Circus

Last night we took Ethan and Austin to see the Jordan World Circus. We took Ethan last year and his favorite performance of the circus was the little dogs doing tricks. So this year he was very excited to see the little dogs again, and I was crossing my fingers that they would actually have the little dogs again this year. Luckily, he wasn't disappointed, and again the little poodles were the highlight for him. Austin was a bit frightened with all the loud music and lights, so he sat on Adam's lap the whole time and hid his face when things got too scary. At intermission they brought out elephants for the kids to ride, ponies to ride, a big black bear to take pictures with, face painting, and the poodles from the show were available to have pictures taken with.

Despite loving the poodles performance so much, Ethan is deathly afraid of dogs (it all started when my parents tiny dog attacked Austin last year). So I was trying to take a picture of Ethan with the big black bear right behind him. The poodles were just behind the black bear and instead of being afraid that there was a huge bear right behind him, Ethan was almost in tears because he thought the dogs were gonna run over and attack him. You can see in the picture I took how scared Ethan looks while he is still trying to smile for the picture. I tried to explain to him that tiny toy poodles were not a threat, but he didn't buy it. I think he would've rather sat in the bear's lap than pet the poodles. Funny boy.

Cute Brothers

I love how much Ethan and Austin adore each other. They fight like all siblings do, but they both think the other is so cute and funny. Every day when we take Ethan to preschool, Austin and I walk Ethan into his classroom. Before we leave, Austin always calls to Ethan, "Brother! Brother! Hug! Kiss!" Austin always naps while Ethan's at school and when I wake Austin up to go pick up Ethan, he gets so excited and always says, "Preschool time! Brother! I want a kiss!" And when we get to the school and Ethan climbs in the car, the first thing he does is give Austin a hug and kiss.

Ethan thinks Austin's the cutest thing he's ever seen. He always says to me, "Mom why is Austin sooo cute??!!" It just melts my heart to see my boys loving each other so much. It's so nice that they're starting to be friends, considering the first year or so of Austin's life Ethan would've rather bit Austin than played with him.

I took these cute pictures other day while I was experimenting with my new DSL camera lens. They loves taking baths together.

Austin loves to hold this baby doll all wrapped up in Austin's favorite blanket. He rocks him and sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and gives him hugs. It's so cute. He'll be 2 in 2 weeks, I can't believe it.

Dinner Party

A few days after Christmas we had some of my college friends and their husbands over for dinner. A couple of them live nearby and a couple others were in town visiting their families for Christmas. We had a yummy soup dinner and just hung out and talked and laughed. I love those girls, we always have so much fun when we get together. Unfortunately, we forgot to take a picture until after a couple of the girls had already left.

Christmas

I am finally posting about our Christmas! Our computer has been having, and is still having, some issues.

We spent Christmas Eve at the Winn's in Mapleton. Adam's brother who is serving a church mission in the Philippines called to talk to us that night, so it was a lot of fun to talk to him. We spent the night at their house and opened presents there Christmas morning. Ethan and Austin got tons of toys and clothes. That afternoon we headed to my parent's house to open more presents and eat a big Christmas dinner. Austin's favorite toys were a Big Bird stuffed animal and a Little Einstein Rocket and Ethan's favorite toys were a Curious George stuffed animal, motorcycle racetrack, and a Batman cave. The boys also got a kitchen, which they love. Adam and I got a lot of great stuff too, I got a sewing machine, a new lens for my DSL camera, lots of clothes, and some jewelry. Adam got some Bose headphones, a book he really wanted, clothes, and a bunch more.

That night my parents watched our boys while me, Adam, my brothers, sister, and brother's wife Lara went to see the movie Benjamin Button. It was great, but so long.

The older my boys get, the more fun Christmas is. I love to see them so excited to open presents and get excited about Santa. However, even though Ethan is only 4, he already seems doubtful about the whole Santa thing. About a week before Christmas I asked him if he knew how Santa gets into the house on Christmas to bring his presents. He didn't know so I told him all about landing the sleigh on the roof and going down the chimney. He paused for a minute and looked at me and said incredulously, "You don't believe THAT??!!" What a funny boy, too smart for his own good.

Austin and Ethan on Christmas Eve

Austin and his Daddy Christmas morning

Austin opening his favorite Big Bird

For some reason, Ethan loved toasting with Kristin at dinner. He made her do it over and over.

Santa Claus

Ethan has visited with Santa a total of FIVE times this holiday season (not to mention a couple fake phone calls from "Santa" (aka Adam) trying to convince Ethan why he needed to be a good boy at Christmas time.

The first visit was at my parents house back in November. My parents' good friends from Georgia were in town visiting for the weekend and the husband happens to be a professional Santa (he grows his white beard year round and then is hired to come to all sorts of parties in December). He looks so much like Santa that he has professional cards made up with his picture on it that he gives to kids he meets and he also has treats he keeps with him to give out to children that approach him thinking he's Santa. So anyway, when he walked in the room and Ethan saw him, Ethan's jaw dropped. It was hilarious!

The second encounter with Santa was at the mall; Ethan loved it but Austin refused to go anywhere near Santa.

