Noah's Video

Noah's video finally made it to the top of the "to do" list. It only took a year to get it done.

The goal was to get it done before he was no longer the baby. Mission accomplished.

And yay for Noah!

Videos are better than writing stuff, right?

Things haven't been that busy around here. I really have no excuse not to be writing more blogs. When I have free time it's not like I'm exhausted and just want a break.

The truth is I'd rather be reading someone else's writing than creating my own. Plus I'm lazy. Writing takes work, people.

But you know what doesn't take much work? Posting videos!

So without further ado:

Caleb, Zack and Noah gettin' jiggy wit' it down at Noodles & Co. This was last Tuesday. If a restaurant has good music, Caleb is always good for a chair dance or two.

Here's one of Caleb doing his "faces". These were always fun to entertain people at church, the store, relatives, friends, people on the street, etc. This video was taken in May I think. He looks so little... Sadly, as of this month, he has stopped doing the faces on command. :(

And here's Noah enjoying his birthday cake. He turned one on Tuesday. Yay for turning one!

What If? A Blog about those Mormons

Mormons have been in the media a whole lot lately. By now I'm sure almost everyone has at least heard of Mormons and have an opinion of them, however great or small, bad or good.

Most of you know that I'm a Mormon. In fact, most of you who read my blog are Mormons also. Most of you are family and friends and that's who I typically think of when I write a blog.

But today I'm writing for any of you reading my blog who are not Mormons.

Today I'm posing the "What if" question:

What if the Mormons really do have the truth?

Those of you who believe in Christ and love Him with all your heart (and there are so many of you good, amazing, wonderful people out there), what if this really was His church on earth?

What if the gospel He established when He was on the earth really did fall to apostasy?

What if he came to earth in the early 1820's and re-established his gospel?

What if he truly does stand at the head of His church today?

What if that church was the Mormon church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?

Wouldn't you want to know that? Better yet, wouldn't He want you to know that?

Today I give my testimony that Jesus Christ really did come to earth and re-establish His gospel in it's fullness. He stands at the head of His church today: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I know this to be true for myself and you can know it, too.

If you read this book, The Book of Mormon, and pray about it, you will know for yourself if it is true.

Really, what do you have to lose? It's just a book, right? If you read it and feel nothing, then you go along with your life as normal, but maybe knowing a bit more about those Mormons.

But if you read it and you feel something tell you, deep in your heart and mind, that it is truth, then well, your life changes. Then you start to learn more about who you are, where you came from, what the purpose of this life is, and where you are going after it's over.

So, if you want to read it, here's what you do. Just go to the website mormon.org and request a book. Near the bottom there's a link under "I Want To:". Click on "Order a free Book of Mormon". Then read it and see for yourself.

Because, what if it's true?

The Boy's Room

This weekend we decided to get babygirl's room ready since we have no good idea when she's coming and we decided we don't want to be finishing her room when she's actually here. We're not sure, but we think it will be easier to paint without a newborn in the house.

In order to get her room ready we had to kick Caleb out of it. So, this weekend, Caleb moved in with Noah and the Boy's Room was born. Since Caleb hasn't figured out how to climb out of his crib yet and Noah is, obviously, still in a crib that means we have two cribs in the boys room right now. When you add the crib in the girl's room that makes for 3 cribs in our house right now. I'm pretty sure we're not insane.

Anyway, back to the Boy's Room....

We were pretty nervous, but curious, to find out how the boys would sleep in the same room. They've only slept in the same room once before, up at my parent's cabin. Let's just say, it wasn't very fun.

We started painting on Saturday so that afternoon Caleb was officially "moved" and we got to see if they would take an afternoon nap together. We put the boys in their cribs and then went back to work on our painting. What followed was roughly 1 1/2 hours of the sounds of two boys having a very good time: Funny noises from Caleb followed by chuckling from Noah, yelling, banging, etc. We'd check in on them and find Caleb walking around his crib and Noah doing his best to poke his head over the bumper to watch him. They seemed to be having fun and we were getting lots of painting done. Naps, however, were definitely not happening.

Luckily, that hasn't been the norm.

They've been in the same room for almost 4 days now and they seem to love it. For the most part, they've been able to take their naps together, they've been able to go to bed at the same time, and if one of them wakes the other up in the middle of the night they are able to go back to sleep without too much trouble.

