The Vickers

yummy valentine cake

2012-01-25T17:50:00.000-08:00

This week we made some yummy cake that I always liked as a kid. And I pretty much ate the whole thing. yikes. I thought I would share the recipe though since it is kind of a valentine looking cake!

Red Earth Cake

½ C Crisco
1 ¼ C sugar
1 egg
1 Tbs. cocoa
1 tsp. red food color
2 Tbs. strong coffee

2 C flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 C buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

Cream Crisco, sugar & egg. Mix together in a cup the cocoa, food coloring and coffee.
Then add to the sugar mixture.
Alternate mixing the flour and buttermilk.
Add the salt to the flour and the soda to the last part of the buttermilk.

Bake at 350 35 to 40 min. in a 9 x 13 pan that has been sprayed and floured.

Discovery Icing

1 ½ C sugar (granulated not powdered)
2 egg whites
1/3 C boiling water
¼ tsp. cream of tarter
¼ tsp. salt
2 Tbs. white Karo
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. almond

Boil water in a double boiler. In the top pan/bowl we used a whisk attachment for
a hand mixer and beat the sugar, egg whites, water, cream of tarter, salt and Karo
for 5 min. Then add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat 5 more min. with
the water just simmering. You should probably check the water level between the
times to beat it.

birthday week

2012-01-21T20:32:00.001-08:00

the kids actual birthday was sunday the 15th. it was pretty much just a normal day since it was on sunday. after church we opened presents and had lunch with mimi and papa. then some friends of ours came over that evening...more presents and more eating. these kids are spoiled rotten.

below is a picture of sawyers favorite babies that she got for christmas and bday. she loves them. they sleep with her (and have a particular place) and she always wants to play babies now.the kids had a tea party at school for their birthday where they got to pick the menu. so cute.the rest of the pictures are just from our week playing with friends. enjoying all of the crazy warm weather we have had!!zoned out after playing outside...

birthday party

2012-01-14T17:56:00.000-08:00

we had the kids fourth birthday party this weekend (their birthday is the 15th). we did it at church and rented a bouncy slide. i let the kids pick the theme and they picked superheros and princess. i looked around on etsy for an invitation that had that combined theme and didn't really find anything that i liked. so i emailed my friend ashley to see if she could create something that had both. she did an awesome job. and was so quick and it was so easy. if you are looking for a party pack check her out: http://snowbirddesign.blogspot.com/

here are the tables. i just found a bunch of different ideas on pinterest and combined it all. i could not have done it without my mom and chrys. my mom made all of the awesome capes that the boys took home as party favors. they were a huge hit. and they both helped me to assemble all the decor. it was all pretty cheap to do, just took a lot of time.
we had a great turnout and it was a great party. i am so thankful for all of our sweet friends that came and helped us celebrate their birthday. we are so blessed that they have such great friends!

new york

2012-01-10T21:22:00.000-08:00

my feet and legs are sore and tired, i have piles of laundry to do, grocery shopping, work to catch up on and party planning to take care of. back to reality. we had a great vacation though. we saw most of the sites, relaxed, ate good food and spent time with jen. everything we had wanted from the vacation. we did everything much slower though than planned. the traveling before the trip killed my back and belly, and anytime we walked too fast or went up stairs I had contractions. fun. i have always wanted to see new york at christmas. and we kinda ended up catching the best of both worlds. the tree was still up but we missed all the crowds!! we really got lucky most of the trip on not waiting.

sights:
the first day we were there we walked along the east side of central park and through it some. we went in the plaza hotel since it was in one of my most favorite movies. we went to times square.and saw wicked.and we saw the tree before they started taking it down.

and went to the top of rockefeller.we saw the 9/11 memorial.and took a ferry ride. that we almost missed.

other than that we got one amazing foot massage that i wish i could repeat every day and ate a lot of yummy food. carnegie deli, max brenners, two little red hens, eileens, smac, buddha bbeeq, nicks and gotham pizza.

4 year old pictures

2012-01-01T21:49:00.000-08:00

this saturday was sunny and almost 80 so i decided to take the kids out for their 4 year pics since their birthday is this month. i figured we probably won't have another day like that for a while! i also needed pictures for their valentines and my business valentine mini post.

you would think from the pictures that they behaved well and were easy. ha! mason pulled down his pants and started peeing while i was taking them. he tooted multiple times (once in the picture below on the right), much to sawyers dislike. and pretty much did the opposite of what i asked at all times. but we still got a few :)outtakes:

christmas day

2011-12-26T19:20:00.000-08:00

all i can say is thank goodness for toddler clocks. we were woken up at 7:30 by sawyer crawling in bed and then mason ran in a few minutes later yelling that santa ate all the cookies.

we played with santa toys until church time.

after church we went to kim and chrys' house and ate lunch, then started opening presents after lunch.

the kids passed them all out. we tried taking turns opening presents so that they wouldn't just tear through all of them. they of coarse had a ridiculous number of presents since we do it all together and they get all of their presents from both grandparents at the same time. not to mention they are spoiled rotten only grandchildren :)

it was a great day and so much fun. the only bad thing was at lunch i started having contractions and had them all day long. we finally went up to labor and delivery that night just to have things checked out. they said i probably just needed more fluids or it could also be because she is so active. thank goodness. i started having contractions with the twins around 26 weeks and was put on bedrest so i was pretty worried about a repeat.

christmas eve

2011-12-26T08:46:00.000-08:00

we had christmas eve with extended family and the kids got to open one present. they play with it all night. sawyer got these princess hair things and fixed everyones hair all night. mason got some super heros- thor,loki etc.they were so excited about santa coming that they could not fall asleep. I think it was 10 before they finally crashed.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T10:45:00.001-08:00

last few activities

2011-12-24T13:16:00.000-08:00

21. make christmas cake pops

22. color christmas pictures
23. eat reindeer pancakes

24. make cookies for santa

24 weeks

2011-12-20T18:50:00.001-08:00

we spent the day playing elf on the shelf. the kids put on elf hats, hid and made me find them. and wouldn't let me touch them so they didn't lose their magic. cute. here's my elf on the couch.

and here is a 24 week belly shot and update. i still have previa and they don't think it will move. so i will just have to be careful and hopefully we will make it all the way to march 30th.

