light show

we just bought a "new" honda odyssey to fit our ever growing family. the boys love it! while we were waiting for the light show to start the boys did a little test driving.

two already?

ryder turned two on the 18th, and as hard as it is to believe he is two already, it is hard to believe that he was one for so long.

ryder insisted the only thing he wanted for his birthday was a cupcake with curious george on top.

soon there will be another boy in this picture

during the party my buddy ryan came over to me and said, "dude, your son is totally like you. he is over in the corner by himself playing with stickers." guess we are both introverts.

ryder and bradley

a whole lotta cupcakes for a whole lotta man

judi and kayla

isaac and uncle derek

auntie bonnie (and every child in attendance) helped ryder unwrap his birthday gifts.

the bouncy house was a huge hit with the boys and there were plenty of headlocks and bodyslams to go around.

isaac and carson

max knows suplex

auntie allie and the birthday boy

somebody does not like to share the snowmen

cousin avery saw the taking of a picture and decided to jump in and smile.

"soren, when you hit two maybe your mom and dad will hook you up with one of these amazing lemons."

isaac and hayden

micheal and rhiannon enjoy the cupcakes

sawyer has some big news

the balloons were a big hit (and so was gaga)

autumn and juliana showing off their mad coloring skills

after all the friends were gone ryder set up his own manger scene. finally some time alone.

isaac went through many of ryder's toys.

while ryder slept isaac headed to the forum and ran into the regiers. they let isaac crash their carriage ride, making his day.

dec 17

tonight stew had cheers with the high school group which left me and the boys to entertain ourselves. fortunately we had borrowed a jumpy house for ryder's birthday tomorrow. that jumpy provided plenty of fun for the boys. unfortunately ryder took a dinner break and was standing backwards on his chair. next thing i knew he was rocking in the chair and it tumbled over, catching on the trash can on the way down. before i could grab him his poor little nose was squished and pretty beat up. we're uncertain if he actually broke his nose, but it's starting to look that way. this whole parenting boys might add some extra wrinkles in a hurry.

tomorrow he turns 2!

this is a picture of his bruised nose at the end of the night, looking much better. the pictures from today show his nose bruised all the way up. bummer.

no men and no children

last night my girlfriend, amanda hosted a fun little gingerbread decorating party. it was over the top, as usual with her. no men and no children, just the girls! we all were given our own house to decorate and the greatest variety of candy for decorations. i couldn't help but eat my way through the night, enjoying all the sweets like a kid in a candy shop.

my final product

amanda's completed house. this makes me wish i had a bit of her creativity and attention to detail.

unfortunately i haven't uploaded all the other houses yet, but they were amazing as well.

65 and still alive

65!?! that's old or at least that sounds old. the good news is that my dad still acts(not dresses)a little younger than a 65 year old. he's come a long way over the years and i'd even like to take a little credit for his growth(not his attire) as a father. if he didn't have two daughters who were so outspoken and opinionated he would have had it way too easy in life. boy did he luck out. the good news is he turned out pretty great and allison and i are proud to call him dad. with a lot of hard work he has proven to be a great father and he's even starting to watch my boys...kinda. he did fall asleep for about 15 minutes while he was "watching" ryder last weekend. tuesday night we all went out for burgers to celebrate my dad's big day.

after dinner we all(minus stew and the boys) headed to my sister's for a little christmas party and white elephant gift exchange. my dad proved his age at that point, bringing the 2nd worst gifts there. fortunately he was able to tell me word for word the meaning of white elephant and how his gifts were actually perfect for the exchange. unfortunately i had to inform him that 20 and 30 year olds care less about dictionary meanings and more about having fun and laughing at inappropriate gifts. maybe when he's 66 we'll get him to turn that corner. for now, happy birthday dad!

great pillowcase!

i was hoping to grab this towel for stew and wrap it up for christmas. it was stolen.

cookie exchange

monday morning lisa hosted a fun little cookie exchange party. last year she hosted a similar party but instead of cookies we decorated pancakes. both years consisted of a lot of sugar and fun friends.

audrey and her grandma sharon met for the first time.

a little taste testing

we struggled to get a group shot. next time we'll have to throw this motley crew on the couch in order to make sure they all fit.

sawyer showed us how he types an email to his grandma.

ryder, well, ryder shows us how to smile for the camera. why is it that both my boys close their eyes when they smile for the camera?

if bacon grew on trees

saturday night we went to an amazing christmas party thrown by the mattinglys. we all brought something edible to share that included bacon. much to my surprise i enjoyed most of the food. my chocolate covered bacon wasn't as bad as i thought it would be either.

bacon cupcakes- not as bad as you might think.

my favorite!

the mattinglys

stew won the ugly christmas sweater competition and together we won the making of the ornament competition. to say the least, we were proud!