Love

I love this boy in my life too.

Just us Four

Just the four of us had our little Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve. It is so fun each year to see how much more fun we can have with the boys and as we establish some of our own traditions. This year we started the night by making our own personal pizzas and lighting the Advent Wreath.
A side note about this picture that I want to remember: Cameron had gone down for a nap and we had to wake him up. I can tell by his face he is not quite awake yet and making pizzas was the last thing he wanted to do as soon as he woke up but we had to eat to get to church on time. He eventually came around ;)

Haiden was excited about his creation!

Of course Cameron perked up when he got to use the lighter to light the Advent Wreath.


Then it was time for presents! We did not get the boys anything too specific this year. Just some odd and end toys that we thought they would enjoy. Dart guns, trucks, balls, slippers, books, and boots.
Cameron is in to Toy Story lately so he was SUPER excited to get Buzz Lightyear. He is always looking for something to put on his back so he can have wings like Buzz. He has never been in to any type of movie toy so it was fun this year to branch out on some toys.

This boy just likes to open things no matter what it is. He usually wants what his brother has anyway.


Haiden in the background trying to snag a present while I open the gift Cameron shopped for at school ;)


Inspired from Jill to get a cute pic of the boys with their stockings.....not so cute but I tried.

On Christmas morning the boys woke up to this:
Rescue Heroes!

Where to Start

Oh my, oh me! Where to start for what to post about this time! SO much has happened in the past week that I don't think I can fit it all in. BUT, I will try just because we have had so much fun! This very well might be my longest post ever!!

First I need to show you pics of Cameron's little school program. It was so cute...and short! Just right for little ones. he dressed up as Joseph(or a shepherd depending on when you asked him)

His small little class of 9 ;)

Isaac, his cousin, is next to him in the brown outfit.

Then we had my family Christmas last Saturday. All boys opening up trucks, cars, blocks and ride 'em on toys. So fun!
All the boys waiting to open their stockings. Well, the 2 littlest ones had already started. My parents do the BEST stockings and they are our favorite part of the night(and my mom's homemade goodies!)

Haiden was so fun to watch this year. Much more into the whole unwrapping part than last year. He sat so good waiting and unwrapping.

New farm trucks!!

Then Cameron had his Christmas program at church. The little ones do such a nice job. You could tell they had not practiced with the lights off because when they put the spotlights on them and dimmed the rest of the church they couldn't help but look at them and then get all starry eyed when they tried to find mom and dad!

Can't you just hear them singing this part?!

Looking all around at each other instead of the music teacher.

Now we're focused!

This past Monday morning all the girls and the cousins got together to carry on the tradition of decorating Christmas cookies. Usually the adults end of finishing but as the years go by the kids have that much more patience to finish the job.

Just couldn't resist licking the spoon!

Not looking at the camera but at least I got a good smile on record from my oldest!

Torrey has been taking some time off of work(loving that!) so we ventured off to the children's museum too this week.
Shopping for groceries for our parties;) It really was fun to play with the grocery belt, cash register, phone and calculator they had ;) Cameron was into this for awhile!

Can you see the concentration on his face? ;)

And who can resist a big bowl of water and bubbles! Ellie, Will, Levi and G and G Vruggink came with us to join in the fun!

Making some bird feeders(or at least having a nice snack of cheerios while Daddy and Grandpa made the feeders of what was left in the bowl!)

And this isn't even all that we did! But my babe is waking up and I still have some things to do to get ready for tomorrow. Tonight we are making homemade pizza, going to church and then home to have our own little family Christmas as we have done ever since Cameron was little. Cameron was already waiting by the tree to open "just one" and Haiden got his mitts on one and tore off a piece of paper before I got to him! I can't wait!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!

If you can't see me....

"If you can't see me, mommy, then I am not really in time out."

And now look at this sweet little innocent face peeking out at me!

Doesn't it just look like he is sorry?!
Precious, boy.

Oh Christmas Tree...Finally!

We finally got around to getting our Christmas tree this year. I just couldn't bare looking at our old deformed fake tree one more year so decided to give the real tree Christmas feel to our house. Cameron was all psyched up to chop down a tree but it actually was a quick trip(honestly about 15 minutes) to pick one out.