I actually really like having them in the same room. It seems to have made them better friends (they play more with each other during the day) and there's nothing I'd want more for them. So when I put them down for a nap and for over an hour all I hear is the sound of playing and laughing, I don't mind....that much.

Project: Yard

*I hate blogger and it's spacing issues. I really don't choose to have one inch spaces between paragraphs. I really don't. But blogger thinks I do. I give up. Enjoy the spaciousness.

Let me start off by saying I love a nice yard. Love love love it.

Let me also say that my yard is not a nice yard. It's just not. I need to say right up front that I'm not talking about the lawn. Zack takes care of the lawn and it looks just fine. I'm talking about the flower beds. Or, in my case, dirt beds with the occasional plant that hasn't died yet.

Since moving into our house 7 1/2 years ago I have only managed to create two flower beds that actually look decent. Here's one of them:

I love this little area. I know it only really looks good part of the year since most of these plants die down to nothing, but I really like it. Not only does it look nice, but all of the plants come back every year. I don't have to plant anything! They just keep coming back! I especially like it when the lilies in the front bloom bright red. (There is that spot in the left-hand corner that needs something, but other than that, it's FANtastic.) I also have a stretch in the back yard planted with a row of rose bushes. I like that area, too.

But I'm struggling with the other flower beds. I really am. It's a shame that they are the biggest and one of them is the main one in the front yard. It looks pretty crappy despite that fact that over the years we've planted numerous bushes and my mom, the talented Gardener that she is, even tried to help me with it. It just doesn't look good.

I am happy to say, though, that his year it is weed-free and it's been weed-free for a month! That's because I've implemented a genius plan for doing yard work. Here it is: Weed every week. Brilliant, right? And here's the kicker. It actually WORKS! I've been following this plan for a month now and my yard is weed free! It could be weed free for the entire summer if I just follow my super plan. Weed-free is great but, sadly, it still doesn't make my yard look good. It just keeps it from looking trashy.

My problem is I haven't figured out what I want my flower beds to look like. So instead of maintaining a beautiful space, I'm just doing weed control year after year for some sad looking patches of dirt.

This year, however, I think I've figured out what to do with THIS tasty spot in the backyard:

Nice, huh? Two pitiful plants, a maple tree (the third one we've planted there because they all keep dieing) and a hearty aspen.

Let me unfold to you my master plan for this space.

First I'll start off by planting some more flowers and bushes:

Big bushes up against the fence, sunflowers with semi-tall purply flowers in front of them, a butterfly bush (that isn't dead), another peony bush, and a few assorted flower bushes next to it. Then I'll make it look nice by adding some good dirt. Ooooo, diiiirt!
Then I'll add some stepping stones and a few more flowers.

It's starting to look good, huh? Well, wait until you see the final touch!A bench! Benches make everything better.

Then, someday when the maple tree grows big and tall (and doesn't die) I can sit under the bench and enjoy nature. That's the plan. Problem is now that we have kids (and adoption fees) I can't justify spending the money it would take to actually implement the plan. But I consider it a great step that I've finally figured out what to do in the backyard corner. And hey, it only took 7 years!

And now we come to the final flower bed. The one that everyone sees when they drive past the house:

The only reason there are actually green things growing in it right now is because they are things that don't really need care to grow: daffodils and daisies. The aspen tree looks like it might actually survive this year (it's the third of it's kind) and the lilac bush and Rose of Sharon bush must like where they are because they've been there for 7 years.

I honestly don't know what to do with this space. Any ideas? Suggestions? What can I plant that will actually look good year round? What do you think I should do? So far, all I've come up with is this:

And then this guy can figure out what to do.

Noah's Sealing

Noah was sealed to us on my birthday, April 20, 2011.
Honestly, this is a day I looked forward to from the moment we found out he was coming. It is such a fun, special day.
The sealing was set for 5:00 PM so Zack went to work for part of the day. He came home at lunchtime to help us get everything ready. We wanted the boys to be rested and fed before we left for the temple so the afternoon was a big juggling match between how long of a nap they could have and how much time we needed to feed them and dress them once they woke up. It was tight, but we managed to leave the house only 10 minutes late.
We picked up my mom on our way up to the temple. There's a new policy that lets you have a female family member accompany your children in the youth center, if you so choose. (I'm guessing it was created because of the numerous crying children they've had to deal with in the past.) Zack and I went out of town to visit Zack's dad the weekend before and left the kids with my mom. They'd been acting pretty clingy ever since we got back, so we thought it would be a good idea if my mom went to the youth center with them just in case they got upset.

