Christmas Day!

I have the BEST husband in the world. Jacob woke up super early and Jared got up with him so I could sleep in. I woke up around 8:15 and Cayden was still sleeping. We decided we should probably wake him up. So we did and we headed down stairs to see what Santa brought us.

After we opened our stockings we had our traditional breakfast of oatmeal and cinnamon rolls. It was so yummy. Next it was time for presents!

Jacob LOVED his gift from Grandma.
Cayden's favorite was his Buzz Lightyear

I think Jared's favorite was the Playstation Move

We had so much fun opening presents. Cayden got so crazy about it that he began opening everyone's gifts. He loved it though. We had a little time to play with our new toys before we headed to my mom and dad's house for Matt's phone call. It was so good to talk to him and hear his stories. I miss him so much and can't wait till May when he comes home.

After Matt's call we opened more presents, hung out, and then had an amazing dinner. It was a wonderful Christmas Day spent with wonderful people. WE were thankful my brother had skype on his computer so that we could still see and talk with family that we couldn't be with.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

~Love to All~

Christmas Eve

We had a very fun Christmas eve. It began with the boys making cookies for Santa. They had a blast!!!

They were really good at taking turns using the rolling pin. I was also surprised at how well they shared the cookie cutters. They work so well together. I' m glad they are such good buddies.

They posed for a few pictures after sneaking candy canes off the tree while they waited for the cookies to be done.
Then it was time to frost the cookies. I'm not sure if there was more frosting on the cookies or in their tummies. ;) They didn't eat much of the AMAZING dinner Tyson made.

Our Christmas Eve tradition growing up was to act out a live nativity. We haven't done it in YEARS since everyone is grown. However, with this being the first official Christmas in Colorado for my grandparents Kimmy thought it would be fun to act it out again for them. So we did. I was the angel, Jared was a wise man, and Cayden was the donkey. We decided to have Jake help my dad narrate. Kimmy, Tyson, and Spencer were shepherds, Tim and Mikey were wise men, Chris was Joseph, and Bethy was Mary. We used a Cabbage Patch doll for baby Jesus. After reading through the Christmas story we sung Christmas Carols and then it was on to BINGO!

Its a Crabb family tradition to play BINGO on Christmas Eve. The tradition changed as my dad's family got older and grew. My Grandma began having a Crabb Family Christmas Party where we all got together and ate and played BINGO. I have really enjoyed the last few years being able to go and participate. However with Grandma being 87 my aunt decided she was to old to be having the party every year. So the Crabb Family Christmas parties have come to an end. So we decided to do BINGO on our own this year. It was so fun and everyone ended up with great prizes.

Jared and me after BINGO

Everyone opening their BINGO prizes and making trades

Then we went home and put out our milk and cookies for Santa and went to bed.

Tumble Bus

Cayden went up and had a new kind of fun at Kimmy's house. She signed up to have the Tumble Bus come for her daycare kids and invited Cayden to participate in it too. He LOVED it! There is a zip line, balance beam, rope ladder, gym mats, a swing, and more fun stuff too. I was glad my mom was willing to take him up so he could participate.

1 Year Old

We celebrated Jacob's birthday on the 17th of December. It was hard to imagine that a full year had already gone by. Why does it seem that life goes faster the older you get? We had a yummy dinner and then had a small cake for Jakey. He even blew out the candle!

We actually had 3 little parties for Jake's 1st birthday. One with just our little family on his birthday, one up at Kimmy and Tyson's the next day, and one at my mom and dad's house the day after that. Jacob blew out the candle on every cake!

We are so thankful to have Jacob in our family. He is SO FUNNY! He always makes us laugh. He is such a little cuddle bug. He LOVES to eat. We all just love him so much!

~LOVE TO ALL~

3 Years Old!

From This...

To This...

I really can't believe that our little "Mado" is 3 years old. What an amazing 3 years it has been. He has brought so much joy into our lives and taught us so many things. He has grown and learn so much! Lately he has really been into Buzz Lightyear. He says things like, "Don't worry, Cayden Buzz Lightyear will clean up" and "Buzz will make dinner". One of my favorite things he does right now is "blast off" whenever he has to be lifted for ANYTHING he says "blast off" or "To infinity and beyond" as you lift him. He has even changed his favorite color to green because of Buzz. He really is so fun to be around. He is very excited to be 3. This morning he requested a candle and ice cream for breakfast. I think we'll make him wait though.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Big Boy!!! We love you so much!!!

Thanksgiving Week

We had a great Thanksgiving week. It started on Monday when my brother Mikey came into town. Jared has taught Cayden how to play the PS3 so he wanted Uncle Mikey to come play the "jumping movie" with him. So, Chris, Mikey, and Beth came over and hung out. They kept Cayden busy so I could finish getting my house ready for company. On Tuesday I had to work but I was glad my boys got to spend the day with Mikey. Cayden adores him. I picked up the boys and after chatting for a bit I headed home because Jared's sister Jessica and her family had arrived in Denver. I headed out to the airport to pick up Jared from his return from Park City. His flight was delayed but I was sure glad that he made it home.

Wednesday rolled around and we finished our shopping for Thanksgiving. We were hoping to meet up with Jess, Sean, and the kids earlier but with the way things worked out we didn't get to see them until the evening. They joined us for dinner and then we headed out to Monkey Bizness. We had so much fun! It was great to be able to play too. That's what I love about Monkey Bizness, they don't care that the adults play.

