Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas!

We hope that whatever your plans are for the remainder of this holiday season that you fully enjoy it and do so safely!

Happy Holidays!!

*I have to put a plug in for my sister in law who did our card...she is amazing!! Check out her etsy shop, Cards Etcetera, for more adorable cards!*

Holiday Fun

We have had so much fun this holiday season! Unfortunately, being the awesome mother that I am, I have forgotten the camera for ALL the fun activities, so all we have are a few cell phone photos.

Brychan and Kehlton had their first visit with santa at our ward Christmas party a couple of weeks ago. Brychan was a little shy at first, but quickly warmed up and told Santa that he wanted "presents and toys" for Christmas. Is it too much to hope that those requests from Santa always be so vague? Kehlton didn't care for Santa at all.

At David's office, they did a morning of cookie decorating for all the realtor's children. Brychan had fun decorating (and eating!) his cookies. He also made a little foam gingerbread girl and drank a lot of hot chocolate.
This weekend, Ashley and I did a ton of baking and candy making. I ran out to get some lunch, and while I was gone, the boys quickly ganged up on Lala! You can see Kehlton eyeing the goods...
And Brychan screaming at Kehlton "NO COOKIES!!!!". This, of course, came after he had already stolen one himself.
We have enjoyed driving around looking at all the Christmas lights (our neighborhood goes ALL OUT each year), watching Christmas movies, drinking lots of hot chocolate and singing Jingle Bells a gazillion times (it's Brychan's favorite!!). Yesterday we had fun delivering goodies to all our friends in the area, and tomorrow we have one more cookie decorating party to go to before we get ready to head up to Idaho for a week.

We hope all of you have had just as much fun this holiday season!

Bubble Bath

Who needs soap and water when you have a box full of peanuts?

Children's Museum

As a continuation of Kehlton's birthday celebration, we went to the Children's Museum of Phoenix today. We had SO much fun!! I cannot wait until I get my car back and can make a year's membership worth the money. Sorry there's so many photos, but we just had so much fun! Brychan called this giant tub with wings an eagle. And he didn't care for it much, either.

Playing at a light table

Riding bikes at the "trike wash"

Painting the castle in the art room

Exploring with all our senses!

Crawling through tents in the building room

And tasting the goods at the market

Happy Birthday Boy

My baby turned one yesterday!! How can that be?!?

A few recaps of his day yesterday and then a little bit about why I L-O-V-E this little one so much!

His cake. It taught me many things in the hours that I spent on it. First and foremost that I really don't have the patience for such things, and secondly that as much fun as I think they look, Gingerbread Houses are NOT for me. I just can't. But, both boys loved the cake, so I guess that's what matters, right?

Brychan stared at Kehlton's mountain of gifts piling up over the last couple of days, repeating "It's a party, Momma - a party!!". He did really good and only tore into one present beforehand. He was even pretty good about standing back and letting Kehlton do most of the opening. Today, however, is a different story. The toys may as well all be Brychan's, because he is not up for sharing them quite yet! :)

This little baby dinosaur took the cake. Kehlton really does love all his toys and has been playing with them as much as big brother will let him, but he absolutely adores this little dino. He's been growling at/with it and kissing it all afternoon.

Enjoying his cake!

Getting down to business. At one point, I looked over and he had the entire plate up to his face licking it clean. This boy definitely has a sweet tooth the same size as his daddy's!

Kehlton is such a sweet, happy baby! I love that he is so quick to laugh. And laugh. And laugh some more! It doesn't take much and he is all giggles. I also love that he and his brother love each other so much. There are many times when Brychan is just in such a cruddy mood, and the only person that can get him to snap out of it is Kehlton. Kehlton will get his brother smiling and laughing again when nothing else can.

I've said it a million times - I am positive that Kehlton will be my first trip to the ER with one of the kids. He's a daredevil. And completely fearless. And into everything. And goes non-stop. I'm just waiting for the first round of stitches to come about.

He is also amazingly persistent. He just does not give up! As much as it drives me crazy now, I hope that never changes for him.

And a quick little story about Kehlton joining our family:

Right at Brychan's 1st birthday is when our massive family tragedy hit. And I clung to that little boy as if my life depended on it. Out of all the family members that were there for my support, it was my little boy who was my ultimate lifesaver. I shared that one night with David and he responded that he had had the impression that Kehlton was working just as hard on the other side of the veil trying to keep our little family safe, together and in one piece during that same time. I get teary every time I think about it. But I think that explains why he joined our family so quickly after. We weren't planning on another baby right then and it was a bit of a surprise to find out I was pregnant before Brychan was even 13 months old. It's like he was saying "I worked really hard for my family and I'm not waiting anymore! I'm coming whether you're ready or not!". That stubborn perseverance again... ;) It just really strengthens my testimony of eternal families. I have no doubt that both boys worked equally as hard to help out their parents during that time. Even if they weren't aware of it. And if it's possible, I love each of them even more for it!

