SaNtA!!!!!!

I don't know who was more excited Christmas morning the kiddos or me!!  I think I woke up four times that night to look at the clock!  When the kid's woke up Drew went running to the living room and was amazed at the mess Santa made with the cookies, and how he helped himself;) 

One of the items Santa brought was a new table and chairs for the kid's the kid's LOVED it.  They spend seriously ten minutes looking through the baskets under the table before they even noticed there was presents!

Drew opened up a new left handed baseball glove! 

I wish you could hear Claire's voice when she saw her Go Go My Walking Dog.  She was pretending to cry and was cooing at the puppy with excitement!

The chap stick in the stocking is always a hit...

Our Christmas morning was complete with our awesome friends Matt and Tristin coming over for a huge brunch!

Cooking Time!!

Christmas Eve day we took out the aprons and started to bake cookies for Santa!

Drew had a plan with his cookies...

And then their was Claire that didn't want to cut one cookies, but eat the dough...

CAUGHT!   SO, this is how I found her.. I left her in her chair while I went to clear the table and when I came back she took the ONLY cookies she decorated and was eating it while standing... dangerously...;)

One of our traditions since I've known Andy is to make homemade pizza on Christmas Eve.  The kiddos love it and it's so much fun!

Christmas Eve From The Grandparents

Another tradition for Christmas is opening the gifts from the grandparents on Christmas Eve!  We have done this now since Drew has been born and we really enjoy it.  Christmas day then is only Santa.  It's also nice as the kiddos then hear and know that these are not from Santa, but the grandparents.  When Claire opened her gifts every piece of paper she would look at us so serious and say, "thank you"! 

Drew was in Toy Story heaven thank you Mimi and Papa!!

I dont' know who was more excited Andy or Drew with a race track from grandpa and grandma!

This cleaning cart will come on great as I actually filled it up with water and had the kiddos go wild cleaning the windows!!

Potty Time!

So Claire LOVES the bathroom!  She loves to play in the sink, tub time, and yes the toilet.  So I figured she's now eighteen months so why not get her a little toilet.  Thinking that she would just play with it,  I went out and bought her this cheap $2.00 toilet.  Andy took it to the bathroom and told her sit and go potty (not thinking she would) She sat.. and went potty!!!  It was a GREAT day in our house to think we're that much closer to being done with diapers FOREVER!!!

She really didn't like us bringing the camera in while she sat on the potty enjoying her raisins by her facial expression!

Drew's Sleeping Phase

Well I hope this is a phase by Drew...the past few weeks Drew has not slept in his bed as a normal three year old would.  Drew has stayed very busy with the time leading up to bedtime to prepare for the night.  Andy and I are being good sports with this "phase" and seeing where his imagination takes him!  All of the photos below we had nothing to do with.....

Night One:.. all babies are tucked in (earlier EACH "baby" was reading a book)

Night Two:  When we came in to kiss Drew good night he had put a flannel shirt on over his pajamas and a hat on.  He told us he needed to be ready for his soccer game early in the morning.  (He really didn't have a game)!

Night Three: We went in again and found him laying on the floor.  He told us he was sleeping on the bottom bunk!

Night Four:  Yap.. you guessed it.. camp out.  Yes he's sleeping inside his tent.  Which he picked up off of his floor and moved onto his bed.

Thank you Papa and Mimi you may have inspired him for his campout as the gloves you mailed him he would not take off!

Night Five:  Sleeping at the airport on the way to his football game!

We never know how were going to find him when we go in his room.. however we do move him back into his bed after he's sleeping:)

Fall Hike

On Sunday we had a break throughh of sunshine from the past three days of straight rain.  We jumped in the car and headed a little over an hour away to Benaojan for a two hour hike.  The hike was beautiful and we followed a bank of a river.  The kiddos did GREAT the entire time and the fresh air was greatly needed after being trapped inside the past few days.

