Happy Birthday, Austin!

I can't believe my little baby turned 2 this week!! We spent his actual birthday in California, but we're having a family party for him this weekend, Big Bird themed. We love him so much!

Austin 1 week old

Austin's 1st birthday

Austin- 14 months

Austin-21 months old

Austin-2!

Baby Samantha

My sister and brother-in-law, Mandi & Tyler, had their second baby last week, Samantha. She is the first girl on the Winn side; Adam has all brothers and all the grandchildren born so far have been boys. We're all so excited to have a girl! We weren't able to visit her while she was in the hospital because we were all sick, but now that we're all better, we took a trip to their house this morning. Ethan has been soooo excited to meet her. He loved holding her and asked to do it several times. Austin loved her hair and when he saw it, he said, "I touch it, I touch it!"

She is so cute, we love her!

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