Santa's a coming...

It is feeling like Christmastime! This is all thanks to a decorated tree, Christmas cards in the mail, a Spiced Wassail candle, some Christmas tunes, a daily advent calendar (Asher lives to open the little boxes), broken Christmas canes found in random places, and a trip to the mall to visit Santa. I am so glad it seems like Christmastime. There have been years when the holiday gets here, and I feel like I missed the whole month and with it the feeling that this season evokes. The magic, the giving, the fun! I hate it when I miss it, so I am trying to really embrace it. Kids make Christmas what it is, in every way. I am convinced of that. And my two little guys are having some fun.

I took some pictures yesterday of the two of them near the tree, and it was just funny. I was trying to get a perfect picture, which seemed (and was) unlikely. Except that the imperfect ones are my favorites, so that's okay by me!

We also made a trip to the mall to visit Santa. Asher insisted that Beckett go first, which at first came across as a sweet and generous gesture of brotherly love, until we realized he was petrified of Mr. Clause. Corey sat him on Santa's knee, and had to pry him off his coat. We were dangerously close to a picture of Asher with Santa, crying his head off, at nearly 4 years old! As it is, the picture we did bring home was pretty close to what was really going on. I don't think Asher said even one word to the Big Man, he just couldn't wait to get out of there. Beckett thought Santa was mesmerizing. He just stared and stared. Blame it on the bright white beard, I say...who grows a beard these days? Santa does look pretty cool.

Christmas is a coming!

P.S. And, yes, Beckett's skin is looking a litte orange. Too much squash? I swear it's not a tan!

Thanksgiving in Globe

Sunset in Globe.

Globe, Arizona that is. For any who've either never been or heard of this town, it is simply a tiny mining town a bit over an hour outside of Pheonix. We went to visit Corey's parents for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was only the second roadtrip we've taken with the boys and they did surprisingly well. Thanks to a lot of naps by Beckett (okay, he did scream a little) and hours of DVD's for Asher, all was pleasant. I sometimes wonder what in the world families did before movies in the car. Scary!
Thanksgiving day was nice, and the food was delish! We drove to "the valley" a couple of times and put in some shopping time and way too much eating time. Corey went to High School in Gilbert, AZ, so he had a few things he wanted to do/eat while he was there (Mesa Temple Christmas lights, and Nielson's Frozen Custard, mmm). Pheonix was a sizzling 81 degrees the day after Thanksgiving!! And we hit snow on the drive home, go figure.

Asher's favorite pastime over the weekend...playing with the gates.

Taking an after dinner walk on Thanksgiving.

One of the days, we went to Freestone Park, which is a huge park with some kids rides and mini manmade lakes. Asher had a fantastic time riding the little train and carousel, and before we left he worked up enough courage to brave the little ferris wheel. It was a proud moment, I must say. Beckett spent the majority of the weekend wanting his mom to hold him, and drag-crawling himself around. He is loving his new freedom and boy is he fast.

Since we've been home, we caught up and put up our Christmas tree! Asher is really excited about everything this year...so fun! Less than 24 hours after we put out all the Christmas decor, Asher had broken two ornaments, and flattened a decorative sled (he sat on it...whoops).
I cannot believe December is actually here and that Christmas is coming so quick. I'm hoping to have all my shopping done by this weekend, so we can all really enjoy the rest of it all. Woooeeee! Time sure flies!

P.S. Couldn't resist posting this. This picture is from a recent visit to the zoo...we now have an adorable baby elephant!

All that is Fall

I love fall. Love, love, love it! This year, though, it seems to have come and gone and I was barely keeping up. We usually buy pumpkins the first week of October, and this year it was the week of! I didn't come up with any costumes for me and Corey, although I did have a great idea...wild animal trainers, since our kids were animals...hats, lassos, khaki, etc, ..(too bad ideas don't count!). Didn't happen. We had fun picking out pumpkins. Asher loved every one he picked up so picking one was a process and we just grabbed the first one he'd chosen. Plus he could not stop running all over, around and through the whole "patch", until we told him he could hold onto Beckett for some pictures. He'll always stop for a chance to hold his little bro.

