Christmas 2009

We had the most wonderful Christmas this year. Grandma Tweet-Tweet and Grandpa Buckle (Kari's side) came to visit. We had such a great time. We took Grandma and Grandpa to Makutu's Island and they couldn't believe how fun it was. We built graham cracker houses, and had lunch with Aunt Pam and Uncle Fred. Christmas Eve my Mom and I got to wrap all the boys presents, and then of course, there was Christmas day. I think we all thoroughly enjoyed watching and helping the boys to unwrap their presents. They got so many wonderful gifts. The favorites seem to be the fire truck from Santa, and the indoor bouncer from Aunt Lana and Uncle Rob. To top it all off, Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to watch the kids for 3 hours on Saturday so Kib and I could get in a nice long bike ride. What a treat. Saturday night the adults went to a very nice restaurant at Wild Horse Pass. The food and atmosphere were outstanding, and we actually got to have entire, uninterrupted, intelligent conversations for a change. This really was our most fun Christmas so far. We enjoyed having family around for a change, and seeing the boys enjoy the day so much was memorable and heart warming. Here is a quick preview of our Christmas week activities.

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Christmas Newsletter 2009

This may be a repeat for some of you, but here is our annual e-newsletter. Enjoy!

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Thanksgiving Weekend, and other November happenings

It's so sad that we have become so busy that my blogging has been reduced to once a month. We have had so much going on this past month. I took and passed my pilates certification. Zane learned to ride his bike without any training wheels. It is truly amazing to watch. He was only 3 yrs and 4 months old when he figured it out, and he hasn't put them back on at all. Wow. Ryder is becoming quite the little pill, he can't wait to be 2. He sings and dances to all the musicals that we have on the TV. not only does he know the songs, but he is memorizing the dances. It's so fun to watch. Everyone who comes over gets to watch him "perform" for them. He is starting to love being in front of an audience. Kristi and Blake came for Thanksgiving weekend this year. It was the first holiday that we have had them for and we all really enjoyed ourselves. Thanksgiving day was so fun. We did the Turkey Trot again this year, and I baked for 2 days to get ready for the 13 people that we fed for dinner. Our dear friends, the Johnson's, came over for dinner and brought the most delicious food with them to contribute to dinner. The whole weekend we spent outside with the kids enjoying the fresh air and nice weather. I have posted just a couple of fun photos from Thanksgiving.

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Halloween 2009

We had such an interesting Halloween between Zane being in the hospital with Pneumonia, and Ryder working on a bad case of flu/walking pneumonia/bronchitis. We decided to send Zane as a patient, seemed fitting given our week. The people we saw on the streets thought it was a pretty cool costume (little did they know). Ryder went as a monkey. We didn't make it more than about 10 minutes, and Zane was begging to go home. We were happy to oblige. We came home with about 6 pieces of candy, every parents dream. Sadly we missed out on a lot of fun festivities, but there is always next year. We are just grateful that the boys both seem to be on the upswing from all of this.

Paint time

I have been sick the past few days and although I feel better today, I am exhausted and weak. Both boys were itching for things to do this morning since they are used to me constantly keeping them busy. In my own selfish effort to be able to do as little as possible I broke out the art kit that Aunt Andrea gave us. It was a huge hit. We did finger painting and water colors for the better half of an hour. I am so proud of both of them, and impressed with how much Zane enjoys these creative, quiet, activities. He continued to paint on and off the rest of the morning. Too cool. Here are a couple more token photos from this past week.

Our trip to Cali

We were fortunate enough to take a trip to CA this past weekend. We stopped part way to stay with our friends Jenny and JR. They are so much fun, and handled our wild brood very well. We spent the majority of the weekend with our dear friends, the Gassner family. As you can see from the photos, we had a great time. It was somewhat fall like there. Their son, CJ had a soccer game saturday morning that both Zane and Ryder really enjoyed watching. Then we went to Apple Hill to enjoy the fall festivities, such as Apple Pie, and pumpkin patches. It's unfortunate that our trip was so short. It is always nice to see old friends. The word update for Ryder, he now says, "ELMO" with precision clarity, and diaper is another new one. So fun!

September 2009

As much as I love blogging, I haven't done a very good job of keeping this up to date this month. So, I am lumping it all together in a slide show. The boys are always keeping us busy. As you can see from the photos, the boys are playing together more and more. They now have a "cave" that is Zane's bed. It has helped to make him want to go to sleep at night. We have been kayaking every couple of weeks which is a blast. Zane is getting so smart, and so interested in doing things that exercise his mind. He will sit for hours and play with Lego's, blocks, playdough. Kib and Zane had a Daddy-son night out and they went to a WNBA playoff game. It was a huge hit with Zane, so much so that all three boys went back for game 2.
Ryder is talking more and more every day. He says Banana, and is working on apple. He sings the ABC's and Chitty chitty bang bang (neither of which are distinguishable with words, just melody). He says waffle, which is more like bobble. He is also working on his animal sounds. This age (18 months) is so much fun. I just wish I could hold on to it forever.
Everyday is something new and exciting. Can't wait to see what October holds for our little gang.

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