Valentines Day!

Hope everyone had a great Valentines Day! Mine was great, partially because I made it a full weekend holliday. On Saturday Dan went to the BYU basketball game, so Jacob and I dipped pretzels in chocolate. It was going to be a surprise for Daddy. Jacob was so proud of his valentine surprise. It took him a long time to find just the right hiding spot for the chocolate pretzels, somewhere daddy wouldn't find them and Derek couldn't reach. Then the minute Dan gets home Jacob starts yelling "happy valentines day!" and "surprise"! So dan got his valentines pretzels early.
Sunday was great because we went over to my parents house for Valentines. I brought my manicotti... which I think is crazy tasty... and they had other Italian type dishes. Jacob got to hand out his little valentines to his aunts and uncles and Grandpa & Grandma gave out their valentines day gift. Jacob and Derek got some great books. Jacob has been having me read them to him every few hours. That boy is a book-o-holic. I woke up Monday morning and I had flowers. Let me clarify - the perfect flowers! Not only where they Gerber Daisies ( my favorite) but it was an actual potted plant! Oh how my husband knows me!
Later that day Jacob and I decided to make Daddy brownies for Valentines day. Jacob had to wear my apron... and pretend to be me. He would twirl around in a circle and then say,"now I am Mommy, I can cook now". He helped and Derek tried to get in on the fun. He hates it when he isn't involved. I know that Valentines is full of commercialism; but I think anytime you can tell your significant other and your family that you love them... it is a pretty good holiday.

New Hair Cut

It all started when I told Jacob to go get his sippy cup so I could give him a yogurt smoothie. He ran upstairs to grab it. Ten minutes later I decided to go get him; I figured he probably was reading some books in his bedroom. Nope, he had gone into my bedroom and found some scissors. He had taken it upon himself to give his hair a little trim. Now he is sporting a sweet opposite version of a mow-hawk.

It has been awhile...

Now that is the End of January, here are pictures from Christmas! This year was especially fun because of Jacob and his enthusiasm for all things holiday related. He definitely made me remember when I was little and how big of a deal Christmas is. Jacob had asked for a guitar, so Santa didn't disappoint. It is a beloved toy in our house and both the kids love playing with it. Derek didn't even care about his stocking, he just wanted to be Jakes shadow and have what he had.
He helped distribute all the toys, then the opening of gifts began. Jake was excited about all his gifts... except the clothing.
I love how enthralled Derek is in this picture. Jake loves being the older brother, he even let Derek play with his new toys ( eventually).
For the Hawkins Christmas get together we went out to eat. Like always Jake would try what ever food Santa/Grandpa gave him. It was funny to watch his reaction, because most things he wasn't too fond of. I even let him have a little soda. That is right people, I am a cool mom.
Derek was a true mess maker. This is a picture at the start of the meal. By the end; the table, his face, his shirt and the floor were covered in food. It was as if a mini version of the buffet blew up right in front of Derek. I felt bad and cleaned a lot of it up before the servers came to clean it. Oh the joys of exuberant babies!
Jake is getting so big, and I was proud of his willingness to try unfamiliar foods. It is a struggle to get him to eat sometimes. I have not gone as far as the gross scene in ' A Christmas Story' when Ralfie's brother Randy pretends to be a pig, but I have thought about letting him pretend to be an animal to get him to eat his food.

New Years Eve
We had a New Years Eve Party over at my house this year. It made it relaxed and fun for us. We where able to eat and play with the kids... and then put them to bed! It was a blast playing the Wii with my Family. I think my favorite was my Dad and Heather going at it playing table tennis. It was dangerous to sit in the family room when they where playing. People actually got hit.

Derek turned One!
My little baby is getting so big! We had a fun celebrating with him twice. The first time we had my side of the family over for cake and some games. Derek got some adorable gifts and was extremely hesitant about the cake, he kept poking it then wiping the frosting on his belly. My dad was in charge of pictures, and I haven't been over to their house to get a copy of them. But, here is a fun little video. ( He has some of them on his blog if you want to check it out )


We also had Dan's side of the family over this past Sunday for cake. Derek knew all about cake now and was willing to dive right in.
I think this is the second time he has had chocolate ( unless others have given it to him... Grandma and Dan come to mind)
He is a very good at sharing...
Jacob enjoyed eating a cupcake and loved the Popsicle that his uncle Steve brought.
Derek got tons of fun gifts. Thanks to everyone that came to celebrate our little Derek.

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!"