The Night Before Christmas

We had a wonderful evening together. We made cookies for Santa, watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and read "The Night Before Christmas". Connor even sprinkled some food outside for the reindeer. The boys are super excited about Santa coming tonight. Oddly enough they were wired and wouldn't take naps today but at bedtime Connor was insistent that they needed to fall asleep as fast as they could so Santa could come. No fighting them there. I love to hear Haydn say, "Santa Claus coming!" It is just so cute. I can't wait to see their faces in the morning. Also, here are some pictures of the lights and trees (yes, trees! one real, one fake) we have decorating our house. Of course, more pics will follow.

Hawaii as a Family

Here are some more of our Hawaii pics. These are mostly of the fun we had the week Scott was there.

Waterfall

We went to Waimea Falls today with Grandpa, Aunt Katie and Uncle Michael. We took a mile hike through a beautiful landscape and then got to swim under a waterfall. It was such a beautiful day for a hike. The boys were pretty good hikers too. Haydn is so independent and wanted to do his own thing. It made the hike a lot longer but lots more interesting.

PCC

We spent the week at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). We got to tour and learn about traditions in Samoa, Aoteoroa (New Zealand), Fiji, Hawaii, Marquesas, Tahiti, and Tonga. Connor's favorite part was riding the canoe through the middle of the villages. He tried to touch all the bridges that we would go under by jumping and trying his hardest to scare his Mom. But I didn't need to worry because the guide was nice enough to tell us the water wasn't deep, "like he said mom, I can just stand up if I fall in!" He DID NOT like the Samoan fire dancing. He was afraid they were going to throw the sticks to him or hurt themselves. He kept saying, "I'm done, I don't like this!" It was a fun few days and we learned a lot.

Saturday at the Beach

We went Saturday and enjoyed a nice afternoon as a family at the beach after General Conference. We like this beach because it is more like a shallow bay so you can walk out pretty far. Here's some pics of the kids enjoying time with their Grandma and aunts as well as their newest cousin, little Ben. This pic of Connor is just the funniest face I've caught on camera in a while. Ben is enjoying sucking on his sandy fingers. We are loving spending this time with our family. When the three ride in the car together Ben will hold Connor's hand and Connor loves it. Haydn will try to hold Ben's hand too but it doesn't work as well. When Hadyn approaches the baby he speaks with a cute high pitched voice and says, "Hi Baby!"

Building a Pool

One of the favorite new things the boys like to do is dig a pool at the beach so that we have a spot to splash in outside the ocean. Haydn LOVES this. He'll go around the back of the pool, where a lot of the sand is built up from digging, and jump in the water. Here's some more pics of us enjoying the beach!

Labor Day Fun

We had so much fun as a family over Labor Day weekend. We went to the children's museum here and played mini golf there. The kids loved it-Connor because he's totally into it, Haydn because he loves balls and fun places to roll them as you can see. We also found a new hobby we love--GO KARTS! We did this a few weeks ago for the first time and over the weekend we found an even better place to do it. Connor is in HEAVEN when we go as you can see from the constant bright smile on his face. Haydn loved it too. We did some bumper boats too. Connor and I got much wetter than we were supposed to but it was beyond a blast. I just love seeing the sheer joy on our kids faces. It's so fun to have boys!

Connor's Soccer Team

This is Connor's soccer team. It's a parent/child class where basically they learn how to control a ball but it's a soccer team. All week Connor has been so excited to play soccer with his Daddy, oh and his friends Katie and Lexi too! They met for the first time today.

Here's Connor playing soccer with Katie and Lexi.


This boy is all about soccer!

Great KICK!

Here's what they did today...They learned how to control the ball with small kicks. They got to dribble around a cone and back to help them learn control. Connor did really great.

They learned how to stop the ball or "put the brakes on". They would dribble the ball until the coach blew his whistle and then they would stop the ball.

Then we played a game of sharks and minnows. Mommies and Daddies were sharks trying to take the ball from the minnows.

Haydn had some fun too! Just try to tell him he's too little to play soccer!

FHE...Nighttime Snow Play

We had a fun family home evening (FHE) tonight. We took the boys out in our backyard in the dark to play in the snow. We turned on the porch light and Scott and Connor wore flashlights on their heads. We had tons of fun playing in the fresh fallen snow. We made snow angels, built a snowman and had an intense snowball fight. Here are some pics...

Boston Children's Museum

We took a trip to the Boston Children's Museum, as Scott mentioned before, last Saturday. It is such an awesome place. Here are some pics of the adventures we had there.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

These are pictures from our trip to NJ for Christmas. We spent Christmas with my Dad and his family. The cutest thing was to dress up the kids and do the Nativity scene. Connor was Joseph and Haydn was a very wiggly baby Jesus. The kids were happy with their presents (Haydn would have been happy with just his orange). Connor's favorite present is probably the tool set he got from Grandma Beckie and he loves the games Santa brought. Scott and I got some great surprises too!

Saturday Fun!

We had such a fun day Saturday. We started with a ward breakfast with Santa. Scott sang a fun version Jingle Bells with a small group of men. It sounded awesome honey! Connor got to meet Santa. The first thing he told him was all about the hat that Santa left at our house (see previous post)! He's so funny! Then we went sledding with some friends. Connor did amazing! He loved it and even went down the hill all by himself! Haydn, on the other hand, hated it from the very first minute I put that snow suit on him! I think he hated being bundled up so much and not being able to move. He screamed for the first 10 min or so and then calmed down but was still highly irritated by the whole thing. He stopped crying when I took him down the hill. I only got one quick smile out of him the whole time we were there. Poor guy. We had a blast sledding and can't wait to do it again.