Christmas Day 2008

On Christmas morning, Aaron woke up at about 6:00 - not because he was excited about his presents, he didn't even notice them, but because he was having a hard night. Nathan got up just after 7:00 and he noticed all the presents and saw that Santa had brough him an art easel. Aaron got a new fire truck and a train from Santa. They also got some books, clothes, and some little trucks to play with. They had fun playing with their new toys during the morning.


Nathan and Ryan showing off their new hats. Nathan and Aaron both got hats from their cousin, Kadyn - I think he made them, and Ryan has a new Jazz hat. His tired, old Kansas hat can get a much-needed rest.


Here are the cute little guys in their matching pajamas.


After we got ready we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Taylors to have brunch. Everyone was there - Brad, Brittany, Kyle, and Luke, Kristen and Duke, and Todd. Nathan and Aaron had a lot of fun running around with their cousins. They are a cute group of little boys.

After brunch and getting a little settled, we exchanged gifts. Nathan was pretty excited to see a present for him that bigger than he was. It was a Smart Cycle from Aunt Kristen and Uncle Duke - way cool for him. We all get very nice gifts and then we played some fun games - Tumblin' Monkeys that Nathan and Kyle could play with us, and Bananagrams for the adults. It was a lot of fun to play games while Aaron and Luke were napping and Nathan and Kyle were watching a movie. We don't get to play games together much anymore because of the little guys, so it was especially fun. We even made it home before the snow started again and had great roads!
This is Nathan trying out his new Smart Cycle after we got home. He can barely reach the pedals and he doesn't really know how to pedal, so it was kind of hard, but he's learning and will probably be a pro in no time! Aaron even had to get on and have a turn.

Just recently Aaron has learned how to say "cheese" for pictures. It's so cute! Nathan always says "cheese" when we take a pictures and Aaron has learned how to do it, too. He's pretty emphatic when he does it.



I don't have a picture of them, but Ryan got me two great gifts - a nightstand to put my books on that has a little drawer in it for a small sudoku book (from Ron & Kathy), and a booklight that I can use at night to read my book. Now I can read a little before going to bed and it's not hard because when I get tired, I just turn the little light off, close the book, lean over, put the book on my nightstand, and roll over and fall asleep. So thrilled about that!

Christmas Eve

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve we loaded up and went down to Springville to see David & Kara and their family. Nathan got to wear some of his new clothes that Aunt OhMy got him for his birthday (she keeps our boys well dressed). Nathan was a tired boy and on the way down he fell asleep in his carseat. Meanwhile, Aaron was playing peek-a-boo to keep entertained.




Mom and Dad came down, too, and we had a fun time eating, talking, and playing games. It was especially fun to see Nathan and Aaron play with their cousins. They are so good to them and we had a really fun time.

New Snow to Play In

We've had some snow storms the last few days. Nathan loves to be out in the snow and play. One night while Ryan was shoveling snow, Nathan jumped in the snow and made a snow angel- his very first one. He said it was like Goofy - we had seen a Christmas cartoon with Goofy in it making snow angels and he remembered that.

Then, on Christmas Eve day we all went out and built a little snowman. The snow wasn't very good for making a snow man, though, so we used buckets and a little water and got a very little snow man made. We used the snowman kit from Grandma Taylor and our little man looked right good.




After building a snowman, Ryan took Nathan over to the park and they used his new sled for the first time. Nathan went down two times by himself and really liked it. He didn't like walking back up the hill too much, though because the snow was pretty deep and he's kind of short.

No Cavity Club

Nathan went to the dentist for the very first time this morning. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go, but when we got there he was very good. He played with some toys while we were waiting and then when it was his turn, he held my hand and we walked back into the room. He didn't want to sit in the chair by himself, but I held him and he did great! He let them show him how the chair worked, all the tools, and then he let the hygienist count, clean, and floss his teeth. Then the dentist came in and looked at his teeth and said they looked great. He asked Nathan how old he was. Nathan told him he was three he and said that it was the best 3-year old examination he had ever done! Nathan even got two toys. He picked a little dinosaur for himself and then a Care Bear to give to his brother, Aaron. What a sweetheart!

Afterwards they took his picture for the "No Cavity Club" and he got some gum for that in addition to his new toothbrush, floss, timer, and toothpaste. What an exciting trip to the dentist it was! Here he is showing his clean teeth and the loot his got. He tried the gum, but didn't like it, so mom and dad get a treat, too :).

