Christmas Eve

Today is the day! We left Prosper to go to Nana's house for four days! Field trip! The boys were super cute this morning just playing and being sweet to each other. Not a super common occurrence so I decided to memorialize it, haha! Since Tammy went to Lanae's house and we didn't want to leave Colton all by himself, we persuaded him with promises of yummy food and fun company to come with us to Nana's house. When he got home from work, he graciously helped load the kids and presents into the car and we headed out! Hooray!

 

Val made awesome snickerdoodle cookies for Santa this year and Amy helped Derek decorate them. She pulled out little jars of sprinkles and Derek went nuts. We all joked that Santa was going to get "diabeetus" and nobody was willing to eat them. Eventually, I stepped up and took one for the team, haha! We adults had a fun time staying up late watching The Holiday, cuddling Santa's Littlest Helper (Clara), and setting up the train table Mitchell and I got as a sibling gift for the boys (and Clara). Mitchell had to work all day today and didn't get home til almost midnight. Colton again graciously offered to set up the train table and he and Mitchell had fun setting up the train tracks and all the trains and cars. Derek woke up to go potty at one point and I had to dash up the stairs to keep him from coming downstairs. I wasn't quite quick enough to herd him back to his room after though and he stood at the top of the stairs and yelled, "Mom! Look! Presents!" Thankfully, he went back to bed without much fuss and the rest of us went to bed soon after.

 

Brothers!



Bryce likes to carry around Derek's little Book of Mormon



Cookies for Santa!



Cookies and Reindeer Food and a little note. Sweet. :)



Derek and Aunt Amy



Aunt Val, Bryce and Derek



Uncle Colton, Derek, Aunt Val and Bryce

 

Three Generations!



Uncle Colton setting up the tracks



Aunt Amy loved holding Clara



The beautiful Christmas tree all set for the kids to come down in the morning

Bedtime Cuties and Four Week Old Clara

Aren't these kids cute?! My mom found matching footed pajamas for the boys while they were staying with her during Clara's birth. Luckily, Clara had a footed pajama outfit that fits her, so we did an impromptu photo shoot right before bed. We pulled out Clara's Christmas book, Twelve Dancing Princesses, to read before bedtime. Bryce particularly loved all the beautiful illustrations. He refused to sit with us to read the second book, Gruffalo, preferring instead to sit and flip through Twelve Dancing Princesses. Clara was happy to sit and listen to the books and Derek always asks for me to reread any book at least twice. He really likes the Gruffalo book right now though. I think we could sit and read that for an hour before he'd get bored, haha! Clara is two weeks old today! She was 7 lbs, ll oz at her two week check up so I'm going to guess she's over 8 lbs now. I can definitely tell she's starting to gain weight and she's still eating well and sleeping at least four hours in a stretch. Thank Heaven for that because nobody has overlapping naps right now.

 Sweet little pink spot among all the green. Bryce still doesn't like the flash, haha!

 

 Brothers!

 

 Flipping through the Gruffalo book again. I'm so glad he's getting more and more into reading!

 

 Bryce didn't care that the pictures were upside down. He likes to flip pages all by himself.

 

 Four Weeks Old!

 

Pretty in Pink

Bryce's "Dress"

We were all rushing to get to church on time today. I grabbed a pair of overalls for Bryce and squeezed his chunky thighs into them. The snaps held fine til we sat down in sacrament meeting and then they all popped. No amount of trying would get those snaps to hold again, so Bryce wore his little "dress" for the rest of church. Poor kid. When we got home, I checked the size.... 12 months. Man, Chunk! Only 14 months and you've already outgrown pretty much all of your 12 month clothes. Good thing I found the 18 month clothes a few weeks ago. :)

 

This kid loves food. I totally bribed him to stay semi-still with a couple marshmallows.

 

 A better shot of the whole "dress" look

 

His "Cheese" face! Bryce is growing into such a ham!

Christmas with Aunt Mary



Derek, Bryce and Clara's Great Great Aunt Mary came into town this week and we had an early Christmas with her and the kids. It was so fun to see her again! The last time we saw Aunt Mary, Bryce was about as old as Clara is. Bryce and Derek each got a special present from Aunt Mary; a talking Percy train for Bryce (which was extremely attractive to Derek, too) and an R/C monster truck for Derek. Both boys were fascinated and it was sweet to see their excitement. Bryce is much less excitable, so he just watched politely as Aunt Mary opened the Percy train and showed him how it works. Derek on the other hand was hopping impatiently from foot to foot as Mitchell opened the R/C truck and put batteries in it. He'd run off to tell anybody about his "cool monster truck," run back to see if Mitchell was done and then run off to talk to someone else. He's such a hoot.