One last family picture before the sealing.

Once my mom and the boys were in the youth center, Zack and I went to go take care of paperwork and such. When that was done they let us go get dressed. It's kind of fun because they have a special locker with your name on it, just like when you are getting married. I didn't get to be in the bride's room this time, but that was okay. When we were all ready, Zack and I got to spend some time together in the Celestial Room before they came and got us for the sealing.
We got to meet with the sealer beforehand and chat for a bit before going in. He was really nice. He and his wife had adopted two children themselves, so he knew how we felt.
When we walked into the sealing room we saw so many family and friends waiting for us. It was so neat to have them share this special day with us. I wanted to get a good look at all of them, but I knew I'd start crying if I did, so I made sure to just take little glances every now and then.
The sealer talked with us for a bit before the boys were brought in. He went over the covenants we make during the temple ceremony. He told us to remember that we are kings and queens in our homes and we should treat each other as such. He also told us to find kingly and queenly solutions to the problems and situations that arise with our children. I won't go into the whole marionberry story here, but he mentioned a situation where we might find Noah covered in jam and asked us to find a royal solution to that problem. Would a king yell and threaten his child or would he treat him with love and understanding?
After the sealer talked to us the boys were brought in. They looked so angelic all dressed in white. Noah, as predicted, looked very alert and aware of everything going on. He didn't crack a smile, but you could tell he was just taking everything in with his big blue eyes.
My dad held Noah during the sealing ceremony. It's such a short little ceremony, but it means so much. He is connected to us forever now. More importantly, he is bound by the sealing covenant and as such has many blessings and protections that will help him through this life and help him return to his Heavenly Father. He is now part of a chain of ancestors and future posterity that stretches on forever. And his place in that chain is as our son. How lucky we are to be blessed with him in our family.

After the sealing we got to be congratulated by everyone in the room. Caleb was soaking all the attention in and I think held his hands out to everyone to hold him. We went and changed and then got the boys from the youth center. The ladies who were watching them had nothing but praise and love for our little boys. They had been in good hands that evening.

We took pictures outside the temple with everyone who stayed. That would be my parents, Rachel and Mike. Thanks guys! Noah and Grandpa

Ours forever!

Me and my little man.

Yea for eternal families! (Noah was not very happy about having his picture taken. Caleb on the other hand...)Then we headed home for a big family shindig complete with sandwiches, salads and cake. It was a really special day. Our family finally felt whole. No more loose ends.

This boys is ours!

Noah is Official!

April 13th was Noah's day. That was the day his adoption was finalized and he legally became ours!

Noah's adoption was finalized in Utah and therefore the finalization took place at the county courthouse. No Skype for us this time. We got to meet the judge in person!

We invited family to come if they were able and were excited to have my parents, Zack's Step-Dad, Ray, and Danny and Rachel there with us. A representative from our attorney was there as was also a representative from our adoption agency. (Technically Noah has been under their custody for the past six months.) We arrived about 15 minutes early so Zack and boys had some fun killing time outside the courtroom:

I'd never been in a courtroom before, so it was a new experience for me. The judge sat up on the stand and we all rose as he came in. Everything was very official. They even called our agency rep up to the stand and asked her questions. We didn't have to go sit up on the stand, but our attorney did ask us questions about Noah, like, "Do you understand that he will have a right to your inheritance if you should die?" and "Do you understand that you are responsible to take care of all of his needs?" and things like that. Then he asked me, not Zack, how I felt about having him in our home. I managed not to cry, though it was hard, as I talked about how wonderful it is to be his parents. He is such a special little spirit and it just feels so perfect having him in our family.

The judge said his legal shpill, signed the decree of adoption and Noah was ours!

The judge was nice enough to let us take pictures.

We went home and put the boys down for a nap. And when I say boys, I mean ALL the boys. Zack took a nap, too. Noah woke up before the others so he and I had some one-on-one time for awhile. I saw the outfit at the store the night before and HAD to buy it for Noah. Little brothers are AWESOME!