almost christmas

2011-12-18T13:15:00.000-08:00

15. make a reindeer

16. make a cards for teacher sherri and amy- santa handprint

17. donuts with santa

18. go to the christmas musical at church

19. make christmas ornaments

20. hang our christmas ornaments

our week in christmas activities

2011-12-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

8. make christmas cut-out cookies
9. decorate cookies with friends
10. decorate pine cone christmas trees
11. drive through the state school christmas lights
12. decorate gingerbread houses at school
13. make cookies for friends
14. deliver cookies to friends

advent calendar

2011-12-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

we have started our little advent calendar. each day the kids get to open a door and a book (they alternate days). i took all of their christmas books and wrapped them to make them more fun. so our little morning tradition is to do this after breakfast. they open a book and open a door and find out what we get to do that day. there is a piece of paper and a piece of candy for each of them in each little cubby (they get the candy after nap). about halfway through the month it changes from candy to a little toy. i got this package of squinkies or something- barbie and superhero.

here is our first week of activities:
1. decorate christmas cones
2. put money in the salvation army bucket at the grocery store
3. go see arthur christmas at the movie theater
4. go to the church christmas service at the paramount
5. make a felt christmas tree
6. make christmas wreaths and watch the elf on the shelf movie together
7. write letters to santa

ice cream cone trees-

here with us at the paramount-

the tree is far from perfect but i had two little helpers-

making christmas wreaths-

letter to santa-

other christmas things we have been doing...

wrapping presents-

this year i decided to put pictures instead of name tags on all the gifts so that the kids can hand them out. make it a little more about giving maybe?

make cookies with mimi-

kitchen

2011-12-06T12:19:00.000-08:00

the kitchen might be the biggest transformation of the whole house and my favorite room! i spend a lot of time in the kitchen and it is so wonderful to have a working/practical kitchen. there are still a few things to be painted and done, but for the most part it is finished.

and here's what it looked like before:

snow!

2011-12-05T20:14:00.000-08:00

we had our first snow day of the season! sawyer came in and woke me up and said, "mommy it's a special day. is it christmas?" they were so excited about the snow and wanted to go outside to play right away. they wanted to make a snowman and have snowball fight but there was not that much snow. they still loved playing in it though. i got cold pretty fast though, my snow pants are too small and my coat wouldn't zip!

tea party

2011-12-03T21:04:00.001-08:00

this weekend sawyer and i went to the mad hatter tea party at church. we painted tea pots, made hats and painted nails. she loved doing all of this and mason was so upset that he didn't get to go. he was in a bad mood all day friday because he wanted to go. poor guy.

thanksgiving day

2011-12-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

we had a great thanksgiving. we had the meal at our house for the first time ever which was so much fun. the kids watched the macy's parade and read books with the guys while the girls cooked.

we decorated the tree, dressed as spiderman and wolverine. and took family pictures that i will post later!

so thankful for such a great family!

logan paige

2011-11-21T21:01:00.001-08:00

we found out yesterday that we are having a baby girl in march! the baby looks perfect but i have placenta previa so they are going to keep a close watch on things and i have to be careful so i don't end up on bed rest. but tadvick thinks everything will go fine.

i really wanted to tell the kids in a fun way if the baby was a boy or girl so after they woke up from their nap I had blue and pink balloons all over the living room for them to play with until the grandparents and eric got home. sawyer asked me if we were going to find out what the baby was and then put it back in. she had lots of questions while we waited to find out. is the baby going to sleep in my room? are we going to get the baby out today? after the baby comes out are we going to keep it? after the baby comes out are we going to get another one?

eric brought home a reveal cake from mckays (which by the way is amazing again). my mom and chrys came over, kim and jen got on skype and we cut into the cake (my dad was out hunting).

mason has asked me multiple times why the baby can't be a boy. poor guy. sawyer is excited that it is a girl though! she told us a million times today that the baby is a girl.

thanksgiving in austin

2011-11-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

we went to austin for the weekend to have thanksgiving with aunt jaffy. on saturday we went to the texas v kansas state game. it was the kids first time to go to a live football game and they did awesome. they took it all in and had so much fun.

they were getting pretty tired by 4th quarter and the excitement had kind of worn off so they played on phones for the 4th. thank goodness for iphones!

we had our yummy thanksgiving meal that chrys cooked.

thanksgiving crafts

2011-11-20T09:20:00.001-08:00

we have done a few thanksgiving crafts this week. i haven't been very good about taking the time for these because things have been so busy. i am kind of looking forward to things slowing down in december.

we colored puzzles.

and made turkeys.

we had our first thanksgiving meal at school on friday-

and started a very fun tradition. they named their elf finner. i love listening to them look for him every morning and tell everyone about him.

kids rooms

2011-11-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

we are still working on the house. there is still so much left to do which is the main reason i haven't posted any pictures yet. but the kids rooms are mostly done (minus some trim paint!). so here are the kids new rooms!

here is sawyer's room-
before:

after:

this room used to be the guest room. the only thing that stayed is the small chest of drawers that I painted.

favorite things about her room- she loves her dressing table that aunt jaffy gave her and i love that she has her own closet for all of her clothes and a pink girly room!

here is mason's room-
before:

after:

this room used to be my dad's room when he was growing up and was where we stayed when we visited and where I lived a summer in college. The three pieces of furniture were my dads.

favorite things about his room- the painting on the wall is of my grandpas house that he grew up in and i love that they are in normal sized beds and have lots of room. they also both love having a lamp in their room.

the rest of halloween

2011-11-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

we carved pumpkins.

we went to the trunk and treat at church.

school costume day:

the kids have been pretty excited about all the candy. sawyer lined all of her candy up and assigned a time to eat, "i will eat this one after nap, this one after dinner, this one..." too funny.

pumpkins

2011-10-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

we have been doing lots of pumpkin and halloween stuff this month. we have made pumpkin bread, pumpkin pudding, pumpkin shaped cupcakes, pumpkin jigglers.

we have made a couple of trips to the pumpkin patch.

they got to paint some pumpkins.

we made pumpkin, owl and leaf shaped cookies.

the kids even took a spooky bath with glow sticks.

we still have a couple more Halloween things left to do, but what are your favorite crafts/activities for this time of year? I would love suggestions!

acu homecoming

2011-10-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

this past weekend was homecoming and i took two pictures. it was so busy! we went to the carnival and parade, but weren't at either very long. the kids soccer game was from 8:30-9:30 and the parade started at 9:30 across town. we made it there a little late but still got to see some of it.

other than that we just have spent time around the house playing.

there's a baby in your belly

2011-10-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

yesterday sawyer told me, "mommy your tummy is starting to get big!" i wonder what kind of comments i will be getting in a few months!

game 4

2011-10-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

sawyer scored her first goal on saturday at their game! this is a picture of coach michael giving her a hug after :)

during the game mason got a break away and another kid from their team ran up and kicked the ball away from him (they all try to kick it at the same time). mason got so upset. the lip came out and he put his arms out and went straight to sawyer for a hug. but she completely ignored him! he gave up and held her hand for a while to comfort himself. so sweet.

