Fish and Reindeer, whats not to love!

Free day at the Aquarium... actually not as busy as my worst scenario. I went 15 minutes before it opened and there where only a few people in line, by the time we left the line was through the parking lot wrapping all the way around and back. Yea, glad I went early. Jacob had a blast! He has always had a love for the creatures of the sea.I blame Nemo and Sword in the Stone. Derek thought the Jellyfish where simply mesmerizing, we where watching the jellyfish for almost twenty minutes before we moved on. I think we might have a fish tank in our future with these kids. Jacob would just sit and talk to the penguins, asking them to fly. The man that the aquarium thought he would educate my child on the flightless nature of penguins ( as if I haven't tried) this is how the conversation went. "Young man, did you know penguins are great swimmers but can't fly?", Jacob replied, " Yes they can, they just have to eat the magic food, just ask Santa." Jacob said it so matter-of-factly that the guy had no comeback.
We also went to Museum Mondays at the Dino museum. It was tons of fun like always. Jacob made these antlers... well he colored them then I cut them out. He loved them so much that he wore them till they broke. Yes, he was so distraught that I had to make another pair at home.
They also painted red noses on the kids, he was in reindeer heaven. He informed me he was Reindeer Jacob.
Then Mrs.Clause helped the kids make reindeer cookies! She was even nice enough to give Derek some of the pretzels to eat.
Jacob was very focused as he made his cookie, he was determined to make it perfect. He was so proud of it! After he finished Mrs.Clause said he could now eat it it, which he replied no. He wanted to take it home and put it next to his gingerbread house!
I am enjoying Christmas so much because of these two little boys! They make the season magical again ( yes that is sappy to say, but true) Hope you guys are having a great holiday!

Christmas!

We put up our Christmas tree the weekend of Thanksgiving. I was determined that we get it up, because I knew that we wouldn't be able to do it as a family until Dec. 4th if we waited. Dan's work make the holidays a bit more stressful then preferred, but I am just glad I get him during the weekends. So despite the fact that we all had colds and I looked like Rudolph with my red nose, the tree went up! It looks like it is taking over our little couch. I love how full and tall it is, if only it came pre-lit. It took so long to put up the tree, thanks to our little helper Jake, that we decided to make the decorating our FHE activity for Monday. It was actually nice that way. Prolonging the tree festivities made it all a bit more relaxing. As per Astin tradition, we watched the "Garfield's Christmas Show" and had hot cocoa after the tree was up. Jacob had a field day hanging ornaments and candy canes on the tree. Dan had the wonderful task of getting the ornaments ready, while Jacob did the bottom half of the tree and I did the top. Derek, well Derek wasn't so much help. I actually put him to bed before we got most of the ornaments out, maybe he can help next year. As my family can attest, I am slightly OCD about the tree and ornaments, so the fact that I let Jake anywhere near it was a big step. I keep mulling over the idea of getting a little tree to stick on the table for next year and calling it " Jacob and Derek's Tree", where we can hang all of the adorable ( but clashing ) ornaments that the kids make. Here is Derek playing next to the tree, and yes I have to redecorate the tree ( the bottom part) at least once a day.My dear Mother-in-law invited us to a 'Breakfast with Santa' at UVU, Julie and kids where also able to go. It was lots of fun for the kids. They had little craft stations for the kids to make decorations, and little activities like ' put the nose on the reindeer' and 'ice fishing'. On a side note about the ice fishing... Jacob got a whistle. WHY would you ever give children whistles!
We also did are anual Gingerbread House Extravaganza over at my parents house, but I think that deserves its own blog entry, so that will be coming later.

This weekend we decided to give Santa another try, seeing that Derek freeked out when he saw him at UVU. Cabala's had Santa come, so we went. Here is Derek as we where walking around seeing the fish.....
And when he saw Santa
He was so sad! His face is all wrinkly and after this picture was taken it was all red! Jacob had a great time. Told Santa he wanted a guitar, dinosaurs, a pretend reindeer, and a dragon. This Christmas has been so fun with Jacob. He is old enough to really enjoy the season. He is super excited for Jesus' birthday and Santa to come to the house.

Some Cute Videos!

Here are some videos from the past few months. The first has Derek doing his crab crawl... I think it is super cute... plus Derek trying to put his cloths on by himself while Jake takes his picture. That's right, nothing but fun times!

This next video has Jacob pretending to be Santa , who obviously has a pet reindeer. He has such a great imagination and keeps me on my toes all the time. Also, there is some video of Derek playing the Xylophone, he loves anything that makes music which is cute but can give me a headache.

