catching up!

Well, since it's been just about two months since my last post (oh my!) I guess it's time to catch you up on our lives!  We had a wonderful Christmas and loved seeing Kristen experience Christmas for the first time.  It was great!

Ethan turned FOUR on January 2nd.  I can't believe my little E-man is already four years old!  He is such a sweet boy and doing great! Kristen is almost 11 months and quite mobile!  She crawls all over the house after her brothers and loves to play with them!!  She stands and holds onto things, but hasn't been able to sand on her own quite yet.  She has 8 teeth and is quite a little munch  mouth!  She LOVES big people food and eats pretty much everything we do!  JD is a wonderful big brother and takes care of his little siblings so well.  He's doing great in kindergarten and loves school!  Life is good! :)

Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas!  We celebrated on the 23rd with my family, enjoying lobster and artichokes for dinner.  It was delicious and so much fun to see Eve and Jeff.


On Christmas Eve, we went to church then enjoyed "Christas Sushi" which JD would like to be a new tradition! :)  They LOVED it!!  We then went home and opened presents from each other.  It was so nice to just be with our little family.


Christmas morning we opened presents from Santa.  Kristen enjoyed the bows the most!  JD loves his new Leapster and Ethan is thrilled with his new scooter  We went to church, then enjoyed the afternoon and evening with John's parents.  It was nice to see Grandmother and Uncle John.  We love spending time with them!  It was a wonderful holiday and we are so blessed!!  (pictures coming soon)

Elf Video!

JD's Tooth!

JD lost his first tooth today!  Well actually, he had it pulled. Last week it cracked in half.  This was the tooth he has hit and jammed several times.  The tooth was turning grey and when it cracked last week, the pulp was exposed and smelled pretty gross (yuck!).  SO, we paid a visit to Dr. Maly and he thought it would be best to pull it.  He was concerned there might be an infection above the tooth.  SO, here's JD's new smile!

JD wasn't sure he wanted to put his tooth under his pillow tonight, because he wants to show his friends and he didn't want the Tooth Fairy to take it before he had that chance.  So, he wrote her a letter:

Dear Tooth Fairy

Please leave the tooth.

I will put my

tooth under my

pillow tomorrow.

By John

He is the sweetest little guy I know!  I am so excited for him, but a little sad that he's growing up so darn fast!  Guess the Tooth Fairy will have to make a stop at the bank tomorrow.  What's a tooth going for these days, anyways? :)

Crockpot Chicken & Squash

Made a variation of this recipe for dinner tonight!  It was delicious!  Just thought I'd share. :) 

Squash & Chicken

What You Need:

4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 acorn squash, peeled and chopped
1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 C honey

How to Make It:
Place the carrot and parsnips in the bottom of the crock pot.
Add the garlic salt being sure to cover all the vegetables.
Place the chicken pieces on top.
Add the broth.
Lay the squash on top of the chicken.
Sprinkle in the pepper and nutmeg.
Pour the honey over the top being sure to cover completely.
Cover and cook on low 8 hours.

*I didn't have parsnips lying around, so I used idaho potatoes.  I substituted butternut squash for the acorn squash and I added a little cinnamon along with the nutmeg on top of the squash.   I probably will omit the potatoes next time and serve it with wild rice. 

Halloween!

We enjoyed our annual Trick-or-Treating at the Cartmills and the boys had a blast, as usual!  They completed the loop that we usually do in less than 45 minutes!  So, they convinced both Daddies to take them out for round #2.  They had so much fun!!

 the boys en route

 Spidey, Buzz, two Pirates, and Tinkerbell :)

 Cute little Tink!

 Spidey and Pirate #1 - best buds!

 Buzz and Pirate #2 - best buddies!

 Do we really have to stop for this picture?  We have candy to get!!

 Eman!

Carving Pumpkins

We had a ton of fun today carving pumpkins! JD and Ethan really enjoyed drawing on their pumpkin faces and JD was thrilled he got to carve most of his pumpkin by himself. 

 Excited to carve!

 the boys

 Scooping out the guts!

 Ethan drawing his pumpkin's face

 Ethan's Jack-o-lantern

 JD planning out his pumpkin face with Daddy

 Mommy's pumpkin creation

 JD working carefully

JD's Jack-o-lantern

Happy Halloween!