Big shoes to fill

Andrew loves to put on a pair of my shoes and clunk around in them. Aaron is usually too busy walking around with his very own set of measuring spoons or stacking blocks to bother with big people shoes.

Christmas & New Year

The last month (not to mention year) has flown by so fast. It's hard to believe that it's not only a new year but a new decade. This last decade had one of major changes in my life, for the good. In the last decade I bought a house (while single) and sold it, married the man of my dreams, and had 3 beautiful children. I've been allowed to have two of them here with me and they have brought me more happiness and joy than I can possibly put in words. Yes, there have been some rough times but by pulling together we've learned a lot and grown closer in the process. Although I know the next year and decade will have its challenges I have much to be grateful for and many things to look forward to. We had a wonderful Christmas as we celebrated the birth of Christ. Here are some pictures and memories-

The Sunday before Christmas a friend took these pictures for us. We almost didn't even put up a tree for fear the boys would destroy it or push it over and the fact that we're moving soon. Except for the first day or two they pretty much ignored it. They did enjoy throwing little toys into the tree so I guess those can be the ornaments.

The nice thing about little ones this age is they'd be perfectly happy with small and simple gifts. One of their favorites were measuring spoons and a neon spinning light. The cost: $5.

They also love their new legos and tricycles, even though they have a little growing to do before they can ride them well.

By the end of the day Aaron and Andrew were pretty tired! Aaron voluntarily laid on the couch and so Andrew had to do it too. Monkey see, monkey do.

Steve's family came over in the afternoon for a Christmas dinner and gift exchange but we took no picture. A couple of day before the big day one of the twins attempted to be a photographer and dropped the camera which damaged the lens permanently. Now we must pay about $100 and wait 7-10 weeks for it to arrive from Korea. We can still take pictures with our much bigger lens but in order to get a decent image we have to stand back what seems a mile away.

Christmas with the boys was a lot of fun as they became fascinated with new things around them. This year we put up very few decorations but they loved our single nativity set that was child proof. After breaking up several fights over who got to play with it I finally put it up higher. And they loved the lights outside the house. And the Santa decorations. I have a feeling next year they'll gave a much greater understanding of what Christmas is all about.

Haircut, finally

A & A looking at the rain through the sliding door. Notice how shaggy it is.

A & A 'organizing' my pantry. Again, it's rather shaggy (to us anyway).

For the last 2 months or so Aaron and Andrew were in sore need of a haircut. It was beginning to get long and shaggy (by our standard) and would always knot up in the back. So finally today we gave them a haircut. Yes, WE cut their hair. It takes two- one to hold & distract them and the other to do the job. Whenever we've done a trimming before I always let Steve do it because I was afraid it would turn out horrible and cause me great embarrassment. But today I overcame that fear and did Andrew's hair while Steve did Aaron's.

Even though I knew they needed a haircut I still had a hard time watching them being butchered- and I let Steve know it with comments like, "That's too much!! He's going to be bald! But now it's not as red! Way too short!" So when it was my turn to do Andrew's we used a a longer clipper to leave it slightly longer. Of course, I thought his haircut was handsome! Aaron's? I wasn't so sure.

It didn't dawn on me why I was having such a hard time with their haircut until we were at my neighbor's tonight. They thought their haircuts were great and said, "Now they look like little boys instead of babies." And then I realized that my babies are gone. Each day they are becoming more and more like little boys.

Andrew's new haircut

Aaron's tongue and his new haircut

HO HO HO!!!

Santa Claus is very very busy at this time of year but he was kind enough to take a break from his crazy schedule and make a visit down to Vegas and come to our ward party. Aaron and Andrew have never sat on his lap before. Since our ward party was a pancake breakfast for dinner all the kids (and some adults) showed up in their pajamas. We predicted Aaron would scream while Andrew would just stare and not really care. You can tell from the picture that's exactly what they did.

There were also two bounce houses for all the kids to jump around and make noise. After watching the bigger kids for a while they got up the guts to go in themselves. Mostly they just kept trying to stand but got knocked down in their attempts. But they had a fun time. Unfortunately there's no pictures to prove their bravery.

Thanksgiving highlights

We spent the holiday with my family in St. George eating, laughing, and having lots of fun. Most of my siblings came too as well as family that already live in town. We had such a large crowd (about 35, I think...I never actually counted) that we held the feast at a church. The kids loved it because they could run around play games, and play basketball with plenty of room.

My brother and his family of 5 kids stayed Tuesday night on their way to St. George. Here are some of them...

We left Thursday morning with the food we were bringing and tons of other stuff. I can't BELIEVE how much stuff we have to bring for just two nights!!

Even though I took several pictures while at the church the only one I'm posting is of my several darling nieces. Jenna is only 5 weeks older than A & A.

On Friday my brothers and sister and their families climbed around on the red rocks above St. George. This was when I wish we had hiking carriers for the boys but they had a lot of fun walking around. We had a lot of anxiety staying close by them and making sure they didn't fall off the cliffs.

St. George down below

One of my sweet nephews with A & A inside a 'cave'

Andrew was constantly hounded by Sara and a little by Lexi. Andrew is so mellow, laid back, and easygoing while Aaron is a total mama's boy. Every time we were around Sara would want nothing to do with Aaron and everything to do with Andrew. She is SO baby crazy and want to hold him, swing him around, play with him, and drag him around. One time after a short period of 'playing' with him she sighed and said, "Parenting is so much fun." Oh, really? As long as Andrew wasn't getting hurt or crying we let her have fun with Andrew.

Lexi is the oldest of 5 kids (the youngest a set of twin boys) so she wasn't quite as aggressive.

