Precious Memories

I have had my father-in-law's old film camera since we visited their home last May.  I hadn't picked it up in a while and was planning on returning it when they came to visit us in February so I thought I should try it out one more time.  So here are some pics of the family on normal days, just doing normal things hanging around the house.  These are memories I will cherish forever, and I love that the pictures look like something from my childhood, and are just so natural.  No editing here, my favorite way ;)

The boys love watching TV together.  I just love Carter's little foot on the chair.  

Silly Preston  moving too fast for the camera.

He and Carter are a little obsessed with stickers.

Carter eating cream of wheat and cheerios for breakfast.

It's his favorite meal of the day, and sometimes the only time he eats anything of value.

I love the blurry tongue.

Of course Preston is still watching TV.  Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the morning.  I'm telling you these kids need to go to Disneyland.  Carter even sings along and repeats words when they tell him to.

They had tons of fun with playdough after Grandma and Grandpa came.  Actually it's moondough, have you ever heard of that stuff?  It doesn't ever dry out, but flakes everywhere and makes a huge mess.

Sometimes the mess is worth it.

We've been sick a lot this winter so we've stayed at home a lot and read a lot of books

No, the book is not upside down it's got two stories in one.  You flip it upside-down to get the next story.  Silly library books.

Grandma loves her new iphone, and watching the boys play.

Of course Grandpa got sucked in to reading books too, and Bentley is always on his lap or at least next to him when he's around.

Carter loves his little bench.

Gabe's been reading books a lot lately too.  I think he finished this one in two days.

The boys love the geotrax they got for Christmas, they are always out.  Don't mind the large spot on the carpet in the upper left corner, we may have spilled some paint there. ;(

He is really a sweet boy.

So is he, even though he's crazy...

Do most dogs do this all the time?  I swear he has issues. ;)

This is my absolute favorite!  Carter saw I had the camera out so he grabbed his bear and found a spot to sit, I haven't taken his picture in a while (like a month) so I was surprised and of course thought it was so cute!  

I love how he thinks he needs his bear in every picture.

He seriously loves that thing.

He still loves Bentley lots too...

and his thumb...

The weird thing is that he only ever sucks his thumb when he has his bear, the two go together...

Another favorite, his little people ark Grandma Becky gave him for Christmas, he loves animals.

Now you get to see Preston eating peanut butter, before his haircut.  His hair was in his eyes like crazy!

He also has a fat lip because he fell off of a big toy ball at playgroup in the church gym and his sharp chipped tooth went right through it.  Don't worry it's all better now.  ;)  Oh, and yes, he does still wear glasses they were just broken in all of these pictures.  We ordered new ones because he has a new prescription anyway, so we should be getting them in a couple of days.  They are cute too!

Did you notice some subtle changes in our house?  Okay, they're big changes, and I love them!  We're still working on it (especially painting but it's slow going.  So please excuse the unmatching wall colors. ;)

Snow, Snow, Snow

We've been enjoying the weather the past few days.  Especially after all the freezing cold rain we've been having.  I'll take cold and snow over that any day!  Yesterday morning we were all surprised to wake up to the fluffly stuff outside.  The boys couldn't stop looking out the window.  Doesn't this picture remind you of Dr. Seuss.  It must be the hair, and the way he's pulling on his jammies.  By the way, I didn't even know they made footie jammies in size 4t until someone gave these to us.  Preston loves them and wants to wear them every night, even if he has to take them all the way off to go to the bathroom.  ;) 

Once he realized I was taking his picture...

he decided to be shy for the camera.

Gabe got back from his church meeting in time to enjoy the snow with the boys.

Just in case you were wondering why he's dressed in a shirt and tie and the boys are still in jammies.

I was surprised at how excited Carter was about the snow.

and how excited he was about getting his picture taken....

I swear, I've never seen this face before. :)

Before bathtime and church we played with some legos (correction duplos...)

and had tickle contests on the couch.

This morning we woke up to even more snow.

Preston's preschool was only an hour due to the snow, and Gabe decided to come home early because we knew more snow was coming and he didn't want to get stuck in traffic.  We're glad he came home when he did.  His boss had a 4 hour commute.  He does ride the bus, but still, that's crazy.  The snow had melted some on the roads, then froze over so the ice was bad.  On top of that salting the roads is a new experience for people here so they're still trying to figure out how that works. :)  I'm not complaining.  We were just glad to have daddy home during a lot of the day, and he gets to work from home tomorrow too!  The boys had tons of fun playing with their "Moon Dough" barnyard while I started cooking dinner.

We probably should have gone out to play in the snow before we played inside, but we still had fun out in the cold even though it was almost dark when we got out and dark by the time we got in our house.  If you look closely you'll see even Bentley has a little jacket.  I would have gotten a picture of him but he didn't stand still long enough for me to get anything in focus in that light.  He was having WAY too much fun. :)

Gabe decided to use his shovel since he bought one last year and never had the chance to use it since we didn't have any snow.  He just piled the snow up for the boys.

Preston wouldn't hold still long for me either.  He just really wanted to make footprints in the snow.

Carter was trying to figure out where the rocks in the neighbors gravel driveway went.  He usually throws them down the grate.  It would probably help if he could see under that hat. :)

He also enjoyed running into the street as always.  Hopefully one day he'll learn...

Preston did a great job making footprints in the snow if you ask me.

Carter just made footprints on the sidewalk.

Our neighbors were kind enough to share they're sleds with us in their front yard. :)

Carter loved it!

Preston was too busy making footprints,

and jumping off this rock to try.  Maybe he'll learn someday...

We're hoping we'll just more snow playing in during the daylight hours tomorrow!