Trim the Tree

Over our Thanksgiving break we spent a lot of time together as a family. We did some shopping after the Black Friday crowds had died down, and even managed to get our Christmas decorations set up!

Joe got the lights hung up on the outside of the house, and they look great! We also got the Christmas tree out of it's box in the garage.

Jacob wanted to get the tree up and decorated all in one day, but Mommy and Daddy were moving a bit more slowly than that! We put the tree up Friday, and then decorated it Saturday and Sunday.

The boys LOVED the tree. They love the lights and had a blast putting ornaments on the tree! Saturday we mostly just put on the shatterproof ball ornaments that we bought at the end of last year (in anticipation of this year!)

I even got the boys to hold hands and stand in front of the tree for me. I think it's so cute, even though they probably won't think it's that cute... especially when they are teenagers!

The boys were really helpful decorating the tree. I won't say their ornament placement was really great, but I'm sure they'll get better at that. Besides, they don't really care if mommy rearranges all the ornaments when they aren't looking, right?

So far Ephraim has done really well at not touching the ornaments. I was half expecting to find ornaments scattered all over the floor, but they really have been minimal.

Jacob was a great helper! He helped Daddy put the star on the tree, and even helped me put some of the ornaments up high!

I think our Christmas tree looks great so far, don't you? In this picture there are quite a few ornaments that haven't made it to the tree yet!


Christmas with the boys this year is going to be so much fun! They are so excited about everything! The best part is that their joy and excitement is contagious!

Turkey Hands for Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving I had planned to put up a post full of photos of the things that I am most thankful for. Then Tuesday afternoon I got busy doing this instead...

I had promised Jacob that we would make handprint turkeys, and since it was almost Thanksgiving I figured we had better get on it! We were actually going to do this craft at playgroup yesterday, but I thought it would be too difficult without help... especially since it involved paint!

So for playgroup at our house we made toilet paper roll turkeys instead, which also turned out totally cute! For our handprint turkeys I actually painted Jacob's hand and them pressed it into the paper plate. Then we added feet, a beak, and a waddle. Next we added one inch squares around the outside.

I think it turned out pretty well, don't you?

We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving at home with the boys. I made a turkey and we had the trimmings that we like the best. Of course we also had lots of PIE!

My parents stopped by on their way to and from St. George, and it was nice to see them. Usually we have Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Heiner's house, but they took a well-deserved break this year and had a great time cycling together in St. George.

The best part of Thanksgiving was having so much time together as a family. It seems sometimes that we just get so busy! It is nice to take time to slow down, relax, and enjoy each other's company.

We Love Thomas, Brotherly Hugs, and the Bathroom Sink

The week before Thanksgiving I realized that it had been a while since I took some fun pictures of the boys playing. So I got out the camera and we had a great time. Jacob is so great for me now. He just looks at the camera and smiles!

Ephraim is starting to figure this camera thing out. He will look at me for about .2 seconds while he says "Cheese!" exuberantly. What a cutie!

This particular day Ephraim was playing with Thomas the Tank Engine. He just loves "Momas" and excitedly says his name every time we see a toy or book with Thomas in it.

Of course since Ephraim posed with Thomas, Jacob wanted to do it too. So who am I to argue?

As I got busy doing other things, I happened to glance out of the corner of my eye just in time to see Ephraim whack Jacob on the top of the head with a toy. Of course I made Ephraim apologize and tell Jacob he is sorry. Ephraim usually feels pretty bad about making Jacob sad, so he gives him a hug. Cute, huh?

Later as I was trying to get my hair done, the boys were being especially contentious, and it seemed like every other minute someone was upset about something. So I brought Ephraim into the bathroom and set him up on the counter with me.

Of course he found the most fun spot in the bathroom... and I just had to grab my camera again!

Ephraim was making the best faces at himself in the mirror. He was also having a great time making faces at Mommy and Jacob.

Jacob wanted me to put him in the sink too, but I assured him that he definitely wouldn't fit!

Isn't it great how kids can drive you crazy one minute, and then totally make you laugh the next. You've got to love it, right?

Ephraim sings "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

A few nights ago I was taking a diaper to the trash with Ephraim. It wasn't too late, but it was already pitch black outside. So we took a minute to look at the stars.

I said, "Look, Ephraim! Stars!"
Ephraim said, "tar!"
"That's right," I told him, "they are twinkle stars!"

At which point he started to say, "Ginkle, ginkle gingle tar" Then he lifted his arms over his head and said something like: "uubba budda baba eye.... ginkle, ginkle ginkle tar"

It took me a second, but then I realized he was trying to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to me! It was so cute and I just wanted to eat up my precious little boy! So then we sang it together and shared a fun little moment.

Ever since then I have wanted to get him singing this on camera... with varying degrees of luck. He knows what I want, so he's not going to do it!

Here is one of my first attempts. You can see him doing the actions, but there is not a lot of singing going on!



I finally caught him singing it to himself in the tub. See if you can hear it too!



Jacob helped a little bit there at the end, in case you couldn't tell.

More Fun Videos

Of course when I video Ephraim, Jacob wants a turn too. So here is a video of Jacob singing the song we made up so he could learn to spell his name.



Ephraim was being so cute in the tub that I just had to take another video. You can see how much he just really wants to talk, can't you?