After the naps were over we went to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate. We had planned to stop at a park before dinner because we played at a park the day Caleb's adoption was finalized and so we thought it would be a fun tradition. The weather, however, was too cold to let us. So we took a picture and left. At the restaurant, Caleb enjoyed eating Dad's steak.

And the guest of honor fell asleep halfway through the meal.

It had been a long, but very fun, day.

We are so happy that Noah is in our family. For your viewing pleasure, here's a short clip of Noah laughing at Caleb's antics. There's also a longer version, if you feel so inclined. I think I'll call these clips "Legal Brothers".

What do we do now?

I was reminded while getting a bottle ready for my baby. But I didn't mention it. Instead I said, "It's Trevor's birthday!" My nephew is turning one today! Such a great reason to rejoice this day. It's my cousin, Marcus's birthday, too. Yea for birthdays! That's what I focused on. But I still remembered. I couldn't help it. Four years ago today Jeff died.

I don't like remembering that day at all. Waking up to the phone call from my Dad. Feeling numb. I think my first words after Zack told me were, "What do we do now?" That whole day was a nightmare. Going up to Jeff and Kim's house, walking into the girl's bedroom to see my mom folding clothes. Hugging her and just crying. What do we do now? Sitting and crying on the bed with Kim. What do we do now? Touching his arm, feeling his soft soft hair that had just started to grow in after the last chemo treatments. Seeing his body and knowing he just wasn't there anymore. What do we do now?

Lost. It was just a lost feeling. It was an empty, lost feeling. An every-fiber-of-my-being-is-resisting-this-new-reality-and-I-don't-want-to-live-it-anymore feeling.

What do we do now?

The answers came. They came slowly but surely, as I was ready to hear them. They were answers I already knew. I just didn't really know them until now.

They came in church the next day, Easter Sunday, as we listened to messages about our Savior's resurrection. Assurances that this life is not all. This is just the beginning. This is just a part of our Heavenly Father's marvelous plan for His children.

They came as I watched and was a recipient of the kindness of friends and neighbors. Friends who made us lasagna and pie for the luncheon after the funeral. Lasagna and pie! Two of the hardest, most time consuming dishes to make, in my opinion. And they made them for me. And for my family because those were some of Jeff's favorite foods. I will never forget that. Neighbors who mowed Kim's lawn and pulled her weeds. Who shoveled her driveway in the wintertime (and who still do!).

The answers came as I read the scriptures. When I poured over the verses that told me where Jeff was and what he was doing and who he was with.

They came in songs on the radio, kind words from friends, and quiet moments late at night.

What do we do now?

We live. We live because He lives. And because He lives, Jeff lives. I know it.

We share this good news with everyone. We share it by bearing testimony, by loving those who surround us, by keeping the commandments. We love our families.

I know that my Savior lives. I know that because of Him, my brother lives.

Yes, today is a hard day. I'll remember and I'll cry. And then I'll go hug my boys and tell them about their Uncle Jeff and how completely wonderful he was and still is and how great it will be when they finally get to meet him. And we'll go put pinwheels on his grave and tell him we love him. And then we'll have lasagna and pie for dinner tonight.

Parenting 101 or Why Alma is Da MAN

Can I just tell you how awesome Alma was? 'Cuz he was pretty awesome.

I mean, as a person, he was a pretty cool guy. At first he was kind of a jerk, devoting his time to turning people away from the church, then was visited by an angel (because of the prayers of his father) and turned his whole life around, became a prophet and leader of the church, and later became the chief judge of Zarahemla because everyone thought so highly of him and trusted him so much. Then he devoted his life to teaching the gospel to the people. If you want to read his story, go here. Suffice it to say, he was a great, great man. He's my hero even without being an awesome parent.

Now the scriptures tell us nothing of his life as a parent, but I'm pretty sure that he was a darn good one. (Please excuse my soft-swear.)

What makes me think he was a good parent? Because he wrote the book on how to be a good parent. Actually it's not even a book. It's just two sentences. That's right, it's only two sentences long. TWO!!

I stumbled across it as I was reading yesterday morning. Want to read it?

Here it is:

“And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.”

-Alma 7:23-24

That last part, I'm pretty sure could be read as "...and then ye will always abound in good parenting."

