{Christmas in Minnesota}

The day after we got back from Disney World we headed out on our 12 hour drive to Minnesota. Here is what we did while we were there...

Mr. and Mrs. Clause came to the house. The boys loved it. All three boys got matching Toy Story pajamas from them. Jaydon was in bed by this point.

We went sledding one night out in the dark when it was snowing. It was lots of fun! The boys LOVED it! Gavin especially!

Here are just a few of their favorite presents. Gavin got a camera and LOVES LOVES playing with it. You can take a picture and distort the faces. You can put hats and glasses on the people in the pics. You can play games on it. You can use it as a video camera. He walks around recording everyone and acts like a pro..."ok, here is Tanner playing his game. Hi tanner! Here is jaydon all cute!" It is hilarious. Then one night he saw the dogs laying right beside a stuffed reindeer and all of a sudden Gavin says "Ohhhhh, that will make a cute picture!" He has been around mommy a lot obviously.

They both got their own remote control tonka car. They flip over from back to front and front to back. They love em.

They also got their Hulk Hands. They love using these on each other.

And of course Tanner got his Leapster. After a whole year of watching his big brother play on his Nintendo DS he was READY for his own game to play...so he was excited to get this!

Gavin's Birthday!!! 5 years old!!! Woah!He got a Junior Yahtzee game and pacman for his DS. He also got these cool magnetix toy structures...Sorry, i am not sure what you call them, BUT he LOVES em. He got those from his Grandma Jenks. Both of them have been playing with those a lot.

Here is Gavin doing his B-boy dancing. We had dance parties every single night. He always asked for a dance party. So we would do it. It was so much fun.

And, of course, bathtime!

We had lots of fun in Minnesota! Thanks so much mom and dad for the good time!

So here is a video clip from Gavin's first attempt at using a camcorder. It was so funny to hear him talking as he took us on a short tour of the house. Listen for how many times he says video camera, can you tell he's excited to have a video camera feature on his new camera.

{Disney World}

Shane and i went to Disney World for our 6 year anniversary/graduation gift to ourselves. This is our second time to go together and it was just as fun as the first time. I went a couple times as a kid, BUT this place is always just as magical as the FIRST time. We had an absolute BLAST!!! tons of fun. We went from the 12-16, which seems like little time, BUT we were ready to go home on the 16th. It was a perfect short vacation. The weather was PERFECT the entire time. I couldn't have asked for better weather. I didn't take my DSLR camera. A few times i wish that i did have it, but it was nice to not have to haul around that big thing all day everyday. :) We took a little point and shoot that we've had for years. Let's just say, It got the job done. Here are some pics.

Here we are at Animal Kingdom with monkey's behind us in the country Asia. Epcot. Epcot has lots of cool things. The race track ride, Soarin ride, Nemo, Mission to space ride....and all of the countries. Very cool place. And of course the ride in the big Epcot ball. They have made a few changes and one change they made was soooo cool. It was the last part of the ride. I love that ride for some reason.

Aaaahhhh, shane is getting eat'n up by Bruce!

Me on the phone at Epcot. We were walking around all the different countries one evening and saw these. I had to get a pic! Epcot is soooo cool with all the different countries they have.

We went to this and it seriously felt like i was on american idol. They have 3 competitors compete against each other every hour, 6 times out of the day. Each person that one from those competitions ALL compete at the end of the day in the finale. AND whoever wins, wins a golden ticket to stand in the very front of the like at an american idol audition in the U.S.A. Cool huh?! This was at Hollywood Studios.

Eating pizza one evening at our resort. We stayed at the All-sports resort. For the price, we got a great place!

Hollywood studios lit up a portion of the park in the evening. It was soooo cool. They also had fake snowing falling on us the whole time with Christmas music playing. Then the lights would dance to the music, i think every 30 minutes. It was the coolest thing. The Osborn family put it on.

Also here at hollywood studios is the Tower of Terror, which we rode a TON, the aerosmith roller coaster ride, which we only rode once b/c it gave both of us a headache, but it was fun still. They also had a beauty and the beast broadway type of show, which was fun to watch, and they have fantasmic....which is an AWESOME show they hold in the evening. It was so cool. We love Hollywood Studios. They also had a Toy Story ride which was the COOLEST ride ever. That ride was the only ride that expierenced extremely long wait time....i never say any other ride that had over an hour wait time except for this one. BUT i could see why when we did it. I wanted to do it again, but we didn't want to wait forever. We had to use a fast pass for it. Kids love that ride. They also have The Great Movie ride, which is a really cool ride. I like it a lot.