This past week reminded me of all the Halloweens of my youth....COLD. It made me think of all those years I had to put a coat over my costume to go trick-or-treating and how much I hated it. We had a little snow storm come through a few days ago, and Asher was begging me to go outside. He said he wanted the snow "on him." I could hardly deny him this wish, since these chances to play in any kind of snow are brief and few. He came in muddy, wet and happy, even though it was nearly all melted by the time he came in. I think he ate snow off of almost every surface in the yard. By the time he came in he was caked in mud from the waist down, and I had a small vase filled with roses from the yard that Asher kept bringing in to me ("for you" he'd say), all of which had no stems attached...his own personal trademark.

We carved up our pumpkins...I did a Blue's Clues one and Corey carved up an owl. We had Ash color one again...maybe next year we'll help him carve one. We also did the baby-in-a-pumpkin thing again. We did it with Ash on his 1st Halloween too, but I have to say that Beckett was a better sport, even though both times it ended in crying. I'm so mean. The pictures just turned out ok, I really wanted to take him outside, but it was cold, and Corey was making me feel guilty for doing it at all, so inside we stayed. I'm still glad we did it though.

Halloween was a fun night. Aaron, Meagan and Emery came over for some chili and cornbread. Asher really got into the trick-or-treating this year. We went to our Ward's trunk-or-treat the night before, so he'd gotten a little practice. I stayed at home to hand out candy and put Beckett to bed while Corey and Aaron went up and down our street with Ash. When people opened the door he yelled, "it's me!" and then added an obligatory "trick-or-treat." Next year I am going too. I'm tired of missing all the funny things that happen while I'm handing out candy to everyone else's kids. Next year our house will not be giving out candy for approximately 30 minutes. I can't wait! As far as costumes this year, Asher was an elephant, and Beckett was a monkey. They both looked so cute! I guess I have a thing for dressing my kids as animals. I can hardly resist their adorable little faces peeking out at me through a huge furry hood. I figure they have years ahead of them to be being skeletons, pirates, superheroes, etc., so I'm taking full advantage of their cuteness and using my mommy-persuasion to dress them as animals. Asher insisted on being Thomas the Tank Engine again this year until I slipped the elephant costume on him on the store, and he changed his mind. Phew!

I now have too much candy sitting in the pantry, a little boy who wants to go trick-or-treating again tomorrow, and some already delapidated carved pumpkins on the porch. Can't wait to do it all again next year!

Monkey Business

Can I just say that Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta never seems to get old? I love waking up and seeing balloons dotting the sky, and so do the kids. It is surreal and beautiful. We didn't hit the actual Fiesta park this year...it seemed cruel to rip a baby out of bed for some early morning fun, so we'll likely resume that next year. But, we have done a few morning drives around town to watch them float on by. More mellow, but still fun and mesmorizing. We found a great spot in Corrales last weekend where balloons were landing all around us. I think Asher is a little bummed we aren't doing "park and ride" this year and going down to the park...the bus ride is still a major highlight for him and he's been talking about it for weeks now, but I think somehow he'll forgive us, and we'll just make it up to him next year As always, Fall in Albuquerque is amazing.

Me and Beck hanging at the zoo:)

Corey took a day off from work today, so we drove around and watched the balloons, grabbed some cinnamon rolls and hit the zoo. What a treat! We had an especially exciting time visiting the chimpanzees. There is a baby one that was literally playing with Asher. The little guy was doing sommersaults by the viewing window, then throwing himself at the glass and jumping around. It was amazing to watch, and Asher was loving every second of it!

Please ignore my goofy laugh!

