It's my favorite time of year!

This is by far my most favorite time of the year! Family has always been extremely important to me and I always love getting to spend time with as many family members as possible during this time of year and through out the year. And now the holidays have even more meaning to me cause I have an amazing husband, and 2 handsome boys to make many new memories and traditions with! We have started one tradition of always going up to Chicago to see Brent's aunts, Uncles and Grandma the day before Christmas and Christmas Eve. Then we hop into the car Christmas Day, and then drive to Ferdinand Indiana to see the rest of Brent's family. Then spend the remaining time with his mom, dad, sister, and the boys get to play with there cousins!!! I cherish this time with family cause this is the time that Brent gets to take off an extended amount of time off of work, and the boys and I get quality time with him and get to see family that we don't get to see on a regular basis! Another tradition that we enjoy doing is going to Ice at the Gaylord it's is so much fun! We tried to go last year, but it just didn't work out. We are going to try again this year. I have to say I am pretty excited to see Ayden's face since one of his favorite movies is Shrek! The other thing that I enjoy doing is reflecting on the past year. There have been some amazing moments this past year, with Clayton learning how to roll over, crawl, walk, run, climb, and say his first words. Ayden has learned how to talk better, use better self control, show empathy towards others, jump, and being able to start understanding cause and effect, and using the potty! Brent and I have grown more and more closer together, we enjoy our time alone and date nights! We have had some ups and downs with loss of family members and having to say goodbye. We have also gained some new Members of our family as well! Looking at everything that we have been through this past year makes me so grateful and blessed with what the lord has provided us this year! We are happy, healthy, and we have two very happy children who bring us so much joy into our lives. Our lives right now seem complete and just right and it's a really good feeling! Not to say that within the next year or two we will possibly start trying again to add to our family but right now Brent and I are exactly where we want our family to be! I can't wait to see what the next year brings will Ayden be 100% potty trained? Will Clayton be potty trained? Will Ayden be in school for speech therapy? Will Clayton be talking? How big will both boys be? Will Brent and I decide we want to start trying for baby #3? I can't wait to see what the next year brings and where our 2012 chapter will take us but I know that with my husband by my side and Ayden and Clayton long for the ride the chapter will be amazing!

Elizabeth

My little monkeys!

Well the saying boys will be boys is starting to definitely stand true in this house! We are always wrestling, eating, making messes, getting dirty, and climbing on anything and everything that can be climbed on! Ayden was a late climber and just recently has really gotten good at the art of climbing he can pretty much climb to get anything that he wants and yes that means things on top of the refrigerator and cabinets in the kitchen! He will grab a bar stool and push it to where he wants to go climb up that the climb onto the counter and he then feels like the king of the world literally! He is literally another curious george! It's cute and all but it's also very exhausting due to we are having to re baby proof the kitchen cause our wonderful gate that is up you guessed right he can climb and jump over that as well! Ayden has also been a VERY good teacher to Clayton and showing him the art of climbing! Clayton can climb up on to any of the couches and he can climb up on the coffee table and then he will "jump" down which means jump on mommy! This stage is making me real nervous I know kids will climb and to things and it's all part of growing up but Clayton wants to be like his older brother sooo bad I just know he is going to hurt himself one day! Like he did on thursday night but technically it wasn't his fault it was his brothers but regardless he still ended up in the emergency room with a possible head injury! Thankfully everything with Clayton is fine and playing king of the coffee table is no longer permitted in this house but it was never permitted to begin with! I am just in shock in how fast clayton is growing up! I just hope thy I will be able to have a little bit longer before he figures out how to climb out of his crib! :) I am going to get off here but leave you with a few pictures of my monkeys who I love so much!