We went in to see A Bug's Life 3-d show. It was cool. This was at Animal Kingdom, i believe.

When we were waiting for a parade to start at Hollywood Studios there were these different characters going around putting on little skits to keep us all entertained while we waited. This one was HILARIOUS. I loved it. It was so funny. This lady was too famous to walk on the pavement so this guy would carry her to her red carpet, in this manner. haha. He would put her on his back, move the red carpet forward, walk and put her down on it. Then repeat that over and over. She would tell him where she wanted to go and who she wanted to talk to and then he would get to everyone in this manner.

One of the shows we saw at Hollywood Studios(formally MGM).

Us and Mickey!!!

Our boys loved this one.

I was so excited to show the boys this pic with Buzz and Woody. I knew i would be the coolest mom after this one.

At The Magic Kingdom i made shane ride on the Peter Pan ride with me and also on Snow White. It reminded me of when i saw it as a kid and i LOVED the rides....it doesn't matter your age. All these rides are awesome. We love the Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain. Oh my gosh, the coolest thing was The Laugh Floor. It was a comedy show that the Monsters put on and it was so awesome the technology they had to be able to do that. That was one of my favorites!

funny faces.

Cinderella's Castle was lit up soooooooo beautiful every night. It looked like magic. You had to be there to truly appreciate it. It made me feel like a kid again. How fun is that?!

We absoutely loved our little trip. Now we can't wait to bring the boys in a few years. The boys talk about wanting to go there and we will keep talking about it. And one day when we do bring them it will be so much fun.

The unfortunate thing about this trip is that i was limping on my foot all day long. I hurt my foot somehow about a week before from running. I thought i had a stress fracture or something. It would hurt during the day and by the night time i could hardly walk. It was swollen and hurt so bad, but i pushed through the stupid pain b/c i wasn't going to let it stop me from having fun. A few days after we got home the pain completely stopped and i haven't experienced it again. Weird?!?!!? It seems like with that much pain it would have to be something serious, but it just disappeared. ?? I am so glad. By the time we had experienced every park, some even twice, we were all walked out. That was a lot of walking. We were ready to see our boys and show them pics. We took more pics of characters they like, but i am not going to post them all on here.

{Merry Christmas Eve}

We came out of our bedroom today and papa was waiting for us with a bunch of donuts he went and bought early while we were all still sleeping. That was a nice surprise. He is so sweet. We are going to go play out in the snow today and then later tonight Santa and his wife are going to make a visit to our house.

We got a nice snowfall yesterday and then this afternoon there is a big snow storm heading in. It is going to snow ALL night tonight and ALL day tomorrow . We are supposed to get up to 12 inches of snow! Crazy.There is already about a foot of snow on the ground here. So, we are definitely going to have a snowy white christmas.

We are sad Uncle Brion can't be here with us but he is having fun in Thailand. He got some time off from his job in Korea and so he and his friends decided to make a quick visit to Thailand. We love you Brion.

Jaydon is trying to crawl. He is getting up on his knees A LOT and rocking back and forth. He gets up on his hands and feet...in push-up position. And he pushes himself backwards. So i guess you can say he knows how to do a backwards crawl. It is fun watching him.

Gavin and Tanner are just having tons of fun playing with Livi lou and Madison, the dogs. The dogs love playing with them too. And they are having tons of fun playing the WII. They love playing on it.

Us adults, we are just having fun playing Dominoes and chicken foot. And doing a lot of chatting and playing wii and watching movies.

I want to start two traditions this year, aside from our other traditions. One is to get the boys matching pajamas and let them open those on Christmas Eve. That will be accomplished tonight. The other just came to me the other night, which i later decided would be a good tradition to keep. Two nights ago i got this sudden urge to provide a turkey or a ham for a family that can't afford it. So i called the Bishop here and asked if they knew of anyone we could provide a ham or turkey for. They told us of a single mom of 7 kids who could definitely use some help! WOW! What a hard job for her. I really wanted to take the ham or turkey and have the boys leave it on the doorstep, ring the doorbell and run....BUT she lived about 30 minutes away and the roads were pretty bad and it just so happens that the missionaries were heading out that day to see her....so shane and i woke up early yesterday morning and went and bought a ham, made up a pan of some cheesy potatoes, and gave her three cans of corn for a christmas eve or day dinner. The missionaries stopped by our house on the way to her house to pick it up and bring it to her. Next year when we do something i will make sure the boys are more involved, but this year was kind of hard b/c it was so last minute and the weather didn't really permit.