istre farm

2011-10-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

the kids had their first field trip this past wednesday. they went out to istre farm. they got to watch a goat being milked, feed the animals, ride the horse, and eat some great pizza.

more soccer pictures

2011-10-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

these pictures are from game 2 and 3. they took a team picture this past weekend and mason did not look at the camera or smile at all! stinker!

fall pictures

2011-09-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

lauren & rach's visit

2011-09-27T13:48:00.001-07:00

lauren and rachael came to visit for a few days last week and i have been meaning to post a few pictures from the visit. it was so much fun to watch the kids play together. they are all getting older and able to play with each other. i am so glad they are going to grow up playing together.

the move

2011-09-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

last saturday we moved. finally. the house isn't finished of coarse, but that is what we spend every night working on. i have been unpacking and eric and some friends of ours have been working (kitchen backsplash, base boards, staining cabinets, painting trim, etc.). there is still a lot to be done but we are getting there. and the house is sooo nice.

mason and sawyer had their first soccer game last saturday and it was so cute!! the kids all run and kick the ball, sometimes in the wrong goal. if they miss the goal they keep running with it until a coach or ref catches up to them and stops them. some of the kids just pick the ball up and move it. it is really really cute. not to mention the oversized uniforms :)

west texas fair and rodeo

2011-09-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

with the craziness of moving week we almost didn't go to the fair, but we went ahead and took the kids out there tuesday night after soccer practice. it was so much more fun for them this year since they are tall enough to ride a lot more rides.

and here is the insanity we are living in right now. you can hardly walk in the house. but the plan is to move saturday, so the end is in sight!

vegas, soccer and playdates

2011-09-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

two weekends ago eric and i spent the weekend in vegas! he had a conference there last week so i went down for two nights before with him. we spent all of our time sleeping, eating and shopping! it was great and did not last long enough. we stayed at aria (my fave) and at at max brenner, pf and cheesecake factory.

since eric was gone all week we planned lots of fun playdates to keep us busy.

zoo train

and tonight was our first soccer practice!! we are playing with brody and dylan again like wee-ball and are so excited. the kids had fun and were sooo excited about it.

packing

2011-08-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

we have started packing. i got tired typing that. it is so overwhelming and every time i start i just want to lay down and go to sleep. we don't know exactly when we will be moving so i don't know what i should pack and what i will need before then. i haven't completely decided everything that i am taking and what i am leaving/selling. and there is SO much stuff. we have lived here for almost 9 years. wow.

i am officially addicted to pinterest. seriously. we did a couple fun things this week that i found on there.

made gak.

played with shaving cream.

mason was sitting in the hall today and told me his babies were sleeping and he was sitting in the chair (i sit in the recliner in their room at nap time and sleep).

and the house is really coming along. appliances in! check out my oven and sink and be very jealous :) pretty excited about this kitchen.

first day of school

2011-08-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

mason and sawyer had their first "first day of school." they are going to a pre-school two days a week this year. they both did great and there were no tears shed when i left! and when i got back to pick them up mason asked if he could stay to play a little longer!!

2011-08-22T20:02:00.001-07:00

so here's the story... i went in for my yearly check up august 4th. two nights before my appointment i had a dream they called me and left me a message i was pregnant. at the end of the appointment dr.t said he thought that one of my ovaries was swollen so he wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure everything was alright. so he did an ultrasound and then said he wanted to send me in for some bloodwork. i did the bloodwork and went to workout. at the end of my workout i checked my phone and had a message from dr.t that said, "your bloodwork came back positive for pregnancy. but i have some concerns. your progesterone was really high (21), which is good but didn't match up with what i saw on the ultrasound. the sack was so small i almost couldn't tell for sure if you were pregnant. so that means it could just be early, it could be multiples or there could be a problem. give me a call when you get this." i was shocked. SHOCKED. i mean i wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant right?!? even if eric and i both had a feeling i might be, even if i had a funny dream, it hasn't happened in 3 1/2 years!

i am only around 7 weeks right now. super early. we were going to wait longer to tell, but well that didn't happen. i am having ultrasounds once a week right now. i had one last monday (the one in the pictures). he reassured us it was only one baby. we could see the babies heartbeat. and i have another tomorrow. dr.t has said that everything looks great!

we are so excited. the kids are really excited.

mason wants a baby brother, sawyer wants a baby sister. and she thinks this baby is hers. she told chrys, "mommy has my baby in her tummy." i asked sawyer why she wants a sister and she said, "so i can sleep with her." they have also asked how the baby eats and how he will come out. and told me my tummy is squishy. thanks. i know it will just keep getting better.

baby #3 april 2012

2011-08-21T15:25:00.001-07:00

more details soon....

last week of summer

2011-08-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

we loaded up and headed out to the eastland waterpark this week with two of our friends. they close this weekend and pricilla had the great idea of going once this summer before it closed! we will definitely have to go back next year.

the kids had their first meet the teacher this week. they start school on monday! crazy!

the house is coming along and we should be able to start moving in 2 weeks or so. the kids are going to miss uncle phil when he leaves!

harper is growing like a weed. i'm pretty sure he is going to be huge. this week he got his head stuck in a fish bowl, along with a bottle of off and pumpkin carving tools. it took me 30 minutes to get that sucker off.

house shopping

2011-08-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

we spent the last week in austin visiting my parents and kim, and shopping for stuff for the new house. we found a new couch, and lots of other random little things. i am so ready to put it all together. we are hoping to be done in the next 2 weeks. i didn't take many pictures while we were there since most of our time was spent shopping but here are two of mason swimming at the omni downtown.

and here's a litte house update-

house update

2011-08-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

things are moving along at the house. this week the biggest change was that they got the cabinets installed!

i also got a few more pieces of furniture done. these two are going to be in our bedroom.

Yummy Snack

2011-07-28T14:35:00.000-07:00

I found this great dip to make for the kids for snack and tried it out today. They really liked it! The only thing I did different was to add flax seed and aloe.

Fruity Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip

Ingredients(Makes 6-8 servings):

1/2 cup fruit-flavored yogurt*
1/2 cup natural runny peanut butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Fruit/veggies for dipping

*To customize the flavor, use 6 tablespoons of yogurt and 2 tablespoons of any fruit jam.

sawyers furniture

2011-07-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

i have finished all four pieces of furniture for sawyers new room and i cannot wait to see it all put together. she is really excited about her pink owl room too. now i know all these pieces are nowhere near perfect but they will be good enough for her room. i am hoping i will really have it down by the time i get to the kitchen table!! her headboard is the worst of all though because she knocked it over twice and i did once during the process. oh well, gives it character right?

