Christmas Coupons

In addition to presents this year each child in our family got a set of special coupons from Mom and Dad to redeem when they desired. Ethan noted that his coupon from Mom had an expiration date of 12/09 and decided to redeem it quickly, less he forget and run out of time.

As you can see along with the coupon he received a festive apron, oven mitts and a chef's hat (which he adores).

Even though Ethan could have picked out any type of cookies he choose to bake the ones we had in the fridge and was delighted that he could do it on his own while I photographed the whole process.











Not to worry... Ethan ate every single one of these cookies by himself :)

The purpose of the coupons was to give our boys some one on one time with Mom and Dad doing activities that they LOVE!!! I hope you guys know that even when life gets busy Mom and Dad are ALWAYS here for you. ALWAYS know that we will do our BEST to get your needs met... even of the cookie baking variety.

Ethan I loved spending this time with you watching your excitment as you got to dictate each step of our "cookie baking extravaganza." You are SO full of personality... I LOVE hanging out with you and watching you learn about the world around you. You are SO curious and never stop investigating until you discover what makes things work...don't ever abandon that curiosity it will serve you well!!!

Time with DADDY

Our family has been blessed to have a Dad who works for himself so that he can have the flexibility to be at home more than most Dads. It seems like Ethan, Jaden and Mason just can't get enough of their Daddy. This past week has been a special treat with Dad around for days at a time for the Holiday. We have had plenty of "play time"...


Just take a look at this picture of the boys building a track with Dad utilizing nearly every piece of track we own and that is A LOT of track!!!




Even Mason got in on the action... he really likes the new GeoTrax Airport Santa left for the boys. Yeah for Santa!!!




Now that Dad is back at work all Jaden can do is ask when he will be home... Jaden I hope you ALWAYS want me and Daddy around as much as you do right now. We LOVE YOU three!!!

A Magical Christmas

Oh, how I love being a Mom.

Christmas time with three young boys can be exhausting but this year I am FULL of joy and overwhelmed by my many blessings!!! I have three wonderful sons who I love dearly!!! I am amazed by how quickly they have grown... it has been wonderful seeing the magic of Christmas through their eyes!!!

Rick and the boys made the gingerbread house on their own this year (until Rick begged for my help... after adding too much water to the icing) and even though it only stood up for a few moments it was still the "best gingerbread house EVER" according to Ethan.

The fact that the gingerbread house never really stood up didn't change the fact that it tasted yummy!!!

From soft and fuzzy winter hats to matching nurf guns that drove Daddy crazy.

Even baby Mason enjoyed himself eating Christmas paper on the floor! We ALL had a fun filled Christmas morning...

Before breakfast we realised that Mason had been eating more than Christmas paper on the floor... I had just changed him into his new Batman PJs when he hit the jackpot with a chocolate Santa from his brother's stocking... he was in heaven!

Utah

It feels like I haven't blogged in ages and well... I haven't!!! We had the opportunity to go to Utah this past week for Rick's brother's wedding on the 16th and we had a BLAST. We got to visit with alot of people that we love and miss and most importaintly got to be at Robert and Michaelene's wedding.

The flight to Utah was managable with the three kids in tow and we safely made the drive to Park City where we would be staying. We changed our clothes and off we went on the many adventures that awaited us.

That night we met my brother Brian and his family at Temple Square... what a sight!!!



We were all a little silly because it was SO COLD outside!!!





OK... so I was the only one being silly... guilty!!!
Mason managed to stay toasty after I was through bundling him up for our outting.

Late Night Elf

The end result of a sleepless night :)



OK... so I am aware that it is after 2:30 am CST but an Elf has to work uninterrupted sometime. I have to document my hard work for the years to come.

I found a GREAT hiding spot... there is a bathroom in my craft room that is seldom used. To tell you the truth boys it was getting too hard to keep you out of the craft room (you are way to persistent). After some REALLY close calls I moved everything to the bathroom.