I can't believe Christmas is almost over. It is going by too fast. Way too fast. To our friends in Ohio, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas this year. And to our other family and friends, we love you so much and wish you a Merry Christmas! :)

Past, present, future....

It is 5:00 a.m. and can't go back to sleep. So, i figured i would post a little to fill my journal and family in. Shane and i got back from Disney World last Thursday. Yes, we went without our kids. Some people looked at us weird for not bringing them, while others, like my pediatrician, got a huge kick out of it and LOVED that we went without them. :) She is awesome. We will bring them one day when they are all big enough to ride the rides and big enough to remember it. I salute those of you who bring very young kids....i couldn't do it. It looks exhausting, BUT i am sure it is exciting at the same time. Everything we saw we thought of our boys. It was always, "Oh, gavin would love this" OR "oh tanner would love that!" Shane and i went to Disney World with my mom and dad about 4 years ago. Last time we went we didn't even THINK about going to see the characters, but this time we stood in the lines in order to get pictures of the characters we know our boys would love to see. We took pictures with Mater, Lightning McQueeen, Mickey Mouse, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Sully, and Mike Wazowski. They thought it was soooo awesome that we were able to hug them. Gavin said, "Dad, when i am 6 years old will you take me there?!" They both want to go now. I am set on taking them in about 5 years. Yes, we thought of them A LOT on our trip, BUT we had tons of fun by ourselves and would not have changed a thing about how we did it. We laughed a lot and sooooo enjoyed our time together alone. Shane's wonderful mother came out to watch the boys while we enjoyed our trip. She was sick most of the time with a bad cold and we felt so horrible for her. We are just so grateful that she did that for us. Thank you so much! We love you!
The day we got back i had to take Jaydon into the pediatrician b/c he was congested, had a fever and just didn't look well. Turns out he had an ear infection. The day AFTER we got home we packed up VERY quickly and headed out the door for Minnesota. We drove 8 hours and then stopped at a hotel and shane and the boys went swimming. It was nice breaking up the trip instead of driving 12 hours straight. That way the next morning we only had 4 hours until we arrived. The boys were soooo excited.
We have been enjoying our time so far. Eating pizza while we watch Football, playing games, laughing , talking....today we are going to go sledding. And tomorrow we are going Christmas shopping. And Christmas Eve Santa is coming to the Seifert house again. AND Mrs. Clause is going to come along this time! The boys will love it. When i was growing up whenever we went to my grandma and grandpa Seifert's house Santa always came to the house on Christmas Eve. It is a good tradition to keep in the family. Oh how i miss Christmas's at my Grandma Seifert's. She died young, in her 60's. ALL of our family on my dad's side would get together. The house was FULL and LOUD ... My family is a very loud family. Everyone talks over everyone else....laughs are loud, people are loud. I associate that with fun....but NOT when i am home alone with the kids and they are screaming, that is different. :)
I am excited for Christmas morning to watch my boys faces, but trying to slow time down a little b/c i don't want it to come too fast. I wish i could slow time down. It is flying by.
Then when we get back home to Ohio we are only going to have one semester left of Dental school! Weird. It is going to be busy for shane....real busy. And it will be busy in other ways too...paperwork, packing, figuring out our plans, etc. I am excited to live somewhere new. I am sure i will miss certain things about Ohio, but i won't miss it bad. I never do with any place. :) I like moving and experiencing new places. If i could live in every single state for two years, i would. BUT that would be hard with kids, so maybe i wouldn't. :) I will have TONS of pics to post when we get home, so stay tuned.

{jaydon}

Jaydon had his 6 month appt. today. I was right on with his height, but NOT his weight. He decided to slow down in that department, which is probably a good thing!!!

Height- 27 1/2 inches....75th%
Weight- 19lbs...75th%
Head- 90th%
(no surprise. all my boys had big heads. Tanner's percentile for his head was off the charts. Not kidding. They were worried about him so they had to do an ultrasound on his head. He was fine, obviously. And Gavin's head was always in the upper 90th %. I am just grateful that Jaydon came out with a small head.)

