presents, presents and more presents

We had a nice Christmas morning here at home, then headed to my parents house and got to have Christmas #2. The kids loved all their gifts, but most of all, Nick just loved opening presents. When his were opened, he didnt care too much about what was in them, he just wanted to help everyone else open their's too! Luckily Jackson and Madison needed help opening theirs, so Nick jumped right in.


Here is Nick at our house looking pretty happy

Bailey loves Beanie Boos and was so excited that Aunt Pam gave her one. Grandma also made her a cape like Elsa from Frozen.

GRandma cleaning up the mess

Two happy elves

Christmas Eve

Since we are in our new house, I wanted to host Christmas Eve this year. My parents, Matt and his family, Matt's father in law Aaron, and our good friends, the Belnaps, joined us for our tradition of enchiladas, games and of course, Santa! We had such a fun evening filled with lots of laughter and good food.

It snowed quite a bit this morning so we will finally have a white Christmas!!! It is so pretty so I had to get a picture with the kids on the porch with the snow

There were so many kids, we were able to act out the nativity

And Santa came

Even Madison and Bentley had a blast! Now to bed so Santa can come!

 

All she wants for Christmas is....

                                                 Her two front teeth!!!!!!

Twins are 1 years old

Hands down, this has been the hardest year since Trent and I got married 11 years ago. With the babies coming 8 weeks early and staying in the NICU for 5 weeks, to us selling a home, moving in with my parents, my grandpa unexpectedly passing away, then moving into a house right before the holidays, all the while trying to keep up with two babies and being exhausted daily, we made it! Madison and Jackson are 1 year old.



They are still a bit behind in their development and motor skills, but steadily catching up. They are now both crawling everywhere! We still have yet to see any teeth, or any first steps, but we are not rushing either or those milestones :)

They both have completely different spirits and personalities and are so much fun to watch them grow together.


Here they are below, talking to eachother

 

Maddie was really excited that she got a whole cupcake to herself

And Jackson realizing that he really does love red velvet cake

Happy Birthday Madison and Jackson. Oh how we love you!

Family Pictures 2015

We got our family pictures back. There are a few great ones of the kids, but I am not crazy about any of the family ones. Plus, out of all the pictures we took, Jackson was only smiling in ONE of them...aaah. Oh well, we will try again next year and maybe get a few more smiles!

 

Slow down!!!

Tomorrow is Madison and Jackson's 1st Birthday! Where has the time gone? And with Christmas just a few days away, time needs to slow just a bit. We. still aren't even close to being unpacked....and there is so much to do.

At least we got a tree last week and decorated a little, we made it to a few Christmas Parties, Bailey did a school play and Nick a Christmas program and have snuck in small moments to shop, enjoy Christmas lights and get some hot chocolate.

These last few years, Christmas has thrown us off a bit. Last year, the babies being born 2 months early and this year moving a month before Christmas has really thrown us for a loop, but we are still plugging along and trying to do our best getting into the Christmas spirit.

Bailey was Mrs. Claus in a class play

Jackson riding his car at grandmas house

 

 

Grandpa and Grandma were in a Christmas play in their ward, so we went to watch with cousins Sunny and Aaron

Nick and his cousin Aaron being silly waiting for grandpa and grandma's play to start

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we love going and watching this house's light dance to music. It has been a tradition for
the last 4 years to go by this house. It really is amazing!

 

 

Baby B

Lights parade

Tonight my mom and I took the kids (minus Jax and Maddie) along with Sunny and Aaron to see the lights Christmas Parade in Caldwell. We dressed warm, but it was still freezing outside. The ids had a good time being with their cousins and we got to see Ralphie from the Christmas Story, The Grinch, a bunch of Minions and Santa. Fun and pretty night!


Here is grandma and a few of her grandkiddos braving the cold

Ralphie and the leg lamp :)

unpacking

We finally got all our things moved in about a week ago and the whole house is one big mess of boxes. We wanted to redo the fireplace and cabinets and paint them white, so we took on that project and didnt realize how big it really was.

The fireplace was pretty before, but since the entire inside was painted grey, the honey colored wood clashed, so we decided to go with white.

Here is the fireplace when it is almost completed

The before kitchen

This is the outside cabinets, but we are almost done with all the fronts and will put a completed picture up soon.

Trying to paint, along with moving, unpacking and trying to watch two crawling babies has been terribly difficult, but I think the hardest is over. Now just unpacking, getting up a Christmas Tree and trying to organize. Hopefully things will get easier soon! But, I think I'm starting to enjoy my new house :)

Nick's classroom feast

Nick has one of the most awesome kindergarten teachers! She is so good with the kids and has so much fun. Today was their class feast. Nick had such a great time with the yummy food, his friends and mom there to help.

Nick with his friend Kidd next to him

Kidd and Nick were pilgrims and Jason was an Indian

Bailey's award

Today Bailey received a special respect award at school. She was very excited to get an award, then after she won a pojo giftcard for free pizza, games and rides! Ms. Bailey is doing excellent in school this year and adores her teacher!!!

BEAFI

Madison and Jackson had their 9 month checkup (a few months late) and since Jackson's head is still growing and now completely off the charts, the Dr. was thinking that maybe we should do another ultrasound. After contacting the Pediatric Neurosurgeon, he read the ultrasound again and said that the tech who read it, had made a mistake. Jackson was diagnosed with Benign extra Axial fluid of infancy (BEAFI)

BEAFI is not harmful and was known as external hydrocephalus. It is characterized by a large head and and a full feeling soft spot (described Jackson exactly) and he may have mild delays in motor skills. It should resolve itself by the time he is 2 or 3, and his learning or intellect are not affected. I'm glad that it is not harmful, but it is kind of scary that the technician missed it when we took him in July. Luckily, it is NOT  harmful and baby boy Jackson is just fine!

Happy Halloween

Since Halloween was on a Saturday this year, we were able to go to many fun activities. Nick and Bailey both had class parties that I was able to help with. Then we had the church Trunk or Treat where my mom and I dressed up like chickens with the babies. Saturday we went to the Star community carnival and Trunk or Treat, before heading out trick or treating with our cousins Aaron and Sunny.

Here are a few pictures from all the activities


Nick's school party with his friends, Jason and Kidd



Getting ready for trunk or treat at the church