Anyway. Happy Birthday my little Baby K. Thank you for being such a fun, loving and snugly little boy. We love you so much!!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had such a fun Thanksgiving holiday this year! We loaded up the truck and headed to San Angelo, Texas to spend a few days with Grammy and Papa Davis.

Baby K ended up without a bed in our hotel our first night gone, but he LOVED the arrangements we made for him. He giggled in his sleep all night long! And big brother was very jealous that he didn't get to sleep in a drawer.
We got to eat and eat and eat LOTS of yummy food!
Kehlton's make-shift high chair.
The boys also got to spend some time with Great Grandma and Grandpa Tucker. Brychan's face tells you everything you need to know about this photo shoot...
We also went to a fantastic lily pad park in town to try and get some family photos.
Fresh mistletoe!
And some of the lily pads

Unfortunately, this is the best family photo we got! :)

We had so much fun this week! We also did some shopping and saw a couple of movies (Harry Potter and Tangled were both great!). I am ready to pack up and move to Texas...absolutely stunning old homes for ridiculously cheap, lots of fun things to do, temperate weather and amazing kindness and hospitality. *Mom and Dad; don't get your hopes up! I doubt it will ever happen and it won't be to San Angelo. Sorry!* We really enjoyed our trip!

Book Worm

This boy loves to read! Books or magazines, he doesn't care! Once he gets in his "reading mood" he will sit for an hour or more just flipping through pages; either silently looking at pictures or reading the story to himself.

Reading books at Lala's last week


Flipping through one of his favorite catalogs to look at...an early childhood toy/supply catalog that I get in the mail.

Box Canyon

About an hour away from us is a very nice, secluded, beautiful canyon that David just happened to find out about thanks to his Scout Camporee last weekend. We really wanted to go camping up there this weekend, but a certain soon-to-be-1 year old has too much of an icky nose to be sleeping outside. However, we grabbed Lala and met some friends from church to spend some time exploring the canyon for the afternoon.

It was so nice to see fall colors (on real leaves...not palms or cactus) and feel nice, crisp, cool weather!The boys (big and small) had a blast playing in the river at the bottom of the canyon. Brychan had to stop and throw in every rock and/or stick he could get his hands on.

We also climbed LOTS of rocks. *Sidenote: can you believe how dark his hair has gotten?
And Kehlton ate his fair share of rocks. Kehlton also took off across the river by himself. Luckily, that spot was quite low and hit him just above his ankles. He didn't seem to care that it was freezing!
Unfortunately, the batteries in the camera died about 5 photos in and I forgot to put the new batteries in the bag. Oops! We are seriously SO excited about going back as soon as we can!!

A Song

While Brychan is our dancer, Kehlton is our little singer! This kid LOVES singing - with or without help!

Halloween

As always, we had a blast at our ward's trunk or treat activity. This year, I had to help out with the Mia Maids booth (tattoos), so I balanced my time between my girls and my family.

David and I before we left the house
Kehlton was not too excited about the whole thing at the beginning, but he quickly warmed up and won the hearts of everyone there!

T-Rex and baby egg suffering through more photos while watching all the other kids play.

Brychan loves to point out that "Kehlton's egg is hatching!" I SO wish I could take credit for his costume, because it's pretty dang cute. But no. I found a lady on Etsy who made it for me.

Kehlton did amazingly well with David and I looking so crazy. He cried at David for a minute, but then got over it. He just kept checking my hair out. I'm sad to say that last night he did appear to be having nightmares all night. :( Poor baby!! So sorry we tortured you!!

We couldn't go without Lala!
And the whole family

My parents were not in town with us...they had their own Halloween party with my Dad's branch in Texas. However, I think their costumes were too cute not to post anyway!!

Brychan will be so sad tomorrow when all the Halloween festivities are over! He's loved every minute of it and spent all week this week practicing trick or treating. We'll do a little bit of trick or treating with him tonight and then call it good. However, I'm pretty excited to start getting him geared up for Christmas!!

Hope everyone enjoyed your Halloween celebrations as much as we did this year! Happy Haunting!

Hard Workin'

We spent a little bit of time at Daddy's office this week. Brychan LOVES going to the office!

Our future Keller Williams agent. He had several, very important phone calls going on! :)
And a little trick or treating at the office Friday afternoon. (Amy - I hope you don't mind I stole your photos off Facebook! :) )

More Halloween photos to come for sure!!

My Picasso

Pretty much everyone knows that Brychan HATES to get his hands dirty. He refuses to put them on the ground to help himself stand up, he won't touch food...trying to get him to touch pumpkin "guts" was impossible. He just will not do it.

Today, I planned on the kids fingerpainting a few pumpkins. I didn't think Bug would even consider the idea. I was SO pleasantly surprised to find that he loved it! He stayed and painted for about 45 minutes. This opens a whole new realm of possible activities to do. YAY!!!