What's been keeping us busy . . .

We have been very busy the past several weeks.  I apologize for the lack of updating on the blog.  I've got too many hobbies going on myself.  I will try to throw up a few more pics to update everyone in the next few days.  I am making no promises.  There are two main things that have kept us busy: illness and visitors.  My poor Ronan has suffered from 4-5 (I've lost count) ear infections since December along with colds and a stomach bug that landed him in the ER for IV fluids.  He is fine now - well a little runny nose with a little fluid in the ear, but no infection . . .yet.  Ugh.  Luckily he stays happy through all of it!  Jacob and Aidan have had it a bit easier.  Just a cold or two and Jacob did get the stomach bug.  Luckily, we managed to stay somewhat healthy while good friends of our were visiting from Boston.  We had an absolute blast hanging out with them at the zoo, the Botanical Gardens or at home.  It didn't matter where we were, just that we were together.  Anyway, that's about it in a nutshell.  There were a few more fun times in between Christmas and the present and I will touch on those soon . . . I think . . .

Ronan enjoying his first ride in the "Big Boy Forward Facing" carseat.

Sweet Rowdy attempting to comfort our poor sick Jacob

Zoo time with the Ulrickson girls!!!

Fun at the Desert Botanical Gardens with the Ulrickson girls!!

Oops, said I would post these and then didn't.

It has been brought to my attention, many times, that I forgot to post our Halloween Part II.  SO here it is.  These are the photos I took of Ronan and Owen (our good friends Dave and Heather's son).  Owen is almost exactly 1 month older than Ronan.  They were so cute together in their costumes.

"Dude, I don't get all this, do you?"

"I don't, but you look good."

"Um, you got a little something here..."

"CHEESE!!!"

"Dude, I already told you, it's right there.  On you cheek."

"Here, let me straighten that for you..."

"You didn't quite get it . . ."

"All better and lookin' good!"

Almost Forgot about Zoo lights!!

Can't believe I almost forgot about our annual Zoo Lights outing.  A whole bunch of us go - although you wouldn't know it from my pictures.  Apparently I took photos mainly of Ronan.  Probably because he was contained and I didn't have to chase him to get a photo.  We all had a blast!!

Christmas Morning with the Thomas side

Each year after we open our gifts, Cody's parents and siblings come over to our house for more gifts and family time.  This year Travis' sweet, sweet girlfriend Raquel was able to join us.  It's always a great time with Gramps, Farmor, Aunt Jamie, Uncle T and Raquel!!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was awesome!  The boys loved the gifts from Santa and from Mommy and Daddy.  I love to watch them get so excited.

Christmas Eve

This year our Christmas was a bit different . . .mainly for me.  I decided not to worry about getting photos of every little thing.  I didn't want to stress about pictures and helping the boys or missing something.  SO, I relied on others to get photos.  I got just enough to post on the blog I think.  The next difference was the timing of all of our celebrations.  This year we celebrated Christmas Eve with Cody's parents, siblings and Grandmom with a Christmas Eve brunch instead of dinner.  I loved it.  We didn't have to rush through anything in order to squeeze in church and get the boys to bed at a descent hour.  The only bummer was that Cody's sister Jamie did have to leave early to go to work.  Hopefully next year she won't have to.  This was one of the gatherings that I simply enjoyed and did not worry about pictures.  I let Gramps do all the picture taking.

Below is a photo of our cute little tree.  We decided to go with a smaller live tree do to the fact the all of the boys and the dog enjoy undecorating as fast as you can decorate.  I liked it.

The next few photos are of the boys already to go to church.  Jacob was not down with the idea of pics, so don't have a great one of all three.  Oh well, I sympathize with him - I always hate to have my picture taken.  Especially when I was a kid.

First Preschool Program

Jacob participated in his first preschool Christmas program on Dec. 16.  He did an awesome job!  A little unsure, but who wouldn't be!  Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos once the program started.  Which I think was a great idea.  The kids are nervous enough and don't really need flashes going off and people moving around.  We were allowed to video tape, which is even better.  Except that I don't have the tape edited yet.  Oh well.

Today's nappers

Hmmm, that can't be comfortable, can it?

I guess I can make it work.

Snoozin' . . .

And this is how we found Aidan.  It took him a very long time to fall asleep and now we know why.  He was busy pulling all the clothes out of the top two drawers.  Ugh.

Good thing he's cute!!

I'm used to the kids stealing my place or hanging on me at not such great times.  Now I am readjusting to having a dog do that too.  Today while the boys were napping, I decided to catch up on some rest too on the couch.  I had to get up for a minute and when I came back I found this:

He looked so cute and comfy, I couldn't move him.

Then while giving all three boys a bath, Rowdy decided to make himself comfortable again . . .on my legs.  He probably would have stayed there for hours, but of course I couldn't.  Cute little bugger.

First Fat Lip

My poor little Roo.  Not only did we find out yesterday that he has a double ear infection, he also got his first fat lip and few days before.  It really wasn't too bad, could have been much worse.  I still felt bad for him.  My little man is such a trooper!!!