Beau's FIRST Birthday

Beau's birthday was December 29 (yes, more than two months ago) so I thought I should document it on the blog! We like to keep the first birthday low-key, so...to start the day off, Beau woke up to this new blow-up ball-pit tent thing.  It was fun the first two times the 50 balls were all over our house, but by the third, I started rethinking the idea. 

 Later, we had my parents and sister and niece come over for gifts and cake. 

Thank you Nana & Papa for the wonderful gifts and He-he, T and Katie, and thanks for celebrating with us! Sure love you! (And can't forget to say thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Jay for their thoughtful gifts too! Glad we got to see you at Christmas!)

 Keeping with tradition--yellow cake and chocolate frosting -- just like when Isaac was one. He dug right in.

 Oh yummy!

 Notice Isaac and Beau with their arms up, or in our house we call it "Pigs Up!" (It's a new game Isaac got for Christmas, called "pigs up" and Beau started doing it, we loved it while it lasted!)

 Taylor didn't think Beau was dirty enough, so he put more frosting on his face. :)

Can't believe Beau is a toddler now.  Since his birthday, he started walking a week before he turned 13 months and he is a walking machine now.  My favorite is when we say "I'm gonna get ya!" and he walks as fast as he can away from us and squeals! Beau is truly a fun, sweet, adorable little boy.  I LOVE this stage.  He absolutely adores Isaac and Isaac is probably the only one that can get the best laughs out of Beau.  They are such great brothers.  And we are so grateful that Beau is such a great little boy in all aspects -- eating, sleeping, playing, etc.  I LOVE my boys!!!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken in December by my great friend, Miriam Jenson! She did awesome! Enjoy!

Christmas In UTAH

It was our year to spend Christmas in Utah.  We were able to go for five days, and Taylor got us a screaming deal on plane tickets that we couldn't turn down, so we flew out, which definitely has its pros and cons.  For instance, a con was the 6:00 a.m. flight TO Utah after a gigantic snow storm in Colorado.  Whew... that was rough.  But look at these pictures--- Isaac with his cousins, priceless! Look at that smile!

 The first night there we celebrated Suzanne's birthday.  Doesn't she look great!??! Love her!

 See, look at Isaac's smile! He was in HEAVEN!

 More proof that he was in heaven!

 This is by far one of my favorite pictures of the trip!!! Isaac with two other cousins -- Isaac, then Theran who is 6 months older than Isaac, and then Dane, who is about 8 months older than Theran.  They are the closest three boys in age and they hit it off this trip! Loooooove it!!!

 Making cookies at Grandpa's house.

 Beau on Christmas Eve.  You better believe that he has the BEST cheeks to kiss!!!!

 The boys with Grandma...yes, Isaac is so silly!

 Every time we go to Utah, Taylor starts a wrestling match with all our nieces and nephews...I don't understand it (yes, you can tell I grew up with one sister) but they all love it!

We had a great trip that was jam-packed with activities.  Some of the other highlights included manicures/pedicures as the girls (thanks Suzanne!), a date night to celebrate our anniversary (thanks again Suzanne!) and the fun, crazy, wonderful time with the family!

December Tidbits

December was a buuuusy month for us (as I'm sure it was for everyone else).  So here's a quick recap of some fun things happening for us.  We hosted two large parties at our house -- one for some close friends that moved away and we also got to host Taylor's work party.  I love throwing parties! But we can't forget all the Santa outings... the first one was at my dad's annual work Christmas party -- my dad picked Isaac up and took him -- Isaac LOVES Saturday's with Papa. 

 The following weekend was Breakfast with Santa at the Flying Horse Country Club.  This is our second year going.  Beau had his classic look/face when he sat on Santa's lap.  Beau just looked up at Santa with an open mouth and big eyes, as if he was thinking, "Who in the world are you???"

 Beau is a growing boy! At the beginning of the month, he mastered climbing stairs.  He loooves stairs.  Problem is, he can go up, but he doesn't know how to go down yet. 

 At the beginning of December, he started walking behind toys.  By the end of the month he was standing unsupported.  How much longer until we have a walker????

 One day, we didn't have anything planned for the day, so I decided to make a fun afternoon by "booby-trapping" the hallway upstairs.  I totally played it up to Isaac by saying things like "Isaac! Oh no!!! We've been booby-trapped and I need your help!" He looved it! He thought it was soo cool. 

 I put some of his stuffed animals at the end of the trap, so his mission was to rescue them. 

 Even Beau enjoyed crawling through it. 

 Both boys had fun!

 Believe it or not, Isaac has never been sledding.  I don't know why, but that's just how it's been.  And we have the most PERFECT hill for sledding directly behind our house.  So we got him a sled and one afternoon he and I went out.  Both Taylor and I didn't think he would last long, but he surprised us both and not only lasted long, but also was so brave at going on the sled.  It's a disc, so I knew it would spin and thought he might freak out, but he LOVED it and got so daring.  My favorite part was the fact that he's old enough and big enough that I could sit and watch and just give him a push at the top and he could go down and walk back up by himself with the sled. 

Next on the blogging list: Family pictures, Christmas and Beau's birthday! Whew....busy month!

12 Days of Christmas, Days 7 - 12

Alright, time to finish up the 12 days of Christmas.  