What could be better advice for parenting than that? First off, you need to be humble and submissive. How are you going to be able to ask for and get Heavenly Father's help if you aren't humble enough to receive it? Next you are told to be patient and long-suffering. I think all parents are very aware of how much patience it takes to raise children. But it's nice to hear it and be reminded over and over...and over. Then we are told to be temperate. What does that mean? It means being steady, consistent, and in control. Vital qualities in order to build trust with your kids and also vital in disciplining them. And then there's keeping the commandments of God. There is power in doing the things God has asked of us. And that power is vital in helping us raise our kids. When we do what God asks, He is more likely to be able to bless us with what we need when we ask for it. Don't forget to ask for His help in raising your kids! He knows them better than you do. He understands exactly what they need and when they need it. He understands why they sometimes act the way they do. And I'm pretty sure he loves our kids as much as we do so, of course, he will help us help them. All we have to do is ask. Finally, we need to remember to thank him for helping us. Always remember to give thanks.

There you go. Parenting 101. All you ever needed to know in raising kids.

Thanks, Alma. You are now my parenting hero.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Lest you think we aren't doing anything to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at our house.

Behold! The wearing of the green!

The New 'Do

On Tuesday we took Caleb to a salon to get his hair cut. It wasn't that we didn't like his nice long hair. It was just getting too hard to keep from getting little knots in it. Lint would show up in his hair often and it was just hard to keep it looking nice. I knew it needed a trim and we decided it was time to take him to someone who knew about his type of hair and get their opinion on what was best for it.

Here's what Caleb's hair looked like Monday night.

A. Dorable.

But it needed to be cut. Or trimmed at least. Zack found a place to take him, booked a time, and last Tuesday we went.

Chris, Caleb's stylist, told us that Caleb's hair wasn't mature enough to shave off completely. (Not that that was what we were looking for.) It would damage the scalp. If he did that then the hair would grow back thicker, coarser and harder to manage as he got older. So he said he would take about half of the hair off.

Half. Right.

Caleb was pretty good for him and sat in the chair. Zack tried to keep his attention away from the clippers. Chris started to take a few cuts off the top. And then, well, I'm not sure if he just decided it was too hard to style a toddlers hair or what, but the clippers came out and he shaved all but a half inch of hair off.

Caleb looks happy. Chris, not so much.

When it was all done, Caleb gave Chris a thank you and then a flirty smile that he usually reserves for flight attendants and blondes. (We didn't tell Chris that. Not quite sure if he'd take it as a compliment...) He also gave Chris some "knuck", so that was good.

With short hair, Caleb didn't look older to me like I thought he would- he looked younger. Kind of like when he was 6 months old. And, I hate to admit it, but I kind of missed the fro. That night Zack and I both thought Caleb looked like a middle-aged black lady with all that short hair.

The next morning I actually woke up feeling pretty bummed about his short hair. I really missed the fro. But, after looking at it again, it started to grow on me and I realized how cute Caleb looked.

He is looking more like a little boy!

And he can wear a hat!

When we put a hat on him with a fro he resembled Bill Cosby from the '70's. (Think little puffs of hair sticking out over his ears. Nice, huh?) No puffs of hair here:

(I just put this picture on so you could be jealous that I get to kiss those cheeks. All The Time.)

All in all, I think my little guy is a cutie with

OR without a fro.

Project: Church Books

When we brought Caleb home he was 3 1/2 months old and he liked to sleep. A lot. Sundays were easy because he slept for most of our church meetings. Sacrament meeting = Nap time. It was great. When he got a little older he started staying awake more during meetings. But he'd just chill in my or Zack's lap. We'd give him a toy to look at and everything was dandy.

Then he learned to walk.

All of a sudden sitting for an hour and ten minutes straight wasn't fun anymore. (Whaaat? You don't want to sit on daddy's lap and stare at the back of people's heads for an hour? What's wrong with you!?) Caleb needed to be entertained. We brought toys for him to play with but, as a lot of you well know, those didn't keep him quiet. It's hard to keep a one year-old quietly entertained. He's ONE. You can't reason with him. You can't talk to him about how he needs to be reverent and keep his hands to himself and not yell sporadically throughout the meeting. You just can't.

One thing Caleb does like A LOT is reading books. So we brought books to quietly read with him during the meeting. While the congregation was learning about Christ and charity, repentance and forgiveness, Caleb was learning about trucks and fruit and animals. And he was quiet.

