Christmas!

Christmas was such a great time. The boys were so fun and absolutely loved every minute of it.

Carson enjoyed the people,

While Connor enjoyed the food (of course).

They both loved opening up the presents and were spoiled rotten!

Even Momma got a special kiss from Connor. He must have known that "kissing" up gets all of the good gifts!

Annual Gingerbread House

Every year in September, Costco starts selling Gingerbread houses. Since we make a trip there at least once a week, Carson begs for it each time he sees it. I refuse to purchase it until at least November, but then he drools over it for a whole month as I make him wait until December before we build it. This year Connor contributed to the eating of most of the candy (and was in his bed still playing four hours after bed time...coincidence?) Carson, however, was very careful and exact in his placement of each piece of candy. We had a great time and the finished house has actually lasted for a couple of days in tact (I predict it won't be much longer before Connor has the whole thing consumed).

Connor's one contribution. The rest of the time he was eating.

Need I explain?

The finished house.

FHE at Grandma E's

Grandpa and Grandma Ellsworth had a special Family
Home Evening about Christmas and taught the boys
what each symbol of Christmas represented. We had
a wonderful time and enjoyed popcorn balls afterward.

The Polar Express

We ventured up to Williams, Az last week and had a great time riding the "Polar Express." We were served hot chocolate and cookies and then Santa came and gave each of the children a bell. Carson loved it and as soon as we got off the train he asked when we were coming back to ride it again. I had to inform him that tickets were gone and they had to be purchased at least the summer before. The next night he hadn't forgotten, so in his prayer he asked to be blessed with "tickets to the polar express so we can go again." How sweet is that?

Conner Cecil is famous!

Famous to us anyway!
Kevin's cousin (and our little Connor's namesake), Conner, has been discovered as an awesome country music singer. We are so excited for him and we think he sounds great (even though it IS country music..) ;0)
Check out his link to hear his latest songs:
http://www.myspace.com/connercecilmusic
Congratulations, Conner!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving last week and we have so much to be thankful for. Carson and Connor were so excited to see their cousins and uncles. We had a nice and quiet dinner and then the boys played with Uncle Marc and Matt outside (actually, Marc refers to it as babysitting) but they had fun no matter what it was.

Halloween - READ THIS FIRST!

Okay, so I have to start this post with a preface: I have sacrificed my personal and family pride this year for Halloween in order to secure my oldest child's happiness. After you see the pictures of Carson's Halloween costume, you will realize that I should win "Mother of the Year." Here's the story:

Back in September, Carson and I were discussing options for Halloween. He just didn't love any of my suggestions so we poured over every costume catalog and website we could find in search of this year's disguise. After a brief run through Target I finally had him convinced to be a tough-looking firefighter: very manly. Victory! I had a costume.


We were walking through the isle to make our purchase and that is when he saw it. THE costume. In the TODDLER isle, no less - Pablo the penguin from the Backyardigans. Anyone who has been around Carson this past month knows that he refers to himself as Pablo (the old ladies in the grocery stores probably think I am crazy naming my toe-head son Pablo, but he continues to respond as such to any question of "what's your name?")


So, being the fabulous mother that I am (no comments, please), I have sacrificed my own personal feelings and have happily let my sweetheart jump for joy at wearing Pablo, the-too-tight-because-it-was-meant-for-toddlers, the penguin costume.


Connor had no say in his costume whatsoever, so he was happy to be a spider.


Now, enjoy the photos!


Pablo, the Penguin.

Not all spiders are scary!

He actually wore the hat!

Our first family photo since Connor was born. How sad!