Memorial Day 2020

This year for Memorial Day, we had a small, quarantine style get together with some of Dave's family.  It felt so nice to do something somewhat normal though.  Nothing like a BBQ and time with family.

Will and his cousin Clara do everything together.  They are ten months apart and they love each other so much.

Ben also loved getting attention from his cousins.  Trevor is four months younger than him so I am sure they are going to get into all sorts of mischief together.  Ben loves the attention from his older cousins too.

Everybody loved the teeter totter.  Ben's face pretty much sums it up.  I loved this little moment together as a family.  Holidays definitely mean family time for us.  Any reason to get together and play is what we are all about!

Easter 2020

I love holiday traditions.  They just make the holidays so special.  Every year sometime during the week before Easter, we always make my families Easter surprise cookies.  Each cookie has two jelly beans in the middle (that is the surprise)!  The boys have so much fun making them, and then dipping them in the glaze and decorating them with sprinkles.  This is something I did each year when I was growing up and I have loved sharing this tradition with them.

The day before Easter we always dye our Easter eggs.  Will is getting better and better at it, and Ben just loves trying to do whatever Will is doing.  We also usually go on an Easter Egg hunt or two with family the day before Easter, but with all of the crazy COVID stuff going on this year we weren't able to do that.  Hopefully next year!

The boys were so excited to come down and see their Easter baskets Easter morning.  This year they got wind up toys, Easter candy, stuffed animal bunnies, and lots of fun bath stuff.

That afternoon we had an Easter egg hunt in our backyard.  This was Ben's first year participating in an Easter egg hunt, and he was a big fan!

These cuties looked so handsome all dressed up for Easter even though we had church at home.  We are truly blessed to have them.  I'm so grateful for our Savior and all of the blessings He has given me in my life.  Happy Easter!  

St. Patrick's Day 2020

We had so much fun with St. Patrick's Day this year.  Our leprechaun, Charmy McGold, caused all kinds of mischief.

Charmy left footprints on our counter, but somehow escaped our leprechaun trap.  He turned our milk green,

he peed in our toilet,

he shrunk the hat that Will made for him out of a Styrofoam cup,

and he left a pot of gold for each of the boys at the end of our rainbow.

Will had so much fun running around looking for everything Charmy did.  Ben was just super excited to have a pot of gold.  I love holidays so much with these two.  My favorite part was Will's face when he saw that the leprechaun had shrunk the hat he made for him.  Oh the magic of childhood.   

Will's Brooke

We had such a fun, special day meeting Will's birth mother, Brooke, for lunch.  He was so excited to see her.  He is finally to an age where he understands who she is and she is so special to him.  I love to watch them interact.  It is so fun to see all of the things he got from her, like his love of giraffes and space documentaries.

We went to one of our favorite spots, Leatherby's.  They have the best ice cream so of course we couldn't leave with our a bowl.  Will definitely enjoyed his play-doh ice cream.

We are beyond lucky that our boys have such wonderful birth families and that we are able to continue to have them in our lives.  I can't imagine raising our boys without them in our lives.

Christmas 2019

On Christmas Eve we always decorate cookies to leave out for Santa.  Will loves making sure Santa gets cookies and he is very particular about which ones we leave out for Santa.  I'm just going to enjoy these few years while he still believes.

The calm before the storm ha ha.  I love getting everything set up for Christmas morning.  I remember how magical it was to come down on Christmas morning and see the presents and the stockings.  I love doing this for my boys.  I have to say that this Christmas was actually one of my favorites (even though Will woke us up at 2:30 in the morning and ended up having to sleep in our bed because he was too excited...)

The boys were SO excited about everything and their smiles were so amazing.  Will got the walking and talking robot and dinosaur he wanted and Ben got a bounce and spin puppy from Santa.  They were on cloud nine.

They bought presents for each other and they helped each other open them.  It was so sweet to see their excitement over what they had gotten each other.  We always have them get each other something so they can hopefully learn Christmas is about giving too and not just getting.

Will's favorite gift though, was from Dave and I.  He was completely enthralled with his marble run.

Ben's favorites?  His puppy and books.  He sleeps with puppy every night and he loves to be read to.

We were even lucky enough to have a snow storm, so after our traditional Christmas breakfast of german pancakes, Will and Dave headed out to build a couple snowmen.  We then spent the remainder of the day with Dave's family having Christmas dinner and opening gifts.

These two boys are my whole world.  They make every day, not just holidays, more special.  They are my greatest gifts.

Christmas Party

This year I have been doing joy school with some of my friends in our neighborhood and their kids.  I just so happened that I got to teach the letter N the week before Christmas, so we had a Christmas party.  We did N is for Nativity and the kids had so much fun dressing up and acting out the Nativity.  (All of our friends in joy school are Christian and were totally fine with this).

Then we made snowflakes out of Popsicle sticks.  The kids were so into what they were doing and did such a great job.

Last, we made Christmas trees out of ice cream cones and decorated them with candy.  The kids got so creative and enjoyed eating candy along the way.  Joy school has been so much fun and Will has learned so much, we really have the best neighbors ever.  So glad for all of the fun these kids get to have with each other!

Christmas Traditions

We kept up our yearly tradition of making a gingerbread house.  The older Will gets the better they look!  We also always make sure we drive through the lights at the Spanish Oaks park.  This year there was a deer wandering around so Will thought he saw an actual reindeer.  The holidays really are so much better with our boys.  The amount of joy they bring is immeasurable!

We also had to go and visit Santa of course.  Will is usually the most outgoing little guy I know.  He literally asks strangers at the grocery store to come play at our house, but he was so in awe of Santa that he really didn't say too much.  I was floored.  At least he wasn't scared of Santa though.  This was Ben's first year meeting Santa.  I didn't know what to expect, but I'm glad he didn't cry.  He just sat there looking at us like, why am I doing this?

After meeting Santa, Will and his cousin Clara made a craft and we all went out to dinner.  Love our family and our Christmas traditions!

Will's Birthday 2019

This year Will wanted a dragon and knights themed birthday.  I literally had nightmares about this cake, but thankfully it turned out fine.

The day before Will's birthday we had family over to celebrate with us.  

After cake and ice cream he opened up his presents.  It was so nice to have grandparents and aunts and uncles all there to help us celebrate this amazing little boy. 

The next day was Will's actual birthday.  He requested that we go rock climbing for his birthday, so that is what we did.  It was his first time rock climbing, but he did incredible.  There is no fear in this little boy.  Ben got in on the fun too.  He felt like a big boy doing what Will was doing.

After dinner that night he opened his presents from us.  I think he was pretty excited about his remote control car.  We had such a fun day and I love that we were able to do exactly what he wanted to do.  Can't get enough of his smile.

A few days later we had a birthday party with some of his friends.  They were all so happy to be there, it was adorable.  Since he wanted his party to have a knights and dragons theme, I of course had to make him a castle to play in!

We also played pin the flame on the dragon,

made balloon swords, went on a quest,

and slayed a dragon! 

We had cupcakes, and then

Will opened presents.  The kids were all so excited to give him their presents, it was the most adorable thing ever.  We are so lucky to live in such a wonderful neighborhood where we have so many friends.  Will loved his party.  I know he had so much fun with his friends and felt so special.  I hope he always feels that way.  I love trying to make their childhood as magical as possible.  Their joy is most definitely what brings us joy.