One of my favorites of Andrew and Aaron-

My brother has two adorable twin boys, Cade & Carter, who are two years older than Aaron and Andrew. They are generous and passed on all their clothes and we appreciate it SOOO much. Their boys are dressed so cute and it has saved us tons.

Let's not forget our adorable boys either. :)

Happy very belated Thanksgiving!! I can't believe it's already Christmas.

Busy busy boys

What boys aren't busy? Yesterday when I picked Aaron and Andrew up from co-op my friend said, "How do you do it? These boys are BUSY!!" Then she admitted all boys are busy. She has two young boys so she knows. But A & A are very busy and it wears me out just watching them and cleaning up their path of destruction.

Bath time is no exception. A few days ago I started bathing the boys in the master bathtub since it's roomier and no longer has food storage boxes in and above it. Aaron and Andrew have loved being able to move around and do a lot more including an incident yesterday that cracked me up. Aaron was standing up in the middle of the tub with Andrew sitting down at his feet. While my head was turned away Aaron started to have a painful sort of cry. When I turned to see what was going on I saw Andrew pulling on his male member as if to see if it came off. It couldn't have felt very good but who could blame Andrew since it was right in his face. I have no picture of it and even if I did it wouldn't be posted online.

Our next door neighbor's garage is a favorite of the boys. This is the neighborhood kid hang out since it contains a lot of things to explore. One of Aaron's favorites lately is their unused pooper scooper. He pushes it around like a stroller and fills it with rocks. (So sad I don't have a picture of it yet.) A couple of days ago he found a CD player and began pressing buttons. He discovered the play/pause button. A CD with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" happened to be in it and when the music began blaring the two girls, who live nearby, started dancing. When Aaron pressed pause they froze; then he'd start it up again and so on. He sat at that CD player for a good 20 minutes and was pretty pleased with himself for what he was able to do.

Although both Aaron and Andrew like to climb Andrew enjoys it a lot more. His latest favorites are the kitchen chairs and the glider & couch in his bedroom. As soon as he figures out that he can climb from the kitchen chairs to the table we still start using bungie chords to tie them together. And whenever theirs boxes around he gets his exercise.

The boys have recently acquired a few new toys that have been keeping them busy (and allowed me to get a few more things done). A favorite was a 3-part truck/trailer/helicopter that Steve brought home from work. Aaron and Andrew LOVE it and will spend lengthy amounts of time playing with-and fighting over -it. One not such a time was Andrew happily playing with the helicopter uninterrupted.

Another favorite new 'toy' is a walk-in house our next door neighbor gave us that their 6 year old outgrew. Until we move to the bigger house we keep it along the walkway to our front door. Aaron and Andrew LOVE LOVE it. It's great except I can never open the front door without them trying to make a run for it. And forget trying to pull them away without a full on tantrum.

Yes, they are busy but it keeps my day interesting and fun (and very tiring!). There's a saying I have hanging in their room: Boy (n.)- A noise with dirt on it. And how true that is! They love anything that makes lots of noise and they could care less about being clean.

And some more fun:

A Visit from Aunt Nancy

Last night my aunt Nancy (who is THE best aunt!!) arrived in Las Vegas to stay for a couple of nights. She brought with her a fancy gift for the boys- bubble wrap! Hey, I could pop bubble wrap forever so why not Aaron and Andrew!

A visit from Grandma Ross

Last Sunday we had Steve's mom over for dinner and to spend a little time with the boys. Aaron and Andrew don't know her as well as they should and Aaron was NOT in the mood to have his picture taken. But they enjoyed having Grandma over and so did we.

Tidbits

None of these comments or photos have much to do with each other but each are little tidbits into my daily life with the personalities of Aaron and Andrew.

1. As soon as I put Andrew into the bathtub tonight he started to pee while standing up. I said, "Pee pee. You just went pee pee." He looked down at himself for the longest time and thought, "Oh, that's what that's for!" Now if he can just figure out how to do that in the toilet instead of the bathtub or a diaper...

2. Andrew LOVES dogs and says with excitement, "Doggie, doggie....." whenever he sees one or anything that looks remotely close to a dog (like pipes, of course). Both of them will go up to dogs at the park to pet it, make faces at it, or just get a close look. So I got them each a little dog which they love, especially Andrew. Last Sunday I managed to get this photo right before church. These days it's impossible to get both to look at me when snapping a pic, one is rare.

3. A & A in their monster pj's. Whenever they see boxes around the house (which is common lately- we're moving in a month) they love to push them around, climb on them, or get inside. Aaron think inside the box, Andrew thinks outside the box- actually true of their personalities.

4. Aaron stacked all these himself. He was so proud of himself he did his high squeal to let me know he did something impressive and then sat back admiring his work while sipping water. He LOVES anything that can stack or fit inside each other and goes crazy over them.

5. This afternoon when Aaron woke up from his ritual 60-90 min. nap I thought it would be fun to let him use play dough. He could care less about the play dough. All he wanted to do was put the lid on and off, on and off. With a second container he stacked them up or banged them together. Forget the play dough.

6. This morning while I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes I looked over and saw Andrew without any clothes on. And he looked pretty proud of himself and very relieved to not be weighed down. Next will be removing his diaper. When he woke up from his nap he had again removed his clothes. It didn't help that his shirt was extremely loose and hung down low. But I loved seeing them in an Ostler Memorial Cruise shirt (hand-me-down from Cade & Carter).

Notice Andrew's little dog nearby

7. Lately Andrew tries to climb everything- chairs, boxes, couches, toys, whatever. And he enjoys reading books- as long as HE hold it in HIS lap, HE turns pages when HE wants, and HE determines how long the book is read for. Basically, as long as HE is in control. But what toddler isn't that way?

His little dog is close by, of course