Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho!!

Merry Christmas to all! We've enjoyed this last weekend. I hope you enjoy all the pictures.

Thank you Terry Family for having us over Christmas Eve for dinner and fun. Our small children dressed up for the Nativity. Cael was a shepherd. :)

Emmett just hung out.

Before going to bed for Santa to come we took some pictures by the tree.
Here are my wonderful presents! - handsome, healthy boys!

Cheese!

Before the boys saw the toys....

A fun, simple Christmas.

Cael was impatient when it came to unwrapping the presents. "Help me, mommy" is what he said almost every time.

It was a Cars Christmas for Cael. Thank you grandparents for all the fun toys!

Emmett was more patient when it came to unwrapping presents.

Yay! Cars stuff!

Emmett rolled around with his toys.

Cael loves playing the drums. Bam, bam, bam!

Daddy played with Cael on the floor.

Rock and roll!

Cael got another 'baby jaguar' paw. ROAR!!!!

Thanks to all of you who sent us Christmas cards! I was horrible this year about getting cards out so please forgive me. I will send some pictures of the boys in the next couple of months.

Thank you Beesha, Dziedze, Granny, and Grandpa for making this Christmas so special.

Nana, Papa, Mimi, and Poppi, we will take some pictures of the boys in their new clothes and send them to you.

Aunt Judy and Aunt Sandy, thank you both for the gift cards. The boys will love more toys and movies we buy with them.

Can you believe it is almost Christmas?

We went and saw Santa yesterday. Emmett was not scared.
Cael didn't want to give the other kids a turn. - the exact opposite from last year.

Mommy loves Cael!

Cutie by the Christmas tree

Emmett's first solids

Making rolls with mommy.

My birthday stack.

I am sorry it has been a while since I last wrote. It has been crazy around here... Good crazy!

Emmett was 6 months old on 11/19. He weighed in at 18lbs 6oz and 27 inches long. Apparently when they measured his length back in September they did not do so accurately; therefore it appears he did not grow in length when it is obvious he has. He is in the 75th percentile or less for his measurements which of course is great. Emmett is not the tank Cael was. :)

Mark's birthday was 11/10, turning 32 years old. Time flies when you are having fun! I got him a video game - the new Black Ops game and surprised him with a cookie cake. The last couple of years I have tried to surprise him and be as sweet as possible because I was not always the most thoughtful. :) I took Friday, 11/12 off and we went to lunch and to a movie. I love Mark so much!!!!

I turned 31 years old on Thanksgiving. Yep, that's right. I am a turkey! We had a nice holiday together just us as a family. Mark surprised me with several gifts which left me feeling like it was Christmas - 3 sets of comfy, warm clothes for around the house, the latest scent collection from Bath & Body works, a new Willow Tree statue, and a little something for Victoria Secrets. :) That was a late present for Mark! We did make some good food for Thanksgiving:

• Ham, we always make ham instead of turkey. We buy the Sam's Club brand it is always yummy!
• Rolls - I used my sister-in-law's recipe to make some yummy homemade rolls
• Sweet Potato Souffle - Mark's mom's recipe. Make you smack your granny they are soooo good!
• Old South Carrot Cake - compliments of Sis. Author. Yummy!
• Broccoli - not the casserole this year since I cannot have the cheese
• Banana pudding - made by Mark for him and Cael to enjoy
• Stuffing - made by Mark and enjoyed by Mark

Emmett had his first solids on Thanksgiving - sweet potatoes! I did not give him the ones I made but the Gerber brand. :) We also put up the Christmas tree over the long weekend. I love this time of year. I love to be merry, cheery, and bright! Cold comes with it but that goodness this year has been very tolerable so far. :)

My brave story

Happy Halloween!

BOO!

Mommy loves her boys!!!!

So I traveled just the boys and I too Florida. I went for work but made a family trip out of it as well. Cael and Emmett were awesome on the airplane - sleeping, watching the portable DVD player, playing, etc. It was the running from one gate to the other in Chicago which caused me anxiety. All in and all they were great for a 2 year old and a 5 month old. I was able to change Emmett's dirty diapers in the empty seat beside us on the plane, change Cael's wet diapers in the airport restroom, go to the restroom myself with Cael holding Emmett in the stroller.. hey, we managed.

It was so nice to see our family. We split up our time between Macclenny and Jacksonville. We had a great visit with the Morgans - Kim and Ron. Thank you for the yummy dinner and your hospitality. Cael loved to chase the kitty and surprisingly liked the bigger dog Cally. Since returning home he will ask for Granny, Grandpa, and Cally. When I ask him to tell me where they are he says "Florida. At Cally's house." So darn cute! I am also glad we got to see Great-Granny, Ellene, Joe, Sierra, Shannon, and Donovan. And can I just say the Trunk or Treat in Macclenny ain't no joke. :) Granny was able to help us find the perfect Halloween costume. Cael loves cars so we found a costume that looked like a race car driver - it is a jumpsuit for an off road biker and it came with a mask which looked like a helmet. Cael loved it. He wore the mask for the Macclenny party but I could tell it irritated him a bit because it kept slipping and it was so HOT. So for my parents' Trunk or Treat we did a faux-hawk instead of the mask. That seemed to suit Cael just as well.

