Monster trucks

Me and Poppy with Peyton, Jackson & Brett

For Brett's fundraiser last year there were tickets to a Monster Truck show. Amy and my dad both bid on and won tickets. When it came closer to the date Amy realized they would be out of town so she gave the tickets to us. It turned out each set of tickets were for a different day. The donors were gracious enough to exchange them all for the same show.
I called ahead to the venue to see about accessible seating and, unfortunately, because the tickets were a donation and I didn't purchase them I met with some resistance. The company that donated the tickets stepped up and offered us seats in one of their suites, pit passes and made special accommodations to get Brett into the pits by taking a freight elevator! We got the rock star treatment and the boys were each given a program and pennants of the trucks.
Poppy came in to take the boys along with me and Tate, which was the most special part.

The boys loved it, but by intermission Brett was done with the noise (I may have been as well:) The trucks are very loud!

Poppy and Brett

Brett and Peyton

Peyton gives Jackson a pretend ride on a 4-wheeler.

Brett takes a seat on another 4-wheeler.

Getting ready for the event.

Jackson

Peyton

Jackson studying his new Monster Truck program.

Another bonus - Grammy came to visit too! We got to spend some special time with her too playing games and having tons of fun! 

Thank you Grammy & Poppy for such a special visit!

Superbowl Sunday

The boys are sports crazy. At 4.5 they know more sports statistics, players and their numbers and teams than I do. They spent the season grilling Tate about all of it and every morning after a game would wake up to ask him who won. One night I woke up to Jackson standing next to our bed. He said - and this is a direct quote - "Excuse me Mommy. Sorry to bother you. Do you know who won the game?" I'm pretty sure it was about 1 a.m. and I wasn't too thrilled, but with manners like that it's hard to be mad!

In addition the boys would do their "picks" every Wednesday with their aunties who take care of them while Tate and I are at work.

When it got down to the two superbowl teams everybody was firmly on the side of the 49ers - except Brett. He went with the Ravens.

The boys were excited about the matchup and even put in their requests for Superbowl snacks.

Auntie Kerry surprised the boys with Super Duper Candyland. The boys love that game and she used colored paper to set up a life-sized version of the game in our house. We all got to take turns being the gingerbread pieces and Auntie Nancy won twice and I won once. The boys had a blast!

We enjoyed the food and the boys got to hang out until half time. They, of course, couldn't wait to find out who won, but wanted to watch the second half the second they woke up.

I didn't take many photos but here's one of everyone eating and watching (me and Brett are off camera!)

Brett in his football helmet pjs - he only snoozed for a few minutes.

As the only one who rooted for the Ravens Brett got to enjoy a big piece of chocolate pie when he got home from school on Monday. Here he is doing a dance - victory really is sweet!

Sledding!!!!

 Our first fairly good snowfall finally came in early February - that's a long winter of waiting for our area. The boys couldn't wait to hit the neighborhood hill. Auntie Kerry and Auntie Nancy bundled up and helped us climb into all our snow gear and we went sledding. It was also one of the coldest days we had had so we didn't stay out too long, but we packed a lot of sledding in!

Told the boys if you take it down, you take it back up - they were real troopers!

Peyton - can you take the picture so I can sled?

Jackson hamming it up.

We still all fit in one sled!

Auntie Nancy gives Auntie Kerry and Brett a push - he giggles the whole way down.

Auntie Nancy ready to launch with Peyton.

Groundhog day

I've always been confused about the whole groundhog seeing his shadow thing. Do we want him to see it or not?
The boys are talking about it at school so I asked if we wanted him to see his shadow. 
Peyton said: "If he sees his shadow that means 6 more weeks of Christmas!"
Hmmm
After school several days later I asked again.
Jackson said: "If he sees his shadow that means six more days of snow!"
Glad they helped me clear that up.

It's what I wished for!

We have enjoyed every Christmas with our boys, but this year was exceptionally fun. For the first time they really get it. They know Christmas is about baby Jesus. They also couldn't talk about Santa without getting ants in their pants. They made a list this year and the level of excitement was awesome to witness.

By far my favorite was Christmas morning. We eat breakfast upstairs on trays before we go downstairs to see if Santa arrived. As we were finishing up and getting ready to head downstairs all caught up in the Santa excitement Jackson said: "Since today is Jesus' birthday we should say a special prayer to Jesus."
With tears in my eyes I asked if he wanted to lead the family in prayer.
This is what he prayed:
"Dear Jesus, Have a Happy Birthday. I hope you are having a great time in heaven. I love you. Amen."

Then we tiptoed downstairs and the excitement continued. It didn't matter if they were announcing that they got socks in their stocking or opening their favorite gift the enthusiasm was through the roof.

Peyton consistently asked for a Batman bat cave (except the night he asked for a baby sister his own age - yikes!)
When he opened it he shouted "It's what I wished for!!! I got what I wished for!!!
In the past Tate has not taken many photos because we like to just be in the moment and enjoy it. This year he took some video and I'm so glad he did because he captured the joy so well.

I'm including some of the highlight photos related to Santa:

 The boys had to write "Dear Santa" and sign their names. The rest they dictated to me and I wrote down exactly as asked.

My favorites from Jackson "A baseball set I flick and it does it by itself," and "Jumper that goes up in the sky and push a button and it comes back down to you." 

Peyton's greeting and closing were so fun: "How is Rudolph doing when you fly?" and "Thank you, I miss you. I'll see you when you are coming."

This is the letter left to Santa with the milk and cookies and carrots. They each told me what to write. My favorites :"It's the best time of the year." and "I'm counting on you Santa." I think they were listening to too many Christmas songs and watching too many Christmas specials!