Kylee Is Mine Because...

She LoVeS Chocolate!!

Merry Christmas, I mean Cramermas

Last Thursday was Steve's last day of finals so we decided to celebrate the next day. We didn't want to bring all of our Christmas presents out west so we decided to do our own day for presents and family fun and call it Cramermas.

On Cramermas Eve Steve and I set up all the toys. Here is the wooden train track that we found on Craigslist. We got all of these pieces plus a train table for $30 at a garage sale.

We also got this kitchen set from our Bishop's wife who was looking for a home for it. And there's the train table to the right.

And Aunt Gwen found this new polka dot baby buggy for free.

Then, while we were eating breakfast the next morning Steve was looking at the pictures we had taken of the toys on the camera. Cody came over to see what pictures he was looking at (our kids LoVe looking at pictures). Cody saw the picture of the train track for a second while Steve was flipping through all the pictures.

Cody: "Wait! What was that?"

Steve: "What?"

Cody: "Go back. Who's train track was that?"

Steve: "Is it Gabe's? Gabe has a train track, doesn't he?"

Cody: "That's not Gabe's."

(pause)

Cody: "Hey wait! Those are our guitars right there."

Steve: "We don't have a train track though. It can't be ours."

Cody: "No. That's our basement!"

Steve: "We better go check it out then."

So the kids went downstairs to check it out.

And there it was! A dream Christmas...I mean Cramermas. All for $30.

It is so fun to surprise your kids!

And they played and played and played with their toys until we left for Vegas yesterday.

Merry Cramermas!

Thanksgiving with the Reese's

Steve's Uncle Brooks (Or Uncle Wacko as Cody calls him) took off work and watched our kids on Wednesday so that we could go to the D.C. temple with Aunt Gwen. We loved the D.C. temple and it was so nice to be able to go to the temple at the same time instead of trading off with the kids. Cody and Kylee had a blast with Uncle Brooks too. He took them to "Old McDonalds" (McDonald's) and Cody said he wanted a bun with four slices of cheese and nothing else on it. Uncle Brooks wasn't about to order that so he got a cheeseburger instead thinking that would be close enough. When Cody opened up his sandwich he said, "Um, there's other stuff on this."

Then Uncle Brooks, Nikki, and the kids met us at the Pentagon where Uncle Brooks works. He gave us a deluxe tour. I had no idea it was THAT big!

On Thanksgiving morning Uncle Brooks took us out to Fredericksburg, VA to see the battle field. All of the trees were pretty much bare except for two. Virginia is so beautiful!

Cody was too cold to smile. But Steve cooperated.

Cody saw these cannonballs and...

...thought he could pick them up but they were all stuck together as a display.

Cody and Kylee rode together in the stroller and sometimes they even liked each other.

After Thanksgiving dinner a tradition was born. Last year Uncle Brooks popped Cody on the air mattress at Nana's in St. George and Cody LoVeD it. So, Uncle Brooks got out the mattress and popped all the kids (Cody and some kids from their ward). They had a blast.

The kids lined up waiting for their turn.

On Friday we rode the Metro into D.C. to do some sight-seeing. Cody and Kylee loved Aunt Gwen and Kylee even started calling her Grandma.

Cody at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

After lunch we headed over to the Natural History Museum so Cody could get his fill of dinosaurs. On the way, Kylee crashed on my shoulder.

The U.S. Capitol Building

This is Cody's favorite picture: wearing a Capitol Building hat.

I love holding my kids when they are sleeping. It is one of my favorite things and I would do it forever if they didn't get so heavy! Luckily, Aunt Gwen was more than happy to help out with the baby holding.

Cody loves sharks! Here he is inside a Great White Shark mouth.

Here is our family at the WWII Memorial with the Washington Monument behind us. It started to get really cold at this point. The wind was bitter cold.

Cody was cold and wanted a ride too. So I carried him to keep him from shivering. This is us at the Lincoln Memorial which is just beyond the WWII Memorial.

By the time we got to the Metro station at Arlington Cemetery the kids were frozen. Their poor little noses were bright red. We were really glad to get on the warm train and think about hot chocolate.

Uncle Brooks likes to leave food on the deck for all the critters. They see raccoons, cats, squirrels, and all kinds of birds like cardinals, blue jays, and finches. It was fun to watch them from the kitchen window. Uncle Brooks put cat food in the window sill and the raccoons came every night to eat it. Cody and Kylee both loved seeing the animals up close.

We really lucked out to have such a great place to spend Thanksgiving!

Thanks Gwen, Brooks, and Nikki for a really fun holiday and vacation.

Giant Leaves

Last Saturday was so warm and sunny! I took the kids out to Schenley Park to play on the playground and go on a walk with some of our neighbor friends. Cody found these giant leaves on our walk and he was pretty excited to show Steve when we got home.

We've been lucky to have really nice fall weather so far. No snow yet! (cross your fingers!)

Free Books from Deseret Book

There are 8 books currently available from Deseret Book that are free to download. If anyone is interested click here

What a Rock Star

Cody and I have been playing the guitar a lot lately.

Usually he will just grab a pick and play one note and then start building bridges to lift the guitar up off the ground so that he can drive his cars under it.

I taught him some sweet rock star moves and showed him a movie of a band playing. He realized that playing the guitar was more fun than driving cars under it.

By the end he was jumping off furniture while playing the harmonica. Next week I'll teach him how to play a sweet guitar solo with his teeth.

That might be Tiffany's worst nightmare (she is paranoid of chipping her teeth).

Skyping Buddy

Kylee is very intent on skyping a buddy of hers on her dad's laptop. She was doing a video call AND instant messaging at the same time. Who is this buddy of hers?

It's Cody! And he isn't too far. He's just in the next room...using his mom's laptop.

Cody and Kylee were at this for awhile until Kylee started banging on Steve's computer and the fun had to stop.

What Makes You Happy?

Kylee is happiest when she is...

poking...

flipping...

and flying.

And Cody is happiest when he is...

doing something weird to gross me out!!

Super Cute Brownies

One thing that marriage has taught me is that you can bake tasteless / marginally disgusting brownies and people will still eat them.

There are just two stipulations:

1. Kids will eat anything baked in a super cute miniature cupcake pan.

2. Wives will eat anything sweet if their kids are yelling loud enough.

Tiffany is off camera eating all of the brownies that are not miniature cupcakes...

but I am not allowed to take pictures of that.

Pix of the Kiddos

We took these pictures of the kids in Schenley Park last Sunday afternoon. It looks like this is the last of the fall leaves.

Steve and I are still experimenting with our new camera. I think we are getting better though. Some of them turned out nice.