The boys had more fun finding twine and sticks. We pretty much picked the second tree we found and loaded it in the trailer. So it wasn't quite what I pictured in my head about getting the boys all bundled up, taking a wagon ride into the woods, spotting just the right tree, having Cameron help Tor shop it down while I captured the kodak moment and then sipping some hot coco when we returned. But hey, lunch and nap time were fast approaching and the fields were a muddy mess. So the one laying on the ground was the one...HA!
Cameron was so excited to help put it up and I was curious as to how long his attention span would endure and he actually made it through the whole thing with me! It was honestly the BEST time I have had in a long time. Haiden was napping(maybe next year little man can help but for now he little patties are best not touching the ornaments!) so it was just my big boy and me. After finding some gloves to wear to put the lights up ;) Cameron was in charge of putting on the ornaments and I can say that this tree is my most favorite that I have ever put up. I LOVE the color lights. Before it was only red or maybe red and white but for some reason I felt the need to do fun color for the boys this year!

Checking out the assortment. I have an ornament for each boy for each Christmas so far so it was neat to tell Cameron about each one. Of course I got teary eyed when I pulled out his 1st Christmas one that was his hand print in clay!

I could not put the hooks on fast enough for him to hang them. There is no rhyme or reason to where the ornaments are and they only go up as high(except for a few I was able to put on) as he could reach.

I absolutely love how it turned out.
And I love that I got to accomplish something fun with my son, get excited with him and allow his childish anticipation for the season to fill my heart with joy.

I Think We Got It

Well I think we actually managed to get a decent Christmas card photo this year! Last year I used one of the boys together in matching jammies and I thought I would try to attempt that this year, but this is what happened....

Don't think these are too "Merry Christmasy" ;)

It DID cross my mind to use these just because these do capture the essence of these 2 boys. But, back to the drawing board.
I also thought I would try to save some money and try this thing that Shutterfly offered. I have gotten Christmas cards (from here) from them before and they have always turned out great, the price was right, usually there was free shipping involved and their site is super easy to navigate. I also did a photo book of Haiden and I LOVE it. I am working on(well, a little behind actaully) on another family album. I have all my pictures saved on Shutterfly and they really have a lot of neat things to offer. So then I started off looking at ALL the different options. Some popped out of me right away like these.....

Believe In Magic Religious Christmas Card

by Tag & Co

Snow Flurries Scarlet Christmas Card

by Fresh Lemonade

This whole post of adding links is new to me and even to get the type to turn up in blue was a huge success to me! Not quite sure how to attempt to get the picture of the card??! Anyway, I had a hard time deciding but another nice feature is that I can create my cards and then save them to go back and look at them a few times to see which one pops out ;) And if the sounds like an advertisement for Shutterfly, it is. But hey, I get free stuff. So soon that bright orange envelope will be arriving here with the final decision and one happy lady for free stuff and a (I think) pretty nice holiday card.

Weekends

Weekends are the best for this working Mommy. It's so exciting going to bed Friday night knowing we can just wake up the next 2 mornings and stay cozy at home. We have so much fun staying in our jammies, eating breakfast together, playing and running errands if needed. This weekend we had no errands to run and nothing we HAD to do so we just had fun. We started out going to the Holiday Parade in Hudsonville. The great thing about this parade is that it is right at at the end of our street ;)

Cousins Will and Ellie joined us in the candy grabbing fun!

Tried to get a pic of me and the boys but this is all I got. Cameron was too excited being able to actually walk into the street and watch the parade coming.

At night Will and Ellie came over for pizza and playtime. Of course it always involves jumping on something. I love how Haiden has to be in the mix of it all!

And then the boys had to fix something together. Haiden found it fun to spread diaper rash cream over the tractor and Cameron found it fun to watch him and tell me AFTER it was all said and done. He is funny that way...I think he liked to see what his brother comes up with and how he will get in trouble to see if it's worth him doing it or not!

