A traditional Christmas at This is the Place....

On Saturday we took the boys to This is the Place for their Candlelight Christmas festivity. It was very impressionable and I think it was great for Dylan to realize how Christmas was celebrated many years ago. We learned a few interesting facts about the pioneers. Most of the families did not have a Christmas Tree in their home. There was a tree in the school and in some of the churches. We did make a paper chain for the tree in the schoolhouse . The boys enjoyed the puppet show and the old paper press that made Christmas cards. The live Nativity was my favorite, and of course, the boys loved the train ride. If you have never been, this is a fun family place and we will be back next year for sure.

We had to visit "Father Christmas," Dylan was curious why "Santa looked a little older."

We made a wish list for Santa on old fashioned paper and then put the wish list in the fire so that the ashes could go to the North Pole. Tate would not put his in the fire and was clutching it tightly. Notice the carolers behind the boys. They were so fun to listen to and the Lady behind Dylan put mistletoe above him and asked him to dance in the schoolhouse. Dylan was blushing and hid his face in my coat. I told him that you should always dance with a Lady when asked.
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Dylan in front of the schoolhouse before his embarrasing moment when he was asked to dance.

DYLAN is the VIP....

Today was a big day in Kindergarten for Dylan. He was the VIP! Mom, Dad, Tate, Grandpa and Grandma Green were able to go to his class and share how special Dylan is. He has an amazing teacher, Mrs. Lauritzen, and he enjoys school. His classmates asked him special questions and then we were able to tell the class why Dylan is so special in our family. I loved some of the questions the classmates asked and Dylan's responses. Here are a few:
Max: "what is your favorite food?"
Dylan:"strawberry and chocolate ice cream."
Kate:"what is your favorite toy?"
Dylan: "Batman."
Kale: "What is your favorite game."
Dylan: "Star Wars on the Wii."
SO BOY!

Dylan showing off his "picture board." He helped me choose the pictures and we wrote a few things that are special about Dylan on the stars.

Our Christmas cards are not mailed yet, gifts are not wrapped, and we still have gifts to prepare. The "picture board" has been our big priority and the timing was not the best, however, I think it turned out great and this will be a treasure! WE LOVE YOU DYLAN...

Sub for Santa.....

Our Sub for Santa this year was awesome! We were able to give "special gifts," to a young boy who I met through work. The boys were so excited to give and Dylan even chipped in a few dollars from his piggy bank to purchase a gift. He was so excited to give it to my co-worker and I am sure it created a memory for him. Thanks for all who participated. I know this child will feel loved on Christmas with his "special gifts."

Tis the Season....

Peace on Earth and no wrestling for at least a moment. Mommy's wish :)

Dylan's picture of a Khung Zhu pet. It says "Santa, I want this. Dylan."

Tate and his picture of the blue motorcycle he hopes Santa will bring him. Mike and I were laughing that this picture looks like a mug shot of our little jail bird. Fortunately, he is a great kid so I don't think we need to worry about that.

Mike and I planned the activities we wanted to attend during the month of December. We each agreed the key was to simplify, so that we would create memories and also have the time to remember the birth of our Savior. Last night Santa send a special message to the boys from the computer(a.k.a the northpoletv. check it out on the web). They were amazed that Santa knew their name and had kept "a file" for each of them. Sparky, our family elf has been moving around the house watching the boys and he made a special call a week ago from the North Pole. Dylan has confirmed where the call came from on the caller ID many times. Tonight we went to give Santa our wish list. The boys had written special notes for Santa and asked for their "special gift." Tate would like a "blue motorcycle," and Dylan wants a "Khung Zhu and a RC batmobile car." We completed the night by driving to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and looking at the Nativity Scene. We told the boys why we celebrate Christmas and to remember our "special gift," the baby Jesus. Dylan reminded us that we need to bake a cake on Christmas Eve for Jesus. This will be an activity we have to do this year.

My baby is now a big boy.........

The big news is that Tate is now a big boy. He has the boys briefs to show his great accomplishment and he was so easy to train. We started the Monday before Thanksgiving and he was trained within a couple of days. I am glad we waited and avoided the power struggle that we had with Dylan. We are officially out of the diaper stage!!! Mike and I were discussing how great it is to have no diapers to change. It has been nice to have boys, in the fact that when we are out in public they want to go to the boys restroom and Mike gets to take them. Tate also did not need alot of bribery to train and that was nice. Now when he needs to go to the restroom he announces, "potty training."

Happy belated Thanksgiving....

