Playing outside

We've been having beautiful weather here in AZ with temperatures in the 70s for the past week (anyone want to come visit???), so the boys and I headed outside to play one afternoon. Well, Will played while Miles and I hung out on a blanket.

Fun at the zoo

Two Fridays ago we went to the zoo with some of our friends from MOMS Club. we spent most of our time in the children's area of the zoo which we don't usually go to, so it was a lot of fun. Plus Will always has a good time with these crazy bobos!

Will, Nathaniel, Josh, and Addison:


Wrestling a gator (crocodile? I don't know...):


Will and Josh (and Jenny, Nathaniel's mom) brushing a goat in the petting zoo:


Will in the pouch of a wallabe:

Can you find the baby?

Will thought Miles might want to play with all of his toys at the same time...never mind the fact that he really can't play with any of them yet!

Baptism

While John's parents were here visiting we had the boys baptized. They both did really well--Miles slept right through it. :) We had a brunch party afterwards for our friends and family that came to it (and our friends at church). it was great because the dads played outside with the kids so the mommies all got to hang out inside having grown-up conversations without being constantly interrupted! :)

Christmas...a bit late

At least I'm getting to it within a month after Christmas, right? ;) We had a great time celebrating this year with John's parents visiting us and my whole family here (well, except my brother). We were all very spoiled. John and I got each other GPS units for our cars which has been so nice. Granted there aren't many places I go that I need directions to, but it's cool to be able to find the lowest gas prices in the area, find lunch on our way home from somewhere, and know our arrival time when we're going places. Will asked Santa for roller skates, and the man in red complied. John got a lot of cool new golf stuff, I got cookbooks, new Crocs (the unofficial stay at home mom shoe), the BBC Planet Earth series on BluRay. We definitely made out like bandits.

P-Bill and Grandma's visit

We were blessed to have John's parents come and stay with us for two weeks before Christmas. John's dad, Bill, came out a few days before his mom, Aurelia. John and Bill had tickets to the Red Wings/Coyotes game--two rows behind the Detroit bench! They were pretty much in hockey heaven.



We had a pretty busy schedule while they were here. John and Bill played several rounds of golf (John even broke 100 in one of them!!), so while they were doing that Aurelia and I entertained the boys. Aurelia came with me to MOPS and really enjoyed it. The kids did a little Christmas show for us, singing Jingle Bells. It was so cute! Here's Will and his friend Josh standing in front of him:



We also took the boys to see Santa. Will wrote a letter to Santa asking for roller skates, and grandma had the clever idea to trace his feet on the back of the letter so he'd know what size skates to leave for Will. I was kind of worried because last year Will was pretty scared of Santa, but he was so excited this year.

The boys with Bill and Aurelia before we left for the mall:


Will showing Santa his letter:


Miles wasn't overly excited about Santa:


When Will and I (oh, and Miles was there) were at Trader Joe's the week before Bill and Aurelia came to visit, we picked up a gingerbread house kit to make with grandma while she was here. Will had a lot of fun, but he wanted to eat the candy as we were going and was very impatient waiting for Daddy and P-Bill to get home from golf so he could start eating it.

Will and Grandma, hard at work:


Will and the finished product:


Will digging in after Daddy and P-Bill had a chance to see the gingerbread house:


We also went to Desert Breeze Park in Chandler to ride the train. We've only ever gone to the Scottsdale train park but wanted to try this one, and I needed to meet my friend Michele for something, so it worked out great to go there. It was fun, but Will said he likes the usual one better.









The boys' baptism and our Christmas celebration will have to wait...I'm tired of updating.

Catching Up

I've been meaning to update the blog for a few weeks now but it doesn't stay very high on the list of priorities. Hopefully over the next few days I can get caught up on everything--John's parents' visit, Christmas, more of Miles' smiles. I finally made up a cleaning/housekeeping schedule, so with that out of the way and straightened out, I just need to get Miles in a routine, and things should start getting back to normal. Or to a new normal...you know what I mean.

Miles' first smile!

I know I need to update with Christmas pictures and pictures from when John's parents were here visiting, but the big news today is that Miles smiled for the first time!! I'm pretty bummed that I wans't here for it (darn grocery shopping!), but it's cool for John that he got to see the first smile.

Christmas pictures

Here are some of the pictures from Gaga's photo shoot today.

Will not being very cooperative:

Grandparent papparazzi

My mom came over today to take pictures of Will and Miles for her Christmas card. She got several pictures (as did I), but she kept on snapping even when Will was all done with the endeavor. :)