2011-07-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

we have still been spending lots of time picking things out for the house. i am really starting to get excited to move in. i can't wait to see it all done.

i have been working hard on all of the furniture i am painting and so the kids have been playing outside a lot while i work. i will say summer may not be the best time to do this! we were out there early one morning (like 8) so it wasn't too hot and i told the kids not to get in the pool. so mason put water in a bucket and climbed in it instead. stinker.

i almost have all of sawyers furniture done and will post it soon!

busy busy

2011-07-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

things have been a whirlwind around here lately.

last week we did an estate sale for grandpas house. we got everything ready for it in three days. it was insane. so glad that's over. the kids had a lot of fun playing with random things though and hanging out while we were working. they played with a cassette tape player for over 2 hours and loved all the magnifying glasses. they kept saying they were finding a mystery! the kids also started vbs on thursdays last week. our church is doing a once a week vbs called summer safari. it's really cute and they are studying the countries where our churches missionaries are each week. mason and sawyer call is gps.

we have started the remodel of the house and are busy picking everything out and working on it. i am so excited to see it all done. there is so much to do between now and then though that my brain kinda freezes thinking about it.

i have started refinishing a bunch of furniture for the house when we move in.

i bought an ebook that my friend allison recommended and have been learning how to do it! the furniture isn't perfect but is good enough for me. it is going to look great when it's all put together. so far i have been working on the four pieces for sawyers room. i have finished her night stand and chest of drawers,and have started on her dressing table and headboard. it is a lot of fun to do, but takes so much time. which i don't have a lot of these days. and since it's 110 everyday it is so hot working out in the garage!

other than all of that we have spent a lot of time playing and swimming, oh and i have been working almost every single night. busy as usual.

and for harper, he is growing so fast and is such a puppy right now. and when i say puppy i mean brat that pees everywhere and chews on everything. ready for him to be a big old lazy dog already :) good thing mason gets up and tells him how much he loves him every single morning.

4th of july

2011-07-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

we had a great holiday weekend. pool, friends, family and good food :)

swim lessons

2011-07-02T17:03:00.000-07:00

the past two weeks the kids have been in swim lessons with the luttrells. let me tell you, sherri and lynn are amazing. seriously if you live in abilene and have thought about putting your kids in swim lessons, they are great with them. i really wanted the kids to learn to swim since they are around the pool so much, but i also really wanted the kids to get to know sherri since they will be going to stepping stones in the fall. they had so much fun and i had fun talking to all the moms :) they started out with 5 boys and sawyer, but during the second week adelaide (their granddaughter) joined the class! it was great for sawyer to have another little girl to stay down in the shallow end with the girls. mason had trouble with taking a breath while he was swimming. he would swim almost the entire length of the pool without taking a breath, crazy boy. the last day sawyer got to join the boys jumping off the diving board though! i am so amazed at how well they can swim already.

a new baby

2011-06-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

last week we got a new baby. his name is harper. sawyer named him and we had no say in the matter. we have no idea where she got it. when we ask her she says, "the puppy told me," but this was a week before we even got him. sawyer has always been scared of dogs. like hyperventilate, scale your body to get away from them scared. so we figured if she is ever going to get over that the only way will be to have a dog in the house. mason on the other hand loves dogs. he has giggled constantly since we got harper. he loves to play with him. they tell him they are his mommy and daddy. and mason pokes and pets and hug and kisses the poor puppy constantly, especially when he is asleep.

i wasn't so sure about having another baby right now - you know the potty training, crying at night, constantly watching so all your shoes stay intact. but he has been a good dog so far. he is really sweet and lets the kids do whatever. he has not had a single accident in the house yet!! not even at night in his crate. but he does cry at night. a lot. my sleep hours have diminished quite a bit since we got him. he even wakes the kids up since he is so loud. and he loves to chew on everything, especially shoes. so nothing is safe right now. but he is adorable and the kids love playing with him, and he will grow out of it soon!

must be one of those twin things.

2011-06-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

the past few nights we have gone in to check on the kids and found this.

one bed, two kids, two pillows, 8 blankets, 6 babies, and various books and toys. the first time it happened i asked them why they were in the same bed and sawyer looked at me and said, "we were having a playdate!" like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

dada

2011-06-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

that's what sawyer call him now instead of daddy. and they love their dada. they did the cutest thing at class at church today. they made cards for the daddies that had questions on the front.

mason:

my father's name is eric.
my favorite thing about my dad is going fishing.

my dad likes to hug on me with me.

it makes my dad laugh when i jump.

i love my dad because my daddy loves me.

sawyer:

my father's name is eric.

my favorite thing about my dad is when he makes mason laugh.

my dad likes to play with me.

it makes my dad laugh when i hang on him.

i love my dad because i love to play.

happy father's day!

swimming

2011-06-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

we have been spending everyday at the pool since we have been back. and we got some new toys to play with in the water.

we got some "snickernoodles" as mason calls them. they like swimming on them without their floaties and the adults all like to steal them to float on.

at the suggestion of annalee we got some mermaids and pirates at target. they have been a big hit.

we also got goggles for the first time. they. love. them. this has been huge for helping them learn how to swim. as soon as mason put them on he said, "i can breathe under water now!"

i have been so amazed at what fish they are. here is a video of mason swimming. without floaties!!! i am so excited to start swim lessons on monday, i can't wait to see what they learn by the end of two weeks of lessons!

we have been loving our time with friends and family swimming so far this summer. and since it has been 108+ everyday the pool has been a necessity!

ballet

2011-06-15T20:59:00.001-07:00

i wanted to sign sawyer and mason up for their own things that they would each enjoy since they are so different and so that they would have a little time apart. so we put mason in wee ball and sawyer in ballet. one of my friends asked if we wanted to do it with them and i thought it would be so much fun. so she is in there with zoe and lucy. she has been very hesitant to go in at the beginning and very clingy, but once she gets in there she has LOVED it. and it is pretty much the cutest thing i have ever seen. i really hope she continues to like it so we can put her in it in the fall.

so while the girls are in there the moms and kids sit out in the waiting area. this is what the boys do while they wait.

today was interesting though. about 15 minutes before it is over the next class starts coming in. a coworker of erics came in and sat down next to mason (miles had already left). while i was talking to him i looked down and mason had peed a ton. the seat was soaked. so i quickly turned the cushion over and took mason back to the bathroom to change him. of coarse i didn't have any shorts with me 9he hasn't had an accident in over a month!). so i put dry underwear on him and wet shorts. we got sawyer and put her shoes on and i was going to go to tell the teacher that her cushion was a wet. but when i went out there the entire room was FULL of people and there was a little girl sitting in mason's seat!!! I was SO embarrassed that i totally just ran out of there. and eric's co-worker was just looking at me like, i know what you just did! AWFUL!!! hopefully the rest of the classes will not be so eventful. and no more padded seats for mason. maybe i will make him sit on the floor :)

and here are some videos-

day one: (sawyer in pink third from left)

day two (sawyer in black third from left)

twin mamas

2011-06-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

this past weekend we had our second annual twin mama girls weekend! it was amazing. everyone that went last year was able to come plus two more - kristi and leah. we had a baby shower, boat rides, pool time, good food, good conversation, awkward waiters, horrible karaoke, a duck person, sunburns, getting pulled over on the lake, floating in the lake, lots of laughing and tons of fun.

