12/31 - The Close of the Year

So here are the last few pictures from our Iowa trip. It was great to see family and the boys had fun (once they got over their sickness).

Kassie playing with thrill seeking little Eli. She taught him how to say "Peas and Carrots" and thinks it's adorable.

Eli wanted to "help me" with the camera and taking pictures. 

While I packed up stuff, the boys played with grandma and eventually their cousins. Grandma Jo bought a gingerbread train for them to put together and decorate. Here she is helping the boys put it together. 

Eli lost interest after about 2 minutes and he realized that he wasn't aloud to eat all the candy. That said, Aiden and Kassie decorated the train with candy.

Eli was busy being naked (it was about 15 degrees outside and about 70 degrees inside). That boy is really starting to hate clothes. I'm not sure what to do about that. He asks right when we get home if he can "be a naked boy?" He knows that he has to have a shirt on to eat meals so he'll put one on just for that and then take it off after eating.

Bryce and Kassie entertained the boys quite a bit. Here they are pausing for a second while giving the boys piggy back rides around the living room.

I set up my camera and got a family picture of all of us. Below from left to right: Stephanie (Brad's sister), Ruben (Steph's husband), me, Bryce (in the back; Steph's son), Aiden, Brad, Kassie (Steph's daughter), Eli, Dave (Brad's dad), and BettyJo (Brad's mom).

After we took the family picture, Aiden asks me in the sweetest little voice, "Can you take a picture of daddy and me?" I couldn't pass that up. He even wanted to pose with the Christmas tree in the background.

We had a hectic trip home on Friday. Delta didn't seat us together so on the first flight, we finally found 2 people willing to trade seats so that at least we were on the same side of the plane and just in 2 rows. Trying to get to that point proved challenging in though and after juggling lots of stuff, when it was all said and done, we lost our entire case of DVD's and a ziploc bag full of Lego mini figurines. In other words, we lost about $300 worth of stuff!! By the time we realized it, it was time to board our next plane. Brad went back to the gate but the plane had already taken off. Our second flight was delayed a bit and it was getting late. Our second flight was short and again, Delta sat us in separate parts of the plane :(  We got home about 10:15pm and made it safe with all of our checked luggage and car seats. We just stayed home on Saturday and the boys enjoyed playing with their toys and opening a few last presents that were under the tree.

 Great grandma Hagan bought the boys these magnetic pieces that all stick together and you can build fun stuff. The boys had a ton of fun exploring them and seeing exactly how they work.

Saturday night was awesome!! It was the first time in 8 nights that we all slept through the night and no one was throwing up or going diarrhea. We got such broken sleep for so long that we were exhausted and it was nice to not have to have a bodily fluid interruption in the night. I felt pretty yucky on Sunday and Aiden said his belly hurt. That said, we went to sunday school but then came home and I took some medicine.

Monday, today, the boys went to daycare for the first time in 1.5 weeks and enjoyed themselves. I got lots of unpacking done and had some blood drawn this morning for labs for my endocrinologist. This afternoon I met up with a friend and just hung out (with no kids) for about 3 hours. It was awesome and the first time I've done something like that since moving here (6 months ago)!! I miss being in academics and more of the workforce and being able to talk work stuff. I love my boys and could talk about their craziness all the time but it's refreshing to find other parents that you can relate in regards to their attitudes, mindsets, and experiences about raising kids.

I'm exhausted and it's 9:30pm. I'm going to bed soon. Brad is already falling asleep on the couch watching LSU beat Clemson. Tomorrow hopefully we'll hit up a playground (or find some other way to let energy out of the boys), watch some football, and then have some dinner with friends. What are your goals for 2013? We will be making some family goals this year!

12/26 - Christmas Eve and Day

So I spoke too soon. I finished the last blog saying how everyone was fine. I should have known better. Aiden got sick on Christmas night, BJ got sick yesterday afternoon, and I started getting sick last night. Boo on the rotovirus. So let me back up some and tell you how the few days around Christmas were. On the 23rd, I took Eli to urgent care. Aiden stayed home and got to help make cookies!! It was a great therapy exercise for him because it took lots of finger/hand strength to push out the icing. He had quite a bit of fun doing it.

After rest time, Eli started feeling much better. He even went out in the snow for the first time. He wasn't a big fan of having to get all dressed up in a snow suit but he played outside for a little bit. When I say little bit, I mean enough for me to take 2-3 pictures. He said it was too cold and wanted to go back inside.

Aiden on the other hand was having a great time. He saw Kassie shoveling snow earlier in the day and wanted to try his hand at it. He finally found a shovel he could maneuver and use. He also got to try out the real sled with Kassie.

Daddy didn't want to come play in the snow with us because he still wasn't feeling that great. 

Here in the Hoyt House in Iowa, they do the opening of presents on Christmas Eve after brunch. That said, we played around during the morning of Christmas Eve and the boys had some fun taking pictures with my camera and the cool christmas picture apps.

It was so good to see Eli back to his old self. He was full of spunk and energy.

They boys loved handing out presents to everyone.

They were both great little helpers. They were excited to open their presents and it looked like a bomb went off in the living room with all their stuff scattered everywhere.

Here is a cute picture of Brad and his mom. We gave her this mousepad for Christmas. It was Aiden's handprint at school that he (and his teacher) turned into a peacock. I really thought she would like and appreciate it (and she did).

We went to bed late on Christmas Eve because the boys were having so much fun playing with their toys. On Christmas morning, we went upstairs and the boys saw that Santa had visited!! They were pretty exciting and opened their present that he left before their stockings. Aiden got a breakaway truck and Eli got a dancing/rhythm microphone LeapFrog thing. They were both pretty excited. 

Aiden started a picture for Nana after he had some breakfast and also played with his stencils.

Eli was determined to be naked the entire day. He and Uncle Rueben watched Cars 2 for a bit.

After a long day filled with lots of playing, we tried to get some energy out of the boys before bedtime. Aiden was dancing around and Eli and I were playing with his new toy. It has a freeze dance game on it that he finds highly entertaining. 

Brad was feeling better and was playing and wrestling with the boys. I love this picture below Aiden is about to whollap Brad with the pillow. It's been about a month since we have stopped cow's milk and Aiden had made some HUGE strides. Coincidence or not, I don't know but am so grateful for the progress. Eli was finally feeling good to and having a great time playing.

Aiden even danced around the living room half naked for a while.

 

Brad thought it would be fun to wrestle with his sister so he is actually sitting on top of her. It's fun to watch them interact.

Minus the rotovirus, it's been a pretty good trip. The past couple days have been rough with dividing time between sick kids and/or parents or letting someone get rest/sleep who didn't get any the night before because they were sick or taking care of sick kids. The Hoyt family loves to play games but it's hard for Brad and I to stay up too late since the boys get up so early. At this point, I'm exhausted and not feeling great and haven't even felt like I've seen Brad that much. I'm hoping for a few healthy quite days in Alabama before Brad goes back to work. It's been great to visit with the Hoyt family and get to play in the snow a bit though. I'll post one more blog tomorrow to finish up our Iowa trip.

8/26 - wrestling and downtown Montgomery

We haven't done anything too significant over the past week or so. We've enjoyed the weather a couple days a week when we've gotten home from daycare/work. Here are the boys playing in the backyard while Brad relaxes in our broken hammock. I mowed the front yard the other day and it took me a solid 45 minutes. Brad mowed the backyard the day after and it took him almost 2 hours to mow the back. We have a huge yard and feel compelled to be out there using it!

Here is Eli showing me his puppy. He's been carrying this around lately and taking care of it. In fact, one of the most popular game he and Aiden play is "puppy." Usually Eli is the puppy and Aiden is the owner. It's too funny.

Eli entertained himself the other day by putting coins into a bottle and then dumping them out and doing it again. He did this on and off all day.

Aiden asked Eli to wrestle with him so this is what Eli decided he would do: step on Aiden. They were both having a great time.

Because Aiden is so sensitive, we have to monitor the wrestling closely but it's good to see them play like this and for Aiden to actually have some fun.

Aiden really wanted to make a silly face for the camera so this is what he gave me. What a crazy boy.

He then had the bright idea to jump over Eli and on to the bean bag. Eli followed Aiden's instructions but I was too scared Aiden would jump on Eli so Brad came over and held onto Aiden's hand the first time.

They both thought it was awesome and then Aiden tried it without holding on to Brad's hand (and made it successfully). Eli really wanted to try it when he saw Aiden having so much fun. While Eli has learned to jump much earlier than Aiden, I wasn't exactly sure he would be able to jump over him.

Needless to say, I had Brad hold on to Eli's hand and he did a huge jump. I was shocked. He tried it again and fell on Aiden but Aiden didn't even cry.

Eli got one final jump and he made it by himself. Aiden was smart though and put his hands/arms up just in case Eli didn't make it.

Aiden found his flight suit the other day and wanted to put it on a look just like daddy. It was too cute. It was way too hot for him to wear it all day but he wore it in the house for a few hours.

On Saturday morning, we headed downtown for the first time in Montgomery. There were dragon boat races and we thought we'd check it out. Here are the boys walking down the riverfront to where everything was happening.

The had a huge kid area set up with almost a half dozen bounce houses and the splash pad. Eli and Brad headed straight for the splash pad. Aiden wondered around for a bit and then found a bounce house he wanted to go in. We had to wait in line and then Aiden gets in and climbs straight for the steps which lead to the slide which leads to ... standing in line again. It only took him one time to realize he needs to stay in there a jump a bit before he goes up the steps.

We waited a long time in line for Aiden to go on this slip and slide thing. He got up there finally and hated it. He didn't want to be sprayed with water and I actually had to go pick him up from the middle of the slide because he wouldn't continue.

In the meantime, Eli was having a blast running through the water and getting all wet. It was pretty hot out and I was wishing I could run through the splash pad.

Eli was literally running circles around the places and just having himself a blast and laughing. He would come over and check in with Brad or I every few minutes but he was content to be by himself.

We eventually convinced Aiden to actually get wet in the splash pad. He did and tried to act like he was enjoying it but he wasn't really.

We finally got wet Eli in the stroller and waited in a short line so Aiden could hit a baseball at one of the inflatables.

He got three swings and was rocking it by the 3rd swing. He did great. Brad and I were both surprised because he didn't even really know how to swing a bat before Brad showed him for this.

We found a place on a ledge to try and watch some of the boat races. The boys didn't really care about the boats since there was so much stuff there to do for them. Here is Eli relaxing while Aiden and daddy went to go explore for a bit.

Eli just cracks me up. He's usually in such a good mood and just loves life.

You can see the water in the background, over the dozens of tents that were in the grass for all the rowers. We had a snack up here and just relaxed for a bit.

On Saturday night we went to a sunday school gathering. We are still working our way in to the sunday school class. They all know each other from high school and such so it's hard feel part of a group when you don't know many people and they know each other so well. We went to church this morning and are going back in a little bit so I can do a practice Awana meeting. Brad is off at a school class meeting but will come pick the boys up and take them to a special dinner tonight with him.

Brad has his first test this week. I've been pretty sick over the last week and haven't done much. I'm praying for a turnaround and to get healthy very soon.