Christmas 2010...

Here goes my last post for 2010.

So many times this past year I saw how lives can be changed in an instant, so in the past months I made a conscious effort to never take anything for granted & I found myself counting my blessings constantly throughout this whole holiday season.

So many things to be thankful for!
We had a great Christmas this year. It is so so fun with Ashton and Gunnar! I just love the magic of it and the excitement in the air all through December.
Christmas Eve we drove up to Hardware Ranch with our good friends the Hansons, then went out for a late lunch at Cafe Sabor before it was time to go home and get ready for Mass. Gunnar really should have had a nap that afternoon...he struggled through church (not happily!) After we got home we opened up our Christmas jammies and ornaments...

(have I ever mentioned that they LOVE pajamas?..ha!)Ashton and Gunnar got these pillows I made for them...Then we got our cookies ready to put out for Santa... (we had decorated them the day before with Aurora and her kids) & Ashton wrote him a note to go with them :) I think this was the first night all year that he begged to go to bed! So off to bed it was...

Christmas morning started early (like all mornings do at our house!) Gunnar was up by 6:30, then Ashton followed him not much later at 7:00. We made them wait a few minutes at the top of the stairs while we got the cameras ready...

(poor Ashton had horrible eczema on his face for weeks :(...it's finally cleared up now)...then they took off to see if Santa had come! Oh the excitement when Ashton saw that Santa had indeed come and DID bring us a Wii! Gunnar on the other hand was excited that Santa hadn't quite eaten all of the cookies we left out...he saved one for him! Really I think he could have just brought Gunnar chocolate and he'd have been happy!

He loved this air hockey table too :)

So they opened their Santa stuff and emptied their stockings, then we had our cinnamon rolls and played the wii while we waited for Grandma and Grandpa Harry and Aunt Kelli and Uncle Jordan to arrive.

After they showed up it was present time again. Gunnar pretty much had this reaction to every present he opened... I love it!

This was a pretty good reaction out of Ashton too...He took breaks from the wii to open the rest of his presents, but he pretty much spent the whole day playing. All he has talked about for 6-8 months is how bad he wanted a wii! So for those first couple days he played and played!

I think I liked this "Chatters" Cookie Monster of Gunnar's as much as or more than he did! He talks and he's hilarious!

Speaking of funny...Lars and I both got eachother popcorn poppers! I actually got one to give to him from the boys and he got one to give as a family gift. Oh well...we took one back!

After gifts we got our Christmas dinner ready and ate, then watched our traditional "Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas". This was the first year in a REALLY long time that my sister, brother and I had been together on Christmas. It was a fun day!

I can't believe it's already come and gone again.

Happy New Year!

Aggie Game...

After our late night skiing on Monday night we got offered some tickets to the Aggie game on Tuesday night from my good friend Ann who happens to have really great seats right behind the opposing team's bench and an AWESOME parking pass right in front of the doors. So we gladly accepted and planned on taking the boys. Well I think after being gone really for the past 4 days in a row starting with ice-fishing, they just wanted to stay home. So I proceeded to bribe them with everything I could think of, then when that didn't work, I tried calling 3 different girls to come babysit...with no luck. We really didn't want to give up these tickets and the game was going to start in less than an hour, so finally after begging and pleading with them to go (but not wanting to just make them go and have it be miserable for all of us) I pulled out my final bribe. I told them they could wear their pajamas. That was the ticket...they said "okay" and were ready to go in 5 minutes. I really didn't care what they were wearing at that point and to be honest if it came down to it I may have worn my pajamas with them to get them to go!

Once we got there and stocked them up with popcorn, they had a blast. They think the mascot Big Blue is the greatest and were so excited when after Gunnar was waving at him, he came over and gave them hi-5's and knuckles! I love it when Ann offers us these seats!

We didn't stay for the whole game because the Aggie's were way ahead, but we made it till about 9:45. It was fun!

Oh and some kids from Airbound Gymnastics performed at half time and watching them got Ashton wanting to join again...yay!

Ashton's first time skiing!

Last Monday night Lars' work had their company ski night up at Beaver Mountain, so we decided to go and get Asthon on a pair of skis for the first time. Lars and I hadn't been in about 5 years! Not since our 6 year anniversary when I hurt my tailbone bad falling as I got off the ski lift...

We borrowed some skis from my friend Aurora's little boy and they fit Ashton perfectly. Just like with anything new he does he got really nervous earlier in the day and as we were driving up. After school he looked up at the mountains and said "See all those trees Mommy? I don't think I want to go skiing after all, I might crash into one and crack my head." It's interesting to try to imagine what a kid is thinking of when they're getting ready to try something they've never done before. When we got there he kept asking lots of questions and getting really anxious, but we had signed him up for a lesson & Lars went along with him while Gunnar and I waiting in the lodge for awhile. Ashton did great and by the time Gunnar and I got back outside we went down to where they were skiing by the magic carpet and he was loving it! He fell quite a bit at first but caught on quick. So then I grabbed my skis... ...and went with him for a bit while Lars played with Gunnar and took him up the magic carpet a few times then took him back to the lodge. He was happy to just run and around and play in the snow...Oh and practice for when he gets his turn in a couple years...

funny kid!

When it got time to go we had to almost drag Ashton away he loved it so much and he's been begging for skis of his own and asking when we get to go again. Maybe we'll take him a couple more times this season...we'll see. I'm just glad he tried it and had fun!