I wanted to rewind to Thanksgiving since I have not blogged since Halloween. Our family has been living life and it seems that blogging is the last thing on my mind. Dylan made his "feather hat," at school and he wore it everywhere. He took it to the Rowley household for the big turkey day and was so proud of the feathers he had earned by doing positive things in his classroom. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Southern Utah with the Rowley family this year. The boys enjoyed playing with their cousins and Grandpa and Grandma had a full house which made it even more exciting. The girls went shopping on Thanksgiving night and to make a long story short, we completed a journey to Las Vegas and back to Parowan within a 26 hour period of time and about 4 hours of sleep. It was well worth the sleep deprivation for the shopping experience. The men stayed in Parowan and relaxed with the kids :) We traveled home on Saturday and missed the big storm. We were also able to attend our new little cousin's baby blessing on Sunday. Unfortunately, in all the fun I did not snap any photos.

It's the partial Toy Story crew...

For Halloween this year the boys decided they wanted to be characters from Toy Story. Grandma and Grandpa Green gave Tate this costume as his birthday present and so Dylan decided he would be a green army man and represent the Green family. Great idea Dylan! The boys had an awesome Halloween. We trick-or-treated in our neighborhood (which is always a ton of fun) and out lasted the cold and rain. The boys were home by 7: 30 and enjoyed handing out candy to their friends who came to our home. Tate would say "Trick or Treater, " at every home and I was so proud of Dylan for saying thank you at each home (we must be doing something right). It was a fun and memorable day.

It's time for carving pumpkins and the corn maze....

The boys have been so excited to carve pumpkins this year. Dylan asked us PLENTY of times when we were going to do this yearly tradition. We carved them last Sunday when Uncle Nick was here. The boys insisted that Mike carve a pumpkin that resembles Sonic the Hedgehog. Mike did a great job on the pumpkin and it did look like Sonic. Dylan also wanted a classic Jack O' Lantern pumpkin. Aunt Bridget had to work, but she had told us how much she liked the pumpkin seeds. Nick was able to get the recipe and we made some delicious pumpkin seeds. We all loved them and now we will make that a tradition. Lawry's season salt makes the seeds DELICIOUS!
We also made a family date night to the corn maze this year. It was a blast! Jake joined us and the boys were set on finding each number to make their way out of the corn maze. The weather was perfect and we kept them up late until 10:30 pm (something I said I would never do, I must admit it was fun).

Tate loved this scary man. He asked me to take a picture as he hugged
him. Should we be worried? He would not even look at the camera. Notice his jacket?

These boys were silly @ 10 pm. They had plenty of sugar and fun!

Tate liked the spiders from the square pumpkin meal he had earlier in the evening. They did provide great light for the corn maze.

Our little man TATE....

Tate is now a big 3 year old and I have not yet posted about his birthday or this special little guy.

These are a few of my favorite things about Tate:

I love his sweet little raspberry kisses on the cheek.

He has a great personality and is a CLOWN at times.

He still loves to wear hats and likes to dress up as his favorite super heroes.

He also loves to wrestle his brother and imitates his big brother.

He loves to snuggle with Mike or I and sing. I must say he has a great voice and he knows many songs.
WE LOVE YOU TATE!

Tate is now THREE.....

This cute little stinker turned THREE on October 9th. He is getting so big and is starting to potty train (YEAH). For his special day we had a bash with our friends at the fire station. The kids had a blast and the firefighters/paramedics gave us a great tour. It was a fun day.






The next day we had a small family birthday party at our house. Tate really liked the card that his Grandpa and Grandma Green gave him. He was spoiled all weekend and he had a great time. We just wished more family members from the Rowley family lived closer. We missed them, but we will see them soon.

A Sunday afternoon in the mountains....

One Fall day we decided we would go to the mountains with Uncle Nick and Aunt Bridgette. We had some fun with the camera and these are a few of the pictures we took.

Tate loves garbage trucks and garbage cans. He was so excited to see a waste management dumpster. Aunt Bridgette thinks we should take this photo to The Waste Management office and see if they could use it for advertisement.

Roasting marshmellows for smores. Dylan ate 4 and now wants to build a campfire to make more of "those delicious smores."

The leaves are gorgeous and it was nice to smell the fresh mountain air.

Uncle Nick and Dylan looking for a stick to roast marshmellows. Now we want to go camping one last time before winter comes.

A day at the farm....

We gave the boys a few choices of where to go for a family outing. Mike and I were hoping that they would choose to go for a hike in the mountains. Instead, they chose to go to the farm at Thanksgiving Point. It was so much fun and the boys really liked the wagon ride. Tate talked to almost every animal and his favorite phrase was, "oh cute."

Dylan milking the cow. He told us it was like "pushing on an eraser."

Dylan on the wagon ride.

The animals came right up to the fence and the kids loved this.

Tate loves the water. He has wanted to be a fish in water since he was born.