Snow shovel service

Ryan came home from work yesterday to quite a bit of snow. It was wet and heavy, but Nathan and Aaron gave him his Christmas present early- a new plastic snow shovel. So Ryan took Nathan out and they both shoveled our driveway. Then they went down and shoveled the driveways of two more people in our neighborhood who are out of town. He didn't want them to come home and not be able to get into their garages. Ryan is a great example of service and I was so proud of him. Nathan loves to be outside and I hope he is learning from the example of his dad how to help other people.

Here are two of my three cute boys out working hard in the snow. The other cute little boy stayed warm inside with Mom!

Tree Family

Nathan opened up another of his advent calendar gifts today and it was a little doodle board. He loves to write and draw and has been writing M's and N's all morning. He gets a little frustrated when he tries to do "N" but instead gets an "M" because he made one too many lines. But he did get several good N's, too.

After writing for a little while he started to draw some trees. He brought this over to me and said, "Look, Mom - a tree family. This is the Daddy tree, this is the Mommy tree, this is Nathan and this is Daddy holding baby Aaron." It was priceless!



Here is his second tree family. He showed me who was who in it also. Daddy and Nathan were the two big ones on the outsides and Mom and Aaron were the two little ones in the middle.

He is starting to use his imagination more and also developing his artistic talents. I hope Santa brings him an art easel and supplies for Christmas :)!

Train

Nathan and Aaron have both been enjoying Nathan's new train set. Nathan is good at getting all of the cars together and driving them around the track. Aaon likes to play too, but usually sits in the middle of the track and breaks it at some point. It's fun to see them enjoy each other and the train set so much. Nathan is learning how to put the pieces together and we have found a few different configurations, including a Figure-8 that Ryan put together.

Nathan is 3!!!!

Nathan turned three years old yesterday. What a fun day it was, too! For months now he has been telling us, "I'm going to be three on my next birthday." He has celebrated other family member's birthdays and has looked forward to his. At last, it arrived. He was so excited all day and would just start clapping his hands and jumping around during the day when we talked about it or when he thought about it. It was so cute to see his enthusiasm. During the day he would say, "I'm three" (pause) "right now!"

We had a family dinner and little party for him. The theme was Curious George, since that is by far his favorite show to watch and he loves the Curious George books we have. We had "hang-a-bers"- hamburgers, french fries with ketchup and "yemonade" - lemonade as requested by Nathan as well as some salad, a yummy dip, grapes and bananas, and of course, cake and ice cream for dessert.

Here are the little boys enjoying their dinner and each other.


Grandma & Grandpa Hillstead came down from Lyman, Aunt OhMy and Uncle Duke came from Heber, and Grandma & Grandpa Taylor, Uncle Todd, Aunt Brittany, Uncle Brad, Kyle and Luke were all here, too. It was a fun night. Nathan was having so much fun playing with Kyle that when I asked him if he wanted to open presents he said, "no." He did enjoy opening presents once we started, but wanted to play with and savor each one. He got some books, some cars, a cowboy dress-up, some Toy Story figures, a train set, some clothes, a sled, some puzzles, and a backpack. No, our son isn't spoiled at all... :).

Nathan sat on Uncle Duke's lap while he read one of the books from his first present of the night. We thought it was going to take a long time to get through because he didn't want to relinquish any of his presents until he could play with them. But, it went well.


Aaron had to get in the mix and check out all the new presents, too.


Here is a classic shot- his nap today. He put the cars in his backpack and put it on to take a nap. So very cute. He played with his train set today and had Buzz lightyear and Zurg flying around after each other. He is learning to share his toys with Aaron, too, although it is very hard to do.

"Howdy, Partner. My name's Woody." After Nathan's nap he wanted to get into his cowboy outfit- spurs and all. He is one cute little cowboy! Notice he's still hanging onto his Lightning McQueen car. His family knows him well! Thanks everyone for coming and for the great gifts. We appreciate the love and support from our family so much!

Nativity

For Family Home Evening on Monday, our friends, Matt & Sherrie and their kids, Mattina and Jake came over. We do FHE with them once a month and have done since we've been married - 5 years ago. We were all friends in the Singles Ward and have remained friends for 5+ years and 4 kids, so it's lots of fun. For our lesson we talked about the birth of Jesus and did a short (very short) Nativity. Nathan was Joseph, Mattina was Mary and Aaron and Jake were shepherds. Unfortunately, Aaron wouldn't keep his towel on long enough for a picture so I just have Mary and Joseph. They were very cute about it and wanted to keep their outfits on and hold the baby Jesus. The shepherds weren't as into it, but give them a year or two and they will be fine shepherds indeed!


Afterwards we sang a few Christmas songs and enjoyed some yummy treats. Here are my cute boys cuddling with me while we were singing. Nathan wanted to keep his Joseph outfit on for most of the night.