I think it is so funny b/c i have a friend that i have known since we were little girls and we both ended up giving birth to our boys on the SAME day and they have the SAME weight, height, and head circumference AND they got their bottom teeth in at the SAME time. It is funny how similar they are.

I will post some pics soon. I have been meaning to take Jaydon down into my studio to take some of his pics, but life just won't slow down and i can't seem to find the time.

{Any suggestions or HeLp?!}

I get frustrated when i try to sit down and teach Tanner his letters and colors. I need a new way of teaching him so that he can understand it and so that i won't get frustrated. When i teach him his colors this is how it goes.....If i ask him "where is the Red train?" He can point to it. He does just fine with that. BUT when i say "what color IS the train?" He cannot tell me. Instead, he will find something else that is the same color as the red train and point to it and say "it kind of looks like this one". I can't, for the life of me, get him to tell me the color of anything. I almost get the sense that he doesn't understand what i am asking him...? I mean, i will POINT to Elmo and say "Elmo is red." Then right after that i ask him "What color is Elmo?" He can't tell me. So, i don't know what to do and was hoping some of you would have some suggestions on how i can teach him so that he will understand?!?! I am not a good teacher. :)

{Jaydon is 6 months}

I can't believe it! I took his stats myself, but i will see how accurate it is on the 9th of this month when we go in for his 6 month appointment.

Weight: 21 pounds
Height: 27 1/2 inches

He holds his bottle all by himself when he eats. He tries grabbing the spoon from me when i feed him. He still can't figure out how to roll from his tummy to his back. He gets his arm stuck behind him and it makes him mad. He is such a SWEET SWEET boy. He is very content majority of the time. He LOVES his big brothers and craves attention from them. He loves being on his belly and he likes sleeping on his belly too. He eats like nothing i have ever seen. He eats a ton of food. He is very patient with his brothers. He acts very determined. You can see the wheels in his head spinning 10 miles a minute. If he could he would get up and run around with his brothers right now. He goes to bed really well, sleeps all night, and takes a long afternoon nap. He really likes bathtime. He is starting to pull his knees up underneath him, so that means crawling isn't far off. AND he has his two bottom teeth already, which he got about 3 weeks ago. CRAZY! He wears clothes that range from 9 to 12 months. He is so big!

I just can't believe how big he is and how fast time is going by! We love him so much and he brings so much joy into our home!

{Thanksgiving week}

We went down to Columbus to pick up Ryan, Shane's brother, and his wife Ashley and son Ethan on the Monday before Thanksgiving. We spent the night down in Hocking Hills at a cabin on Monday and Tuesday night. It was gorgeous, secluded, and tons of fun. We spent a lot of time in the Hot Tub! that was located outside on the back deck. And lots of time eating sweets and talking. It was a blast. Then we came back here to enjoy Thanksgiving day. We cooked a ton of food and ate on it the whole next day after Thanksgiving. We played games, chatted a TON, ate lots of crap, and enjoyed Black Friday. Well, i should say that Ryan and Shane enjoyed black friday. They went out twice that day. They got up at like 3 or 4 in the morning. They came home around 7:30 a.m. and then they left to go out again just a few minutes after they got home. We enjoyed the results of their shopping experience. :) Then we all went out together later that night. Ashley and I went and watched New Moon the night before Thanksgiving. We LOVED it!!! Then we went and got the new scent at Bath and Body Works called "Twilite Woods"....it is a wonderful scent. hhhmmmm. Ash and i went out for a few runs and we both got new matching running outfits that we LOVE. I am now finally back in my running mode and feeling the motivation for it again! I am starting to feel back to my old self after having Jaydon! Though i still do NEED a vacation! ;) We went to Kirtland and looked at all the Nativities that are displayed, went to Arby's, and went to the Mall in Mentor. Ashley and Ryan just bought a home so we went into Sear's to look at all the appliances for the kitchen. Ohhhhhhhh it was fun and i cannot WAIT until we can build a home one day. :) How exciting. We did lots of fun things and really enjoyed being together. We have lots of fun together. I didn't take many pics. But i do have some of our Table with all the food on it. And a few of the cabin we stayed in. Now we are looking forward to seeing them again at Shane's Graduation in May, along with the rest of his family and mine!! woohoo.