Christmas 2009!

Merry Christmas everyone! We had a wonderful time at our house with the 4 of us (still weird to hear that)! This is our Christmas best after the later Christmas program at church. It was a beautiful program, & Lauren got to sing in the choir, with the Young Women, as well as a duet.

Sophie was excited to see what Santa brought us!

Looks like Santa enjoyed his treats. Sophie decided he needed pretzels & fruit-hey-he can't always have cookies & milk!

Our tree & gifts.

The boys in their Christmas jammies. We opened those Christmas Eve, after we spetn teh evening eating a shared dinner with our friends, the Rusts, & then acted out the nativity. Guess who played baby Jesus...he had a lot of hair this year!

Sophie gave Ryan a Build-A-Bear, named Oscar that she helped make. We're glad she loves him so, even if it is too much at times.

Justin got his PS3 game, & he loves it!

Sophie got a new backpack for school (princess, of course), & was excited that Kitty could fit inside when she takes it to Preschool. By the way, Kitty often waits for Sophie at the office desk outside her Preschool class where she can always see her (Kitties aren't allowed in preschool!).

Hooray! Santa brought the flashlight. Sophie immediately zoomed off "lighting the way" wherever she or anyone else needed to go. We're surprised the abtteries haven't run out yet.

Lauren got her Roomba!!! (robot vacuum) We've had fun watching it zoom around the house cleaning. It's pretty cool!! It still needs a name (we just call it Roomba)..any ideas?

Kitty is sporting Sophie's new hair bows (thanks Aunt Amber!)

Charlie got his doggie treats in his stocking.

Ryan sporting his new Bumbo seat. Even though his neck is veyr strong, he's not quite ready for it.

Awww! He loves his Oscar bear that talks & gives him kisses.

Daddy daughter pic-Lauren's goof balls! Here Sophie's holding her play hair dryer-she loves her Princess makeup kit & does her hair & makeup with Mama now.

Blast from the past

As I was getting ready to post our Christmas fun, Icame across this video of Sophie when she was about 18 months old. She already could recognize & say all of the letters. This cute girl got excited about teh letter "S", saying it was for her, Sophie (Mama didn't catch that in the video). She's always been an observant girl, eager to learn. As her little friend, Delana, (who calls her "E") says about her, "E is smaart!"

Snow Storm & winter fun

This past weekend, we were hit with the biggest snow storm, bringing us 2 feet of snow to the whole DC metro area. We were shut in, church was cancelled, & we even lost our power for a few hours Saturday evening. We were grateful that it came on just before bed time as we were deciding how to layer up for warmth! The whole experience was quite fun, being together as a family, seeing the landscape get covered in white.

Here's a shot of our backyard with 1 1/2 ft & more to come!

Here's Charlie trying to hop around & navigate his way to go potty! He ended up mkaing a path that we followed each time he went out.

When it was all over, Sophie was excited to go out in the snow, and here she is with her snow boots, hopping with joy, saying, "I'm ready! Let's go!"

Oh, Soph! You need clothes...layers of them, girl!

We let Charlie run free for a while in the snow. This is our sidewalk.

Getting ready to shovel & check it all out!

Sophie just liked kicking it.

The aftermath. The snow plow just kept coming & coming during the storm, but here's what was still left!

Believe it or not, he's almost done!

Lauren & Ryan.

Our toasty little guy, asleep for the whole thing.

Sportin' the shades & chuckin snow clumps!

Snow angel fun. We were quite surprised she didn't fall through & get lost!

Before the storm, temps started dropping, & as I got concerned for Ryan's warmth, I pulled this out the closet (a gift from someone). We think it looks hilarious. It actyually keeps him quite warm & toasty, although he's mad in this pic.

Sisterly love. We've been working on having her not smother him so much!

Our sweet boy-always smiling & cooing when he's awake.

Visit with Santa!

Santa Claus came & visited some of the boys & girls at church, and Ryan & Sophie got to sit in his lap & eat cookies with the famous man! It was a fun experience!

Ryan won't remember this, but it was sure sweet!

Here's Sophie explaining some things to Santa about "Baby Ryan" & Kitty.

Sophie was so excited to see Santa & talk to him, but she got justa little shy on his lap. She did make sure to tell him she wanted a flashlight for Christmas, though!

One of Sophie's best friends, Kennedy, was scared about seeing Santa Claus, but Sophie coached her the whole time telling her how nice he was & that it was OK. Kennedy was nice enough to share Santa with her after she got her turn.


Santa did it-he got Justin to sit in his lap! We're all just kids, right?

Tid bits of fun

Sophie has been having fun learning the Christmas songs this year, being our little music lover. She was playing at a friend's house the other day when she started singing the Silver Bells song, only, I guess it came out as "Silverware! Silverware!"
Also, Lauren & Sophie couldn't help laughing about a shopping experience they recently had: While loading the car, Sophie & Ryan in the cart started rolling away, & Sophie calmly called out, "Mom! Help!" That was a first! There had also been a fascination with the Holy Ghost recently, wherein Sophie can go on for an hour or more (literally!) about all she knows about it. She will also tell you the things that Santa, Jesus, & the Holy Ghost think are "good" or "bad." Our chatterbox! Ryan has been truing to talk more & more. Although sometimes we wish there was an "off" button for these guys, we know we'd take constant chatter every day of the week than to have kids that don't talk at all. We are grateful every day for fun, beautiful, smart, HEALTHY kids!

Ryan's First Haircut!

Who knew that a 2 month old would need a haircut?! Our little Ryan's hair was constantly being brushed aside to get it out of his eyes & ears, so we finally trimmed the edges. We didn't cut anything else, & we were still left with this wad of hair! Here's a little shot of the trim. Another excitement in our home is Ryan has already started rolling a bit. If he gets himself going, he can roll from his tummy to his back all by himself on a flat surface. He is such a strong little guy! What we love the best, though is his joy at comunicating with & getitng attention from someone. The coo's & smiles are too cute!

Pics of the new family

Our friend, Channon Zabel, took some pictures of us soon after Ryan was born. Here they are!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We are really getting into the Christmas spirit this year, & oh, how fun! This year, we were blessed to be able to upgrade our tree from the dinky one Justin & Lauren got when first married. A little sad to see it go, but we sure love this new, beautiful thing in our home. Sophie had lots of fun helping decorate it. It's so tall, only Justin can reach the very top!

Sophie has started at a community center Preschool (pics to come later), & this week she made a picture to Santa & decided to send it. We've been waiting all day for the mailman to come take it!

Silly girl posing with her mail to Santa Claus.

With some encouragement from our church Relief Society, we've decided to fill a couple stockings for the Salvation Army's angel tree. Sophie had fun picking out gifts for another little girl her age, & we filled another with some gifts for an infant boy, like Ryan. I think this may become a new tradition for us of Christmas service, whether in this form or another. May your Christmas season be filled with love & cheer!