Christmas!!

We had a fun Christmas this year with Luke's family.  It was so fun to have his parents back from their mission, and to see so many of his family that we haven't seen for awhile.

Here is Ty and 3 of his cousins on Christmas morning--we are missing the other 4 cousins born this past year (8 new grand-babies in 2008).

Here is Ben and Alec with their cousins from Virginia reading Christmas stories with Grandpa before bed on Christmas Eve.

My sweet little shepherds in the Christmas Nativity.  

The wind in Idaho Falls left some fun snow drifts, and Luke helped the boys build a snow cave to play in.  It was nice to have a white Christmas.

HOLIDAY FUN!!

We had a fun month full of holiday fun. Here are a few of the fun things we did this Christmas. Seeing the Christmas Lights was a hit for the kids, even Ty didn't mind the cold. Decorating the tree was especially fun for the older boys, and Ty was our good little helper as you can see. He is getting so big these days and can blow kisses and clap now, which has been a lot of fun. We attempted to make a Gingerbread House this year that failed miserably, but the boys were okay settling for Gingerbread men. We got to see Santa a lot this year, and it was always interesting to hear what Alec wanted since in changed daily. What a fun time a year, and we have been especially grateful this year to be in our own home for the holidays.

Fall Fun

We have had a fun Halloween season!!!  My boys loved trick-or-treating around our little neighbor, and we had a good time watching their excitement.  Alec became quite the talker at each house, making sure he introduced everyone.

Alec-"Froggie", Ty-Spider, & Ben-Spiderman

We had a fun time carving pumpkins this year.  Ben will still have nothing to do with the insides of a pumpkin, but Alec, on the other hand, loved playing side the pumpkin goo.  We lined the pumpkins up when we were finished and had Ty crawl towards them as the judge--Alec was the winner.

Our two trees in the front yard gave us a lot of leaves to play in this fall.  We played in them almost everyday last week, and one day we had our fun cousins over to join the fun.

Even Ty loved playing in the leaves!!  Surprisingly enough he didn't mind when the boys surrounded him with leaves.  Our only problem was keeping the leaves on the ground and out of his mouth.  He is such a happy little guy!!

Swings

There is a fun park just a quarter of a mile from our house that we walked to yesterday.  Ben rode his bike while I pushed the other two boys, and we had a fun picnic.  Swings seemed to be the hit this visit to the park, and Ty was laughing most of the time.

Notice the drool--Yes, Ty is teething and is constantly sharing his drool with everything.

Alec is always trying to make every picture of himself unique.

Ben is learning to pump on the swings, but for some reason he still can't keep going.

Pumpkin Picking

Ben's preschool took a little field trip to Linder Farms, and I came along with Alec and Ty.  We got to go on a hayride, pick pumpkins, go on a straw and corn maze, and color.  The kids loved it, and now we will have some fun pumpkins to carve.  Ben loves his little preschool class he goes to 2 times a week.  He is getting so big too fast, I can hardly believe it.

Finally Settled

Old Rental

We moved into this rental planning to live there for 3 months--we ended up there for 6 months instead.  We were very happy to leave the weed patch that lined a busy road, but we were grateful to have it while we did.  It served it's purpose and it helped us wait for the house we wanted.  We are also really enjoying our new house since the rental was less than ideal.

New House

This is the home we closed on the end of September, and we love it.  It was a miracle that we were able to get in a home with the market the way it is.  Lets just say there was a lot of road blocks along the way, but with the Lord's help we were able to get into the perfect place.  It is so nice to live in a place that actually looks clean after you've cleaned it.  The boys have a fenced in yard that we love with grass!!  We've done a little painting since the boys couldn't sleep in a purple room, but other than that it is in really good condition.  It is nice to be home, and have all our stuff in one location. 

Fun Times in Idaho

My Buckeye Boys!!

     Yes, football season has officially started.  As you can see you don't have to live in Ohio to get excited about the buckeyes.  We hope the official season is more impressive then the last 2 games.  Either way, I'm sure we'll be keeping tabs.

     My sister Kara came to play for the weekend.  The boys love it when she comes to visit, and as you can see she is up for doing fun things with them.  I love it when she comes the most though!!  I am lucky to have so many great sisters.  She got me addicted to a train game, and we had to play until I won.

     Johnny and Ty

     This last weekend Luke's sister Bekah and her husband Matt came to visit with their little baby Johnny.  He is so cute!!  Him and Ty will eventually be good buddies, but for now sitting by each other is about as exciting as it gets.  Ty is already 7 months old.  He is a chunk!!  We were excited to find that he was in the 25% for his weight, which is good for my boys. Unfortunately like the rest of the boys he is only 10% for his height.  He is such a good little guy.

     

     This is my advertisement for Boise!!  We took the boys on a little hike overlooking Boise, and I was amazed that the desert could be so beautiful.  So here is my plug to everyone-move to Boise, it is a great place to live.  Plus you'll live by me!!