Christmas with the Carlile's

I learned one important lesson last Christmas, I am terrible at making Christmas pajamas. For 3 years, I tried. For 3 years, I failed. This year our pajamas were store bought and everyone was much happier with that result. You can't see, but the boys bottoms are covered in motorcycles. Abraham started rolling around on the floor making vrooming motorcycle sounds. It was hilarious.Abraham woke up at about 7:15. I was waiting with the video camera and Ken went into his room. He asked him who came to our house last night and without hesitation Abe replied, "GRANDMA!!". Sorry buddy, no Grandma, just Santa. He took awhile to realize that we were actually letting him open his gifts, but once he got into the groove there was no stopping him. I never tired of hearing, "Look Mom! Santa brought Abraham a ______" Ken and I conspired with Santa and got a king sized bed! It hasn't arrived yet, but we are so excited for it! The boys also got me a pressure cooker! I can't wait to start experiementing with cooking with it.

Tyler actually woke up at 5:30 and stayed awake for about 45 minutes, then fell back asleep. He slept through the first half of Abraham's present opening and then came out and enjoyed watching Abraham open his presents for him. He loved playing with all the bows and wrapping paper.

We are so thankful to everyone who sent us wonderful gifts. We had a relaxing day (& stayed nice and cozy in our matching Snuggies homemade by my Mom!) and enjoyed the time together as a family. We also enjoyed reflecting on the great gift that is the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the true reason for this holiday and we are grateful for Him.

For those interested, here is a slideshow with additional pictures.

Our Little Drummer Boy

Merry Christmas Everyone! We love you!

Happy Birthday Ken!

Before all the Christmas / New Year's posts get in the way, I wanted to be sure to blog about Ken's birthday, which was December 13th. Ken is the master of guessing his presents, so this year I worked extra hard to surprise him. I got his parents and my parents to go in with me and we got him a super fancy leaf blower for the lawn. Since his birthday was on a Sunday, we gave it to him Friday night so he could use it on Saturday. Abe was so excited for Daddy's "Happy Day" cake and talked about it all day long. It was really cute.

Thanks for being the best Husband and Father! We love you, Happy Birthday!

When my Brother's Away

I FINALLY get to play!!!

Tyler's been dying to get his hands on Abe's omnipresent "bucket o' cars". Since Abe is having a sleep over with cousins tonight, he finally got to play to his heart's content. (Tami, don't let Abe see this post!!!)

Yip Yip Aliens

Remember these guys from Sesame Street?





Thanks to Tyler's adorable new habit, I think of them daily now.

Lights, Eggnog, Action!

Growing up my family held religiously to our Christmas traditions. One was putting up the decorations the day after Thanksgiving and enjoying the lights with cookies & eggnog. Since we spent all day after Thanksgiving driving, we put our tree up the very next day after that. Abraham was SO fun this year. He loved looking at the ornaments & was so fascinted with the lights. Tyler was content to sit & enjoy the commotion.

Last year, Ken's sister Carie sent us this beautiful wooden Nativity. We've been so excited to put it out this year. Abraham loves it. The first night we got it out we sat with him and helped him learn the names of all the characters. The next day he was naming them all and he saved the 3 Wise Men for last. As he got to them, he got a look of concentration on his face and finally said, "them other guys", what a cute boy!

You've got to catch a boy's first taste of eggnog (mixed with Sprite) on video!

Spontaneous Dancing ... an addition

So, I saw this post at my sister's blog this morning and it made me smile & made me a little sad at the same time. You see, I was the sister who had already left and missed this great fun. I was also sad to not see any of my nieces or nephews break out into the Later Family Dance (which I so graciously taught them many years ago). Anyway, as dancing is an integral part of our day, Abraham wanted to add his dancing skills to his cousins. So, just imagine him in there with the others, dancing his heart away!
(And sorry, we don't have any Hannah Montana. We dance to Yo Gabba Gabba around here)
(Also, if you were about to ask, Abe is wearing underwear ... he is also wearing a diaper underneath them. We, against my better judgement, have started potty training. Oh and he is wearing Glow in the Dark Halloween underwear, life doesn't get much better than that!)

Happy 6 Months Tyler!

Yes, another month has flown by! Tyler has grown up so much the last month. Just after we returned home from our Thanksgiving travels, he decided he wanted to be mobile. He now rolls from his back to stomach to back to stomach ... all over the floor. He is also scooting himself aroun when on his stomach. I'll set him down, then come in the room to find him several feet from where I set him. He is very drooly and wants to put everything in his mouth. I love his sweet smile though. Hopefully we can get his new found sleeping issues put to rest (ha ha, pardon the pun) As hard as I tried, this was the best I could get of the two boys together. Aunt Carie gave them the shirts and I just love them!!

