December 2012

So, most of December has been spent with working on our kitchen and bath, but I'll post on the other happenings as well.

First snow of the season on the first of December!

 (William was inside asleep)

 6 girls in the branch pregnant with babies at the same time. 5 are having girls! We threw a shower for 3 of them that are all having their first.

 Tristen worked very hard to earn money to buy a switch n' go dino. He did 30 chores (each chore ended up being worth 50 cents of work) in about 3 weeks time to get it. It was very hard for him, but I think in the end he was happy for it.

While I was at work in Albany, Duane had a good time with the two little ones in Arizona.

Tristen got to drive Grandpa's riding lawn mower and it looks like William is laying in the back of the trailer behind it.

Tristen pushed William around in the cosy coupe at their Aunt Audra's house. 

 My parents had a breakfast with Santa that Duane said the boys loved.

Here's how our house looked the day after we got back from New York City. I find that I tend to put off cleaning up... I'd rather take a picture of it than clean it up... lol

 I recruited a helper when we got back from the city!

One evening I was visiting with Kalvin while we ate watermelon together. We were talking about school and his friends. I was telling him that he should always choose good friends who will help him make good choices. He said, "Yeah. Robert does not make good choices. He talked backwards and Ms. Smith did not like that!" 

 With living in the branch that's an inner city unit, there are lots of people who are in need of essential things. One sister in the branch did not have many things to keep herself warm. She takes the bus to church each week and sits outside in the freezing cold waiting for her bus each week. While I had my own house projects, Kalvin's project was to tie a fleece blanket for her. He put a lot of work into it (wish I would have got a picture of it!). Here you can see a picture of him sewing hand warmers with wheat in them for her as well.

 Tristen wanted a try on the sewing machine I borrowed as well. 

 I woke up these two cuties sleeping next to me one morning.

 I couldn't help but snap a picture of William taking a bath in the sink upstairs.

 Tristen makes the coolest faces! He loves this shopping cart lately. He put all our fruit inside and pushed it around the house for a while.

 I forget sometimes how much fun Kalvin and Tristen have together. These two are best buds! One night I was busy working away in the house (Duane was on call at the hospital all night) and I remember thinking that these two get along so well! Relatively speaking, they get in very few fights. Such a blessing! They may be rambunctious and very active and loud, but at least they like each other and have good personalities for each other.

 This little guy has looked like this for a while... Duane says he has bronchitis and that antibiotics doesn't help that anyway, but lasts between 12 and 20 days. He is very winey all day and must be held or he'll cry... I'm not used to that.

Duane tested out the trampoline before putting it under the tree. I had a good laugh watching him bounce around.

Christmas morning! The boys were so excited!

 I made my mother in laws greasy tacos with corn tortillas. Yum!

 The aftermath.

 The boys got helicopters. Kalvin got one that can take pictures and video so we've had fun with that.

 Tristen got a popcorn maker. We've had a lot of fun with that too.

We got a little snow through the night. By the time we got outside you could see the grass poking through, but the boys were too interested in their new toys to go out there much anyway. Here is Kalvin playing with Tristen's stomp rocket. 

After Christmas SNOW!

William was not a huge fan.

 Kalvin loved to lay in it just because he could (wearing his snow gear).

Tristen was having troubles with his gloves, but did enjoy it for the most part.