Graduation

So I realized that I have missed a lot of things that I should have put on the blog. The usual right?  Aaron graduated with his BS in April!!!  Hurray for Aaron!!!!  We are very proud of him.  On to the next degree. :)

Our Journey

Well, we are no longer in Idaho.  We survived the three day drive to Missouri.  The trip here was not too bad.  The children had their moments, but heck so did I. :) The real fun happened once we got to our apartment. (sarcasm)  Upon move in we realized that there are two locations to our apartment complex and we are located in the far one that is not close to any of the amenities like the pool.  There was a leak behind the frig that had been pouring water out for two days and several other maintenance issues were neglected.  Needless to say, we have gotten to know the maintenance crew very well. We thought about shortening our contract to a month or three months, but Tucker was really having a hard time as is.  So for Tucker's best interest we are sticking it out here for at least a year.  My hope is to get onto a waiting list for another apartment and move in next July.  Enough with the negatives right?!

The good thing about here is that there are a lot of stores within 15 minutes of our home.  Heck, there are three super wal-marts within 15 minutes of our home.  In Idaho the nearest one was 30 minutes and here we have three within 15!  Tucker's school starts in two weeks and Aaron's in four.  So we are just chilling until life gets busy with school.  Heavenly Father gave us a tender mercy and blessed Aaron with a job...yes we moved here with no job.  He is working at Bed Bath and Beyond and gets a sweet discount.

The boys are handling our new home as well as can be expected.  They use to spend at least 3 hours a day outside and now it is maybe one.  The heat wave makes it almost impossible to enjoy the outdoors, but we are making good use of the pool. :)  It has also been nice to see my dad twice and mom once.  My boys sure were excited to see papa and his motorcycle again.  Its so nice to have family closer.  Now all we have to do is visit Aaron's parents at their new home in South Carolina.  I sure will miss them until the holidays.

 

Christmas

Christmas was so much fun.  We realized this year that Tucker is a Christmas kid.  He loves Christmas movies, songs, and everything else.  He likes to call the Christmas tree a "welcome tree" because in the movie "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" the whos sing their welcome song around the city tree.  Any time we saw a Christmas tree in a store, school, or other public place, Tucker would hold my hand and sing the "welcome" song.  Kids truly do make the holidays.

Tucker was very excited to see Santa too.  He was so excited to talk to him, until we were there.  Once we saw Santa, Tucker got all shy.  He wanted to sit on Santa's lap, but he wouldn't look at him.  It was so cute. 


Tucker also had fun helping us decorate the Christmas tree.  Ethan liked eating the decorations that we had on it (cookies, dried oranges, and cranberries).

The Demolition of the Cake

 

 

Ethan's First Birthday (Nov. 24th)

It has been a long time since I posted anything...obviously.  Ethan's first birthday was a lot of fun.  He definitely enjoyed his cake.  He even tried to share it with me and his Aunt Megan when we came in for a kiss.  Tucker was more than willing to teach Ethan how to open the gifts and share them.  Ethan was a good sport and willingly shared his gifts.  Thank you to everyone who helped make his first birthday special.

 The "smash" cake. 

The "every body" else cake.

                           I see this picture and think:  "Kiss, Kiss."

October

This month was all about Halloween.  Tucker got to go to three Halloween events.  He had a primary Halloween party, preschool party, and Trick-or-Treat night.  He had so much fun...probably because of all the candy he got.  He loved wearing his Buzz Light Year costume and wanted to wear it on days just because.  We decided to go trick-or-treating with Aaron's family in their town.  It was a lot of fun and I think they enjoyed it as well.  Enjoy the pictures and video.

September

The Eastern Idaho Fair is in September and we went.  We have lived here for four years and this was our first year going.  We went with Aaron's family and had lots of fun.  The boys enjoyed seeing all of the animals.  Tucker's favorite part was riding the rides.

Tucker had his first day of preschool.  He had lots of fun.  He loves preschool so much that he never wants to leave.

Ethan was 10 months in September.  Here is a comparison of him and Tucker at 10 months.

     Ethan

 Tucker














My boys keep life really busy.  They are both really sweet boys.  Here are some pictures that I liked.  Tucker was doing some posing for me and I couldn't resist taking some pictures.  Oh, and the picture of them kissing was all by coincidence.

 

Catching Up....

Here is my attempt at getting caught up on my blogging.


July


In July my parents and brothers came to visit us from Ohio.  We all had lots of fun.  My kids were really excited to see Nana and Papa.  We were also sad when they left. 

August

August was really busy.  We went to the zoo often.  Ethan loved being in the stroller.  Tucker loved all of the animals.

We went camping as a family for the first time.  We only went one night because we weren't sure how the kids would handle it.  It was fun, but I think it will be more fun when they are older.  Aaron's brother Brad came up to practice shooting.  It was about to rain so I stayed in the tent with the kids.  The gun had a lot of kick to it because it kicked Aaron in the face.  It was so funny.

  
 In August Ethan learned to crawl.  He was so cute.  We had to use Josh's, my brother, cell phone to motivate him, but it worked.  I hope you enjoy the video of it.  I'm experimenting with it.  Tucker also discovered that he could climb onto the frig.  I don't know how he gets from the counter to the frig, but he does it...unfortunately.

 

We also celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary and Tucker's 3rd Birthday.  Such a happy month.  I can't believe how old Tucker is getting.