Flips and Flops

And this is why all of our furniture is destroyed!

Weekend with the Skalmans

Our dear friends, Britta and Steven, generously offered to watch the boys last weekend so Tim and I could get away and relax. We spent 2 nights in Fargo and the highlights of our weekend were getting to talk without interruption, sleeping in, going to a movie, and going out to dinner! Who needs Mexico when Fargo is so much closer??! I found these pics on our camera and had to post them. Looks like they had a great time!

Thank you Britta and Steven. We are so blessed by you!

Toddlers at Cru

Some students asked Tim and me if Carter and Cooper could come to the final Cru of the semester to judge the ugly sweater contest! The boys couldn't have been more excited. They put on their most "wintery" of sweaters and their energy couldn't be contained. I stayed home with Crosby but Tim said they did great on stage and soaked in the attention (Carter a little more than Cooper who looked pretty serious the whole time). Here are some pics of them getting ready...

Double trouble 

 Carter working on his scarf "flip"! (The Skalmans were staying with us that night so they go to be a part of it all)

 I have been letting Carter use our old camera lately and he has become quite the photographer. Here he is taking pics of Cooper! I love this picture:) 

And here he is taking a picture of every page of the book that Steven is reading to them. I just checked and he has taken 587 pictures in the past 2 weeks....like I said, he is LOVING the camera!

Spaghetti

Me: Hey boys, do you want spaghetti for dinner tonight?

(I didn't hear a reply so I walked into the living room to ask again...)

Boys with shirts off: YAY!! Let's have spaghetti! We are all ready mom:)

They keep me on my toes!

Decorating for Christmas

Last year we decided to decorate for Christmas a little early being that we are gone a lot in December. I think it will be our annual tradition! This year we waited until November 17th...right before Thanksgiving:) The boys love decorating and they helped put all the decorations on the tree.

 Gazing at the beautiful lights:) 

And celebrating in a tree well decorated! It was mostly fun with just a little stress:)

Crosby is 1 Year + 2 Months!

In the past month Crosby has started walking! He walks all day long and it seems to be his favorite mode of transportation. He is back to napping in the morning a couple of days a week. It could be that he has had a couple of colds and is more run down. He also is up again in the night a couple of times a week. Wow has he struggled with nighttime sleep. He was supposed to have surgery on his eye last Tuesday but that got postponed because of a cough and ear infection. His surgery is now scheduled for next Tuesday, December 18th. Crosby is such a sweet, charming little man. He smiles a lot, has started saying "Hi", and anytime somebody is leaving he will wave and say "Bye Bye". His cheeks are irresistible and he now holds out his hands and gives a sweet look when he wants to be picked up. Oh Cros, we love you so much!!

 He loves climbing up on the furniture...always on the brink of danger 

 Love that laugh and smile!

 Even love this face when he doesn't get his way:)

Our sweet and wild walker!!

Carter is 4 Years + 4 Months!

 Carter loves doing craft projects. A friend of our found this felt Christmas tree idea on Pinterest and we tackled it the other day. Good times:)

When dad does push-ups, Carter immediately jumps in! (And Cooper follows Carter:))

Carter says so many quotable things a day that it is hard to remember them all...here is an attempt at the past month:

-He was playing with Mr. Potato Head the other day and named it "Frigstan"

-He made a creation out of legos and told us it was a "Cineractorstop"

-The other day he pulled his shirt up and yelled, "I'm belly dancing!!"

-At dinner the other night: "That would be so hard if we didn't have a house. We'd have to walk and walk for 75 days."

-Carter is sort of confused on the difference between height and age: "What if I was 70-80-10..the oldest and tallest person ever?!"

-He also gets time and age and height mixed up: "What if I was 4:30 a thousand? I'd be so tall and so old I'd pop out of the house!"

-He has been asking all about death lately. At dinner the other night he said: "I'd be so sad if I die before making it to Disneyworld." Wow

Cooper was trying to get Carter's attention the other day. He kept saying his name and getting louder and louder. Then I overheard Carter saying: "Cooper, please don't distract me. I'm trying to learn French!"

-Carter has loved going to Awana this fall. Whenever he sees me at the door to pick him up he starts crying. It is sort of an ordeal that we are working through. At least he likes it!

-We have been working on our Halloween candy and every time the boys pick one out they ask me, "Does this have nuts in it?" Neither of them have a nut allergy so it is just really random and cracks me up.