Tayler and Cayden in the jungle gym
Tay, Jared, and Jake coming down the big slide

Jacob LOVED the slide!

They have a toddler area to play in too!

Jared and Cayden even got in a round of Air HockeyCayden got very excited when he scored.

Thanksgiving morning came quicker than expected. I told Jared he needed to go play football and have fun since he had been working so much lately. I pretty much had the food covered and had a game plan of when to get everything cooked. So he and Sean went out and played football with Tim, Chris and Mikey. Jared said they had fun. He sprained his ankle but it healed up quickly. He said he enjoyed spending the morning with Sean. When they finished football they went to the airport to pick up his mom who was also going to be joining us for Thanksgiving. Oh, I guess I should mention that Jared and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. It was a little stressful but it was fun. I cooked my first turkey! Thanks to my mom and dad for the oven roaster and for guiding me through the process of cooking a turkey. The turkey was AWESOME! Everything I cooked was all hot at the same time and just in time to eat.

Everyone arrived around 3:00 and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. Jess made amazing rolls and a tasty salad as well as putting together a veggie tray and Julie made the pies. Sean made awesome gravy from what I understand. I'm sure I would have loved it too if I actually liked gravy. Thanks everyone for helping to make our Thanksgiving dinner great!

Jared helping Cayden load his plate.
This was Jacob's last "first holiday" It was fun watching him eat his first Thanksgiving Dinner.

On Friday we didn't brave the crowds but Jared and I went out Black Friday shopping. We dropped the boys off at my parents house and convinced Mikey to join us. It was a very fun day of shopping. We were able to complete both birthday and Christmas shopping for the boys. Later that evening we had family pictures with my family. There are some REALLY cute pictures. Then we headed over to Jared's aunt and uncle's house.

On Saturday we woke up and headed to Julie's apt. because Jess and Jared's mom had decided to head out early to beat the storm. Jess had to drive since Sean flew home for the BYU game Saturday. We were sad to see them leave but knew it was a good decision to beat the storm. We have done that drive in bad storms and it is NO FUN! We had breakfast together and then they headed out.

Jacob and Jackson "playing" together.
Me with two of my SUPER CUTE nieces (Tayler and Rylee) I just love them to death.

We wish that more of Jared's family could have come but we know they had a wonderful Thanksgiving in their parts of the country. We were so thankful for the family we did get to see and we had a wonderful time with them. It really was a special holiday. Thanks for spending your Thanksgiving with us.

~Love To All~

Milestones

Jake has had a few "milestones" this past month. The first of them being his first steps. We were at my mom and dad's house because I was picking them up after work. If you know Jacob you know he loves stuffed animals. So it was no surprise that he "technically" took his first steps to a stuffed animal.

The next milestone was really a milestone that I had to allow him to overcome. His first haircut. I loved his hair. I refused to cut it. I said I would not cut it until his first birthday. Well, I came to the realization that his hair was really long. So when Jared got home from Park City we cut his hair. I was so sad but I did it. I cried afterward because I thought he looked silly with such short hair. But everyone else loves it. So I guess majority rules. He is just a cute kid anyway.

BEFORE

AFTER

We are anxiously awaiting more milestones. Its hard to believe that in only 12 days he will be 1. CRAZY! Where does the time go?

~Love To All~

Family Night Out

For our latest Family Night Out we decided to take advantage of the free night at the Museum of Nature and Science. Cayden was very excited to go the museum. He wanted to see the dinosaurs. They have an exhibit right now that is all about life in the Amazon. They had lots of cool things. It made Jared miss Argentina a little bit when he saw the pirhanas, capybara, and howler monkeys. It was cute to see him tell Cayden all about everything they saw.

On a boat "touring" the Amazon River.

Enormous catfish. Ewww!! (On the other side you could reach inside the belly to see what it ate)

Holding the Anaconda

Cayden loved being "inside" the fish tank.

Jakey really liked the dinosaurs too.

Jared CAN hang like a monkey!

The boys like the toddler area in the body exhibit.

One last, very tired, picture with the dinosaur.

After the museum we grabbed a quick bite to eat at A&W. A nice cold root beer from the tap was a perfect way to end a family night out. I love nights out with my boys!

~Love To All~

Halloween

I know I'm way behind But I wanted to share our Halloween fun with you. This year we decided to dress us as the gang from Phineas and Ferb. Cayden was Phineas, Jake was Ferb, I was Candace (the older sister), and Jared was Jeremy (Candace's boyfriend). We went to our trunk or treat on Saturday before Halloween and had a blast. Then on Halloween we dressed Cayden up again and took him out to do White Magic. Growing up I only went trick or treating a few times. My mom didn't like the idea of us going out and begging for candy and then threatening to play a trick on someone if they didn't give candy. So we did White Magic. We made all sorts of treats and goodies and took them out to neighbors and home and visiting teaching families. We gave treats and got candy in return. We still dressed up so it was still fun for us. And to tell you the truth, the few years I did go trick or treating I felt really silly. So Cayden did White Magic this year and then we took him trick or treating to a few houses in my parents neighbor hood. We had fun, the weather was GREAT, and Cayden loved being Phineas.

Phineas, Ferb, and Perry the Platypus

Candace and Jeremy
Our gang before the trunk or treat

Our little Ferb (Can you tell his pants are purple?)
Our car eating "Jeremy"
Our happy little Phineas with Perry on Halloween night

~Love to All~