2011 at a Glance...

Here is a quick look at our 2011... it was a good year!

Below are some pictures of the boys' dedication in January. It was such a special moment. All of our immediate family was there to share in the experience. Caleb and I also spoke and shared some of our ups and downs and how God continued to guide us and be our strength when the boys were struggling. To read our story, click here.

My winter boys!

Florida in March... a great trip!

Started solids, fresh avocados in Florida with Auntie!

Sweet smiles! (April)

Double decker mama!

May!

Father's Day!

Camping in July!

Happy 4th!!

Oh, all the camper-adventures this last summer! Ha!

Cousins... at the zoo in September!

Getting into trouble together!

Apple picking in October!

With my favorite boys in December!

Sorry, still no Christmas pictures, but they are still coming soon!

So, 2012, what do you have in store for us? Lots of exciting things in our family this year. My sister-in-law is expecting in July and I can't wait to be an auntie again and CAN'T wait for my boys to have a new cousin!! We are also headed to Florida again in March and have a wedding coming up in February! Caleb will be the best man, I'm the maid-of-honor, and the boys' are ring bearers, so it will be a fun, family affair! :) We also, have other fun things in the works!

As far as New Year's Resolutions... do you believe in all that??! I never have, I figure what I can't do tomorrow I can't magically accomplish as the ball drops. So my "resolution" if you want to call it that, is continuing the same goals I had yesterday, EVEN the same ones I had on December 31st!!! It is to be a better mother, a better wife, friend, sister, daughter, daughter-in-law, etc, ect... but most importantly, I long to be a better follower of Christ and I hope to be closer to God as the year progresses! I got a couple great books for Christmas that I am excited to share about! Hopefully soon... along with Christmas pictures, hopefully before Christmas 2012!! :)

Also, Max is sick with the flu right now. Not fun! Poor guy! And I'm pretty sure that Luke is on his way there toO! So please pray my little guys get over this crud fast! This afternoon Max threw up everywhere and I ran to clean him up... not realizing that Luke was playing in Max's puke pile the whole time! Oh man... this could be a long couple days! :)

You'll have to just wait...

Sorry, but you'll have to just wait for Christmas pictures. We forgot our camera... seriously?! What kind of a mom am I?! Forgot a camera when we were with our family for the boys' first Christmas where they could actually open presents! But at least my sister-in-law took lots of pictures for us. We just need to get them from her. Our Christmas was great though! So fun that the boys could really dive in to presents this year and open them and then PLAY with the toys inside... or throw the clothes on the ground. Ha! Never very excited for clothes, but I sure am!

Great Grandma Clara and Luke reading together.

Luke climbed into his highchair the other from this other chair! I had to take a picture because I was so surprised when I came around the corner and saw him in there! He was so proud!

Bath time!

Grandma Cookie and Max... so sweet!

I'm hoping to get a post up soon with a quick timeline/highlights of 2011. It's fun to watch how the babies grew in a year and the changes they made. I also need to get our Christmas pictures up, which I will soon!

In other news... Max did a number on his finger the other night! He was playing near the fireplace and a big metal plate fell on his finger and pinched it on the stone hearth. It was bad! He screamed, of course, there was blood everywhere and as Caleb would say... "You are such a mom!" Because I ran over to cuddle with him and console him and Caleb runs over and snatches him from me yelling... "GET him OFF the carpet! There is blood all OVER!" Haha! Funny now, not at the time! I didn't even see blood! His poor little tip of his middle finger busted open and his nail is most likely going to fall off any day. Here is a question for you all... how do you keep a 19 month old from ripping off his bandage! Driving me crazy! Right now Caleb taped a couple of his fingers together and that's helped!

Ok... off to start another wonderful day with my funny boys! They got a lot of trucks for Christmas and it literally sounds like a construction sight in here!

Winter Fun!

I love winter, really I just love the change of seasons. I will be so ready for winter to be over as soon as spring is here but for now I am enjoying all the things winter offers. We went to Bentleyville in Duluth on Sunday night with my sister-in-law and her family. It was so fun! Unfortunately I think the boys were too close to bed time to really enjoy it. They seemed just a little overwhelmed. We didn't get much for reactions from them. But we enjoyed it!

My snuggled up snowmen!

My sissy poo Angie and I!

Luke!

Max saying... "cheese!!"

The boys' new favorite thing is to stand on chairs by the window and watch Dad work outside. He happened to be working on a snowmobile that day... and they were glued to the window forever! Screaming with motor sounds and joy whenever Dad saw them! So sweet!

Grandpa and Luke reading a 'Rural Montana' magazine... how exciting!?

Max wearing Grandpa's hat!

Caleb making animal sounds with the boys... they were amazed!

Max's new favorite thing is to crawl up on the rocking chair and read books, to himself. It's so cute.

Brotherly love!

Max in his new snowsuit! Now we can play outside in the snow!!

Do these pants make my butt look big???

One of my good friends, Tyra, from all the way back to first grade came to visit again this weekend! I just love spending time catching up with her. And I miss seeing her more often! I might have mentioned this before but she has ALWAYS wanted twins! Since we were little kids and as soon as I found out that I was having twins I called her and asked her to tell me... in detail, why she always wanted twins. Now I get it... she just must have had some sixth sense about it all! I'm praying now she will have twins someday!

This is Tyra and the boys over a year ago...

And this was just this weekend. Crazy what can happen in a year!