We then went to Jacksonville and spent time with my family. Luckily Dziedze was home from the train so we could spend time with him. We had fun at the beach (see previous post) and also went to the zoo. So Cael loves Diego and Diego has a friend Baby Jaguar who accompanies him on most of his rescue missions. When looking at the jaguars at the zoo I called them baby jaguars to engage Cael. Which did work. Then when we were leaving we went to the gift shop where I thought I would buy him a little stuffed Baby Jaguar. Well instead we found a a Baby Jaguar paw - a big jaguar paw you wear on your hand like a puppet. They only had one spotted but then a couple plain tan lion paws. So Cael had those paws on the floor attacking us like a jaguar. It was hilarious. I only bought him the one jaguar paw because it was $14.00. If they had two jaguar paws I probably would have bought them. So now he sleeps with his paw at night. :) We also got to see Jenilee, Joe, and they are lovely home. It was nice to hang out with them. Cael had a blast kicking the ball around with Joe outside. Oh, and Joe throwing him around.

I missed my husband so much on that trip. To be honest, Florida did not seem like home without him. I was comfortable and enjoyed my time, but life is just not the same with out my husband. And yes I am saying it, Lincoln is our home now.

We love you all!

Trip to Florida

Cael liked playing in the surf... at first he did not want to go near the water. Beesha was standing in the water so I told him to go splash her. That peaked his interest so then he wanted to play.

Emmett is 5 months old!

Well shucks! The upload feature of the site is currently disabled. I took pictures of E yesterday and his front tooth. The second bottom one is coming through the gum now as well. I'll post pictures hopefully in the next couple of days.
The little guys and I are going to Jacksonville Saturday for about 10 days. Unfortunately Mark cannot go with us. We are soooo excited to see Granny, Grandpa, Beesha, Dziedze, Aunt Jen, and Uncle Joe.
Talk to you soon!

NC Trip to see Grandparents

We had a great trip but I must apologize to everyone for not taking enough pictures. We don't get to see members of the extended family as often so I bought a new card for the camera but then did not manage to take all the pictures I should have.

Cael and Emmett both did great on the airplane rides. Cael got buckled in then said '1, 2, 3, blast off.' He also kept saying 'rocket ship to space.' Too cute!

We love Aunt Jen!

and Beesha of course!

Emmett got to meet his great-grandma Hiatt.

I love my grandma, Norma Jean. She and my grandpa helped raise my brother and I when we were younger. I have so many fond memories of her and my grandpa. Unfortunately she's had a tough time with breast cancer, but seems to be on the upswing. I am thankful for my aunts, uncles, and cousins who are there to help take care of her.

What a snuggle bug!

Look! All 3 could be sisters! :) I was glad to see one of my favorite cousins, Krista. It is fun to think back to our cross country driving adventure and our time in Utah together.

Cael got to play with cousins, which is always fun. The thunder cat back there is my cousin Tarron, and then his two kids, Ava and Campbell.

Aunt Tama is so sweet. No wonder Emmett loved snuggling her.

So the above pictures are from my mom's side of the family, the Hiatt side.

I did not get a picture of Dave or Maria but I would like to thank them again for letting us stay the night at their home. We appreciate their hospitality!

We also were able to spend time with the Sawyers side of the family.

This is my Papper, Arville Emmett. He is one of the great-grandpa's we named Emmett after (the other is Mark's grandpa Morgan)

Cael would barely hold still long enough for a picture.

This is Nana. She is a ball of fire! I like to call her Flossy 'cause she is so silly. :)

Pappers has a since of humor. He had a stroke back before Mother's Day and eats through a feeding tube. While we were there I helped him with his feedings and insulin shots.

I don't know how we missed taking pictures with Mimi and Poppi, my dad (Bruce) and his wife Jaime. They were kind enough to let us crash at their place for a couple of days and cooked us two tasty dinners. Again, the camera was there but we were too busy playing with kids and visiting to take pictures I guess.

I am glad all 4 of us were able to go and spend so much time together. Cael was able to be Daddy's buddy again; Mark put him down for naps and for bed so that was a nice break for me. I am so grateful for my little family!

Oh! And we were able to visit my childhood friend Saura and her family. That was really nice. Saura made us dinner and we got to visit as the kids played. Emmett was fussier than normal that night as his first tooth pushed through the gum! - Thank you Saura and Kevin for having us! I took my camera to take a picture and then I forgot to take a picture until we were on the highway back to the apartment.

More family photos...

Wild man Cael Morgan! He loves his cars and his spiky hair!

I was disappointed in Emmett's pictures. I have taken ones with him smiling that turned out better than this.

I thought the family pictures turned out great!

What a lovely couple! :)

The ones of the boys didn't turn out too good either. Cael was being wild and Emmett would not keep his hands out of his mouth. Aah! little boys!