Halloween! - Just a bit late.

Now that thanksgiving it over, I am posting about Halloween. This year was great because Jacob is old enough to get excited and enjoy holidays. We had pumpkin carving party with our friends the Brainerds. How could it not be fun... soup bowls and pumpkin carving. The funny thing is the kids and husbands didn't do any of the carving. Katrina and I gutted and carved the pumpkins. I wasn't prepared with candles, so we put in little flashlights to get the jack-o-lantern effect.
Once the pumpkins where cleaned and carved, Jacob the Elder and Jacob the Younger enjoyed carying them around.

Katrina and her daughter made tasty cup cakes. They went with the theme of the night. They where super tasty. Jacob only ate the frosting, someday that boy will discover that the cake is good also.

We also went to Thanksgiving Point's Halloween at the Museum. We went with the Julia and her two kids. her little girl Mia and Jacob are good friends, plus Julia and I got to hang out wich is always a plus.
They got to make a cute craft and get their face painted.

Our ward Halloween party was super fun. Sadly Dan was still working so I took the two kids. They had little games set up for the children. Derek was super good until Jacob got smarties at one of the activities, he then made it his goal in life to get one.
Because of the bad weather this Halloween, trick-or-treating was pretty quick. We went the same time as the Barnes family. It was super cute to watch Jacob and Mia take turns knocking on the doors! They decided that you didn't need to say "trick or treat" ; being there simply required them to give candy. Though they always said "thank you and goodbye!"

Scales and Tails!

One of the fun activities we did for Jake's birthday was a night out on the town with Dan and I. Derek got to hang out with Grandma, Grandpa and Heather. We took him out to eat and then to a show by Scales and Tails. It is a traveling show based out of Salt Lake that does educational hands-on shows about reptiles. They where up in Utah County this week doing a show on pythons. Jacob loved it! He takes after me when it comes to his admiration for snakes. I couldn't get him to look at me long enough to get a good picture. He was too busy playing and petting the snakes. Dan even got into the spirit! When the instructor asked for some parent volunteers, Dan helped carry out a 16 foot python! Sadly I didn't get a picture of this monumental moment (bad angle) but that just means we will have to go again. Instead of trying to help hold up the snake, Jacob opted to just pet the snake.
They had many variates of pythons, from the standard looking Ball Pythons to the Blood Pythons. They also had a Reticulated Python, which was my favorite. Jacob loved holding the small Ball Pythons. It made me miss Squeezer, which made me think about Snakey and all our other snake pets! Even though he was one of the youngest ones there, he was so intrigued and just soaked up everything the snake tamer said. Two thumbs up for Scales and Tails! Thank you Mom and Dad for helping us with Derek so we could go do this with Jake!

The beginning of Fall and Jacob's Birthday Week

I love fall! The weather is great, the seasonal food is tasty, and there is so much fun stuff to do around town! Because it is Jacob's birthday week we have had fun filled days, starting with this past Monday. We went to Wheeler Farms, which was all decked out in halloween festivities. Because it was a Monday morning and overcast, we where basically the only people there. Which was great! Jacob had fun feeding the geese while Derek slept. Jacob loves tractors and when he saw all the antique tractors, all he wanted to do is ride one. We told him they where old and that we should go find some other animals.
The ducks where fearless! We actually had to scare them away on several occasions. We didn't want them to scare Jacob by taking the food out of his hands.
They had a cute little hey maze. It was only four feet tall, great for kids annoying for parents.
I took Jacob to the Farm at Thanksgiving point also, where they had a craft activity for the kids. He loves painting and pumpkins, so he was a happy guy. Jacob loves animals, it is amazing that he doesn't get sick of looking at cows.

Derek on the move!

Derek is super cute! He look so sweet and smiley, I almost forget what he is now capable of.....

Derek is now mobile..... scratch that... he is a scooting, climbing, slobbering terror. I turn around for five minutes and he has made it up the stairs and into my bedroom. He wants to be like Jacob SO bad that he will do whatever he can to do what he does.The other day Jacob wanted some crackers, nothing out of the ordinary, He said he could get them ( Jacob is becoming Mr. Independent ). It only took me a minute of having a quiet household to realize something was up. I had crackers all over the floor. Derek was in the middle of the mess covered in crumbs and slobber, and like always he was smiling.
Here he is trying to play with Jake's car, the only problem is that when he tries to climb in, the car starts to roll away.... causing him distress.