this is the place we stayed at. amazing right?

this was the view from our balcony.

and here is our group of girls:

britni, kristi, me, amy, leah, liz and shelley

I love you girls and can't wait for our trip next year!

it was a blast but now i am home to mountains of laundry, a messy, dirty house, thousands of edits to catch up on, ballet, swim lessons and more to do than i can even think about. back to reality right?

summer has begun

2011-06-08T07:16:00.000-07:00

i love summer for all of it's swimming and fun activities. it has been so busy with work and all, but we have been trying to squeeze in as much as we can. last week we spent every day at the pool swimming with different friends. i am looking forward to doing that pretty much every day this summer.

this was our first swim of the summer with mimi and papa.

first trip to sea world of the summer. we tried to go a couple of different times and it finally worked out!

they are tall enough to ride the roller coaster this year!! mason loved it and sawyer did not want to go and did not like it.

the kids LOVED the beach this summer. of coarse. but they really seemed to have more fun than the previous years. they were able to play longer and do more. we stayed there for almost 5 hours playing and they were still going strong when we left. they did pass out as soon as we started driving in the car though.

there were a ton of crabs this year. you could see them in the water and a few came up on the shore, and they kept pinching our feet!! i can't ever remember noticing them before.

I Would Like

2011-05-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

I would like to walk another mile
And serve another day.
I would like to lift someone's load
And carry it all the way.
I would like to fill my heart with love
And then give it all away.
I would like, I think, most of all
To walk with God this day.

James Fulbright March 3rd, 1989

grandpa

2011-05-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

grandpa was my favorite growing up. he always got me toys and gave me candy. what more could a kid want? for christmas each year he would take me to toys r us and tell me to pick out whatever i wanted. when we would come up to visit they would always have chocolate milk and powdered donuts waiting for me. and if i went up to the acu press to visit him, he always had snickers bars in his desk in his office. he also played with me. i can remember playing baseball in his back yard, trips to the zoo, and sitting on him bouncing on his stomach like a trampoline. he also told the best stories. that part was always my favorite. he was a very mischievous little boy and had such personality. he would tell me stories of branding his sister with an iron (and her getting to do it back to him as his punishment), almost cutting her toe off with a shovel because she was kicking dirt into a hole he was digging, tying her to the back of a hog in a wagon (who proceeded to dump her in a cactus patch), convincing her to jump off the roof with an umbrella (telling her it would make her float) and many, many more. he even wrote a book for me called Grandpa's Stories for Hannah because i liked them so much.

he was also my only grandparent that was alive when my kids were born. and he was so cute with them. when they were babies he would drop by unexpectedly all the time. which didn't work so well since i was nursing pretty much all the time. but he would bring random food from united by when he came and he was just so excited to see the kids. they were scared of old people when they were little, but as they got a little older they LOVED grandpa. especially mason. they were always so excited to see him. he ALWAYS played with them and was so sweet to them. and he loved them so much. he told every single person he saw all about them.

we will miss him very much!

The first two are of me and grandpa and the rest are the kids.

at the hospital when the kids were born.

the week he died he was still playing with the kids in his hospital room. you can see him throwing a tiger with sawyer below-

jungle

2011-05-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

this week was jungle week. we were all a little under the weather all week and had a lot going on so we didn't do much.

we watched jungle book and tarzan.

we read jungle books.

and we played with jungle stickers.

yep. that's it :)

pirates

2011-05-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

pirate week. when i told sawyer that it was pirate week she said, "yo ho let's go." ha! they watched jake and the neverland pirates and papa's apartment last time we were there.

we had a treasure hunt.

we watched peter pan.

we made pirate hats.

we read pirate books.

pretty pics

2011-05-03T18:29:00.000-07:00

the last few weeks i have done quite a few photo shoots with the kids. i have been so busy though that i didn't have time to edit them until i caught up. they are so much easier to photograph now (don't get me wrong it is still a headache, but just possible with alot of work) and so i got so many good ones i can't decide which to print! You can view the vendor post on my pro blog if you want any of the vendor info: http://hannahvickersphotography.com/blog/ and you can also see my new logo!

one day while mason was at wee ball i took sawyer out for a girls shoot!

bloopers:

sawyer always holds her hair like this-

girls weekend

2011-05-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

this past weekend i met lauren and rachael in addison for an awesome girls weekend. it was our first time to hang out kid free since m&s were born. it was so much fun. we talked (and finished our conversations), ate great food (while it was still hot), shopped as long as we wanted and slept late. can't get much better than that!

garden week

2011-05-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

we planted the flowers in our garden.

the kids quickly grew bored and decided to ride tricycles while i finished though :)

we read garden books.

we made a garden sensory tub.

we made garden stones.

we made leaf prints.

easter weekend

2011-04-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

this weekend we went to austin so that we could go to sea world saturday. unfortunately sawyer started throwing up at 1 am friday night. she threw up 7 times until 3:30 am and finally went back to sleep. we went back to bed and at 6 am a cricket in the ceiling started chirping. it sounded like a fire alarm. no kidding. it was SO loud. and it didn't stop until 7:45 and the kids woke up at 7:22. so we had no sleep at all. we decided that sea world was not a great idea (and we found out from friends later that it was really crowded and not a great day for it). we took the kids to see rio (really cute) at the movies instead and went shopping at the outlet mall. sunday we let the kids hunt easter eggs at the park and then hurried home for an egg hunt with friends, but instead sat in the car for over an hour while it hailed like crazy!!

easter

2011-04-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

the past two weeks we learned about easter. i was planning on doing a religious week and a eggs and bunny week etc, but i was so busy everything got thrown together.

we made marshmallow eggs.

we dyed easter eggs.

we ate egg waffles.

we read easter books.

we made bunny hats.

we made easter cupcakes.

we made frozen bunnies.

we easter egg hunts with friends.

summer is here

2011-04-18T18:31:00.000-07:00

we have broken 100 for the second time already. that means this summer is going to be horrible. i went ahead and pulled out the little kid pool today for the first time this year. they had so much fun. i have much more blogging to catch up on, but i can't get out from under all this work. i have had so much i have been working nonstop, no breaks and not much sleep. here is a little video from today.

