More Christmas Eve

Some more pics from Christmas Eve.  It was so nice to have everyone together.  The whole gang spent the night at our house so that we could all experience Christmas morning with the boys opening gifts.  It was so magical and exciting to watch Emery & Owen experience this special holiday.  Jake loved it too and it was awesome that Kim could be here for his very 1st Christmas. 

They are silly silly boys with their potato head glasses!

We had such an awesome dinner.....homemade chicken parmesan with baked ziti and homemade caesar salad and garlic bread of course :-)  My mom and Steve made the entire meal, it was SO good!

Christmas Eve 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve.....Kim is here from Florida :-)  The boys are just loving having their "Grandma Kim" here to spoil them!!

More to come on the next post :-)

Jake wants to say Merry Christmas

The tree is FINALLY done!

I wasn't sure if our tree would ever be decorated.  We have been so busy.....and we had to buy all new lights.....it's been a struggle to try to get it done but it is finally there :-)

10 days to Christmas......better late than never!

Happy 83rd Birthday "Grandma Oliver"

My nana celebrated her 83rd birthday on December 9th.  We love her SO much and are so happy that we have these times together as a family.

This was too funny.....I wish I could have gotten Owen on camera....he blew out some of her candles :-)

ALL the boys climbing on top of their nana :-)

No explanation :-)

Sweet Owen at the end of the night....ready for bed!

Getting the Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas tree late this year....this past Friday night....we decided to get one at Costco.....beautiful Noble Fur trees.....we got about an 8 footer, it's so beautiful.  It was a strange experience though, they don't open the trees so you can look at them....you just cross your fingers that the one you pick is nice :-) All the trees are grown at a Christmas Tree Farm in Oregon so they were made to be Christmas trees :-)

They had 1 tree on display and the boys still thought it was fun!

I love this one below with Jake in the background :-)

The other down side is they don't help you put it on your car, so Jason got to do it solo in the cold,

doesn't he look thrilled?

Happy 8 months Jake

Jake was 8 months old yesterday December 11.  Everyone always talks about how fast the baby stage flies by, but it's amazing how true it is.  I get sad that he is getting older....I am not sure why that is, but you realize you don't get these sweet moments back. 

This pic below was taken Saturday night at our Christmas dinner at church

He got to sit on Santa's lap for the 1st time.....his older brothers wanted nothing to do with Santa!

Happy 8 months Jake Alton......you are such a sweet sweet boy.....your smile is contagious, we love you so much!

Update on Owen's latest

I have to post this before I forget the things Owen has been saying and doing in the past week:

• He says I love you, but most of the time it sounds like "I you", but it is the sweetest thing ever, it melts my heart every time
• He has a new attachment to blankies, there is not a specific one really, just asks for his blankie and is happy with whichever one I give him.....he carries it around everywhere
• He says his name when we ask "what's your name?", for the longest time, he would only say all of our names, although Emery is known as "brother"
• He recognizes emotions and will say things like "Jake sad", it's really cute!
• He is obsessed with "JUICE".....we really thought he might be diabetic :-), it's kind of crazy how much he drinks!
• He HATES his diaper changed.....he cries every time and it always seems to be SO dramatic :-)

We love you SO much Owen.....you are getting SO big.....we are proud of you!



Professional Pics

In October, we decided to get some professional fall pictures.  Jason and I can look back now at the experience and laugh but at the time we were all miserable.  The boys all had runny noses, it was cold and at 4:00 on a weeknight, which meant Jason had to leave work early, our planning wasn't the best, and the boys just were not into it :-)

This is our family pic below....the only 1 where someone is not crying, so I'll take it :-)

I am grateful we got a couple cute ones of the boys......you take what you can get with 3 little boys!  We joked with the photographer and told her we would try again in 5 years!

Pics taken by Tami Stutz Photography

Winter Garden A Glow

We went to the Winter Garden A Glow last night with our friends Amy & Shane and their boys. It was freezing, the temp was about 37 but the winds were blowing 10-20mph, but all the boys did awesome and never complained once of being cold!!

They had an amazing train display with all different types of trains...the boys LOVED it and stood there forever!!!

Watching trains and drinking lots of hot chocolate!

Baby Jake was cracking up in his car seat....he had the best seat in the house....nice and warm and cozy in his stroller....see the train behind him :-)

Thanks Amy and Shane for some fun memories.....happy we braved the elements.....our boys sure love hanging out and we love you guys!