Christmas is Coming

Sorry for the lack of updates. We got our tree and we are getting excited for Christmas! Morgan came over and helped us decorate. Everyone is doing well. The kids went and saw Santa the other night. Simon told Santa he wanted "Grinch toys and an ipad" Santa said he would make him an ipad out of wood. :) Carmen was a bit nervous and cried at first. Santa sang her Jingle Bells and she warmed up to him, but refused to speak a word. Later I asked her about it and she said, "He singed... ummm... I Got A Jingle?" (she is obsessed with Tangled and loves the song "I've Got a Dream") I'll try to be better about updating the blog!

Camping

We took the kids camping a couple weeks ago. We found this great spot about 20 minutes away. There are a bunch of ponds with giant trees and rope swings. It was Carmen's first camping experience and she loved it. She was covered head to toe in dirt by the time we left for home. Simon loved eating the ingredients for the smores and exploring. Chloe loved the constant access to water for swimming!

Camping with Daddy

Ryan took Simon on his first father/son campout last weekend. Simon had the time of his life, and is constantly asking Ryan when they can go again.

Happy Birthday Simon!

Simon was very excited to tell everyone that he was turning 4. He had a great Dr. Seuss birthday party on Saturday. For his official birthday on Tuesday we did a few of his favorite things: We met Daddy for lunch at the duck pond, ate dinner at slab, played at the park, and finally went to get THE BEST snow cones in existence. We've been waiting for one of these all winter and they opened just in time for Simon's birthday. It is so crazy to think I have a four year old. Simon is amazing. He is super smart- way smarter than me! He can now read (extremely well if I do say so myself) and continues to love reading books. He also loves slides whether it's a small one at the park, or a giant one at a water park. He is the bravest little 4 year old I've ever met. He will try any kind of ride or slide at least once. He has grown up so much in the last year and worked so hard at so many things! We love our little dude so much!

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's day was awesome! I'm so happy to have the loving husband and amazing kids that I do. I couldn't do it without the love and lessons I received from my own mom.

Simon made me this card. Love that dude so much.

Quick Update

Hey, we are still here! Just been a while since I posted anything. Things are good, just very busy!

Carmen has been walking since a little after she turned a year old. She is all over the place. She has no fear. Her latest trick is to climb to the top of slides and go down head first.

Simon had his first primary activity yesterday. They had to dress as missionaries. He looked the part for sure and he had a blast.

Happy Birthday Carmen!

Carmen is One! We love this little girl so much. She has the sweetest personality, and she is so funny. It is crazy that a year has already gone by. Here is Carmen's year in review.

Brand New

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months

Seven Months

Eight Months

Nine Months

Ten Months

Eleven Months

One Year!

At one year Carmen is working on walking, if you hold one of her hands she's fine. So far she has taken one and a half steps on her own. :) She has a silly sense of humor and loves to laugh and make people laugh. She can do signs for "more", "all done", and "drink". She can say "mamma", "dadda", "doggy", "nanana" (banana), and "nigh, nigh" (good night) consistently. Sometimes you can get her to say other things, but if she can't figure out how to say a word she thinks for a minute and then starts to laugh. She is extremely curious and loves to get into all kinds of trouble. Her favorite things to do are listening and dancing to music (Queen and Mumford and Sons are her latest favorites), following Simon around and listening to him read to her, and sucking her thumb. She is a tiny little thing, and that's the way we like it. We love our Carmen!

Christmas

We traveled to Chicago this Christmas, but before we left we had our own little Christmas Eve at home so the kids could open most of their presents before we left.

Ryan painted this Mickey bed for Simon. It's nice he doesn't have to squeeze into a little toddler bed anymore. :)

Singing songs.

Opening presents. Carmen got the hang of the gift opening, but she was still more excited about the paper and ribbons.

Playing the game he got.

That Sunday we got together with my brothers and sisters. The kids put on a little nativity show, and my parents were able to skype in to be a part of it.

We flew to Chicago Christmas Eve. The kids did extremely well traveling. They had so much fun with their Mumsy and Gus and hanging out with their cousins that they rarely get to see.

Mumsy Jammies!

Reading with Gus.

Santa found us in Chicago.

The Christmas program.

Decorating ginger bread houses.

We took the train to the Choo Choo Cafe.

We also drove into the city to the Shedd Aquarium (or "Mequarium" as Simon likes to call it). Both kids loved it. It is HUGE and they have so many cool things to see.

Watching the dolphin show with Mumsy.

Carmen loved watching all the fish, but the sharks were her favorite.

Simon found Nemo.

We had a really great time. It was fun to get to spend the holidays with Ryan's parents. Something we've never been able to do. Simon got very emotional when he realized we were leaving his Mumsy's house. We were driving home today and he mentioned out of the the blue, "I miss Mumsy's house." Thank you to Ryan's parent's for being so generous and letting us come stay with them.