 

Clara got a gift from Nana - pretty bows and some rufflebutt diaper covers. Of course Aunt Amy, Aunt Val, Nana and I couldn't resist playing dress up and trying to take some staged pictures with the massive flowers and cute little dresses. Clara was a good sport for a pretty long time but every baby has her limits. She ended up in her little Christmas dress and was happy to cuddle with anyone after she was fed.

 

 It was just like a mini preview to Christmas with all the younger cousins opening presents from Aunt Mary. Paper was crackling and kids were shouting - perfect madness. I loved it!

 

 Derek is so excited about the R/C monster truck!

 

 Aunt Mary helped Bryce open the Percy train

 

Sweet brothers! Derek gave the train back to Bryce after checking it out. Way to share!

 

Derek was thrilled to have Mitchell show him how to use the R/C truck

 

Aunt Amy and Clara 

 Aunt Val was happy to cuddle Clara

 

 Cap'n Tyler Hook!

 

 I swore I'd never put massive flowers on my girls, but the aunts went into override mode. :) Still, she's looks good in lavender.

 

Look at that cute little rufflebutt!



Aunt Amy used her phone to take this picture and then edit it. How cool?!



 Love this black, white and red picture!

 

 Sweet little cuddlebug

 

Had a great time!

Just for Fun

My kids are adorable. Am I biased? Of course! I'm their mother. :) Derek loves to hold "Bebe Clara" and is usually really good about getting hand sanitizer all on his own before asking to hold her. He is such a good big brother! He's almost always the first to hear her crying after she wakes up and immediately comes to get me. He'll sit next to me while I'm feeding her and stroke her hair or bring her cars for her to play with. Bryce is becoming increasingly more interested in playing WITH Derek instead of next to him, and Derek is doing a great job of teaching Bryce how to share. If Bryce has a toy Derek wants, Derek gets a toy to trade for the one he wants. Bryce is usually a good sport and gives up the first toy for the second... if it's good enough. :) Today, the boys were playing run-around games and hit-the-balloon. I love seeing them play together. Derek always finds a way to make Bryce dissolve into giggles.

 

Kisses for Clara!

 I love this picture! Derek is always thrilled to hold Baby Clara.

 

 She still goes a little cross-eyed sometimes. :)

 

 Brother and Sister

 

 My babies!

 

 Derek is getting more and more proficient at using the camera, which means I can get some pictures with Clara! Love the accidental matching pink outfits.

 

 She's just so kissable!

 

 The run-around game. They just hold hands and run...

 

 ...til one of them falls down. Don't worry, Bryce was giggling the whole time.

 

 Bright light just highlights her fluffy hair

Chasing Grandma Around the Kitchen

These boys love their grandma!

Two Weeks Old!

I can't believe she's been here over two weeks already! Two weeks and two days, to be exact. She is such a good baby. She wakes every three or four hours to eat and has been pretty reliable for the past few nights, waking at 10:30, 2:30 and 5. It's been really nice. She loves to be cuddled and particularly loves to be swaddled when it's time to sleep. She's getting stronger and can hold her head up for a few seconds at a time. We're still not sure what color her eyes are going to be. They were very dark when she was born, but they seem to be getting lighter. In some lights, I think I can see a definite blue tint to them. Can't wait to watch her grow up! At her two week check up, she was 7 lbs 11 oz, a vast improvement over her going home weight of 6 lbs 11 oz. She is by far the easiest baby of the three to breastfeed and I love getting that time with her. Thankfully, she doesn't mind being held by her brothers, but Bryce has no interest in her beyond poking at her eyes, trying to lay on her when she's in the swing or getting her off my lap if he wants attention, haha! He'll adjust, I know, but it's kind of sad to see him so frustrated. Enjoy these sweet little pictures of Clara I snapped this morning. She watched me make lunch for the boys.

 

Almost caught her little gas smile



Love this picture! She'll get her "people eyes" soon, but she can still get caught looking at me or most often Derek. He loves to get in her face and laugh when she gets startled by his close proximity.



Just chilling, watching the world go by

Gamm and Papa Meet Clara

Gamm and Papa braved the ice leftover from the storm last weekend to come see Clara today. They even brought chicken pasta and a yummy berry cobbler. Derek dove into the cobbler almost immediately and Bryce followed suit when he saw Derek eating, lol. Never one to be left out. Clara was very cute and it was nice to catch up with my grandparents. I'm glad they finally got to meet Clara!

 

 Bryce was showing off his climbing tricks

 

 Bryce and Papa

 

 Gamm and Clara

 

Sweet girl!

 

 Derek gobbled the cobbler

 

 Kind of scary when Bryce says "Cheese" with berries on his face, haha!