Merry Christmas!

We had a fun Christmas being silly and spending time with friends and family!

Daddy and his boys!

We made cookies to share with all our visiting cousins and aunts and uncles.
Cole is a pro with the spatula!

Dylan was so excited to read him name written all of the wrapping paper of this gift from Nana.
The boys were so excited about all their gifts. Every gift Cole opened or watched being open he would shout out with supreme joy and excitement. He would shout 'ha haaaaaa' in his funny deep voice.
Their excitement was profound for their gifts that ranged from a fun pink pillow...
...to a cool building set...

...to the amazing drill set...

...to the array of cars and truck they got.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a fabulously amazing New Year!!

Holiday Fun

We have been very busy this week with many holiday activities.
But we always make time to be silly!!

We got to ride the 'Holiday Trolley' to downtown Corvallis...

...while downtown we stopped at our favorite book store and got a couple of books. Before heading back home on the trolley Daddy read the books to the boys while they were eating a snack at a coffee shop.

We had several holiday parties that we went to this week, including a 'celebration of peace' at the boys school. Cole is in the middle of this picture...sitting amongst his classmates.

Here is Dylan with his classmates (they are in different classes). They were excited to sing 'holiday' songs and talked about it for days...but didn't open their mouth once to sing during the whole gathering!

Speaking of holiday songs...the boys are very into singing Jingle Bells and have been playing the piano while singing it lately. They even found some Christmas sheet music of Mommy's and got a music stand out, put the up sheet music and proceeded to stand in front of the music and sing their different versions of Jingle Bells.Here is a great video of Cole playing the piano...he's not singing Jingle Bells in this one...but it's still great.

O Chirstmas Tree!

This weekend we headed out to our favorite Christmas tree farm. We took a sleigh ride out to the trees (we would have taken a picture of us in the 'sleigh' which as a trailer behind a pickup truck that was decorated like a sleigh, but we were holding onto our children for dear life since there were no seats and only flimsy wood on the sides! But the boys loved it and didn't even notice that mommy was holding on to them white knuckled.)
Here Daddy is talking safety rules regarding saws. Our friend Jonah is also listening intently.

The boys are assessing the situation and determining the best route to the trunk.

Heave ho!

Not a bad back drop to the event.

The guys are pleased with their work!

boys in neck ties

When Grandpa Phil and Karen were visiting, Karen gave the boys their first neck ties...

They were so excited and wanted to wear them on all of their shirts.

What's that look in his eye??

Anyways, once they put the ties on...out of the blue this is what they said:

I think that Grandpa Charlie is the only person they have seen in a suit and tie that they know! They sure haven't seen their Daddy in one!

November Beach Day

Saturday we decided to head out to the coast for the day...

...we were rewarded with a fabulous beach day! There was no wind and it was sunny...and in the 50's which was warmer than Corvallis. The boys were especially happy because we went to the aquarium and brought their big garden shovels to dig with at the beach.

Daddy had the camera and caught how happy Mommy was to see the sun! (Dylan was distracted by Cole working on digging their BIG hole!)

Mom and her digger boys.

We couldn't have asked for a nicer November beach day!

Little Chefs

Happy Thanksgiving!

This fall we have been having cooking lessons with our two little chefs...

...they believe in the practice of always tasting your creations.

...and tasting after each ingredient is added and after each time you stir the ingredients

...and just to make sure you haven't forgotten the flavor you were working towards.


The chefs attire has evolved over time, here is the current dress code...their chef hats (aka working man's hats and truck driver hats and construction man hats), and aprons. They still need to work on presentation and portion sizes. (Cole served himself...can you tell he likes mashed potatoes?)

Dylan & Cole's 3rd Birthday!

On Sunday we had the boys' birthday party with 4 of their friends. They called it their pretend birthday since Monday was their REAL birthday!

We did some crafty things like decorating little wooden boxes...

...and making pasta necklaces, decorating party hats, and playing with flubber (which was Grandpa Fiegener's favorite activity!).

Here Dylan said he was "just waiting for my cake." He sat like that until his friend Jonas finished making a pasta necklace. Cole kept asking every few minutes when they could eat their cake too...

...you can understand their impatience with cakes like these!

Grandma Fiegener outdid herself with the cakes...the boys were so excited! They were very specific about their request to Grandma this year...down to the exact color.

As soon as the Happy Birthday song was done and the candles were out, Cole jumped down grabbed a butter knife and cut into his cake. As soon as a piece was free he shoved it in his mouth! There was a surprise with the cake since the 'cake' part was made out of rice krispies treats!
After Dylan saw what Cole was up to he also grabbed a knife and decided that his piece was going to be the entire head of his dinosaur.

All the kids were very quiet while they ate their cake!

Cole is not singing opera to praise his new wagon from Grandma and Grandpa, but demanding that Daddy take them out for a walk!

We were all so lucky to have Nana come back to celebrate the boys birthday too!! She brought the boys some fabulous art supplies that the boys just loved. Here she is working with them on their painting techniques...from one artist to another!

On their 'real' birthday Mommy, Daddy and Nana sang their Happy Birthday song again and they got to blow out candles in their birthday muffins before school!

I can't believe we have two 3 year olds!!!

Grandpa Phil and his friend Karen came to visit us last week. We welcomed them with a large marching band. It was the least we could do.

The OSU Beavers had a big Homecoming carnival that we took our visitors to. Cole and Daddy really enjoyed the big bouncy thing!

Grandpa Phil and Karen really know how to entertain the boys...or was it the other way around?
With playgrounds...

Climbing walls...

Reading...

And stacking (or shall I say knocking down) blocks...
We took the boys and Grandpa Phil and Karen to the movies. It was the boys first time in a movie theater and they loved it! It was at our local independent theater and on the first Monday of the month they show a 'free' 1/2 hour show for kids...as a fundraiser for local non-profits. We got to see Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. It was perfect...they had free popcorn and they didn't turn the lights all the way off. Several of the guys friends came too! Here is Dylan with his hand in his popcorn bag sitting next to his friend Mei Zhen.Thanks for the fantastical visit Grandpa Phil and Karen! We can't wait for your return!!