The simple things

Carter had gotten a cute little Lightening McQueen ball pit for his birthday in June but it got a hole in it. The balls from it were constantly everywhere so I decided to take them out to the trampoline. The boys loved this! They had so much fun jumping with them in there and of course having a few small ball fights.

He giggled the whole time and what is better than trampoline hair?! 

It is amazing how much laughter and fun those simple, little colored balls brought!
After about an hour of jumping, everyone took a good nap so we could stay up late and countdown to 2012.

Chipwrecked

Yesterday, we went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked! My boys love the other two chipmunk movies and were so excited to go see this one. My mom met us there, so that was a bonus. My boys love for Mammy to come along anywhere we go. =) The movie did not disappoint. We all enjoyed it! It had great music too. Colton has already downloaded the soundtrack to his Itouch. We joke around here that Cooper is Alvin, because we have to say his name a lot and he tends to do what is fun before he thinks it through. Colton is Simon because he thinks things through and knows lots of details about everything. Carter is Theodore because he is the baby and is chubby and so cute. We all really liked the movie and of course can't wait to get it when it comes out on dvd.

This picture is not great...it was taken with a phone.

Our day at Sea World

We are at the end of Christmas break so we are squeezing in all the holiday fun we can. Today we headed to Sea World and had so much fun! The crowds were not bad and the park looked so pretty all decked out for Christmas. My mil brought my nephew Graham which of course made my boys so happy.

Colton, Graham and Cooper skipping through the park =)

We also met my sil Stacy, her soon to be step daughter Kendall and a few of Stacy's friends. A fun little group! Sea World didn't open til noon. I was worried that we may now be able to stay long since Carter would be missing his nap, but he was such a trooper all day. We were able to stay until 7:15. We were all exhausted by the time we left but we had a great day!
We started with seeing the Sesame Street Christmas show...the big boys were sweet and sat through this for Carter. Carter loved it. He got really excited over Cookie Monster.

We also saw the Shamu Christmas...Miracles show. They all loved it. I have to say that it is pretty amazing that such a huge animal can flip itself in the air like that! Awesome!!

Colton and Graham were tall enough to ride a big roller coaster called the Steel Eel and they loved it! Omi took Carter and Cooper to the carnival game area so they could have fun while we rode it.

This is one of the big drops on the coaster. 

We went through the Penguin Encounter. The kids loved watching the penguins swim and interact with each other. They are funny little creatures...the penguins and the kids. ;)

Cooper, Carter, Colton, Graham and Kendall watching the penguins

My sweet boys

Then we saw Clyde and Seamore's Countdown to Christmas show. It was so cute!! Everyone loved it!

When the show ended, we went to get a closer look at the sea lions and seals.

There was an super nice expert walking around to answer questions(which my boys had), and we discovered that he had a lot in common with Colton. His name was also Colton, he has two brothers who also have names that start with C and his Dad's name is Cody too. Crazy=) Of course, we had to get a quick picture with him...

After that, we watched the 4D Polar Express Experience. We love that movie and the boys enjoyed the show!

Before we left, we stopped off to see the Dolphins and the Sharks.

Graham, Colton, Cooper and Carter watching the dolphins and trying to "talk" to them.

Inside the Coral reef area

I told them to act like the sharks were gonna get them and this is what I got. Too funny!!

As it started to get dark the park looked so pretty all lit up. We snapped this picture on our way out...

A year later

This was us last year...

Here are our new family pictures. I love the way they turned out!!

Thanks Misti for capturing us so well! You are the BEST!!

Skating with Friends

Colton, Cooper and I spent yesterday afternoon/evening at the Rollercade with some friends. (Cody came home early to stay with Carter.) It was a little crowded but so much fun! Colton has really gotten the hang of it and just went off on his own. I even saw him trying to groove to the music as he rolled along. Cooper is doing so much better. He still wants to use the skate mate most of the time but was getting brave at the end. So glad we were able to go and enjoy this evening with some of our good buddies. Thanks for planning this Lynn!!

Our cute group...Hannah, Emily and Gracie
 Brooke, Mark, Colton and Cooper

Brothers getting their skate on ;)

Colton and Hannah

Colton working hard

Christmas 2011 recap

We had a wonderful Christmas! Our boys were up pretty early, Colton first around 6:50, Cooper followed about 7:30 and Carter around 7:45. Then the opening began and they were all thrilled with their gifts.

Carter got a kitchen because he loves to cook for me. He also got  lots of Toy Story toys
because he loves Woody and Buzz. 

Cooper got the electric scooter he was hoping for, the mohawk helmet , some games, a rc four wheeler and some other fun but random things. 

Colton got the ITouch he wanted, an Angry Birds case and an Itunes gift card for it. He also got some
dragon toys, a game, and rc car and some other random and fun stuff.

My hubby and boys gave me the stackable birthstone rings from James Avery. I LOVE them and have been talking about them for a while.

My boys are January(Garnet), April(diamond) and June(Alexandrite) birthdays.  Love rings that stack!

 We got Cody a camo jacket he wanted. (It is always about hunting for him.)

After we opened the presents we had our traditional pancake birthday breakfast and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then it was so nice because we got to just hang out at home, relax and nap. We headed to my mom and dad's house around 4 and we were all spoiled some more. (somehow-my camera never got used there-grrrrr.) The boys got lots of great stuff! Colton's favorites were his Skylanders Wii set and the rc rat. Cooper's favorite was his electric guitar. Carter's favorite was dancing Mickey/guitar and his shopping cart. My hubby and I were spoiled too with gift cards, Pandora charms(for me), perfume/cologne, hunting gear(for him) and some other fun stuff. 

On Monday night, we went and got spoiled yet again at Cody's parents.The boys got lots of fun stuff but Cooper's favorite item was his DS, Colton's favorite was a TV/DVD player for his room and Carter's was his Learn through Music toy. Cody and I got some great stuff too...gift cards and an Ipad.(No pictures here either--shame on me) 

It was another year of eating too much delicious food, celebrating with the people we love and remembering the real reason for the season!