cute boys

So there is no real theme to this post except cute boys
Here is James in his Christmas slippers. It is so nice to have him walking everywhere!
The boys always have great adventures with Daddy on library nights. Spencer must have gotten his huge imagination from Devon.


Danger: according to Spencer


In case you couldn't understand "You pick some knives, you cut your finger and that's danger"

Here is the video of James lifting weights with Grandpa at Christmas

Christmas in Idaho

Here are some pictures of our fabulous Christmas. We went to my parent's house in Idaho. It was just cold enough to remember it was Christmas, but not too cold. It was so fun to be with family!
Here we are on Christmas eve. We did a nativity with puppets. It went much better than last year, but I think Devon was too busy coraling James to take pictures.
Spencer's PJ's and book from grandma. She found the perfect book for Spencer's imagination.
I also let the boys open their DI stuffed animals on Christmas Eve. Spencer took his everywhere all Christmas break. Who knew his favorite present would be from the DI?
James got Cookie Monster and Big Bird. He loves to say "Cookie!"
Here they are in their cute Christmas PJ's, Thanks Gandma!
The room on Christmas morning, before the boys hit it!
Coming down the stairs together
Let's see what I got!
Dash!
James got a train from Santa
And Spencer got a Spiderman costume, complete with extra muscles
The boys got scarves and slippers for cold Idaho, you can't see Spencer's slippers
Grandma and Spencer got nerf guns, another favorite present
I got Devon a Zombie shirt- it was a great ebay find!
Grandma made the boys capes with their initial on the back.
I made breakfast- tree french toast- It turned out pretty good!
We went sledding in the afternoon. It was mostly ice and very fast- just Spencer's style. Here he is enjoying a ride with Natalie
James was not so sure about the whole thing, and I don't think he could sit up in all of those clothes!
Seriously, what is the fun in dressing like a marshmallow, careening down a hill to your near-death and freezing? (James' thoughts)
Grandma has some great toys. Grandpa helped him learn to lift weights with these, but I can't transfer the video. It was so cute though- he was grunting and everything.
We stayed at my sister's house on the way back and went bowling! Spencer could not even stand still to take a picture he loved it so much.

Other great times not pictured
1- my personal favorite, Devon and I got away for a day, went to a movie, shopping, Texas Roadhouse and a bed and Breakfast, and went to a temple that wasn't 2 hours away. It was soooo nice- thanks mom and dad!
2-We also saw Tangled, and even Devon thought it was the best movie he saw over the break (he also saw Tron and Narnia) happy birthday Natalie!
3- we got to talk to my brother who is in Argentina on his mission
4-Lots of other great presents
5- not so great, but we went to the allergist and after about 100 scratches on his back we found out that Spencer is very allergic to Cashews, also dogs and cats and other things like trees and grass. Now we have to carry an epi-pen-that scares me
6- Jump-on-it with Anna and the kids- Spencer loved this!
7- lots of playing with cousins. Spencer is praying we can go back again soon!
Thanks everyone for your presents and hospitality!

Family pictures

I was bound and determined to get family pictures in front of "The Mittens." This is the part of Monument Valley that we see depicted everywhere- it's like quint-essential American west. Anyway- it took a lot of tries, but finally we had success!
This was our first try. the sun was right in our eyes, so the boys would not look at the camera.

This was on our way to the tour. I hoped to kill to birds with one stone, but we decided dressing warmly was more important than dressing cute.
We tried to beat the storm and did not succeed. Freezing rain was falling as we took this one.
Finally a nice day and happy boys. James isn't smiling, but after all those other attempts- this is definitely success!

James

James is growing up so fast! He is finally walking around. He always says "Yeah!" as he walks because so do we. He is such a cute little boy. He wants to be just like Spencer, so he tries to chase after monsters too. My favorite thing is that when ever Devon or I come back home he has to give us a big hug. He is such a sweet boy!

Super heroes

Spencer earned his Hulk costume for doing things (putting on shoes, getting dressed) by himself. Now when I ask him to do something himself he says "I don't have anything to earn yet." He is way to smart for this game!
Anyway, now he has a real costume for superheroes. This is his friend Jackson as Spiderman. Spencer decided he wants a Spiderman costume for Christmas. Save the day!

Painting

Spencer loves to paint. Lately James has wanted to do everything Spencer is doing, so he got to join in the painting. Good thing this paint is washable!

It's always fun at Grandma's House

For Thanksgiving we went to Devon's grandma's house in California. On the way we had to get new tires. It took about 4 hours- so the drive there was long- but worth it. We had a great time. Before we went Spencer said "I want to hug my Grandma all the time." No one hugs like a grandma- and he got lots of hugs. Devon's cousin Lorie was there too, and she was willing to play super-heroes so Spencer loved her. James loved being in a new place and finding things that aren't "James proof," he is in a very curious stage right now.
We did a lot of shopping. Also we went mini-golfing at the place where Devon's mom used to work in high school. Spencer loved it. This is his celebration after he got the ball in the whole- after 20 tries. He was still very excited.

His technique was a little odd. He would always ask me if I needed help getting it in. James was pretty mad to be left in the stroller- but it was the only way to keep our balls on the ground. Maybe next time James.
Here are the boys and grandma Roberts.
We got a good family picture for back-up in case there is no more good weather in Monument Valley. Thanks for helping us out Lorie
We had a wonderful time- thanks for letting us come Grandma!