Sunday night we finished up our Jesse tree and Advent wreath at church. No pictures of that. With glue guns, scissors and lots of little objects there was no time to spare. I am excited to start this new tradition in our family next week when Advent starts now that the boys are that much older. And I think we might venture out on a limb and get a real Christmas tree this year!

Not Much

Well I really don't have much to blog about, but I can't seem to go too long without at least posting some pictures of my boys! Honestly, we have just been doing what we do everyday and enjoying the last days of being outside without having to bundle up(although Cameron keeps asking when it will snow, the snowmobile is calling his name).
Here is my little cheeser(and Torrey took this pic so I am not sure what it's about but it's all we have lately!)
Way too big....


And then there is this big guy. Sporting his glasses from Wednesday night church. He learned that God sees everything and is everywhere. On the way home he asks, "Why is God everywhere Mommy?" I love the way he is thinking about things lately. So big....

A Change of mind and A Great Find

For Halloween, Cameron was set on being a football player. We had found a costume and even tried it on numerous times just for fun. He was all about tackling, falling for the ball and wearing the helmet. When I was looking for Haiden's costume I stumbled across a cape and hat for a wizard costume. We got it out for fun and enjoyed playing wizard around the house. We tried the costume on Haiden and he hated it for the whole 2 minutes I was able to keep it on him. SO.....Halloween night rolled around and we were getting ready to head out the door and Cameron decided he wanted to be a wizard instead. Ugh! So his costume this year was a quick grab whatever I can out of the closet. And for Haiden, I found a great costume for this year and next for $5! And he loved it which made it even better.

Getting ready to head out with cousins Will and Ellie.

Haiden being the typical cheeser while Cameron looks at everything BUT the camera! His costume was seriously not fun....but he liked it and he still got candy so in his world he was great!

Cameron helping brother pick out just the right candy...ha!
Haiden did great all night and did manage to walk most of the time. He caught on so quickly to just keep going from house to house he didn't even stop to try to eat his loot! He was not shy at all to go up to the house and wait for the treats and even got a his own version of "trick or treat"! His brother and cousin Will sprinted to the houses as if the faster they went the more houses would magically appear(hey, Cameron was a Wizard ;))

Ha! Big stuff all in his monkey suit. The banana did the trick for him to enjoy having the costume on ;)

Can you tell which one has the genuine smile?! Funny boys!

Rough

There are some moments where Haiden just has it rough. At least that's the way he sees it in his little world. Sometimes his brother can look at him wrong and he breaks down crying mad at him and especially when Cameron tells him no can he turn on the tears! One morning at breakfast(and I honestly can't say I remember what morning it was with my memory at the moment) Haiden had it rough! So to make matter worse Cameron got the camera out to relish in his brother's tears and give him all the more reason to cry. Poor thing.

It all started out fine with a nice donut treat. Then it things started to fall apart.


A little upset, but not too bad. Yet.
(notice the tray--he loves to break things apart in little pieces and create a total mess)
(and also notice mommy and daddy in the background leaving these 2 alone for the moment!)


Bedhead, drool, tears and brother taking a picture. Right over the edge.

Getting it together. Maybe he looked down and still saw his donut ;)

Cameron was the photographer for these beauties. Precious brown eyes!

Happy Hikers

As most people this weekend, we spent much of it outdoors just enjoying being together, playing and not rushing around. Sunday night we headed to a park with Tor's mom and dad for a picnic and a hike. Haiden did SO great and walked almost all the way. He had on these little hiking boots and strutted his stuff taking these big steps and swinging his arms back and forth very big boy like. It was so funny. Of course Cameron was in his glory just being outside and being free to go as he pleased. Here are some pictures from our adventure!

He's got the swing going on!

I can walk myself, Mommy.

Actually wanted me to take his picture and he has a genuine smile!

Found a fun tree to climb and hide in.

Funny boys...but they sure are cute!

It just wouldn't be a complete hike if we didn't take time to play in the leaves. Haiden was all about putting them in a pile but then as soon as we tried to stick him in to take a picture he was not so excited. He also doesn't like to walk in the grass bare foot. Silly boy. Cameron wanted to bring the leaves home and tried to take them in the van with us!