The Twins Got Bunk Beds

Yesterday we bought bunk beds for the twins at Costco. We put them together today and the twins were so excited to be sleeping in them tonight. We had been talking for a while about getting them and they had already decided between the two of them that Jared would have the top bunk and Riley the bottom one. They had fun getting their new beds all set up with their blankets and animals and assorted other stuff. I was a bit worried they might have trouble falling asleep in them, since it was something new. But, they went right to sleep.

Here’s Jared all tucked into his bunk.

And Riley all tucked into his.

They both wanted me to take pictures of them on the ladder.


Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas! It was even more special this year because the kids were able to share the day with both sets of their grandparents, since my parents were visiting from El Paso. Dan’s sister Theresa and her husband Rob were also in town this year. The day started off at the break of dawn. I heard the kids up, but they knew not to go downstairs till Dan and I were up and gave them permission to go down. While still in bed, I overheard the twins talking. They had their flashlights out and were shining them at the stockings to get a peak at what might be in them. Jared said to Riley, “I think Daddy got some books in his stocking.” Riley replied, “I think Santa gave Daddy coal.” Jared then said, “Santa wouldn’t give Daddy coal!” And Riley came back with, “I think he would because Daddy yells at us.” They went back and forth for several more minutes discussing whether or not Santa gave Daddy coal. It was hilarous! For the record, Santa did not give Daddy coal in his stocking.

Once we were all up, we let the kids go down and see what Santa left them and open their stockings. Here’s pictures of the kids with their stockings.






Here’s all the kids with their presents from Santa.

Talia got an iPod Nano.

Kayli got a camera.

Aidan got Star Wars Legos stuff and the Clone Wars DVD.

Jared and Riley got Wii lightsabers, the Clone Wars Wii game and the Star Wars The Force Wii game.

Falyn got a princess bike.

Santa also brought Dan and Cindy the Guitar Hero Band Kit for the Wii.

After getting all the stuff from Santa, we had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of Coffee Cake. We then opened all our presents. We tried taking turns, but with so many people, it gets out of hand pretty quickly. After the presents were all opened, everyone was kept busy playing with all their new stuff.

Here’s a video of some of the present opening action.

After Falyn woke up from her nap, we went over to Dan’s parents house for dinner and more presents. There was quite the crowd there! Let’s see, my family; my parents; Pam, Eric, Chantel and Lawrence; Theresa and Rob; Samanth and Dan’s parents. That makes it 19 people in all. Here’s an assortment of pictures from tonight.






Christmas Eve 2008

After a busy evening, everyone is all tucked in their beds sound asleep dreaming about tomorrow morning. We started off our Christmas Eve traditions after dinner with the kids sprinkling reindeer food outside for Santa’s Reindeer. Then we had a fire and let the kids open one present. They each got a new set of jammies, which they all loved. The boys especially liked theirs because they light up. After opening their presents, the kids wrote letters to Santa which they put in the fire. Did you know that letters burned in fires on Christmas Eve go directly to Santa? After that Talia read “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. Dan then read the Christmas story from the Bible. We finished up the evening with Dan playing Christmas carols on his guitar and the rest of us singing. We periodically checked in with Norad tracks Santa to see how close Santa was getting to us. Once the kids saw he was in Flordia, they quickly headed off to bed. They did not want to be awake when Santa arrived in town and have him skip our house!

Making Christmas Cookies

Today we make Christmas cookies. We made both Gingerbread and Sugar cookies and decorated them with buttercream frosting and sprinkles. The kids love doing this and Samantha even stopped by briefly to help. Here’s some more pictures of the fun.







Poor Little Sick Falyn

Falyn woke up this morning at 5:30 am throwing-up. She has been throwing-up all day. She finally stopped around 7:00 pm and was able to fall asleep. Poor thing hasn’t eaten all day and had only a bit of water to drink. I hope she is better tomorrow.

Edited to add: She is all better today! (12/21/08)

Twins Kindergarten Christmas Party

Jared and Riley’s kindergarten class had their Christmas party this morning. It was a fun party with crafts, snacks and even a visit from Santa. Here’s some pictures: (Jared has on a blue jacket and Riley a red one.)








School Christmas Musical

The kids school held it’s annual Christmas Musical today. All the classes in grades 1-6 sing two songs. The kids always have fun during this event and the parents and grandparents always enjoy watching it. Here’s a vide of Kayli and Aidan’s classes.

Heater On Day 2008

This morning we finally had to turn on the heater. It has been getting down in the 40’s at night and staying in the 50’s during the day for the last few days. The house had been warm enough until last night, when it started dropping below 65 degrees. It looks to remain cold with rain off and on for the next week or so.

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring…

It rained most of the day today, pouring very hard during the morning. Dan was nice enough to take the kids to school for me this morning so I wouldn’t have to drag Falyn out in the rain. It was raining so hard and the street was getting so flooded, that I had to go take pictures of it. These pictures were taken from inside my garage.




When I picked the kids up from school, Kayli told me that during math it was raining really hard (probably the same time I was taking those pictures) that everyone was staring out the window and not paying any attention. Her teacher noticed everyone was watching the rain and not the math lesson. She told them that since they rarely get to see it rain like that they could go to the windows and watch until computer time. (Which was for about 10 minutes.)

Riley Lost His First Tooth!

Riley lost his first tooth today. He is so excited to have finally lost a tooth like his twin and keeps showing it to everyone. It was the bottom left tooth, which is the opposite of the one that Jared lost first. It is interesting to note that their baby tooth came in on opposite sides as well, with Jared getting his first bottom tooth on the right side and Riley getting his first one on the left side. Riley lost his tooth at school. It has been very loose for several days, but he did’t want us to pull it out and was hoping it would come out at school. He got his wish. He said he started to wiggle it and it came right out. They put it in a ziplock back with his name on it and stapled it to his folder so it wouldn’t get lost. He wasted no time in telling me that it fell out, shouting it out to me the minute he saw me at pick-up. He put it under his pillow tonight and is hoping to find a bright shiny coin under his pillow in the morning.

Here’s some pictures: