And he thought it was for him!

Erik got an IPod Touch for Christmas, and the kids have really been enjoying it!

How stinkin' sweet is this?! They are the best of friends. Brooklyn really looks after her "little" brother.

Deep in concentration.

Year-end round-up

We actually did celebrate Christmas this year...even though I haven't posted about it yet. Better late than never I always say! For Christmas Eve, we had some good friends (the Mortenson's and Cluff's) over for food, the Nativity, and games. Brooklyn was sweet Mary, and Troy was Joseph. And I was of course an angel (just like every other day of the year! ha!). We played a little Just Dance 2 (the little kids LOVED this, especially Brooklyn and McKinley). And it was of course hilarious to watch the men "dance." And I think I got a work-out from it for the first time in a couple months!

Christmas morning was so much fun this year with both kids really understanding and getting involved. They even gave us a gift in return and slept in until 8 am! I'm sure that will never happen again, but we savored the moment/sleep this year. When Brooklyn did wake up, she ran into our room yelling, "Mommy, Daddy, Santa came! Santa came!!!" The kids loved tearing into their gifts and were very gracious and polite. The perfect little Christmas!! Oh, I should mention...on Christmas Eve, one of Santa's elves dropped a couple gifts off on our doorstep for the kids to open. Brooklyn unwrapped hers, found that it was new pajamas, and proceeded to whine that she doesn't "want pajamas, I want a unicorn pillow-pet!!" Yup, proud parent moment for sure. Spoiled much?! lol

Mary was a little sad to have to wear a head-dress.

Our handsome Joseph and "angelic" angel!

McKinley and Brooklyn dancing. They did surprisingly well too. Even beat David a couple times. :)

Brooklyn received make-up for Christmas, and Troy "ran" into it one morning. Yesterday (I didn't get a picture), he had put foundation powder all over his face, and did a surprisingly good job. These pictures will show up on his first date for sure.

New Years!! We had a great New Years. We started off the evening at our friends house (the Rigtrups) for a little pre-party dinner of nachos. Easy and yummy! We tried to get a good family picture, but you all know how that goes with toddlers. After dinner, we headed over to the Peterson's and danced our booties off!! It was such a great party. The kids celebrated New Years at 9, and we took off for home around 10:15ish. We threw the kids in bed, settled on the couch to watch the countdown and both fell asleep before midnight. Yup, we're hard-core these days!

Just a little insight into our lives. They love to wrestle. So funny!

Happy New Year!!!!

Random

Trying to get a nice picture is nearly impossible. Brooklyn was being crazy and Troy was obsessed with the funnel.

Our little 80's boy.

Erik was able to come home after meetings before church and got a couple snapshots of the kids. I wish he could have come home the day I had them in their Christmas outfits! Oh well.

They really are best friends. So cute.

They ask me to take pictures of them all the time. This was one of those times. Precious! :)

Our first snow of the year

The kids enjoyed our first snow just before Thanksgiving. We ended up getting about 6 inches!! That's a lot for Seattle. Anyway, we had a blast playing in the snow and making snowmen. These pictures were taken when it was still snowing. The next morning we woke up to a ton more! So much fun. Erik stayed home from work and we played all day.

Making a tiny snowmen.

I was trying to teach Troy how to make a snow-angel.

It's never too late right?!

Our friends the Richardson's graciously had us over for Thanksgiving this year. Brittany set the tables BEAUTIFULLY, and made some amazing food!! We had such a blast, and the kids probably had even more fun. :) They have a little boy who is Brooklyn's age, who Troy just LOVES! It's fun for him to have boy friends, since there aren't many boys his age around here. Thanks again for having us!!

The adult table.

The kids table. LOVE that little Mayflower centerpiece!

The Turkey. It was perfectly moist and delicious. Just like a turkey should be.

Eric, the carver. :)

Is that the cutest face or what? The kids enjoyed playing with Denali and riding on her back.

The kids making their apple turkeys.

Our hostess and her cute son. He was making a silly face.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Erik's employer had their annual NAES Kid's Christmas Party, complete with coloring, food, goodies, presents, and....SANTA!  Brooklyn and Troy were quite patient waiting for their turn to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they want for Christmas.

Brooklyn is looking very sweet.  She loves Santa.

Troy's a little nervous.  Notice Santa holding his hands down...

And here is a photo of our little family with Santa (and no, Marcie isn't THAT pregnant, it's the dang shirt)

Kids say the darndest things!

This post may be a little too much info for some, but it's something that I just had to write down and document. Lately I've been pretty sick from pregnancy. There hasn't been a single day since I hit 6 weeks where I haven't thrown up (to give you an idea). Some days are way worse than others. Anyway...when I am throwing up, I usually leave the door unlocked just in case the kids need me or something. Troy likes to come in and ask me over and over, "Mommy, you're not feeling well?" To which I reply, "No honey, I'm not feeling well."  Then he shrugs and shuts the door behind him leaving me to myself again. Brooklyn on the other hand, enjoys watching me throw-up. The other day she came in and said, "Mommy, I want to see a big one!!" As I proceeded to throw-up, just a little bit, she says, "Mommy, that was a small one, not a big one!"  Apparantely I'm not quite meeting her standards. lol