Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas here at home. It was a long day, as the kids took their sweet time opening presents. They managed to stretch it into the evening! Somewhere in there was a visit to see some good friends of ours - where we played games and overdosed on sugar :) We came back to finish unwrapping. Clayton's favorite quote of the day was "Yaaaaaay! I didn't get any coal!" He was very excited about his Spiderman watch and his Incredible Hulk toy, and we are working on magic tricks with his new magic kit. The plasma cars have been a huge hit for both boys as well. We hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Here was a final note from Clark giving the boys permission to give him a hug on his last day




At Christmas Eve service - these are 3 of his preschool classmates






Sam surprised us with his (mostly) good behavior


Waiting on dinner and watching The Grinch with friends


A new fishing game


One last story before bed


Ho! Ho! Ho!




Sam's favorite "toy"


This is what sidetracked Sam from opening presents on Christmas morning??


Santa pancakes!


Incredible Hulk!!


With his Incredible Hulk and new Spiderman watch


This lollipop drum was also a huge hit (no pun intended)


Watch out!


Clayton the magician


Plasma car fun!


Plasma car derby!


Some of Clayton's books....


Batman


More from the Batman book...




"The Incredibles"


A book about Dr. Seuss & Cat in the Hat


Santa Claus!

Here are a couple of videos from Christmas morning...

CLAYTON
- Here is a video of him making his slide outside "go faster!" - Slide!
- He will tell you that his favorite food is salmon - and chocolate cake
- He is very into making "books". We take 3 sheets of paper, fold them in half and staple down the center. He has made books about The Incredibles, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Elf on the Shelf, Toy Story, Baby Jesus, and many others. I posted a few pictures up above.
- His favorite Christmas toys so far have been - plasma car, magic kit, & Incredible Hulk

SAM
- His favorite Christmas toy was his broom and dust pan set. He also is obsessed with the new remote controlled helicopters. We have to keep them out of sight or we will not quit bugging us about flying them!
- He really likes water fountains. He likes to bathe in them more than drink from them :)
- He has hit a new milestone - he can now remove plastic plug covers from outlets with his fingers...awesome
- He has a new favorite word - yuck!
- He does this new thing now when he is told something he does not want to hear (like "no Sam!"). He will start to storm off, turn around and with a quiver in his voice and his bottom lip out, say "Byyyye!!!" then run off to his room and slam the door. I'm still trying to get it captured on video
- He is still calling daddy "ma-ma!". He will not say da-da or daddy.
- Sam went on the potty! (12/29/11) - he got up and said "YUCK!"

Fall is here!

Fall is here (whether we like it or not)! We have been enjoying the mild weather because we know what happens in the months ahead. We have been outside as much as possible.
I realized that I forgot to do a back to school post, so I'm going to take care of the photos from that at the bottom of this post. Today we went to the pumpkin patch, it was a very windy and dusty day but we had a great time!

The pumpkin patch!


He found one he liked






Sam took a break from collecting rocks to pose for this picture





Happy Fall!

Sam loves to swing on his tummy


Sometimes they get along :)


Clayton is learning to play soccer!


He is #11 (one of my favorite numbers)


Sam is the goalie (actually he can dribble the ball very well!)


All ready for church


One of Clayton's many towers


This has been a popular playing spot lately (it is a great place to collect rocks!)


Sam got this for his birthday from us, forgot to post a picture :)


He loves trying on everyone's shoes!


Clayton was sick here and they were snuggling to watch a show, so sweet.


We discovered 11 Swallowtail caterpillars on this plant




Some of Clayton's drawings...


"Pirate Ship"


Cat in the Hat with friends, Sally & Nick


"Butterfly"


"Our house"


"Building with lots of windows"


"Shark"


Sample coloring, age 4.5

First day of Preschool

Sam's first day of "school" (KDO)


He loved carrying his own backpack




This was how I found him when I came to get him from school

CLAYTON
* Likes to point out all the "no parking" signs and "no trucks" signs as we are driving
* He is asking how to spell words and reading letters then asking "what does that spell?"
* He loves his brother. Oftentimes we will be looking at pictures and he will point out "Look at Sam, he is so cute, I LOVE my baby brother".
* Once when he heard Sam cry he remarked "Mommy, I don't think Sam likes himself!"

SAM
* Loves to try on everyone's shoes. We went to a birthday party with a giant bounce house (it even had a slide!). All he did was sit outside the bounce house and try on everyone's shoes! :)
* He is slowly beginning to talk (we think). New words include: binky, thank you
* He loves trains! Everytime he sees the train table at church (which he loves) or any other train he screams CHOO CHOO!!
* His favorite show is "Classical Baby" and when he wants to watch it he will sit on the couch, point and grunt at the tv, and do a little dance (it has music)
* His new found foods are mandarin oranges and chocolate covered sunflower seeds (they are colorful!) - he likes them both
* Likes to try on all of his pajamas - everything goes on over the feet
* He likes to call daddy at work, when daddy answers he will say "Hiiiiii!"
* He likes to pretend to blow his nose into a tissue (he only blows out of his mouth)
* Still loves collecting rocks