Ephraim Speaks

It seems that in the past week or so Ephraim is getting really good at talking. He has figured out how to say all kinds of words!
Here are some of the words that Ephraim uses:

Hello
please
uh-oh
yes
no
ding dong
pee-ew!
me
thank you
Daddy
Mommy
Jacob (dee-dah)
grandma
car
milk (ma-mo)
grandpa
buh-bye!
see ya!
Thomas
choo-choo
Buzz
gross
diaper
door
shoes
digger
ball
ka-pow!
more
eat
cracker
cookie
fish
tweet-tweet
meow
woof
bonk
I do!
bubble
down
blankie
teddy
bear-bear
nose
night-night
mine
Hi
love you
moo
teeth
book
snow
star
trash
baby

I am sure there are a few words that I am missing. Not bad for a 20 month old, huh? And that doesn't even count all fun sounds he can make! He is even starting to put together words into small sentences. One of his first sentences was: "Cookie, please?" Isn't that cute?

Here are some other fun things Ephraim does...
Whenever we come into the house from the garage, Ephraim asks "Ding-dong, please?". He just loves to ring the doorbell!

The other night when we were outside I showed Ephraim the stars and told him "twinkle stars!", to which he replied, "ginkle tar"! So cute!

If you watched the video below, then you saw how Ephraim tries to say "To infinity and Beyond!" just like Jacob. Apparently Ephraim likes Buzz Lightyear as much as Jacob does! When we put on his Buzz Lightyear pajamas, Ephraim will point to himself and say, "Buzz!" excitedly! Aren't my boys funny?

It is so much fun to have Ephraim talking. He figures out how to say new things every day, and it sure is making our lives a little easier!

Fall Family Photos

So here are the two family pictures that I liked the best. I thought I would share them even though I do intend to have prints made for everyone for Christmas.

I think the pictures turned out well, especially given our technical difficulties.

Here is the first photo in a vertical crop, which I really like.

So family... if you have a preference, let me know which you would like!

Ring Around the Rosies and Other Silliness

Ephraim and Jacob have discovered that they can play "Ring Around the Rosies" together. It is so adorable that I just had to take a short video. I love the way Ephraim yells "down!" You can tell he is really excited about playing with Jacob. In this video Ephraim actually falls down, but he doesn't always!




Jacob was being funny tonight. Check out his floppy arms!



Sometimes we play "Ring Around the Rosies" without holding hands. Jacob just loves to spin around! Watch Jacob's eyes as he gets dizzy. It makes me laugh so hard!



What a fun pair of boys we have!

To Infinty and Beyond!

Here is a video that I took in October before Halloween. The boys were both so stinking cute that I just had to share it.



Can you tell who our favorite Toy Story Character is?

Jacob Sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

Here is a video of Jacob that I took in October (the same day as the "To Infinity and Beyond" video). Isn't Jacob a great little singer?

Yogurt Face

Wednesday was a pretty busy day at our house. I was working on getting laundry done, the house cleaned, and Jacob off the playgroup. In the midst of all the busy-ness the boys wanted a snack. So I decided to give them a yogurt before playgroup.

Jacob does just fine eating by himself. Ephraim is getting pretty good at eating with utensils, but it seems I may have overestimated him a little bit this time.



And if the video isn't cute enough for you, here are some pictures that I caught with my camera.

Yum, yum yogurt!

Jacob and Daddy Take a Ride

This week the weather has been absolutely gorgeous! The temperatures have been warm and pleasant and we have had plenty of sunshine.

So on Monday morning the boys and I walked to Music Makers class. We were in a bit of a hurry on the way there, so I ended up carrying Ephraim. His little legs can't quite keep up with Jacob and Mommy. We had fun at music makers and had a nice, leisurely stroll home.

The weather was so nice that Joe decided to ride his bike to work. Later in the afternoon just after Ephraim woke up I thought I saw Joe ride into the carport on his bike. So I told Jacob to go outside and say "Hi!" to Daddy.

Then I put on Ephraim's shoes and we went outside. When we got outside, what do you think I found?

Nobody.

I could not see Joe, and I could not see Jacob anywhere! I started calling for Jacob, but nobody answered. Then I started to panic. What if I didn't really see Joe riding in? What if Jacob was outside alone or somebody took off with him!

I was kind of freaking out. Then our neighbor told me he saw Jacob on his tricycle following after Joe. I wasn't really sure if Joe knew that Jacob was following him, so I set off down the street after them with Ephraim on my hip.

I caught up with Joe and Jacob at the church. It seems that Daddy wanted to go on a cool down ride, and Jacob went with him. Joe knew that Jacob was with him, and apologized for not telling me about it.

The funny thing is that I actually had my camera with me because I went outside to take pictures of the cricket Jacob found on Saturday. Since Joe and Jacob were so cute on their bikes together, I took some pictures.

Look at them go!

Jacob actually pedals his tricycle pretty fast! Daddy said he was going 5 miles per hour!

Jacob and Daddy had fun riding around the parking lot, and I enjoyed taking their pictures. So what do you think? Will Jacob be a cyclist someday too?

We ended up staying at the parking lot for a little while because we found a lost little dog there and called his owner, who turned out to be someone we knew. While we were waiting we let the boys play around. For some reason they think that the rocks around the church are "picture rocks". They want to sit on them so mommy can take their picture!

Ah well, at least they are cute!

So even though I had a heart-stopping moment, the afternoon turned out well. I am happy to say that Jacob and Daddy rode off into the sunset together.