-Carter can be quite dramatic. He often saying things like, "Sorry mom, I'll never EVER be naughty again." Or, "Mom, this is the BEST dinner EVER in the whole wide world."

Cooper is 2 Years + 10 Months!

I am so happy to say that Coop John is potty trained! He has an occasional accident but he wears underwear all day every day and tells us when he has to go potty. His favorite underwear have the Incredibles on them and I would LOVE it if we had 7 pairs of them:) We put him in pull-ups at night but a lot of mornings he is dry. WAY TO GO COOPS!!!

 Wearing dad's jersey 

Cooper has a lot of "favorites". He gets passionate about things like his underwear, clothes, the color yellow, and lately 3 specific toys...Wolfie, Beast and Finn. Finn is a car from Cars 2, Beast is a happy meal toy from Beauty and the Beast, and Wolfie is just a toy wolf. He asks to sleep with them and is quite possessive of them. 

A couple other things from this past month:

-Cooper keeps asking us when we are going back to Colorado. When we get in the car, he asks if we are heading there. I guess he loved it last summer!

-We have started calling Cooper "The Provoker". He can get a rise out of Carter like no one else. The other night when we were driving around looking at Christmas lights he told Carter that reindeer were really goats. He was so passionate about it that Carter started crying and believed him! It is amazing to me that somebody so sweet can be so devious!

-Cooper loves dogs. After Mike and Sherah came and visited us with their dog Whipper, Coops kept saying the Whipper was his new brother:)

-Whenever Cooper runs he looks like he is running on the moon. He sort of bounces and hops through is run and it is adorable.

-He makes the most intense faces and when he gets hurt, Cooper will say, "Don't worry I'm  tough as nails!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving everybody!! As I mentioned previously, we went to my parent's cabin over the weekend but before we left we did our Spark family Top 10 Thankful list...here it is!

1. Colors and rainbows (Carter, of course!)

2. Wolfie, Beast and Finn (Cooper's most recent favorite toys)

3. Brothers

4. God's grace

5. Our house

6. Music for dance parties

7. Treats from Halloween

8. The library

9. Crosby learning to walk and talk

10. Our grandpas and grandmas

Cabin trip over Thanksgiving Weekend

We weren't sure if we'd be up for another trip but decided at the last minute to head to the Carroll cabin! (I'm sorry mom and dad that we are so noncommittal these days!)

I didn't get very many pictures...probably because we played cards most of the time! The cousins played great together and went sledding a couple times.

Story time with Aunt Shan 

 Bundling up for an outside adventure...I was so surprised how long they lasted out in the cold! 

 These 2 are inseparable! Although Sawyer declared that Carter was her best friend all weekend...and Rocky the dog too!

Decorating their almond bark pretzels...a little snack craft fun.

 Family photo shoot!

Crosby's Big Boy Carseat

Our big boy is moving his way up in the world! He grew out of his infant car seat and is now in a convertible seat like his brothers.

 And the big boys got a rocketship/racecar/hiding spot/art project out of the deal!

Goodbye Camry

We said goodbye to our Camry the other day, the first car that I bought on my own. Being that it was leaking oil and sounded like a 747, we figured it was time to part ways:)

 Now we are a 2 minivan family...because what is cooler than that??!

A Visit from Uncle Mike and Aunt Sherah

Mike and Sherah had been planning on coming to Grand Forks over Veteran's Day weekend for quite a while. However, on the way out of town they blew a tire and ended up canceling. After skyping with them Friday night I think they boys guilt-tripped them with their sadness and they made a last minute decision to come up Saturday morning! We enjoyed a wonderful 24 hours with them and had the bonus of play time with their dog, Whipper!

 Mike reading to the boys.

 Go Hawks! Our day included a little college football of course! 

 Cros chilling with his Aunt.

 In the afternoon we made a trip to the mall so the boys could run around in the play area. Mike couldn't pass up an opportunity to take the big boys into the Hurricane Simulator!

 It started with Carter and Cooper racing down a hallway. But then Mike challenged Tim to a race as well. We are lucky we didn't get kicked out:) The boys burned off a lot of energy though!

 More story time

 Cros and Whipper-he really loved the dog...

 ...but I think Cros thought Whipper was a horse:)

Love this pic-Cros is trying to get in on story time by lounging over the dog:)

Thanks so much for coming up Mike and Sherah!!