Drew loves to be the "navigator" he carried the book most of the way and would "tell" us where to go!

Andy had a carrier for Claire (which she loves being up high)

Earlier this spring we bought another carrier, which is AWESOME.  It goes up to over 60lbs (I don't know who would use it that long...) any who... you can wear it on the front, as a side carrier, and on your back.  It has a flap as well that folds up to hold the child's head in place if they fall asleep.  I mostly use it for Claire, however this was a good work out for me:)

On our journey we came upon this lizard that played dead I'm sure as soon as he heard the kiddos voices a mile away.  Andy is doing his research on the lizard as I for sure thought it was poisonous!!

Um notice the guys not with smiles on their face...

Yap.. that's because this is who they were waiting on.. Claire loved to explore everything her foot would touch!

Andy and Drew practicing throwing rocks into the river

Half was through our walk we saw a dog come running at us!!! I FREAK out at loose dogs... Andy picked up a rock just in case and the dog ran to us and then walked by us.. Andy checked it's tags and it had identification and was the NICEST dog ever.  Drew kept asking if it was our new dog.... The dog hiked with us the rest of the way  and then it was the funniest thing when we returned back to the original town where we started the owners called it's name for it to come home!!!  I tell you that's true Spanish culture:)

We had a great day and look forward to many more fall hikes

Cinderella Ball

This past weekend the base held a Cinderella Ball, the ball was for dad's and daughters ONLY.  The daughters could be of any age from birth and on up.  The military had the option of wearing a suit or their uniform and the daughters could dress up as formal as they wanted.  It was so cute seeing all of the little girls so excited and proud with their dads.  We're  excited to begin the tradition of the Cinderella Ball.

Claire and dad already to go to the ball!  Claire is OBSESSED with purses right now...

Claire wasn't the happiest when we were in the back yard taking photos and we didn't let her in the sand box!

Our neighbor girls came over before the ball for a group photo!  Claire couldn't get over her sparkle shoes!

The daddies TRYING to take a photo with their daughters before... I don't know who was worse the men or the girls to get their attention!

Take two...

And take fourty...., I think the dad's were harder to get their attention then the girls!

Clarie watching Drew wanting to play so bad!

Claire still has all of her purses...

Outside the ball were horse drawn carriage rides.  Well kind of a horse... donkey??

Claire was in ah and didn't know what to think!

And then they were off! Once Andy and Clarie reached the room where the ball was held the mom's were not allowed in.  Claire danced the night away and had a blast! 

Trip To Minnesota!

The first of November we traveled back to Minnesota for a quick trip home.  Andy was extra excited as we timed out trip home for the opening weekend of deer season as well!

Andy's parents live out in the country and it's non-stop fun from the moment the kiddos wake up (which is early...).  It reminded me of when I was little and how one could spend hours outside playing with the dog, rocks, sticks, bikes, and using their imagination.

Andy's parents have a lab named Kai. Kai is a VERY well behaved dog, the kiddos loved it as Kai followed every command they said.  Ahhhh the power Drew and Claire had that week....

Drew was ecstatic to go on his first pheasant hunting trip with dad, grandpa, and Kai.  Drew was in a back pack on Andy's back.

They came home with pheasants. Drew was a little concerned when he learned they couldn't fly anymore though!

Thank you Mimi and Papa for the Iowa sweat shirts!

Claire the master of Kai!

Andy teaching Drew how to shoot a bow

Drew had so many firsts this week!  They also took the boat out and went fishing!  He was entertained the entire time and spend four hours out on the lake with the boyzzzz!

Andy so proud of one of the pheasants!

Claire stayed so busy with the cat, Julie and dog Kai.  Claire would follow them around ALL DAY!

We also scored awesome dress up costumed the day after Halloween for $2.00!!! 

We had a great time back home and were also able to spend time with my brother Brain in Virgina. Uncle Brain is like a trip to Disney Land for the kids, non stop fun!