The next encounter was at Ethan's preschool. Santa paid the kids in his class a visit and Ethan was sooooo excited about it. He talked about it all week and told everyone he saw about it.

The fourth visit was over the weekend. Adam's mom and dad took me, Austin, and Ethan to Riverside Country Club for their annual family Christmas luncheon. They had someone dressed up as Rudolph that scared Austin to death. Anytime Rudolph got near, Austin's hands would start to shake. While we were eating lunch, every time Rudolph walked by the doorway, Austin would yell out, "There he is!!" and when he'd disappear from sight, Austin would say, "Where is he? Is he hiding?" After eating lunch a helicopter landed on the golf course right by the window we were sitting next to. Ethan and Austin were sooooooooo excited to see the helicopter landing so close to them, and then to have Santa get off! Thanks Grandma Karon and Papa Steve, we had so much fun!!

The last visit (and probably last for this year) was last night. Adam's extended family does a big prime rib dinner every year at Christmas time. Then they have "Santa" come by the house and all the little kids get to sit on his lap and talk to him and get a candy cane and little present.

Playing in the snow

We had a big snow storm last week, so we went to our neighbor Jullian's house to play with her sleds. Austin usually hates getting all bundled up, but he had a great time. We pulled the boys around the block on sleds (what a great work out for the moms!!), made snow angels, ate lots of snow (Ethan), and had lots of fun.

Cohen & Ethan (it was still snowing pretty hard while we were out playing, so that's why the pictures look a little hazy)

Ethan flying over a big mound of snow

Me & Ethan

Austin kept his tounge sticking out trying to catch snow almost the whole time

Jullian & Cohen

Bowling, Christmas Trees, and Peanuts

I haven't done much posting lately, mainly due to the fact that I've been super busy with Christmas preparations. I've also felt like I haven't done much to blog about. But I was just looking through my pictures and realized I had a few things I'd completely missed blogging about so this will just have to cover a few topics.

Ethan LOVES the bowling game on our Wii. And he's actually REALLY good at it; he often beats Adam and I. So we took him to a real bowling alley a couple weeks ago. He had so much fun, but I think it was a sad reality for him to face that real bowling balls are heavy, and not so easy to throw like the Wii bowling ball.

Every year Adam's Grandma and Grandpa make gingerbread houses for ALL their grand kids and their spouses and great grand kids (probably around 50 houses that they make from scratch). Everyone brings decorations and go crazy. It's such a fun tradition and his grandparents are so nice to do it for so many people.

And here we are picking out our Christmas tree a couple weeks ago. Adam always begs to buy a fake tree, but I grew up always having a real tree, so I end up winning that discussion every year. I love the way real trees smell and look.

We bought a hot tub a couple months ago, and have loved it so far. We get in several nights a week (so if anyone ever wants to join us, let us know!)

A big stress we've been dealing with lately is Ethan's peanut and almond allergies. We've known he was allergic to peanuts since he was 1 and had a pretty severe reaction (hives, wheezing, trouble breathing). But I didn't ever take him to be tested because his pediatrician blew it off and said he'd probably outgrow it so just wait a year and try again (by the way, that's the worst advice ever). Last year, his preschool teacher gave him Reece's Pieces for several days in a row even though I told her he was allergic. He came home every day screaming and crying in pain and would throw up and diarrhea and be so out of it. I thought he was just sick, but then finally realized what was happening. So I took him to an allergist early this year and they did a blood RAST test, but somehow the lab FORGOT to test for peanuts. So we found out he was also allergic to eggs and almonds, but didn't know HOW allergic to peanuts he was. I found a new and MUCH better allergist last month and had him re-tested, and they also did a skin prick test. On the blood test, it starts at 0 and the highest possible score is 100 plus. For peanuts, if you score above 14, that means you will have a reaction 100% of the time. But even with a lower score of say 3 or 4 you could go into anaphylactic shock if you had even a trace amount of peanuts. Well, Ethan scored 100 plus!! His almond score was around 7 and luckily he's pretty much outgrown his egg allergy. But ever since I found out how severe his peanut allergy is, it has really hit me how dangerous ANY exposure to any amount of peanuts or almonds is. Doctors say that each time someone with a peanut allergy is exposed to peanuts, the reaction usually gets worse every time. And peanut allergies are the most deadly of food allergies for some reason. I never realized before how peanuts are everywhere and in the most random products. Even things that aren't la bled to have a trace of peanuts can still have them. Sorry for the LLLOOONNNGG post, but to make a long story short, we carry his epi-pen everywhere now, just in case.

Another stress in my family is that my older brother Eric had a seizure a few nights ago and had to be rushed by ambulance to the emergency room. He doesn't have a history of seizures and the doctor could find nothing wrong with him besides dehydration. He is doing great now and we are all praying that he continues to do so. Love you Eric!

Girls Night at Gardner Village

Last year we started a tradition in my family (the Izant side) for all the girls to go out to Gardner Village for some shopping and dinner right before Christmas. We went tonight and it was a lot of fun. I also go out for a Christmas dinner every year with the girls on the Winn side of the family, but didn't get any pictures of that when we went last week.