Christmas 2013

This year was only the second year to ever stay home for Christmas. I was a little nervous that I was going to be sad not being with our families, but it turned out better than I expected. It was nice to not have to lug our presents across the country and we actually didn't get sick. It seems like every time we travel, we all get deathly ill.

The kids didn't wake up until 9:30 on Christmas morning! Leo was cranky and spotted his iPhone before we could hide it, so the picture on the stairs didn't turn out great.  

Once we got downstairs, I implemented a new rule. The kids could open a present every 10 minutes. That way they would have time to look at the toy they had just opened. I thought it worked out great. 

Leo was still a little confused at how to open presents. Lilly made sure to help him out. :)

Lilly gave some good reactions when she opened her gifts. She also fake passed out multiple times.

Lilly's favorite part of Christmas is gift giving. A few weeks before Christmas, I let her buy whatever she wants for every family member. She loves it. Its sweet to see the thought that she puts into each gift. She knows her daddy doesn't leave the house without chap stick so she bought him a years supply.

We had a wonderful day playing with toys and face timing family members. We finished it off with some gingerbread house making.

23 Months

1- He is starting to enjoy nursery a little. He now only cries at the beginning and the end and does great in the middle.
2- He LOVES suckers. If he sees one, his life is over until he gets it.
3- He decided that he like playing in big piles of freshly raked leaves, as opposed to last year.
4- He is great at giving kisses. His sticks his lips out really far and says, "oooo" until you give him a kiss. Sometimes while he is playing with his toys, he will stop what he is doing and run and give me a kiss and then go back to playing with his toys. He is the sweetest little mama's boy.
5- He really misses his sister now that she is back in school. When he sees her getting off the bus, he goes crazy. He laughs, screams, and gives her a great big hug.
6- Him and Lilly play so well together now that he is a little bit older. She can always make him laugh the hardest.

22 Months

1- Whenever Leo sees a dog he makes a weird "eeeeheehee" sound. Whenever he makes it, you know he's seen a dog.
2- He has grown so attached to his stuffed brown puppy. He likes to stuff him in his neck when hes trying to fall asleep.
3- He loves to line up his cars. He will take every car, truck, or train that he owns and line them up in the windowsill. Then when he has done that, he will take them one by one and line them up in another windowsill.
4-  He has an obsession with his iPhone. He loves to watch his kids movies and flip through the home movies we have made. Its amazing how he knows how to get to his favorites and play them without my help!
5- He finally learned how to hold his own bottle!

21 Months

1- Leo is pretty dramatic. If he wants something and doesnt get it, he throw a huge fit. Whenever he is in the bathtub, he loves playing in the water as it comes out of the faucet. But if you turn off the water before he's ready, he flips out and screams like hes dying.
2- Leo loves watching Lilly do gymnastics around the house. He began trying to copy her and can now do really great somersaults.
3- When Leo is in his crib he loves to stand at the edge of his mattress and free fall right onto his stomach. He does this over and over for hours.
4- He usually takes really great naps. He sleeps for around 3-4 hours.
5- We have been having a hard time getting him to eat his vegetables. He never had a problem when he was younger and everything was pureed. We have started pureeing them again and hiding things in his green smoothies.
6- He goes crazy for his green smoothies. Whenever he sees us making one, he freaks out until that straw is in his mouth.
7- He loves any kind of fruit.

20 Months

1- Leo jabbers all day long. He talks to you like he's having a real conversation except you have no idea what he's saying. Its adorable.
2- Whenever Leo goes into a room he turns around and shuts the door and then locks it. He frequently does this in the downstairs bathroom and I have to rescue him.
3- When you ask him what a kitty says, he will give a little high pitched squeal. It sounds nothing like a kitty.
4- When I talk to him he says "ya" after everything that I say.
5- He can sign "more" when he wants more of something. I have no idea where he learned it since I never taught it to him.
6- When something is all gone, he raises his right arm and says, "gone".
7- He still drinks a bottle and refuses to hold it himself.
8- He loves cars, trucks, trains, and anything else that has wheels. He makes a car sound whenever he sees or hears one.
9- He loves to hit Lilly. If Lilly gets anywhere close to his face, he smacks her. We are working on teaching him to be nice and gentle.
10- He really hates getting his picture taken.

Leo is 2!!

He is here because they left us. I have so many emotions about Leo turning two. We worked SO hard to get this little guy here. He is a miracle in so many ways. If his brothers had lived, he never would have joined our family. It makes losing our twins feel not so horrible, because we have Leo.

He loved his train cake with a small picture of him in the front.

But his favorite part of his birthday was the train table he got. He ripped off that wrapping paper and he immediately got to work playing. He didnt even look up for a good hour.

We sure love this sweet little boy and are so glad that he joined our family!

Halloween 2013

I love being able to coordinate these two's Halloween costumes! Last year we did Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. This year we have a pirate and her parrot.

We attended our neighborhood Halloween parade and Leo won 3rd place and Lilly won 2nd place for best Halloween costumes. We also attended our church Halloween carnival. They had a fun dinner, tons of carnival games, and a trunk or treat. Then on Halloween night we went trick or treating with two other families from our ward. We had SO much candy by the end of Halloween!

We also let Lilly carve her very own pumpkin. She was so excited and only needed a little help from daddy.