New Year's Eve and Christmas With the Fisher's

Every New Year's Eve, we have a big UTurn (Youth) celebration, and this year was no different. The highlight of the evening had to be our Guys vs. Girls Top Chef competition. It was so funny! The required ingredient was spinach, and they had to make an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert. Cary and I judged the entries - Cary was pretty funny. Anyway, I just want to share pictures of their main dishes. If I had to compare the two entries, I would say that the girls was delicious and I would love the recipe, and the guys was HILARIOUS!! As are they. It was definitely a night to remember!

The Guys Entry (they called it a crab's night out because it was dungeness crab on bow tie pasta)


The Girls Entry (I can't remember what it was called, but it was chicken stuffed with several cheeses and spinach, topped with marinara with a twice baked potato...so good!)


Here's a picture of our girls that were there. I just love them!! (I love the boys too, but the girls are nicer to look at.... Just kidding!!)


Caden discovered maraccas that night (and Carson broke one - everything doubles as a drumstick in his book)


We celebrated Christmas with my family, minus Natalie and Nathaniel, on New Year's Day.
This is the only present Caden opened on his own... (The bear's blankie says "Caden's First Christmas")




My parents got me this really cool plate (and crock- not pictured) that I've been wanting, and Dad helped Caden model it for the camera...


The boys got many other things (as did Cary and I), but I wanted to focus on their "big" gifts...

Carson was told to close his eyes and wait for his, and here he is when he first opened his eyes...


He got what he calls a "pedal bike":

He loves it, and knew exactly how to make it go. I was truly amazed. Unfortunately since then, Caden has decided he likes it too, and if Carson is not on it, Caden will attempt to climb up the back. At one point, he got to where he was standing on the seat and holding the handlebars. I should have taken a picture, but I was too worried he would fall while I grabbed teh camera.

Caden got the coolest of wagons, and I can't wait until the weather is warm enough to use it!


On a different note... Caden tried taking his first step today to Cary and then later to me. It was more of a dive than a step though, so I don't think we'll qualify it. He also got his seventh tooth - the bottom left one - yesterday. He has also been mimicking bits of what people say lately. A few days ago when he was trying to get in our bed, he said what sounded like "up" several different times, and then last night he mimicked "hot" after Carson told Cary the bath water was hot. Just a few things I wanted to remember...

I'll leave you all with pictures from today of the boys playing in their fort. Forts and tents are big things around here lately. (Lots of these pics are blurry, but I figured it shows how they truly are, constantly moving.)


Here's Carson "making a big tent." He was standing in the middle and spinning as fast as he could.

Christmas

Christmas Day and the rest of the week was fun as well! They boys loved Christmas, although Caden was NOT interested in opening presents. He just wanted to play with what everyone else opened, so I ended up opening lots of his things while he was in the vicinity. Carson on the other hand wanted to help everyone open presents. If there was a present to be opened, he was there!

Christmas morning pictures:

Carson got a digital camera from Santa this year. It was quite a hit.


Caden got a Roll-Arounds Dinosaur. All of the kids like his toy, and it was really funny to see the big kids crowd around the baby toys. I was amazed that Caden figured out how to put the balls in the holes pretty quickly without help.










Cary's nephews, Parker, Jackson and Chandler got a Wii for Christmas, so the adults spent lots of time playing with it.
(Cary's going to kill me for this, but he started the Wii picture taking, and this one is just too funny to pass up!)


Game Night at Brittney's: (Poor Ash had to work.)


We also enjoyed shopping at the Promenade after Christmas....after all, what's Christmas week without shopping?


On the way home, we decided to drive about a third of the way on Friday night, stay in a hotel, and drive the rest of the way on Saturday. I think this helped the kids a lot. We also stopped at a McDonalds for an extended amount of time for lunch. They had the coolest play area for kids. They even had a separate area for toddlers, and it was remarkably clean for a McD's play place.



Carson is quite the shot:

The People Cry Out / Christmas Eve

Cary informed me yesterday that people have started asking him when I was going to post again. I'm sorry folks. I've been slacking a bit, and the fact that my computer is broken hasn't helped. I was beginning to think I only had about three regular readers though, so if you drop by, please comment! It's fun to see who is reading, and it will be nice for the boys to have your comments when I print these entries and have them bound when they are older.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas in Arkansas this year. It was a great visit. The boys even did a lot better than we had hoped on the drive. Praise the Lord!!! Cary's grandparents, Paw-Paw and Nanny, celebrated their 60th anniversary on Christmas Eve, so that was an extra special celebration, and it was nice to have almost all of the family together.

Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve...

Getting aquainted/re-aquainted (Caden, Pee-Paw, Nanny, and Carson)


Stephanie & Brittney (two of Cary's sisters)




Ash & Brittney - Cary's brother-in-law and sister (they just got married!! Congratulations guys!!)


Caden was flirting with Casey (Cary's cousin) during dinner




Aaron (Cary's cousin) & Stephanie:


sisters


Casey & Aaron


PawPaw & Nanny's cake

It's been a long time since I've posted! Sorry everyone! Lets see...what has happened?

Well, we went to California on the weekend of the 7th for Cary's work Christmas party. We took the boys because I have family out there, and Natalie came up to Sacramento and kept the boys during the day and night of our party. It was so much fun! During the day, I met up with Cary's boss' wife and we took the kids (she has 2 about the same age as our kids) to a jump house place. Carson LOVED it! Caden was napping in the car with Natalie. :) The party with everyone was so nice and SO much fun. Then on Saturday morning we got up and drove to Fresno to spend time with my grandparents. We had a great lunch there and then drove to check in to our hotel and went immediately on to visit my uncle's church. We got to be a part of their Saturday night service - which is phenomenal! It was so awesome to get to spend time with my family out there. It was especially nice to introduce the boys to everyone and get to hang out with Natalie and Nathaniel (my sister and brother). We were very busy the whole time, but it was so worth it! When we got home, the boys were so tired that Carson slept in until 10 AM and Caden took 5 hours worth of naps on that Monday! Here's a picture of Cary and I at the party:



The other big thing that has happened is that Cary gave me my Christmas present early! :) I got a Nikon D200!! Our church photographer just bought it last year, and decided to upgrade, so he gave Cary a great deal on a nearly brand new phenomenal camera. I've been talking for a long time about how I would like to learn more about photography and maybe eventually (like when I'm good...) turn it into a small business. Now that I have a crazy nice camera, I suppose I'd better get busy learning! :) SO...here are lots of pictures I've taken over the last few days (Cary has taken a few of these too...)

Caden had his first taste of eggs the other day and loved them! He's gotten to the point where if we are eating something and don't offer it to him he starts squealing until you share.


He has also learned to go out and in the doggy door.




He also really enjoys feeding the dogs. He's so careful about giving them food, and then when they gobble it up he laughs his head off. Now if I could only get him to eat his fill first and share second.




(these next ones were taken first thing in the morning, so pardon the bed head)



"Mommy!! The wolves are coming!!!"


"The wolves?"
"Yeah."


"They're BIG scary wolves."


"Scary?? How scary are they?"
"THIS scary!"




Carson also got his first haircut that I've been happy with since Auntie Natalie moved to Cali. Miss Kosha gave it to him. She goes to our church, and worked with Natalie, so I had great faith in her, and it was well placed. :)


Here's a post haircut picture (This is such an obvious "cheese" picture. He was so not cooperating):




Carson has loved playing in the snow this winter. He has recently learned about throwing snowballs and making snow angels (which I have yet to get a picture of):








We had some friends over for dinner last night, which was a lot of fun, and Carson was playing with their little boy, and somehow during the play, Carson's chair tipped over into another chair, and he busted his eye. He cried pretty hard and I was wondering how his eye would look this morning, but it's healing nicely already.

Last night:




This morning:


We have our youth Christmas party tonight, which should be so much fun. On Sunday after church, we are heading to Arkansas to spend Christmas with Cary's dad's family. It should be a lot of fun, but we are driving with the boys... so pray for us!

The Little Things

No one in our home woke up this morning until 9 AM!!! We are so used to being woken up by Caden or Carson by 6:30 or so that we never set our alarm anymore. We must have all been tired though, because Caden woke up for his usual morning feeding around 5:30, and then Carson was the first to wake at 9. I feel like I should break out in song...Oh, what a beautiful morning!.... Then Carson spent the next 10 minutes changing from his nighttime diaper to his underpants all on his own without any leading from me. After that, Carson was "golfing" around our living room with a small ball and his drumstick, and when he hit it, Caden clapped as if on cue. It was the first time he's ever clapped, and I thought it was pretty funny that it was so appropriate.