David's Birthday 2010

I think Rachel was a little too curious about my camera--not Addison. That kind of thing is old hat to her. It was nice to spend David's birthday all together!

Recent Grandma Hansen Pictures

Grandma, Emily, and Spencer Gray

Can you guess who is who?

Grandma and Jonathan Gray

Verna Lucille Mitchell Hansen

We love you Grandma!

All he wants for Christmas...

It happened. Rob wanted it to happen after Christmas so he would not have to sing that all too famous song, but it happened nonetheless. At Thanksgiving he lost the first front tooth. Then tonight we were playing a rousing game of toss the pom pom to each other ( I know, sounds like something you want to do right now), and at one point William and Caleb collided. And as fast as that I saw Caleb's other front tooth pop out onto the floor (it was already loose, do not worry). It hurt for a moment, blood was coming of course, but it was out. And now instead of just learning the Christmas songs we have been working on he may add another to the mix. So cool and crazy!


P.S. at 8:00 pm he just twisted out his other loose tooth! He was so excited about loosing that first one that he just pulled out his other one while he was supposed to be going to sleep. I told him he cannot pull out anymore, he looks pretty goofy with three teeth missing in a row. :) Plus, he is having a rough time taking bites of his food with all those chompers gone. What a funny, happy, excited kid.

An awesome time at the Zoo!

Ok, so sadly I did not take my camera to the zoo when we went last night. I kicked myself a couple of times for my neglect at camera duty but oh well. So, why was it so great at the zoo last night? The weather was great! Not rainy like they said it would be, not really that cold, no wind or snow... pretty mild. We went right at closing, purposefully so that we could see the animals and still catch the zoo lights before all the crowds. The animals were terrific! The monkeys were fun to watch as always. We headed over to the giraffe house and they are one of our favorites. We had fun watching a giraffe try and get at some pine cones in a cage, we laughed at a giraffe licking the wall of the house with it's crazy purple tongue, and then we stood there mesmerized as a giraffe reached out at took a stick out of Caleb's hand with it's tongue and then ate the stick right there in front of us. Caleb was on cloud nine! If that was not enough, we headed over to the tigers (our other favorite) and one of them came right up to the fence ( a foot away from us) and with it's nose pressed against the gate starred at Caleb for about 2 or 3 minutes. Then he walked over to a ball that was in the water and played with it for a bit and performed perfectly. It was so cool! The boys managed to get me to pay money for the carousel and they had the pick of the litter. Peter chose the ostrich, William chose the tiger, and Caleb chose the lion (Haley chose me). Peter said that was his favorite part of the night. All along the way we were able to see the Christmas lights turn on and it is so fun. They have all the animals; the tigers, meerkats, zebras, hippos, seals, turtles, elephants, deer, even Santa and his sleigh in lights with motion. I personally think is ranks right up there with Temple Square, if not more fun and engaging. As we were about to leave who should we meet but Santa himself. He was there to kick off the Zoo Lights and make it a magical night. Peter went up and gave him a hug, Caleb was conveniently wearing his shirt that said his name so Santa called him by name (without Caleb even realizing that Santa read it off his shirt) and Willy shook his hand and said hi. It was perfect. Caleb said he loved it all, he just wished he could have told Santa what he wanted for Christmas. I had a blast with my boys and Haley was perfectly sweet and stayed asleep the whole time. The zoo is awesome and even cooler with Christmas lights and performing animals and Santa.

Legos

Just to document my insanity, I have spent the last FOREVER building lego ships and models. Why you ask? So that my boys will actually play with the ships that I bought for them, instead of constantly building their own thing, losing the pieces..... I do not have a problem with them building from their imagination, I just like to see them playing with the actual cloud ship or tie-fighter every now and then. Legos are a funny thing, they can bring my boys together and help them play happily. They can also be the down-fall of a child. Either they fight over who gets Princess Leah or the fire engine, or William gets so frustrated with not being able to connect pieces that he has huge melt downs right there in the lego pile. So, yes I spent so long trying to sort through all of the colors and sizes and shapes just to build these fun toys for the boys. As I sat there sifting through piece after piece I realized two things. My boys have taken off with a few crucial pieces to the ships and said pieces have now disappeared into that black hole all toys dread; and I am absolutely crazy to invite more legos into our house. However, me being the wise person I am, I stood by as Caleb asked his grandparents for more legos for Christmas. I will probably never learn.