emergency vehicles

2011-04-10T02:17:00.000-07:00

we talked about emergency vehicles this week. it really became more about firetrucks though. i didn't have a lot of time and i also didn't find a ton of stuff. so we only did a few things.

we went to the fire station and they got to drive a firetruck.

we did a firetruck craft.

and of coarse, all of the books about firetrucks, police cars and ambulances.

wee ball game 2

2011-04-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

you will probably get tired of the wee ball posts and pictures if you aren't a grandparent, so sorry in advance. but i am doing this to document their lives, so eh.

the young guns had their second game last weekend. it was a gorgeous sunny day. not too cool, not too hot.

and here is what it usually looks like trying to get these pictures:

noah's ark

2011-04-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

our theme this week was noah's ark. the site i have been using for most of their crafts doesn't have biblical themes so i kinda of made some stuff up this week. i searched online for crafts but only found sites that you had to pay to be a member of. so i copied some pictures i saw, etc.

we played a searching game where they had to find two of each animal to put on the "ark"

we made an ark out of popsicle sticks.

we read lots of noah's ark books.

we played an animal matching game to match the animals up to go on the ark.

we had a noah's ark lunch.

and we painted a rainbow.

mother/son bowling night

2011-04-03T07:43:00.000-07:00

our church does all of these fun events for kids 3 and up, and i have been so excited that the kids get to go this year. this past weekend was mother/son bowling at primetime. it was fun, but he still isn't old enough to really do it. he loved it though. the metal thing that rolls the ball for you was being used so i just had him push it down the lane. he giggled and danced around every single time.

wee ball - first game

2011-03-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

we decided to sign mason up for wee ball (t ball for 2-3 year olds) this year. he loves to play and thought he would enjoy it. we also thought it would be good to put mason and sawyer in something of their own that they would enjoy. sawyer is going to do dance this summer.

so mason had his first game this sunday. it was in the forties and during nap time, so it wasn't the best start to the season! but it was still fun. we are looking forward to sunny morning games for the rest of the season though!

young guns team picture:

after the game :) love em.

bugs

2011-03-27T16:12:00.000-07:00

this week was all about bugs. eww. not my favorite topic, but they had a lot of fun.

i found a bunch of fun squishy bugs in the dollar isle at target.

we went on a bug hunt.

mimi found some bugs and brought them to us to look at.

we watched a bug's life.

we read a lot of fun bug books.

we went to the zoo and the kids got to touch a snake!

we painted with worms.

and we made and ate dirt. yum!

we found a bug while making dirt. and now every time we are outside and mason finds anything i get notified. do you know how many ants are in our backyard?? because i do.

play time

2011-03-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

i LOVE listening to the kids play together. i always have but the older they get the funnier it is. i love listening to their imaginations and the way they interact with each other. sawyer always bosses mason around. and they never stop talking. they really play great together.

in a boat-

fish

2011-03-19T20:37:00.000-07:00

this weeks theme was fish.

we made a fun aquarium that had fish in it with brianna. brianna did all the work though. :)

we ate fish sticks. well the kids did.

we read lots of fish books.

we made fish bowls.

we watched fish movies: finding nemo and the little mermaid.

we got some pet goldfish that they named jake and lily.

and lastly we went fishing. no fish were caught but fun was had. thank you darrell and bessie for letting us use your backyard.

embrace the camera

2011-03-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

gnomeo & juliet

2011-03-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

this weekend we took the kids to see a movie at the theater for the first time. we went to see tangled but it was sold out. seriously?! so back-up was gnomeo and juliet. i was worried that it would be a little old for them, but it wasn't too bad. mason loved it. he didn't move much the whole time. he laughed at all the same times as papa. and said, "that was a great one" as we were walking out. sawyer asked if he could go home towards the end. i am excited for dollar movies this summer though!

aliens

2011-03-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

i decided to start having themed weeks at home. i wanted to start doing more with the kids that is more geared toward teaching, but also having fun and spending time with them. so i made out a schedule and have been thinking of activities, crafts, books, food, movies, etc that I can do with them for each week. some themes are more fun and some are more educational or biblical. this week was our first week and i wanted to start out very easy. so it was a fun week. aliens.

we did a really fun craft project and made alien hats. my friend alison introduced me to this awesome website where i found the idea.

we colored a couple of different alien coloring pages that i found online.

we read a bunch of alien books.

and we watched some fun alien movies - lilo & stitch, toy story 2 (it has the little green aliens).

i have already bought all of the stuff for next week and checked about 50 books out from the library. well not that many, but it will feel like it when we start reading them all.

2011-03-10T06:46:00.000-08:00

2011-03-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

wow it's been a while since i have updated. we have been staying busy, but not doing anything too exciting. we have been spending a lot of time outside and playing with friends and going to birthday parties and gymnastics and on and on. so here's a random picture update.

the other day i was cleaning up the yard and found a couple of snails. the kids were entertained for hours. it was great.

we have frequented that new froyo place quite a few times, the kids kinda like it.

word.

pictures

2011-02-20T18:40:00.000-08:00

taking pictures of the kids is always an adventure. it really is much harder to take pictures of your own kids than someone elses. and i know i usually get at least one good one and everyone always says but they turn out so cute. but that's because they don't see the 250 outtakes that i had to go through to get the 2 good pictures.

the good.

and the bad.

the good.

the bad.

the ok.

and, well, the kid has personality. he looks like a GQ model in the bottom right corner right?

riverwalk

2011-02-20T13:26:00.000-08:00

this past week my dad had a meeting in san antonio so we met them there to hang out and do some shopping. i always love going to la cantera and the rim! we got the kids some cute clothes and found some adorable easter outfits. and did quite a bit of walking up and down the riverwalk.

the biggest news of all though is that this past week mason has started telling me when he needs to poop and has been just going in and going on the potty!!!! amazing. i have been dealing with poopy underwear since june so i cannot even tell you how awesome this is. neither kid had a single accident the entire time we were out of town. it was so great.

friday we headed back to town because amy and her family were in town for sing song and we wanted to get to see them! amy is one of my twin mom friends and i was so excited they were going to be here. mason really liked the girls and showed off for reese and riley the entire time at dinner. this boy is going to be such a flirt.

daddy daughter dinner & dance

2011-02-18T20:36:00.000-08:00

our church does these awesome events that are daddy/daughter, mother/son, mama/daughter, etc. when the kids turn three they can start attending. i have been taking pictures at there for a few years now and have been so excited for the kids to get to start going. the daddy/daughter dance is my absolute favorite of all of them. it is just so sweet. all the little girls get so excited and get all dressed up for their date with their daddies. sawyer got to go this year, but she didn't really get it yet and she is just so shy. it was her introductory year :) she is going to love it as she get older!

