He Almost Left Coal...

Well Ladies and Gents...he came! The Big Man Came! And let me tell you, he was one 3-year-old tantrum away from heating our home with coal for the next few months... But Thatcher pulled it together for the last week before Christmas, and behaved like the "big boy" he thinks he should be treated like.

All-in-all, we had a nice Christmas. Both Luke and Thatcher were spoiled (mainly Thatcher, since Luke could have cared less that it was Christmas) and now we are shopping for another home with an extra bedroom just for Thatcher's new toys. Not really, but the space would be nice. Needing the space in his room, we decided to have Thatcher go through his toys and give away those that he could do without. He was very generous when we told him that these toys would go to boys who probably didn't have many toys to play with. He filled an entire box...



Luke is getting huge. It was fun for Thatcher to open Luke's gifts for him, and show him how to play with them. I think these two will be good buds as they get older....they love each other so much right now.

Here is a little video of Thatcher singing to Luke. This is his own version of "Hush Little Baby", so if you don't remember the specific verses that Thatcher is singing, don't worry.

Back it up Folks...this baby's dumpin'

Uncle JT made this onesie for Thatcher when he was born and it's as true for Luke as it was for Thatcher. Both of our boys love to poop! We have had to cut off many a onesies that were unsalvagable after a number from this kid. I don't know if anyone else experiences this or if my boys are just extra special, but it is an incredible feat each and every time, not unusual for it to reach clear up to his shoulder blades.... it is quite amazing!

Luke is such a happy and smiley baby, it's so fun to have him around. My favorite part of the day is going in to get him out of his crib in the morning. He looks up at me with a huge grin on his face and starts giggling until I pick him up and get the best littlest hug in the world.

The Season Begins

Ahhh Christmas time. Here are Thatcher and Luke sitting on Santa's lap for the first time this year... Luke of course is too young for any kind of request and will get the mundane baby stuff like rattles and sippy cups and a new toy to drool on. Thatcher on the other hand knows exactly what he wants - a Light Sketcher! This is the one thing he has been talking about non-stop for the past two months. I don't think he knows what it is or does, but he sure enjoys mimicking the "light sketcher" robot voice on the commercial. I hope he's not disappointed! (In a few years we'll get him this http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=22207)

It's fun around this time of year with a three year old around. He sings all the Christmas songs from Jolly Old St. Nicholas to Frosty the Snowman, and on tune too! He's so cute and so enthusiastic about everything. We sadly use Santa Claus as a parenting tool to help discipline our child. He is always on his best behavior when he knows an elf is watching and will report his findings to Santa whether or not Thatcher has been a good boy on a daily basis. I don't know what we are gonna do when we can't use that as leverage after he has already come to our house on Christmas. It's been a fun month so far with both boys! Thatcher is a good older brother and makes sure Luke is never short of entertainment.

Disneyland Baby!

So this is the third time we've been to Disneyland in the past 18 months, but I gotta say... WE LOVE IT! I think the saying rings true that it really is the happiest place on earth.(that we've found anyway... aside from our own loving home of course)

Last November my parents took everyone to Disneyland for an early Christmas present and we decided to go the week before Thanksgiving. It was such a perfect week with short lines if any, great weather, and the beginning of Christmas decorations and parades in Disneyland. So after having such a good experience last year, we all kind of decided to make it a tradition, hence our trip there last month.

Thatcher was just one inch short of being able to go on some of the faster rides like space mountain and star tours. Mat tried the old putting lifts in his shoes trick (folded up newspapers), but that didn't work out as planned and he will have to wait yet another year to ride the big boy rides with his Dad.

Thatcher did get the chance to drive the car in Autopia...quite an experience. We wonder if it will be a similar experience in another 13 years when he's really driving for the first time.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA

We were on our way to Disneyland, and we decided to get to California a day or two early so we could spend some time on the beach. Luckily, Newport Beach is only a few miles away from Anaheim.

This was the first time that Thatcher and Luke had seen the ocean... Luke just hung out in the Baby Bjorn (he couldn't do much else), while Thatcher spent time chasing seagulls around, and getting sand down his underpants. I don't know how he got sand down his underpants, but he did...when we put him in the bath that night, the bathtub had a good cup and a half of sand in it. Yeah, fun stuff.

Anyway, there are a few pictures below of our Newport Beach experience.

Snowbird Mountain Resort

We started off the month doing what we do every first week of November... SNOWBIRD! My family has had time shares at Snowbird for the past thirty years and this was the first year we ponied up the dough and actually bought one of our own.

Above is a picture we took on the deck of our newly aquired condo.

Its a fun week to just relax, play games, swim in the pool and eat way too much. So starts the first week of Holiday pigging out. Just seven more to go...

Here we are on the deck again playing games. The hoodies are just for effect, it was unusually warm this week and we spent most of the time outside! It was beautiful...

Mat and the boys kickin it watching a movie...

Fun times to be had by all