Funny story...

The boys came downstairs this morning and crawled into bed with us.  Aiden asked his Daddy if he could   shave his head on the top and leave hair on the sides so he could look just like Papa.  Then Ethan said that    something really bad happened to Papa's hair and he must have rubbed in on the carpet too much as a child.  I am not sure where these boys come up with this stuff. 

This is a picture of Papa (holding Ethan) in case you haven't met him.  This is how Aiden would like to see his Daddy's hair. Just give it time Aiden and I am sure your wish will come true!

Christmas photos...

Each year I get pictures of the boys in front of the Church Christmas tree.  We haven't been able to get the entire family together yet for our annual picture but hopefully that will work out for this next Sunday. 
We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! 

brotherly love!

They had enough.  Silly faces!

With their Nana and Papa

This is what Ian thought of the idea of pictures.  He hid in the Communion table.

Christmas activites

We have been very busy these past few weeks.  We have had Christmas parties, Church Christmas programs and special outings.  Here are some pictures to keep you updated on the boy's Christmas season.

We tried to make some gingerbread houses.  Things didn't work out as planned.  This is Ethan's before it fell.

This is Aiden's.  We couldn't get it to stay together so he just had some fun decorating it.  As you can see by Brodie's paws in the left hand corner, he stayed close by for any droppings.

I took the boys to Build a Bear while Daddy was a work. 

Left spending a lot more money than expected.

Ryan took the day off on Saturday and we went to look for a bed for the boys.  Ethan has out grown his bed and his feet now hang off the end.  They really want bunk beds but that doesn't really work for the house that we have.  We are still looking but promised to get them a bed in the next few weeks.  After our shopping we went to lunch and then let them play for a while at Destin Commons.  Daddy normally has to work on Saturdays so it was nice to have him with us for the day!

Update on Cameron the Elf...

The boys have had fun finding Cameron each morning.  Sometimes he is so lazy and just wants to rest in the same spot as the previous night.  I guess the trip to Santa had just wiped him out!

Hanging out in the fan.

Just hanging around!

Aiden's allergies...

Aiden had a wheat challenge with his allergist yesterday. When we get his scratch tests done each year, he always shows positive for wheat and soy. Since those are in a lot of foods, the doctor wanted to challenge them to see if he was truly allergic to these items. Yesterday we had to sit at the doctor’s office from 9am to 4:45pm. The nurse split the day into 2, one half of the day he was given the wheat food (cream of wheat) and the other half he was given a similar food but something he isn’t allergic to (oatmeal). Only the nurse knew what he was eating at the time so I could watch without bias for any reactions. The nurse would come out every 15 minutes and feed him a small amount of the food. He showed no signs of a reaction through out the entire day. The doctor said that means he is 95% sure that he isn’t allergic to wheat but since he did have a positive scratch test, we will need to do one last challenge. Aiden will need to return for a 4 hour challenge where they will feed him larger amounts of wheat to see if he has a reaction. At that point, if he doesn’t have a reaction then we can safely say he isn’t allergic to wheat.

He will be returning next Wednesday for the challenge with Soy. Since I can’t get off of work, Ryan will have to take him to his appointment. I am betting that Ryan will have to call for some relief before the day is over.

On a side note, Aiden weighed in at 37 1/2 lbs.  Even with all of his allergies, he seems to continue to gain weight so we are very thankful for that.
We will keep you posted on the outcome…

Cameron the elf...

We introduced the boys to the Elf on the Shelf last night.  After a lot of debate, they named him Cameron.  We read the story of how he watches them each day and then flies back to Santa at night to report their behavior. It is also said that Cameron has eyes and ears out there (the other elves)to where he can see how they are behaving away from home. Then in the morning he finds a new spot to sit and watch for that day.  They have to search every morning for where he made his landing from his flight back home.   So last night when it was time for bed, they gave Cameron a wave and told him to have safe travels. 
               
                              The boys with Cameron.

This morning the boys found him on top of a picture frame. 

We will keep you posted on Cameron's many hiding spots.

Cookie Party

The boys had a cookie decorating party on Sunday afternoon.  This is their 3rd annual and we look forward to this each year.  The parents are very brave to have all of these kids in their home to decorate with frosting and sprinkles.  I am not sure that I could handle the stress!  The boys had a great time and we brought home tons of decorated cookies.
                               On our way to the party!

Getting started

The Christmas parade...

Saturday morning we got up early to sign up Ethan for little league baseball. He is excited but doesn't understand why he now has to wait until February for everything to start. Afterwards, we went to the Niceville Christmas parade. They shortened the parade a lot this year but we found a great spot in front of the coffee shop. We got some hot chocolate to warm us up since it was very cold.

The kids with CoCo the clown

The arrival of Santa

Aiden's humor...

Aiden makes a lot of funny comments and is often times very witty for his young age. I have decided to keep track of some of his sayings because he always has us laughing but then a few days later we can never remember exactly what he said.

It always takes him a while to get to sleep each night. This is when he likes to talk about his day and ask a bunch of questions that are running through his little mind.
A few nights ago, he asked us “how do eggs hatch if the birds are always sitting on them.” We thought- good question for a four year old but it was late and we didn’t want to get into the long process at 10:30 at night. The next night he said that he had figured out the answer- “they must have little knives on their bottoms”.

We will keep you posted… I am sure there will be more to come!

This is Aiden deep in thought!!

Gift from my 6 year old...

When Ethan woke up this morning, he said it was the eve of my birthday and therefore I was able to open my present he had made.  He and Aiden are allowed to open 1 gift on Christmas eve so I think he is trying to expand this to birthdays.  Below you will see my gift.
I am blessed to have my two boys.  Life is much more interesting with them around.   I love them both very much. 

This is the envelope for my present (he even included his brother in the gift)

He drew me a picture of a rainbow.

Christmas tree...

The kids have been asking for days to put up their Christmas tree (they have their own special tree to display all of their ornaments).  I was sick through out the holiday so I didn't have much energy to get things out and decorated.  Sunday night, we finally got motivated the kids were able to decorate their tree.

Thanksgiving

We started Thanksgiving with lunch at Nana and Papa's and then ended with dinner at Mimi and Poppy's.  A long day but we are blessed with both families nearby (so we can't complain).  Ryan and Aiden are both allergic to turkey so Papa had some yummy ham for them to enjoy while we ate the turkey.
After dinner we tried to get some pictures of the kids but getting all 4 to pay attention at the same time is close to impossible.

Ethan being silly

It looks like we will have to try again for a group picture.

Birthday parties and Santa...

Last Saturday the boys had 2 birthday parties to attend.  I was able to make it to the first one and then Daddy had to take over.  I was sick and couldn't make it through another party.  The first party was for Aiden's friend Benjamin at Gymnastics.  They were able to get all of their energy out and exercise.  Their next party was for Aiden's friend Austin.  He had a spiderman party.  You will see in the pictures that the boys got their face painted and wanted to keep it on for the rest of the night. 
Then we went to Destin Commons for Santa's arrival.  It was raining a bit so they had to shorten the program but it still was exciting for the kids. 

Aiden in the pit- Gymnastics

Ethan's turn

Ethan being a monkey

Aiden following in his brother's footsteps

Just a swinging!

Spiderman is wiped out!

Spiderman #2 trying to catch some sleep before seeing Santa.

Destin Commons

The highlight of the night!