Day SEVEN was a fun one! We invited a lot of our friends in our neighborhood and my sister to come to our house and let the kids act out the Nativity.  It was so CUTE and will definitely be a tradition! We "casted" based on age, so Isaac was the oldest boy and got to be Joseph.  There were three mobile babies who got to be the sheep, so that was Beau.  We had the Roberts, the Johnson's, the Jenson's, and the Hill's (my sis) join us.  It was so fun, we all had camera's and video camera's.  And thanks to Travis for reading the story! Here is Isaac (Joseph) and Milly (Mary) with baby Beck (baby Jesus) and look at Walker, what a great sheep he was!!! His costume was my FAVORITE!

 Here are all the kids, we had Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, three sheep, three wise men and Katie became our angel!

This is the best picture I could get of Beau....He did not like the headband, definitely not as good as Walker's costume!

Day EIGHT: Isaac got a "luggage tag" to put on his new roller-board backpack.  The activity was to "pack" for Utah.  Sorry, no pictures. 

Day NINE: Isaac got his very own, and very first ornament to put on his little tree in his room.  He has a bunch or random ornaments on it from my childhood, so it's fun to start his own little collection.  Again, no picture, we were busy getting ready for Utah! 

Day TEN: We actually didn't do this one because it was the day we travelled to Utah and we were too busy to do it.  Oh well.  But I got him a pack of stationery cards and the idea was to write letters/thank-you's to family and friends and then mail them.  He would have loved it, but he loved playing with cousins more.  

Day ELEVEN: We started this tradition last year, so it was perfect to incorporate into 12 days.  Isaac and Beau got a new Christmas book and Isaac got a stuffed animal.  The activity was to read the book and then, per tradition, we trace the boy's hands in the front of the book and write what they are grateful for.  I would tell you what they said, but I've already put away Christmas stuff.  Here are pictures:

 Day 12: Again, per tradition, the boys both got new pajamas.  To really keep with my childhood tradition, we should have driven around looking at Christmas lights in the pj's, but the boys were soo sleep deprived that we were too anxious to get them to bed early. :) But here are Beau and Isaac in their new pj's with Grandma! (Taylor's mom)

And that concludes the 12 days of Christmas.  Overall, it was a lot of work and planning on my part, but Isaac loved it.  I used a gift bag for all the gifts, so every time Isaac saw it on the counter he got so excited! So it will be a definite re-do next year!

12 Days of Christmas, Continued....

Continuing with our 12 days of Christmas countdown... Day FOUR: I made Isaac a fleece blanket and the activity was to watch a movie together. While I was at the store, I asked a random person their opinion on what color backing I should put with my print, well come to find out, the lady I asked made blankets for a living.  So she took me all around the store, gave me her opinion on things and pointed out things I never would have thought about.  It was awesome.  Then, before she left, she offered to embroider the blanket for Isaac.  I knew Isaac would love that, so bring on the project! Here he is opening it in the morning (yep, in his PJs....and notice Beau coming around the couch!)

 Here's a close-up on the embroidering and the blanket.  I don't know why my pictures look squished...

Day 5: I found an apron for Isaac and continuing with his name (he is REALLY into letters and writing things and loves to point out his name)I painted his name on the apron and wrote "Sous Chef" on it.  Then the activity was to make gingerbread houses (yes, this was his third one of the season). 

 We had friends come join us.

 Isaac and his new friend Milly.

Day SIX Isaac got sprinkles and cookie cutters and the activity was to make sugar cookies and deliver them to our neighbors (ah see, get opportunity to have a service teaching moment) :).  Next year, someone please remind me to just buy something for neighbor goodie plates....because, making 3 dozen cookies and dinner at the same time made for one messy kitchen, a grumpy mom, and forced family bonding. :) Three and a half hours and 12 neighbor plates later...I can now check "neighbor goodies" off the list...and thank goodness because I am EXHAUSTED!

12 Days of Christmas

Whew....I am behind! I didn't think I had much to post about, but after going through my camera I had a lot more than I thought.  I'll see if I can catch up somehow, someday.  But I really wanted to post about the 12 days of Christmas we are doing at our house right now.  My aunt gave me the idea of doing something special leading up to Christmas, so everyday Isaac gets something and then there is an activity that goes along with the gift.  

So day one, he got a Santa mug and then we had a hot chocolate bar (with peppermints and marshmallows) but I don't have a picture of that.  

Day Two: Matching Christmas shirts for the boys. (Timed so that he could wear it to preschool today). 

Day Three: A fun and funky pen -- the activity was to use it to write his letter to Santa. (Be prepared for his crazy pose in this picture!)   

 The boys with their letters.... it was so fun to write Isaac's, it cracks me up what he says, 'A big, big, big, big, big snowman in his room" ...?????

And for the sake of catching up....we also started "Elf on the Shelf" this year.  Isaac named the elf "Bernard." I almost failed on the first day because I forgot to move him before he woke up....oops! But Isaac thought it was SOOO cool to receive a package from the North Pole that was addressed to him.  It was on our doorstep and as he looked closer he realized it had his name on it and his reaction was priceless!! However, now he asks every time when we get the mail if there is a letter addressed to him!