The Maestro

I have been looking forward to today for quite some time now...the day that I had a child to watch in the annual Primary Program. My day arrived at last, and Asher did not disappoint. I knew we would need to be early to get a good seat, so we prepared accordingly and showed up 30 minutes early. Unfortunately, our ward is RIDICULOUS about saving seats and you must be at least 45 minutes early to get one. Or, you can send your child an hour early, throw down some scriptures on a pew and call it good when you walk in at ten til and your seat is just waiting for you (I guess I'd do it too if I could, but just knowing you can't beat the system is frustrating!). We sat at the front of the gym section though, and that was good enough, especially since we only sat there up until the program started.
Asher made Corey walk him up when it started, and I was sitting occupying Beckett when I heard very familiar and very loud crying from the front of the chapel. It was definitely my kid, definitely not wanting to participate. Luckily, he agreed to stay with his class as long as Corey sat on the front row where he could see him. Soon, Beckett and I joined him, because I figured I could see better from there anyway. His claim to fame for the day was his conducting abilities (which were unknown until today). With each song, he stood just ahead of his class and had his arms fully outstretched, fingers out (a bit like a monster) and was moving them to the beat with gusto. It was hilarious. The best part was that he was intent and all business about it, not being silly and laughing. He was reigned in after a few songs to keep order, but not before we had a few laughs. He also had a small speaking part ("I pick up my blocks") which he did shyly but well. I had a few people afterward tell me how funny he was, and that he should conduct the MoTab someday.
I am so glad I finally was able to watch one of my own children up there, with utter parental pride. Loved it!

Sound Effects Included

If there's one thing I've learned about little boys, it is that they make sounds, all kinds of sounds. Asher, for example, cannot move without making a noise to go with it. Corey has joked that he can "b-box", and really there is some truth to that! Beyond the imitable noises of a car or airplane, Ash has a specific sound he'll make if he's running, and another for when he turns quickly, or when he's dropping something, everything has a distinct and specific noise. The other day I bought a pineapple, and low and behold, he started in with a song/sound for that too! (This recording was prompted a bit, and I happened to have a prop to give you the whole picture)

Beckett too is beginning to make his fair share of sounds. There's the really loud shriek he repeats over and over when he's tired and hungry (think velocoraptor from Jurassic Park), and my favorite, the spitting noise. He does it when he's eating (a bit alarming when sweet potatoes are sprayed at you), he does it when he's sitting, he does it when I change his diaper. It is kind of becoming his sound of the moment. When he finishes up there is a rim of saliva around his mouth and wet droplets all over the rest of his face. Luckily, he was doing it a lot today at lunchtime (yes, I was dodging food), and I caught him on tape. What sweet and funny little boys.

Turning 32 and Other Nonsense

Atta boy Asher! Mommy is 23!

Another year. Ever since I turned 30 I had this strange notion that age 32 sounded good...oddly, better than 31. We'll see. The boys made my day special. Instead of going out to dinner this year, I wanted to go out to breakfast, which is something we almost never do. I love going out to breakfast and decided this was my chance to take full advantage, especially since my b-day fell on Labor Day this year. It was so nice! We ate at Mimi's (yum) and I've come to the conclusion that going out to breakfast is so much fun because you feel like you're on vacation.

After that we hit the zoo with Aaron and Meagan and grabbed some pizza/sandwiches at Saggio's. Fun and mellow.

One of the best parts of the day was when Corey and Asher made me a birthday cake. Corey is not one to brave the baking himself, he'd rather just buy one and have it over with, usually. It was so fun to watch them, and Asher loved every second of it. I had to laugh when Corey asked me questions like, "Is canola oil like vegetable oil?" and after helping him for a second, he was stunned when I started laughing because he didn't put frosting in between the two cake layers. It was yummy and oh so sweet of them. When the candles wouldn't stay on just right, he concocted some sort of a support system with other candles behind the cake. Very creative. Thanks guys for making my day so fun!

The rest of these pictures are from the last few weeks, ... fun and random ones I wanted to post.

The day we returned from our trip to Utah we hit the grocery store to fill our empty refrigerator. All that traveling was too much for the boys and they both conked out at the store...right where they were.

Just thought this was a cute one of Beckett at the ward swim party in July. Love those cheeks! He was a good little swimmer, even though the water was cold. Brrrr.

While in Utah, I went to the Farmer's Market in Provo with my mom and Kayla. She brought her double jogging stroller and walked around with the two boys, who are just 3 weeks apart. EVERYONE asked if they were twins. Kayla kept saying no until I told her she should just say yes...it was easier. So, she did and ended up getting asked questions and hearing stories from strangers about their twins. It was pretty funny. Who knew that twins received SO much attention?