happy valentines day

2011-02-14T13:31:00.001-08:00

2011-02-07T15:51:00.001-08:00

i had this post started before all of the snow just as a little update of what the kids are into right now.

they love games right now. one of our friends let us borrow the goodnight moon game and ever since then they have been wanting to play games every day.

sawyer loves to wear her jamies. she wants to wear them all the time and we have had quite a few battles over this since i will not let her wear footies to church.

sawyer is also still very into babies. and changing their clothes.

mason is still very into animals. he lines them up like this constantly. it's a little weird.

they love to dress up.

they had their first dentist appointment the week before all the snow. sawyer freaked out at first but did fine after she watched mason do it all.

we went to a friends bday party at gymnastics sport center and they had so much more fun than the last time they went.

their imaginations are so crazy right now. the stories they make up are so funny and it is so much fun to listen to. we are going to have to start lessons on lying with sawyer already though. last night she peepeed in her pants a little bit and when eric asked her if she did she told him that she dumped a little water on her pants from her water cup in the car! she is going to be fun in middle school!

the rest of our snowcation

2011-02-07T15:42:00.000-08:00

friday was another snow day for all the schools here so we didn't get out on the roads any. we headed out to sled in the front yard that morning. the weather was perfect because it was sunny and had finally warmed up a little. i had to build up the little hill out front but it worked all right for them.

we spent the rest of our time making more food and watching more tv. but saturday the snow finally started to melt! it was soo good to get out of the house since we hadn't left since monday. sadly though we had to go buy a new washer and dryer because our washer broke in the freeze :(

then sunday night it snowed again!! i have never seen so much snow in abilene. i drove home from a super bowl party and could hardly see out my window it was coming down so hard in huge flakes. and they are forecasting snow again for wednesday. where is this coming from??

it's not melting

2011-02-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

this was the conversation at breakfast this morning.

M: sissy where are we going today?

S: not anywhere, it's still snowing.

M: are we stuck?

S: yep, we are snowed out.

today is day 4 of the snow still being on the ground, very icy roads, all of the schools closing, and not leaving the house. the only change is that eric had to go to work this morning. three days of was nice though.

day 2. we just stayed inside. did not even go out to play in the snow. it is a chore to get them all layered up and to get all those wet, cold clothes off afterwards. and it was ridiculously cold, a high of 16 or something. so we spent our time watching movies, playing games and cooking. We have made chicken pot pie, bread, beef stew, chocolate cake and will make chili tonight. i also have been cleaning and washing jamies and warm clothes in the sink. let me tell you how much fun that has been. our washer is frozen and somebody keeps having accidents. awesome.

day 3 we ventured back outside for some more time in the snow. they had more fun and were able to stay out much longer.

he of coarse didn't like it anymore after he got too cold. later when i asked him if he liked playing in the snow he said no. i asked him if he liked snow and he said no. then i asked if he wanted to play in the snow again tomorrow and he said yes! silly boy.

maybe today will be the last day...

embrace the camera: snow edition

2011-02-03T16:41:00.001-08:00

snow day!

2011-02-02T08:30:00.000-08:00

the kids were so excited when they woke up and saw the snow. mason asked me, "who brought this for me??" they of coarse wanted to go out and play immediately, but we ate breakfast first and took our time getting out there.

we went out front first to help daddy clean off his car to go into work. we attempted to build a snowman, but as soon as i got a pile going they just wanted to smash it. so we did snow angels instead!

after a while we were freezing and headed back in. we built a tent in the hall and sawyer brought all her babies out. and eric found out they got a snow day!! so awesome that he is not on patrol right now..because that would obviously never happen!

after lunch we decided to head out for round 2. sawyer LOVED playing in the snow. mason on the other hand did not like being cold. he kept saying i want to be warm inside. every time he fell over it was a meltdown.

sawyer also really liked eating the snow. we could not get her to stop.

hiding around the corner eating it.

yeah, i see you.

after naps we spent the rest of the day watching movies and cooking, homemade bread and chicken pot pie! yum!

my adorable 3 year olds

2011-01-26T06:54:00.001-08:00

i keep thinking it will get easier to take pictures of them soon...but it hasn't happened yet. they are a little bit better to take pictures of individually or if i have help, but both of them on my own, yikes. we still got some cute ones of coarse!

if one is smiling, the other one is looking at the wall???

or frowning!

so i have to start being very goofy to get their attention :)

why is it so much easier to take pictures of other peoples kids??

birthday party

2011-01-17T14:32:00.001-08:00

the birthday party was amazing. we are SO BLESSED to have such amazing friends. we had their party at the jump around on saturday (on their birthday). i got a great deal for it and it was a good place for so many kids. the only drawbacks were they only give you 15 minutes to set up. and by that i mean the party was at 10 and the girl pulled into the parking lot at 9:45 and asked us to wait until they blew up all the things. and it was crowded/busy. the kids were both pretty overwhelmed at first. it was really noisy and crowded in there because there was another party as well as theirs. there were 24 kids at our party, plus adults and a whole other party. but once they had cake and opened toys they were good. mason wouldn't let go of two of the toys he got (a spiderman car and a batman car) for anything. so he spent the rest of the party walking around with those. but sawyer went off and played with her buddies. a huge thank you to kim and chrys for all their help and to everyone else for coming! it was so much fun!

they have LOVED playing with all of their new toys. and there have been quite a few fights over certain toys.

happy birthday!

2011-01-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

happy birthday to my two favorite three year olds!!

2011-01-14T20:26:00.000-08:00

we have had a big week this week! mason and sawyer started gymnastics on monday. i think that they will really enjoy it and i am hoping she will learn a little more coordination. she is a very clumsy kid.

our good friends were in town from peru!!!

lauren and william came into town for the kids birthday party!

and biggest of all, the kids turn 3 tomorrow!

the big boat

2011-01-11T19:52:00.000-08:00

this was our first cruise on royal caribbean. we have been on princess cruises multiple times, but not since the kids. it was a lot of fun, with them, but a different kind of vacation for sure. they weren't really allowed to go to the kids program. it was for potty trained kids 3-11. they let them have a chance, said that they could go until one of them had an accident. so we took them some, but used it sparingly. mason didn't poop in his pants once the entire cruise though and sawyer switched to panties at night instead of pull-ups! so we are down to buying pull-ups for one kids now. woohoo!

here is our room and a pic of us the first formal night.

COZUMEL

we decided this would be our beach break. we have both been there many times so we figured it would be a good place for the beach. it was of coarse gorgeous and the kids of coarse loved playing!

GRAND CAYMAN

we really wanted to swim with the sting rays here but the kids have to be 5. maybe next time :) so instead we just walked around and shopped.

when we were done we headed back to the boat for some time in the kid pool! the ship had an awesome boat pool with a waterfall, whale slide and big and little pool.

