Brothers in Three Photos

Seth ADORES Aaron:

Aaron...tolerates being adored: 

Sometimes.

Sometimes, not so much adoration is tolerated: 

Did I mention how much I love my boys?

Let the Snow Begin

First snow of 2014, and it was a good one!

Jon, extracting the van from the snow: 

(note that he is wearing Seth's hat--Seth's head is so big we had to go to adult sizes.

Yay for Mikesell heads!)

Aaron also braved the cold to join the family fun: 

He lasted about 15 minutes.

Nothing like a good snow to break in new coats.

Pink for Princess: 

Blue for the Seth Man: 

Bitter cold makes excellent sledding snow: 

Much to my surprise, Catherine actually got back on the sled.

Repeatedly: 

When I say it was cold, I mean it was COLD.

For example, bubble blown on our deck? 

Shattered: 

Still not quite as bitter, terribly cold as Iowa/Illinois, but not a temperature I enjoy!

2014

Out with the old (Christmas tree), in with the new (year)!

Our entryway, post-tree-removal.

Cindy Lou Who.

She was standing in the doorway, actually saying the words,

"Daddy, why are you taking the Christmas tree?"

That's right--Jon is the Grinch.

Seth has some awesome friends who took him on a field trip since his mom wasn't up for a field trip with a newborn. He was thrilled to get to go visit a local potato chip factory:

Apparently he was quite full of questions. By the end the tour guide just asked Seth if he had any questions (which he invariably did) before opening it up for other questions.  

Some of our awesome homeschooling friends!

He was also very polite--he complimented the tour guide on the delicious potato chips (straight off the line) she gave to them. Glad to know he's a sweetheart even when I'm not there to remind him to use his manners!

Temple Trip

Aaron & Ashley may live in Tucson, but Ashley's parents conveniently live less than two hours from us. Which means...we got to see them when they went to her house for Christmas! Jon met up with them for a session at the D.C. temple while the kids and I roamed the grounds for a few hours. 

It might have been a little bit chilly that day.

Seth took a ride on the Wise Man's camel.

Lightning McQueen opted to stay in her stroller.

Where she proceeded to fall asleep.

And then proceeded to pee all over herself and the stroller.

Yippee.

To reward ourselves for surviving alone for three hours, we dined on delicious chicken at Chick-fil-a. Okay, Jon, Aaron, Ashley & I ate while the kids played. Well, Aaron didn't play. He was busy being held by Uncle Aaron. Those two have quite a special bond. In fact, Aaron & Ashley gave little Aaron the awesomest present any baby has ever received:

Aaron Blood 2.0!

Now with drool action: 

(Funny story: Aaron & Ashley had the shirt sent to her parents' house so they wouldn't have to carry it on the plane. Ashley's mom happened to open the package and thought Aaron & Ashley had an announcement to make. Bwahaha!).

Totally unrelated, but here's Aaron's announcement (I know--not a newborn picture. But adorable!). 

And the picture for his room: 

Thanks again to Tara for the beautiful pictures of my baby!

It's Christmastime!

Our first Christmas at home (much to my family's dismay) turned out to be a lovely experience. (Although I will admit to feeling a little tug on my heartstrings when we would Skype with the rest of my family all Christmasing together). We didn't have to worry about flights, luggage, sleeping arrangements, our EST kids waking everyone up at 4 am, getting sick, getting presents back home...ahhhhh....

The kids even did us the favor of sleeping in until 7:45 am. Merry Christmas to us! We came downstairs to find this:

Seth sorting the presents into piles (benefits of having a kid who can read)

I forced them to wait until I could take the traditional "top of the stairs" picture before they could go downstairs and see what Santa had left for them. And this is what I got: 

Yes, we're short a kid. Someone else didn't get his hiney out of bed until 8:30.

So he got his own "top of the stairs" picture: 

Merry First Christmas to Aaron!

I was going to take pictures of what Santa brought, but luckily I've learned from my mother's mistakes. We would go back and look at Christmas pictures and start asking what happened to certain toys. Us: "Hey, where's that Cabbage Patch doll from this picture? You know, the one I got in 1987?" Mom: "Umm...I gave it away after you hadn't touched it for three years..." Us: "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

So no Santa pictures. But our kids were greatly spoiled. Santa even brought me some salted caramels...yum...

Much to Seth's dismay, we forced them to eat breakfast before we opened presents. And not just any breakfast--a feast! I made pancakes, bacon, and even some sausage for Jon. Aaron was particularly impressed with the bacon:

Most parents give their kids rice cereal for their first solid food.

We give BACON.

Then it was present time.

Aaron was ecstatic: 

We decided our kids needed some dress-up clothes for imaginative play.

Catherine was THRILLED to find this Lightning McQueen costume from Grandma Cathy: 

Also making an appearance: Spiderman:

And Cinderella ("Cinawewa"):

(It's sheer coincidence that she's actually in a Cinderella costume. 

All princesses are called "Cinderella" according to Catherine).

And Seth's ultimate favorite present: 

A Razor scooter!

Now he won't have to beg for rides from the neighborhood kids. 

Then there was the tense moment when Aaron had to face down a Dalek: 

Turns out Daleks can be immobilized by massive amounts of drool.

Who knew?

Traditional "This place is a disaster" photo: 

How Jon & Aaron ended the gift-wrapping party: 

Naptime trumps Christmas.

Every time.

He did wake up later to enjoy his presents: 

So far all he does with this toy is stick his tongue in and out of the holes.

Like a lizard.

We ended the day with Catherine sitting on the counter eating whatever sugary things she could find and Seth doing "experiments" with all the little gel crystals/balls/fake snow Santa brought him: 

And here's where I confess to being a complete nerd. Guess what I asked Jon to get me for Christmas? Five laundry baskets. You know, one for each member of the family so as to better facilitate laundry sorting? And it's been just as great as I was hoping. You know you've embraced motherhood when you ask for laundry baskets for Christmas!