Ho Ho Ho

We took the kids to see Santa this weekend (Santa pic to come) and Cal proudly sat on his lap and told him that he wanted a train & truck. I was a little worried we'd end up with a whole family pic with Santa cause when we did Santa pics last weekend with all the grand kids, Cal was pretty unsure about him. I do have to say though, I'm a little bummed we don't have any pics of Cal screaming with Santa cause he's never really minded him, but I guess there's always hope with Bennett. Here's some pics post-Santa visit.

Snow!

Holy snow, we got A LOT of it today... 17 inches as of about 2 hours ago. It started dumping this morning and hasn't stopped. So tonight after we put Bennett to bed, Ian, Cal & I got all dressed up in our snow clothes and went out to play and do a second round of shoveling. I love this!

snow angels

Apple Cup

The big boys (Ian & Cal) went to Apple Cup this year so that left me with the little man for some much needed 1:1 time. I really appreciate my alone time with Bennett cause it's few and far between that he gets my undivided attention. And I'm always amazed at how easy it is parenting just one kid...

Such a good little fan, Cal made it through the whole game (not to mention it was 26 degrees in Pullman at kickoff)

Beloved purple truck.

Cal always has 1 toy that never leaves his side. And they usually rotate every month or so. Well. purple truck has definitely had the longest run out of any toy. Luke & Lars even tried to give Cal a replacement top toy - a new John Deere tractor - and although he loves it, "pur truck" is still holding the top spot. He sleeps with it, eats with it and takes it EVERYWHERE. This silly little truck has caused us lots of stress... We've torn the house apart looking for it too many times to count, bedtime has been delayed by hours many nights cause purple truck is missing, we searched a furniture store high and low one afternoon cause we thought we left it in there (only to find it in the car), and I spent one afternoon and over an hour with 2 very tired kids going back to Rite Aid, Old Navy & Target retracing our steps trying to figure out where we left it, only to find it at our last stop, Target - sitting exactly where we left it... on the ledge above the bathroom sink where we safety put it while washing our hands.

And here it is. Thought I better document with a pic so we have sometime to look back on the day that purple truck leaves us. It's going to be "gray truck" soon since all the paint is peeling off.

A love for all things purple... These are purple truck's friends - "purple hot rods"

The start of a new family tradition.

I made a comment to Ian the other day that I thought it would be fun one year to cut down our Christmas tree and start a family holiday tradition of doing so with the kids. The operative word here.... one year, meaning not exactly this year. Well, the idea was planted in Ian's head and he was set on trekking into the forest to cut us down a tree this weekend. So that's just what we did. We loaded up the kids and lots of warm snow clothes, carriers to tote the kids around in, and filled the car with tree cutting and hauling accessories. I was a little apprehensive about hiking through the forest in the cold weather (25 degrees) with the kids - specifically Bennett - and I was a little freaked out about coming across a bear or cougar, but all went well and we had a really great time. Definitely the start of a new family tradition. The moment of truth is when we bring the tree inside tomorrow to decorate. We were hoping to get a tall, slender tree and that's what we thought we found until we got it home and realized the tree is super sized in width.

5 Months!

Little mister hit the 5 month mark on Wednesday. I say it every month, but his infant time is going way too fast, much faster than it seemed to go with Cal. He's such a joy and I count my blessings everyday for my two healthy, beautiful boys.

Bennett LOVES Cal. I mean, really really loves him. He is so entertained by watching him and just lights up every time he sees him.

so big!

Twinsies! after looking in the mirror, I noticed that we were wearing the same lounging outfits.

buddies

Singing pups

Clyde & Suzie love Christmas tunes almost as much as me. Whenever we start singing they love to join in. Clyde's always been a singer, Suzie took it up a couple of years go. But as you can see from the video her tune/pitch needs some work (as does mine)...