JAMAICA

we headed straight to the beach to take some more pictures of the kids when we got off. so we took this shuttle to a beach, got out there, got the kids set up and my camera (5d) wouldn't work! ugh. i took my back-up camera (5d) and my regular point and shoot on the trip. i could not figure out what the deal was. i tried all kinds of different things and nothing. it was SO frustrating. so i shot a couple of pics with my point and shoot and we headed to margaritaville to eat.

they had this big fire performance while we were there. i was sitting there messing with my camera the whole time and all of the sudden i got it to work!

AT SEA

the day after jamaica mason had a high fever and slept most of the day. poor thing did not feel well at all.

DAY 2 AT SEA

we started of the day with a chocolate breakfast. that might be the way we should start off every day :)

and of coarse spent the entire day eating, eating and eating some more.

the only picture of our whole group. there are a bunch of stubborn people who don't like pictures in this family.

(parham, jaffy aka jen, chrys, kim, me & mason, eric & sawyer)

on the way to the big boat

2011-01-11T14:53:00.000-08:00

we have been telling mason and sawyer that we were going to go on a big boat right after christmas and before their birthday for a long time. we have also been getting ready for this trip for a long time. in preparation for the kids play area (they had to be 3 and potty trained to go), i started potty training them back in june. i was hoping and praying that they would be potty trained by now if i started that far in advance. sawyer is pretty much potty trained. she doesn't always do as well though if she is with people she doesn't know and doesn't feel comfortable. mason... he still poops in his underwear and pees in his pants. a lot. so at the beginning of december as a last ditch effort we started a potty sticker chart reward system. we stocked up on fun $5-10 toys that the kids really like. we went ahead and decided to do one for sawyer too even though she never poops in her underwear, but we didn't want her to feel left out. the potty chart helped a lot. a whole lot. he still has accidents but the number of poopy underwear is way down. thank the lord.

we left a couple days early to break our trip up. we stayed in austin one night and then headed to galveston the next day. when we were in austin lauren and curtis were there too! so we met up to eat lunch :) it always great when we are there at the same time. it would be better if we lived in the same place, but i will take what i can get :)

in the car on the way to galveston.

cuddling :)

eating at mighty fine.

eating at rainforest cafe in galveston.

finally home

2011-01-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

we just got back from our caribbean cruise! it was so much fun, but it is so great to be home. it is going to be a crazy week though. the kids start gymnastics, our friends will be in town from peru, and the kids birthday and party are on saturday! not to mention the unpacking and cleaning up. i am tired just thinking about it. so until i have edited all of the pictures, here is a little preview :)

so many loads of laundry...

hanging out with grammy and grandad

2010-12-31T19:06:00.000-08:00

we have spent our week hanging out with grammy, grandad and pop pop. lots of playing and making things. like fabric flowers. so much fun!

i hope everyone has a happy new year!

Christmas day

2010-12-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

at 6:30 am mason started screaming. they usually don't wake up crying.i really thought we had another year or two before the whole wake up before dawn excitement thing started. i asked him why he woke up so early and he said because he wanted to show santa his mickey mouse. silly kid. we started off the morning with stockings at home.

then we headed over to papa and mimi's house to spend the day with them, grammy & grandad, pop pop and jaffy via skype.

we started off with the kids giving the grandparents their gifts that they (mostly i) had made.

then they started tearing into presents. they loved opening presents. they kept saying, i want more presents. i think they really would have enjoyed it if we had rewrapped them all and let them do it again. they were excited about the toys inside later, but when they started they just wanted to unwrap them.

and the fun has kept going with all of their fun new toys.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

christmas eve

2010-12-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

we started the day off with a playdate with some family friends. we always get together when they are in town and it was great to see leighton, and her parents. isn't she precious?

aunt jaffy had to work and was on call christmas day so we spent quite a bit of time skyping her.

that night we went over to aunt candy's house for christmas with extended family.

the kids got to open their present from aunt jaffy - mickey and mini and matching pj's. they LOVED them.

mason shaking his booty for jaffy...

showing pop pop their cool toys.

then we headed home to play santa! santa brought them each a flashlight just like they asked.

christmas starts early

2010-12-23T20:10:00.000-08:00

we made christmas trees with our friends! a great idea for two year olds. easy enough :)

today grandpa went to wal-mart with the kids to let them pick out their christmas present from him. when i was a kid he used to take me to toys r us and let me pick out what i wanted for christmas from them. as a kid, that was one of the coolest things ever. i still remember one of the things i got for christmas from them. i got to pick out this awesome lego ship. it is still in my room at home!

remember this? last year the kids were terrified of santa.

this year they warmed up to him very quickly. when he walked in they wouldn't even let him get in the door they wanted to show him their christmas presents from pop pop. then we told them to sit in his lap and tell him what they wanted for christmas. mason let me put him in santas lap, but was very very shy. he sat there eyes downcast whispering. sawyer decided she would just stand there and tell him what she wanted. she told him she wanted a flashlight and a baby brother. then santa said well i can't bring one of those on the sleigh, you will have to talk to your mom and dad. and that was the end of that... she was DEVASTATED. she started screaming and wanted nothing to do with santa. i made eric sit her in santas lap for the obligatory picture with santa.

cookie party

2010-12-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

we are loving all the fun holiday stuff this year. i can't believe christmas is this weekend!

more pictures

2010-12-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

i have been trying to get some good pictures of the kids for christmas presents and such. the first shoot was out at the state park. the kids did great. they had just gotten their flu shot and had no nap, so they did surprisingly well.

watching him shake his booty :)

the second shoot was done out at jacob's dream. sawyer was having a very stubborn day. she refused to wear her cream tights and brown boots like i wanted. she had to wear her jamie pants and pink boots. nice.

embrace the camera: family photo edition

2010-12-16T13:14:00.000-08:00

when my parents were here at thanksgiving my dad took some pictures of us for our christmas cards.

i did have to steal the camera from him to take some pictures of the kids...

spiderman pose.

a friend of mine, a fellow photog in town, had a session out where we were taking pictures and was sweet enough to take a few of all of us!

watching polar express afterwards.

sea world at christmas

2010-12-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

this weekend we went to sea world. again. trying to get as much use out of those passes as possible. our friends told us that it is great to go at christmas. they have great decorations and it isn't so hot. it was so great. the weather was perfect. and the kids of coarse loved it. they got to see shamu to christmas music, sesame street live and all the christmas trees. mason was terrified of the shamu dressed up as santa and sawyer was devastated that she didn't get to touch elmo, but it was so much fun. and tiring :) but the biggest thing of all, no one had an accident the entire time. what?? we have been doing a new thing with pooping potty training mason, more to come later.