Recap

2009 has been a great year for us. We've had some really great times, and a lot to be thankful for. I think looking things we'll remember most will be:

• Me graduating (!)
• Matt starting his new job
• Our New York Trip
• Carter's 3 ER Trips and stay in the hospital
• A lot of other little moments

I'm a little sad to see 2009 go, but I'm always excited to see what the new year will bring. I hope 2010 is just as great!

After Christmas Random Cuteness

Christmas!

What can you really say about Christmas? I think the pictures speak for themselves.

We let the boys pick out a gift for each other. It was fun to take them and let them pick it out, wrap it, and try not to tell the other person what they got. Surprisingly, or maybe not, they picked out the same thing for each other. Twintuition I guess.
They opened their main gift last. I was a little worried that Santa hadn't gotten the scary house Carter was envisioning in his head, but it turns out I didn't need to worry. Carter and Spencer were ecstatic!

Grandpa John’s for more Christmas fun.

Grandma Joy’s for more Christmas fun.

Then it was on to Matt’s dad’s house where I didn’t seem to take any pictures. By that point Carter was asking me if we could go home because he didn’t want his toys to get lost before he could play with them.
Home finally, and on to the fun part of toys with a million parts and pages of instructions. The Wii was a big hit too.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve's are spent at Matt's Grandma's house. It's always a lot of fun to visit with her. She is an amazing woman and told me that one of Matt's cousins just told her that she was expecting. That will be her 80th great-grandchild. That is a serious posterity!

She is always so sweet. With 4 three year olds running around it can get pretty crazy, but she never says anything. She just says that's what Christmas is all about, family.


When we got home the boys were way excited. We set out our chocolate cookies for Santa with chocolate milk (per Spencer's instructions that he liked chocolate). After that all that was left to do was go to bed, and so we did.

Pictures with Santa

We were very lucky again this year that Santa told us when he was going to be visiting our friend's house so that we could just pop over there and get some pictures with him and let him know what we wanted. Sooo much better then going to the mall and standing in line for an hour!Carter was all business. He sat on Santa's lap, smiled for the camera, told him what he wanted, and he was done. Carter told Santa he wanted a scary house for Christmas. I was a little worried about how Santa was going to pull that one off given the fact that it was December, and scary houses seem to be in short supply in December.

Spencer took a little more time sitting on Santa's lap. He talked with Santa, told him he had been good boy, explored Santa's suit, and then asked Santa for a Bat Cave. Unlike Carter's request, I felt confident Santa could deliver a bat cave.

Cousin Isaac got in on the action as well.
I love this picture, so true to life.

November 2009

Maybe I should re-think the Spiderman pajamas.

Spencer and Carter must have had an early morning photo shoot. I love when I go to upload pictures and find these random shots on my camera.

I thought it would be so fun for the boys and I to do a Thanksgiving craft for all of the grandparents. The boys lasted about 10 minutes before they were over it and I was stuck at the kitchen table for another hour and half. Oh well, the grandparents all liked ‘Spencer and Carter’s’ handiwork.


The night before Thanksgiving we went to my mom’s so I could make apple pies for the next day. My cute grandparents were staying there while their house was being fixed after a small house fire. My grandma wasn’t going to make her apple pie because I was already making one and because she didn’t have all of the ingredients she needed for hers. But when my grandpa found out he wasn’t happy and he took my mom aside to ask her if she would go to the store and get the ingredients grandma needed. I tried not to take it personally that my apple pie wasn’t good enough for him.

Mom pretending to be helping us – she just threw on an apron and held up a cup, such a faker!

Grandpa had a captive audience as he was setting up his childhood train around the tree.
A little glimpse of our feast - I love Matt's face up in the corner.

Aunt ‘Chelle giving the boys haircuts –Nice!

Spencer has a hair twirling obsession. Ever since he was a baby he has used it to self-soothe. He does it when he's eating, when he's thinking, when he's sleeping, when he's relaxing - basically all of the time. The only problem is that it makes his hair stand straight up in the back. In fact as I look over at him while I'm typing this he has a massive rooster tail going on. He was rather traumatized over the summer when I took the boys in for haircuts and had their hair cut really short. That night he was in tears for 20 minutes saying that he didn't want his hair 'small' he wanted it 'big'. I felt so bad for him as I watched his fingers go up to their familiar spot trying to twirl hair that was no longer there. Spencer has refused to have his hair cut ever since. But after a long talk with Aunt Michelle and a promise that she would leave it long enough in the back for him to twirl he finally agreed.