This is the best option for a smile from Abraham too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We decided to be crazy for Thanksgiving this year and pack up our 2 young ones and drive 12 hours to my sister's house in Connecticut. We left around 6 AM on Tuesday morning and due to traffic and bathroom stops (Tyler decided a few hours in to completely blow out!) we didn't arrive until after 8:00 that night. It was well worth our effort though. We were glad for Tyler to meet his aunt, uncle, and cousins and for Abe to become better acquainted. We were glad the Boyers could join us there as well. Somehow, I didn't get any pictures of our actual Thanksgiving meal, but it was delicious! Even the dropped pumpkin cheesecake ended up tasting fantastic! The drive home went much smoother and we made it in less than 12 hours! We are very grateful for family and for all our blessings this Thanksgiving holiday!This is quite literally my sister's backyard. She let us sleep in her room (in the most comfortable bed in existence) and you wake up to a beautiful view of the ocean. It was amazing.I kept offering to take my niece, Elise, home with us. She loved the boys and took great care of them too. My offer to adopt her still stands ... Ken enjoyed skipping rocks into the ocean. Don't you love the hat?I wish you could see these shells better, they are quite mutated and odd. My sister lives in sight of a nuclear power plant. Need I say more?Climbing rocks like the big kids.Isn't the view just gorgeous??Kirsti and Ethan posed for many a picture along the beach. This was my favorite one.6 or so years ago, when we all lived in Pennsylvania, I was introduced to a Thanksgiving tradition of making chocolate turkeys. It was fun to make turkeys all together. For the curious, you use a fudge striped cookie for the base. It is topped with a chocolate covered cherry. You use candy corn for feathers and a beak. Red hots finish it off as the eyes.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wherein My 2 Year Old Locks Himself in His Room ...

Yes, you read correctly. Abe usually goes right down for his nap, but on a rare occasion he struggles with falling asleep. He'll call out to me or I'll hear him playing with his toys. He doesn't usually cry or get upset and if he is still awake after an hour, I let him out of his room and we skip nap for that day. Today was a struggle day. I heard him messing around in there, but didn't pay too much attention to what he was doing. After about 45 minutes I quit hearing him and assumed he'd fallen asleep. I went about my business. Skip forward an hour and a half. Tyler and I were in the kitchen making apple pies when we heard Abe wake up. We went down to get him and was shocked to find that his bedroom door wouldn't open. Shaking off my stupor, I tried again. Yes, my friends, he had locked the door. I wasn't ready to panic yet and I measured my options. No screws on the doorknob, so I couldn't remove it. Hinges on the inside, not outside of the door, so no luck there either. I called out to Abe, "Hey Hammer, can you open the door?" to which he calmly replied "Mom. Hammer locked the door". Yeah, we'd figured that one already, little friend. So, I called Ken at work. He promptly laughed. I hadn't found it funny up to this point, but I'll admit, he got me giggling. Abe was in there chatting it up, without a care in the world and we had absolutely no way to get him out of his room. Ken left work to come home and I kept trying options. We have a veranda outside the front of the house. Tyler's and Abe's rooms both have doors leading to it. We tried to use our front door key in the door, but it didn't work. We have a child safety cover on the inside doorknob of that door, so we couldn't get Abe to open it. As I waited for Ken to come home, Abraham finally started getting upset. He'd call out to me and ask me to please open the door. I distracted him by shoving things under the door for him to find. Toys, blankets, and yes, Halloween candy. I tried to get video of him talking in there, but the sound was too muffled to capture. By the time Ken got home, I was sure he was going to have to kick in the door. Ken checked all the options I'd already checked and came to my same conclusions. However, he was the maintenance manager of apartment complexes during college, and he'd had to break into many an apartment using an old credit card. He decided it was worth a try. 3 minutes later and Abraham was freed. He had all the toys and blankets I'd shoved under the door in his hands and a mouth full of tootsie roll. At this point he was not upset in the slightest, just overjoyed that Dad was home early from work. What a little punk.
(and for those of you wondering, we duck taped his doorknob before he went to bed tonight!)

Tyler's 5 months old!

Somewhere between Abraham's birthday and Halloween, this post got lost! Tyler turned 5 months old on the 25th of October. The poor little guy has been suffering from ear infections for the last few weeks, but when he's not sick he's still the happiest & sweetest baby boy. He's become an obsessive compulsive roller and wants to put everything in his mouth. He's starting to really enjoy baby toys, music, and mirrors. He currently weighs in at 20 lbs and I'm in love with all the baby chub!

Just for fun here is a side by side 5 month comparison of Abe & Tyler.

Happy Halloween!! Got Milk?

Nothing says Halloween like Dad in an afro and 70's suit!!!

We dressed as cereal mascots. Ken was Captain Crunch. I was Crackle from Rice Krispies. Abraham was Lucky from Lucky Charms and Tyler was the Trix Rabbit. We were so happy to have Grandma & Grandpa Tucker with us. Although, from this picture, you'd think my Mom was torturing my kids.

We have very few pictures of just the two of us, but who could resist a Halloween photo opp!Our trunk won one of three awards at our church's Trunk or Treat. We won "Silliest Trunk".
Here is how we decorated the front of the house! We had strobe lights going in each door as well. My sweet boys. 3 Generations of crazy fun! Grandpa Tucker entertained the kids, not only with his costume and swinging, but he threw some magic tricks in too!It was a lot of fun for Abe to have his cousins come to Trunk or Treat and also Trick or Treating with us. He couldn't ask for better friends than his Boyer cousins.

He's magically delicious!

This little one has cheeks that were just made to be a rabbit. I wanted to pinch them all night long.
Happy Halloween!