want to do it his own way, so after that, he let Riley hold his club any way he wanted. After all, he wanted this to be fun for him.

After these first two holes, we let the kids do whatever they wanted with the balls and clubs, within reason of course. For Riley, he'd started off each hole correctly, but after a few swings, resorted to basketball and would finish throwing the ball down the green. Then a few times he even switched to soccer, and tried to kick the ball in the hole. For Nicholas, he was mostly content running after the ball, picking it up and then placing it in the hole.

A few times Nicholas would make an attempt at swinging the club.

It looks like he might actually hit the ball in this picture, but he didn't. He got frustrated, gave Jim the club, picked up both the white ball and another ball you can't see, and placed them in the hole.

They both loved the holes like the one below, where you dropped the ball at the top...

...and then ran somewhere else to see the ball come out of the hole.

There were a few times that Riley actually hit the ball in the hole with his club. This is not one of those instances, but he started to throw his hands in the air and cheer when the ball went in.

another one of their favorite holes

After our round of golf, we played a few games.

The outing ended for some the way it always does. So exhausted from a busy day that it was hard to keep our eyes open during the ride home. (I referance Nicholas, but I am also refering to Jim and myself).

We were thinking ahead and knew Nicholas would want his own ball, so we brought him his own from home to use. We were betting on him loosing it there and we're actually surprised it made it home with us.

A first for Nicholas

This Sunday was the first day that Nicholas has worn shoes to church. His feet are so deep and wide that his feet wouldn't fit in any shoe other than Vans. Even these are a size too big, but because they're the right size for the depth of his feet, we're making them work.

Poor Nicholas is completely oblivious that Riley is apparently going to attack him

We've always known that he was big for his age, but now he's starting to look like a big boy too.

Nicholas, we love you and your big feet!

Life with my boys

You know how you start to get suspicious that your kids are up to something when it's just a little too quiet in the house? I wish I had that excuse. I'm always so happy to I hear them playing together, especially when I'm not in the room to enforce sharing. This time, I heard little whispers and giggles, apparently, about the mess they we're creating. Walking into the loft, I noticed that one of my ribbon drawers was open. Nothing to be concerned about, because the boys like to take my ribbon out and wind it up the lamp pole or something. A little closer, and I notice it's empty.


Where'd it go? I ask Riley. He says he doesn't know. I told him he needs to help me find it and he gives me a cheery "okay" and bounces down the stairs. That's when I got suspicious. Starting to follow him, I stop halfway realizing he's going into the living room,. I go back to the loft and peer down into the living room from the loft.

A little upset, but it could have been worse. I actually think it's a little funny. As I cross the loft, to head downstairs, I notice my pin magnet is empty.

My thoughts race as I envision all my little pins scattered among the living room, hiding in the crevices of the couch. I run downstairs, and step on something. I'll clean up whatever that was later. I have more important things to do right now. Then as I get into the living room I turn back around, and notice a dining room floor full of shiny pins. The dining room floor, that I just crossed. is full of pins. 87 to be exact and what was it I stepped on? A pin that was sticking straight up from the floor. I'm just grateful it was sharp side down.

Yellowstone

We, meaning me and the boys, were gone for 11 days on vacation. I don't know how Jim does it, but ever since our first trip with Riley when he was 8 months old and both he and Jim got sick, Jim vowed he would never travel with a baby again. I don't know how he's managed to keep true to his word, but he has yet to go on another family vacation with us (for good reason, so far). Our trip to Montana last summer, he was in the fire academy, and this summer he is still on probation and can't take time off. I wonder what his excuse will be next summer because he will be out of real reasons to pass up our family vacations. This time we packed up our bags and squeezed into my parents Highlander to carpool with them. Again, I was squished in the back (really, the middle seat) between two carseats for a 16 hour car ride. Thankfully, it was divided between 3 days and thankfully, my parents were there to help with the kids, because I wouldn't have even tried to make this trek by myself.
We arrived at the campground, located just outside Yellowstone, mid-afternoon and located several extended family members. The kids had a great time at the campgrounds. Nathan took Riley and Brayden fishing quite a few times and they loved reeling in their fishes. Nicholas loved the water and would run towards it every chance he got and then kick and scream as I pulled him back. All of the kids had fun throwing rocks in the lake, and even the adults got into it as we tried to skip rocks.

Hebgen Lake

Stephanie skipping rocks

On our second day there, we went into Yellowstone Park. I loved Yellowstone and wish we had more time to spend there. We saw Old Faithful (twice), a bald eagle and an eagle's nest, bison and elk.

eagle's nest

Riley fishing with Nathan and Brayden

As we left the campgroud, we stopped at at the "whitest" mexican cafe ever to have lunch and had fun blowing out dandilions in the parking lot.

Athen making a wish (cause that's what you do before you blow)

Our next stop was in kalispell, Montana where my sister and her family live. Emery was being blessed on Sunday, but on Saturday, the day we arrived, we BBQ'd and then Jared and Anita (Julie's brother and sister in-law) took us out on their boat for some tubing. We had a blast! Even Riley and Athen enjoyed it. Riley kept saying "this is awesome!" When we got back to the house, we lit off some fireworks of our own. Now, I have never in my life played with fireworks, and I must say that while at first I was timid, it was quite fun. That said, I don't think I will ever in my life, let my children play with fireworks. Sunday was Emery's blessing, which was followed by a nice lunch. That night we rocked out to RockBand, and played cards.

Nicholas loved the drums

The next morning we headed to Boise, Idaho, where my aunt and uncle live, for a few days of R&R and shopping. One night, we visited my cousin, Kristen, and her family who live on a farm. Riley developed a little crush on Kristen after he found out she had pigs on her farm, and asked to hang out in her cabin our last day at the campground and when in Idaho, kept asking when we were going to visit his friend. The boys got to see the pigs, horses, chickens and cows.

Emma helping Nicholas pet the horses

We drove home in one day, leaving at about 10:00 at night, and arriving at my parents home at about 3:00 the next afternoon. I then drove the kids and myself home that evening after traffic died down. The vacation was a blast, but it still felt good to get home, just in time to go to work the following morning.

My mom and I shopped for fabric at nearly every stop. An aweful long way to drive for fabric! Good thing we had other "business" on the way!