2010 Larsen/Hansen ice fishing trip...

Last Saturday we went on our 2nd annual Larsen/Hansen December ice fishing trip. As I looked back at pictures I noticed it was the exact same day (Dec. 18) that we went last year!

Anyway we had an awesome day again. The weather wasn't great, but once we got there and got our tents set up, holes drilled, & heaters going...we were fine. After catching one fish right as I walked into our tent, it got pretty slow, so Lars and Nate went out a little further and dug some more holes and immediately started catching more fish. So we all went out. It was cold and windy, but the boys didn't care. They played and played in the snow. At one point Lars had taken Gunnar back to the tent to warm up so I stayed out by the holes and got a bite on the pole in one, so I hooked it and reeled it up, then looked over and the other pole was getting a bite, so I hurried and grabbed it and reeled it up! I don't think Lars believed me after he yelled out "Did you get one?" and I replied "No I got two!!" This was the bigger of the two...A few minutes later Ashton caught this one...

Then Lars reeled this one in for Gunnar...Anyway it was a good time!

Mark your calendars for Dec. 18th next year guys!

Just Journaling...

It's been awhile since I just wrote down some everyday stuff that I don't want to forget...

I'll start with Ashton's latest. A few days ago I was trying to get him to get dressed and he didn't want to, so he got mad at me and went and grabbed his little notebook and put Gunnar and me on the "NOTTEEi list". I love it!

Classic Ashton...he cracks me up! I love how he spelled it and put the little lines on top of his e's like he's been learning to do in school.

Cute :)

He is learning so much at school right now and he was so cute in his little Christmas program on Friday. I still need to get the pictures off my camera...

After that first big snow we had lots of days of playing outside in it. He and his friends had a blast on the little sledding hill in our backyard.

I love this picture of these 3. Ashton & his best buddies since he was tiny...Just a picture I like of him...

Moving on to Gunnar.

Oh Gunnar.
He is soooo 2 and 1/2! Such a little stinker! Don't ask about potty training...

He is so stubborn!! And such a little smartie pants.

One morning he was sitting in the living room throwing his (dry) frosted mini wheats all over the floor, so I said "Please don't do that Gunnar." To which he replied "Then just don't watch me Mommy."!

One day I walked past our front door and windows and saw this...(He wanted his little friends to be able to look out.)

Getting him dressed or brushing his teeth is a wrestling match. He is so strong!

He still gets up way too early...lots of days at 5:30! I mean really...who gets up that early? About half the time I just go lay on the couch and turn a show on for him. Some days I am slightly thankful he gets me up that early because I get out for a walk/run before Ashton ever gets up and before Lars goes to work. One day this week we even went grocery shopping at 6:30 am!

There is no getting him to go back to sleep...it's like he gets his 8 or so hours and is done. I could use 11...so it is hard! Oh well...he's so worth it...and he makes up for it with his 2 1/2 -3 hour naps. I usually have to wake him up when it's time to go get Ashton...and he is NOT happy to have to get up and go out in the cold. Can't blame him.

I love how he still can't say his k's or c's...they're t's and his G's are still D's. I gave him a sucker the other day and it was "totton tandy" And he is still Dunnar :) He talks a lot these days about Twissmas & Twesents, and as he's joking about something says "just tiddin'." Oh and we can't forget "Tootie Monster" He loves him lately! That's the only book he wants to read and he loves it when I talk in my cookie monster voice. (sorry it's just for him...so don't ask)

He and Ashton have been playing pretty good together lately. A lot of days Ashton would rather stay home and play with him than go to a friends. I love to see that! They love to turn on music LOUD and dance. Their favorite lately is a Christmas song called "Aye, aye, aye it's Christmas" By Enrique Iglesias. I love it when they laugh together.

We swear that Gunnar is going to be a gymnast...his little body is always moving around, doing summersaults, standing on his head. And he can bend his back so far back that he can touch his head to his toes. He's always done that. I think I'll definitely put him in gymanstics when he's 3.

We're trying to think of something to put Ashton in...but everything we suggest he shoots down. I think something musical will be our next choice.

Oh another comment of Ashton's I don't want to forget. One day he said "Wait... how come time flies if the earth spins really, really slowly?"

Can't believe it's only 6 days till Christmas...it will be so fun this year. These boys are so excited they can hardly stand it! Ashton made this cute tree for a little school project...He loves stuff like this.

In other news...Lars and I went to an Aggie game last week with some friends. As I've probably said before I just really can't concentrate on the games and it was a pretty boring one anyway, so Shelly and I just talked the whole time (which is really why I wanted to go because she and I never get a chance to just sit down and talk) So we hardly noticed when some guy came up and asked us if we were going to be sitting in our seats for the whole game. We said yes and went on with our conversation. Then as it gets to almost the end of the game Shelly's husband notices Big Blue standing right next to us with a camera following him and he says "Oh I bet one of you is sitting in the hot seat and you're gonna be on the big screen!" So sure enough a few minutes later Big Blue comes up to us and first gives Shelly a prize, then realizes it's actually me who was sitting the hot seat for the game! So she passes me the t-shirt and a certificate for 3 months membership to the Sports Academy! All while we're up on the Jumbo Tron! It was fun! Of course I'm not going to drive across town to go to the Sports Academy...I wish it was on our end of town! But my sister gladly claimed it when we got home. It was still fun to be picked to win!

Oh and to clarify... I love my new organized laundry room, but this is my real happy place :)