Tonight I tackled not only the gift wrapping but I finished all of the projects I have going for our Duree family Christmas Party that is at our house this year. All of the cousins (that are old enough to keep them out of their mouth) are going to get antlers with their names on them... I finally made them tonight.




And no prancing reindeer can leave the party without a bag of sugar to replenish their energy (thanks Ethan for helping me with the goodie bags).

Each member of the family will be getting an ornament with their name and the year on it... I managed to make them tonight as well.



Finally it is time for some sleep!!! Oh, boy I don't know how those Elves do it!!!

A New Auntie

Rick's younger brother Robert has announced that he will be getting married on December 16, 2008.



Robert and his fiance have come to visit from Utah for Thanksgiving. We have had the privilege of having our new family member stay with us on her visit.

Michaelene my kids are smitten with you and have enjoyed getting to know you SO much. I will never forget the day you arrived in our house. It has been a while since I have seen Ethan try so hard to impress someone... it was TOO cute. He was doing every trick in his repertoire from cartwheels to karate kicks and then there was him showing you how loud he could burp... OK so some of his impressive tricks I am sure we could have all done without.

Welcome to the family... we look forward to getting to know you better and making many more memories with you!!!

A Visit from "Nani"

Amy married into the family almost one year ago and we have LOVED having her in our lives!!! It has seemed that we have seen very little of her over the past few months and we have missed her terribly. Oh, by the way Jaden named her "Nani" when she was living with us while her and Jason (Rick's younger brother) were engaged.

Today was a special day... Nani came to visit!!! Our house was full of germs with Jaden, Mason and I sick but she came any way and we enjoyed her while she was here.


(Nani holding three babies! Jaden, Mason, and the baby in her tummy... SUPER Nani!!!)

As you can see from this picture Jaden put aside discomfort he was feeling due to being sick to play with his "Aunt Nani." Then he felt sick again and his Nani was there to comfort him... THANKS Nani!!!




When the boys were finally in bed Nani and I got to spend some time in the craft room being silly. This is us trying out the vinyl cutter... Nani, you should have gotten a shorter hair cut!!!





Thanks for taking the time out of your busy life to come and hang with us... see you again soon!!!

Recycle Heroes to the Rescue

Today was a very windy recycle day here in Wentzville. I took the boys for a walk after breakfast and we saw trash blowing everywhere so my little superheroes jumped into action. Recycle heroes to the rescue!!!

They were on their power wheel speeding through the neighborhood picking up trash as they drove.



The boys even stopped to clean up some trash left by the construction crew working on a new house down the street.









After our third trip back to our house to drop off the trash the garbage truck showed up and my little superheroes helped the trash men get the trash in the RIGHT place once and for all!!!



Recycle heroes... mission accomplished!!!

Spare Time

OK... so even though I have had little spare time in the past month my boys have had their fair share. It seems that they have gotten themselves into some interesting situations and I have had to hurdle over mountains of boxes to get to my camera in time to get a picture of their predicament.

Jaden trying on every bib in the house (I had just unpacked them and found a new home for them in our new kitchen).



Jaden trying to take off every bib in the house... SO FUNNY!!!



Jaden walking around with Tupperware for boots...



I had to delete the picture of Ethan doing the same thing from my camera after realising that he was wearing only his power ranger underpants while preforming the stunt. Hopefully you appreciate the fact that I deleted the image Ethan... it was hard for me to delete such a FUNNY picture!!!

Mason wishing he could walk so that he could try on those cool Tupperware boots!!! Note that Mason is sporting some shiny NEW teeth... CONGRATS Mason!!!



The infamous "stuck in a box" pictures that is a must have for anyone moving with young children.






So it is now past 3am CST and I better drift off to sleep so that I don't miss any funny moments tomorrow may hold. These guys keep me on my toes and I have to admit I laugh ALL the time!!!

All Moved In

OK... so it has been a while since I have posted and let me tell you there has NOT been a shortage of comical things to write about!!! We are officially moved into our new home in Wentzville, MO and with three little ones running around it has been a GREAT workout. It feels like I have not sat down in weeks... I am the new energizer bunny I just keep running and running and running.

I am one that cannot stand to look at boxes waiting to be unpacked... I am like Alice in Wonderland even though the boxes don't actually say "unpack me" but I just can't stand being half done with anything.

The boys have done really well adjusting to the new house and even Rick (who originally protested the move) has fallen in love with all of the space that he has now claimed as his own. It seems as though things are falling into place for each of us and we have already made a few friends in the new neighborhood.

Halloween is ALWAYS a fun time for our family and this year was NO EXCEPTION!!! We were able to construct our haunted Halloween gingerbread house just in time for Halloween (this tradition could NOT be passed up, move or no).



This is the ONLY picture I got of the construction of our Halloween house as I was busy making more orange frosting for decorating... the boys were just SO excited they were using icing as fast as I could make it!!!

We got our pumpkins carved on Halloween when Daddy came home from work. Ethan and I made the most original pumpkin EVER... Rudolph the red nosed pumpkin!!! Ethan started drawing the face on the pumpkin and made the eyes so big that there was little room for a nose... I quickly ran to my craft room and got some supplies. We hot glued a glittery red pom pom on the pumpkin and gave it some antlers. Ethan thought this was the best solution ever and quickly changed his sad demeanor.



Jaden and Daddy finished their happy pumpkin and we got ready in our costumes.



Ethan chose to be a green Power Ranger, Jaden wanted to be Spiderman, Mason was forced into the CUTEST Batman costume ever, and Daddy was the Incredible Hulk (to stick with the theme). I was lame and didn't pull a costume together for myself... so I was SUPERMOM!!! I think anyone who is the mother of three boys and can unpack a whole house in one week is a SUPERMOM so it worked!!! We had a GREAT night and despite all the energy the boys used up they still had a hard time coming down from the sugar rush that accompanies the holiday but we did get them to bed eventually!

Pig Roast

Today we went to the house Aunt Amy grew up in for her parent's annual pig roast. Well I have to say I had to do some convincing to get Dad to come along but we all had a GREAT time!!! There was a hay ride, sheep (that Nani helps take care of), a horse, basketball, volleyball, fishing, and a really big dog and timid grey cat (that tolerated Jaden's curiosity).

On the hay ride Dad tried to teach Ethan how to blend in...



Ethan looked SO cool that Mason gave it a try...



Jaden had a GREAT time on the hay ride looking at all the animals... we are SO grateful that he actually didn't fall out!!! This is the look he gave me after I asked him to sit on his bottom the 100th time.




No pig roast is complete without a bonfire... which I have to say my boys enjoyed immensely!!!



The bonfire ended in a brutal brawl between father and son over the last marshmallow. Shame on you Daddy...you would think that you could refrain from taking down your 2 year old son over a silly marshmallow!!! JUST KIDDING... but it was the only excuse I could come up for this picture.




You know they had a good time when you get home and no one argues about going to bed... night, night my little ones!!!

Monkey Man

Tonight after dinner Rick, the boys and I were chillin after a long day. I had put some juice boxes in the fridge for our trip to the new house tomorrow. I normally water their juice down to get them to drink their share of water, so the sweet juice boxes were TOO tempting.



Jaden had already gotten into one and Ethan though it was unfair that we were not allowing him to indulge in one as well. When Dad headed back into the kitchen after a brief absence he saw Ethan climbing into the fridge and said "Ethan... don't climb the fridge" to which Ethan firmly replied "But I'm half monkey you know!!!"




Oh, Ethan you always have been quick witted... you sure keep us on our toes!!!
WE LOVE YOU!!!

Playing Doctor

I have to say my boys have done some CUTE things... well I have to say this tops the list. Jaden and Mason I think you are the CUTEST!!!

Mason not knowing what he was in for...



Mason squeeling with glee that his big brother is still playing with him...




Taking a break while holding hands... SO SWEET!!!




I LOVE MY little GUYS and all the laughter that accompanies them.