Christmas at Home!

The boys got Transformer jammies from Grandma Alpha and they love them! A few days ago we found Transformer slippers on the clearance rack for both of them. They have worn them almost every night since Christmas (except when they were in the laundry!).

We let them open their stocking gifts on the 23rd. They each got a puppet and a wind up boat along with candy.

We opened gifts on Christmas Eve. Seth got the Playmobil police set. He loved it. It has a police car and motorcycle and a jail complete with bad guys.

Ethan has been asking for the Playmobil jet for months and he was so excited when he finally got it. He opened the present and then danced around the room a couple of times. As you can see it's huge!

We had our traditional Christmas Eve picnic of finger foods and sweet things. We opened presents after supper and then Matt and I spent over an hour putting all of the sets together!

Christmas is coming!

Some friends of ours invited us ours were staying at a hotel in Hutch and invited us to come and swim with them. We met them for lunch and swam at the hotel. It was a lot of fun.

Ethan was little fish in the water. He did not want us to hold onto him even if he couldn't touch.

This is Jarod and Bridget Grover and their two girls Hannah and Sophie and ofcourse Matt and the boys.

Matt, the space man with the kids!

This was in the foyer after the boys' school Christmas program. Doesn't Seth look sharp in his suspenders and tie? Ethan got to pick out his own tie which he thought was pretty special. They would walk around and tell eachother, "You look sharp!". I wonder where they heard that?

We baked Christmas cookies and decorated them. We made some in the shape of gingerbread boys and Matt convinced them that the cooke was going to escape out of the oven. So Matt took a cookie when it came out and put one by the front door. The boys were amazed and really thought that it had escaped!

Decorating cookies is serious business!

Both boys have big green (hazel) eyes!

Seth is really studying that gingerbread boy!

The boys are so excited for Christmas. The favorite thing so far is looking at Christmas lights. Seth especially gets so excited! The other night he would start screaming, "Wookie dat!! Wookie dat!! (Look at that!) OOOOhhhhh Wow!" He was in awe! Even if a house has one string of lights he still gets excited! Hope to see everyone soon for Christmas!

Dollhouse Fun (even for boys!)

I have been telling the boys for a long time that I would get out my old dollhouse and let them see it. Last night I found it all and set it up for them. Matt was gone last night and the boys were in bed so I was all alone and set up the house and took out all of the furniture. It brought back so many memories! I haven't taken it out of the box in almost 20 years (I think I let Lindsey play with it a little bit when she was little. Don't think I was playing with it when I was 15!) This was probably my most favorite childhood toy and it was fun to share it with Ethan and Seth. Seth kept calling it a "girl house".
They thought it was the neatest thing. Ethan loves things that are to scale and have a lot of detail so he thought this was great. Seth was very interested in the dog and three cats that are in the house which didn't surprise me.
They wanted me to take a picture and show all of the furniture and rooms.

The Pumpkin Patch!

The Sunny Side Pumpkin Patch is about 15 minutes south of Salina and we love to go there, especially on a beautiful fall day. It was a little windy but not to bad. This is Matt and Seth on the hayrack ride.
There is a hayrack ride pulled by horses that goes around the pumpkin patch. The sun was right in their eyes but they tried to smile.
Ethan loved the tire horse swings.
Obviously Matt is giving Seth a little help. He still doesn't even weigh 30 lbs.
They had a few holes of mini golf and Ethan really got into it.

Seth was always a little nervous when Ethan was pulling the wagon.

They had big tubs of corn with tractors and toys in them that they could play with. Seth loved it. He was trying to bury himself.

Fun Times

This is Ethan on his first chapel day at school. They have to dress in a shirt and tie with navy slacks every Wednesday. I thought he looked so cute.

This was one of the last warm days and they ran through the sprinkler.

It's good to have a brother!

Grandma Alpha and Aunt Jodie came up for a weekend the end of August. Grandma brought a kite and we went out to fly it. It was a nice windy day for it.

Jodie and Seth watching them fly the kite.

Ethan was a good kite flyer!
Most of the time the boys were more interested in the sprinklers in the park than they were in the kite. Boys and machines what can I say?
Ethan and Seth were selling food and drinks to Grandma.
Great Grandma Friesen came down for Grandparents Day at school. She got to come to both of the boys' classroom as well as mine! Grandpa Friesen was there also.
We went to the State Fair. As usual it rained the entire time! Every year we seem to pick a cold rainy day. Needless to say I didn't get out my camera much so this was our only pic of the state fair. It was wet and muddy but we had a good day. We met cousin Brian Timken and his family for pizza afterward.

First day of school!

Today is the first day of school at Salina Christian Academy. Ethan is in Kidergarten and Seth is in Preschool. They are so excited!
It was my first day of school too. I am teaching music for grades 1-8 twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.
Ready to go!
The boys in front of their school! It is an old public school building and the school has been in this building for about 4 years. They have done a lot of work updating it.
This is at Sethy's classroom. He was very apprehensive and cried when I left. The teachers reassured me he stopped right after I left.
Seth at his seat in his preschool classroom.
Ethan was so ready for Kindergarten. He sat right down at his seat and didn't even look back. I have to say I got a little teary eyed seeing him in his classroom. I can't believe he is officially "in school". It doesn't seem possible. I had a great first day in my classes. It was a lot of fun and my "teacher mode" seemed to come back quickly. I know there will be challenges but I think overall it will be a great year.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Here is Ethan on his new bike!
He wanted an airplane cake so I did my best! I really need to take a cake decorating class so I can keep up with their wishes!


Ethan is now 5 years old! I can't believe it! On the actual day of his birthday Matt and I agreed not to say anything because I knew he would expect a cake and presents on that day (we were having a party later in the week) but by evening I felt terrible not even acknowledging his birthday so I told him and we talked about memories of the day he was born. I felt much better. On Thursday of that week we had the Underwoods over for supper and cake. Bailey is a year older than Ethan and they love playing together. It was a fun evening. Ethan was so excited about his presents, especially the bike!