Wait a minute. Our goal in bringing him to church isn't to teach him to be quiet. and it isn't to teach him about trucks. It's to teach him to recognize the Spirit and learn about Jesus and families being forever and all that good stuff. So why not have him read books about it?

So, a few weeks ago, we all took a trip to the distribution center and bought a lot of pictures of Christ and a ton of temple pictures. Then we went over to Alpha Graphics and had them laminated and turned into some church books.

We have a Jesus Book.

Caleb doesn't really like to "read" this one. When we try to turn the pages and talk about the pictures he makes us go back to the front page and then just points to Jesus and says "Dezs". That's good enough for me.

We also have a Temple Book.

He's not as entertained with this one, but I'm hoping as he gets older and starts to recognize the various temples, he'll like it more. (This book only has 23 temples. I guess we could do a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th edition to get the rest of them in!)

We also got him a small copy of The Book of Mormon. No, he can't read it, sillies. But he does like to fan through the pages. He used to fan through the pages of the hymn book, but I'm nervous that he'll accidentally rip a page. I feel much better now that he has his own book. For Easter we think we'll get him a small copy of the Children's Songbook. That one is colorful and has pictures!

My future church book projects include making a Family Book of pictures of extended family members, a Prophet Book of all the prophets, and a book that tells the story of adopting Caleb and having him sealed to us. If anyone has any other ideas for church books, let me know.

Projects Projects Projects

I need motivation.

I need motivation to blog and I need motivation to do all the projects that are building up around me daily. So, I thought I'd combine the two. I will blog about my lack of motivation to do projects! Ha. Just kidding. Oh my goodness, I'm so funny.

What I mean is, I will blog about my projects. I'm hoping that, by doing this, it will, in some strange, twisted way, motivate me to do ...all the stuff I'm supposed to do. There is something about being accountable or having to report to other people about the things you do, right? Also, there's something to be said of an audience- however small or large it may be. For example, when I write in my journal about an event I am not nearly as detailed nor do I write as in-depth as I do when I write about it in a blog. NObody is going to read my journal. (At least not while I'm alive) ANYbody could read my blog.

I'm warning you now, that some of these "projects" might not fit under the traditional umbrella of things we like to call projects. For instance, I might write about the project of cleaning my floor. Or making dinner. Or cleaning up throw up. Or entertaining an 18 month old. (Okay, maybe that last one could be considered a legitimate project.)

Hopefully this will make me write more blogs, do more to make my home better, and maybe I'll enjoy doing my projects more.

Family Night Dance Party

Tonight, after a fine family night (where we learned about obeying your parents), Caleb treated us to a dance party. He danced. We partied.

My Favorite Things

It's almost midnight. Zack is on a campout. Yes, that's right. A campout. It's February. It's freezing AND windy outside. And he's on a campout. But it's the Klondike Derby, so it's worth it, right? ...right?

When Zack's gone I usually end up sitting on my bed with the TV on while I surf the internets watching shows or reading about things that make me cry late at night. Tonight it was the Scrubs episode where Dr. Cox's brother-in-law dies of Leukemia. I hate cancer. In the episode they play this song, which I think is kind of cool. Go ahead, listen to it, think of someone you love who has died, and then cry with me. Go on.

Okay, now that we have that over with....

My main reason for posting tonight is because, well, I'm awake and I don't feel like sleeping right now, and because I wanted to show you pictures of some of my most favorite people in the whole world. In no particular theme or order...

Here's Noah looking pensive.

Now here he is looking how he usually looks: worried and/or frightened.

And here is looking absolutely adorable. How can you not kiss that face? How?!

Lest you think Noah is the only cute one at our house, here's Caleb helping Dad with a project. Yes, it was early morning. And yes, his hair is awesome.

This is a face Caleb has been doing a lot lately.

Now back to Noah! This is a face that he does most of the time. Doesn't he look so cuddly?

Here are my boys sporting the two teams we like to cheer for in this house.

Does this one really need any caption besides "Ahhh! He's killing me with his cuteness!"

Caleb likes sledding!

A totem pole of fun! Yes, Caleb is just wearing socks, Yes, Noah is asleep and No, they didn't go down the hill as a totem pole.

Caleb and Dad making Stromboli.

Life is good.