Christmas!

We had such a great Christmas this year!  It was really nice to spend the day together (without having to work) and get to relax a little bit. We even got to hang out with one of the cottages and watch them open presents and share breakfast. 

This post is not in chronological order, but I thought I would start with our Christmas morning first.

The kids actually slept in for once (go figure), and I had to wake up Ike at 8 so Dave could get his presents opened.  Ike pretty  much ignored his presents and allowed Dave to open most of his.  We hid Dave's only toy for opening last, so that was really fun.  The kindness moose had left him a map that ended at the dryer where he opened up Brok the Brochiosaurus (switch-n-go dino).   He really liked the whole process.






Posing in front of the tree in their new jammies.

And here is reality.  Ike is crying because Dave stole the Rubik's cube from him and Dave is pouting because I gave it back to Ike!










On the Saturday before Christmas, we went to Logansport to celebrate with the Bowyer side of the family.  We had lots of fun, ate tons of food, and played a couple rounds of Family Feud.

Our family with Grandma Bertie.

Dave was feeling social and actually sat with Grandma!

Warming up the bells for Family Feud.  Here's a video of Dave answering questions.  Starts out a little blurry.






Then on Sunday and Monday, we celebrated with Josh's family.  We did Christmas Eve type activities on Sunday and then woke up on Monday to open presents. 

 




Ike and Dave concentrating on opening.

Uncle Josh and Zach.













We stayed late on Sunday to play games, so Sophie and Dave watched some movies while Ike, Zach, and Caleb went to bed.





They looked so big!

Britt and Caleb.









So, as you can see, we had multiple celebrations this year (I am thinking around 6 counting the ones two weeks ago in Evansville).  The kids are still recovering...Dave is convinced that there is more Christmas to come.  But it is such a blessing to be able to celebrate with so many people and families!  Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year, now on to 2014!

Fun in the Snow and Kindness Moose

When we came home from Evansville, we had a ton of snow!  It kind of worked out perfect that we got to enjoy the snow without being inconvenienced by it (the roads were pretty much clear when we got back).  A big thanks to all the people in the community and on campus who help keep our paths free of the white stuff all winter long!!

Ike and I had a blast playing, Dave not so much.  He only lasted maybe 5 minutes before heading back inside.  I think Ike was just excited to be outdoors.  Poor guy started crying when we went in!

Ike playing on the sled.  Here's a video of him watching me knock down icicles.


















Dave "helping" me shovel snow.













Now that Dave is older and really gets into adventures and pretend, we decided to start a Christmas tradition that is similar to Elf on the Shelf.  I don't really love the way the elf is presented, so we are doing something a little different...a Kindness Moose.  The moose (it is quite possibly a reindeer, but I am not changing it at this point!) shows up to give Dave and Ike ideas for ways to be helpful or kind to someone else.  Dave was really great with it, and was even understanding on the days the moose didn't make an appearance (he visited probably 50% of the time, oops).  

Most days he was just hanging out with an idea, but we got a little creative for a couple!

He parachuted in on the first night and got stuck in our chandelier.

The moose was all set to help bake cookies for some staff members on campus.

Holding a meeting with Dave's superheroes.  This one was by far my favorite!







Dave really seemed to enjoy the fun and by the end he was coming up with some ideas of how we could help other people, which was fantastic since that is the general idea!  It was great for me too since it forced me to focus on being positive and helpful as well. 

Christmas in Evansville

Last weekend we celebrated Christmas with my family down in Evansville.  Josh is on duty Christmas Eve this year, so no traveling for us (which I am kind of excited about).  The boys were showered with presents and had a blast hanging out with everyone.  My Uncle Denny and Aunt Laura even came in from Charleston to attend the Bradfield family Christmas.  So here is our weekend!

Dad and Ike admiring their pots and pans.

Ike couldn't get out of his seat fast enough to get Dave's leftover ice cream.  He is eating it with a fork he found.

Dave playing elaborate hunting games with my aunts while grandpa watches.

Posing with his presents at Gamma's.













My mom always builds elaborate cup towers with the boys, and one day she and Dave were working on the "cups" routine since they had some readily available.  Here is Dave doing Cups.

Cousins.  Is it possible that I am already shrinking?  The oldest should not be the shortest!














Aunt Kathy, Uncle Denny, and mom.

Dave was feeling left out of the group pictures.

Grandpa Dave with Ikey at Bradfield family Christmas.

Dave was being super goofy the whole time we were there.
















He was really excited to get the last two rescue bots.









Dave has been watching videos of people reviewing toys on YouTube the past couple of weeks, and decided to do one of his own.  So, here is Dave reviewing his rescuebots (well, really just showing you how they transform).

Dave helping grandma Kyra make cookies.









Great trip!  Josh and I got all the shopping done for the cottage that I signed up to shop for, and we got to get away by ourselves a couple of times without the kids.  I was really needing some time away!  The boys got a lot of fun new toys to play with and have been showing them off to everybody. 

Keeping Warm

It has been bitterly cold here this past week (with a little snow mixed in the past couple of days), so we have been spending lots of time cooped up in the house.   I really don't mind it though since the boys are pretty good at keeping themselves entertained, with plenty of intervening of my part of course!   They usually get pretty restless right before Josh gets off work, so that hour can get pretty rough, but overall they are handling being inside pretty well. 

The best part about a lot of houses on campus is that if you have an attached garage, it's usually heated.  So the kids can play with their outside toys all winter out there!  It's fantastic.





Ike and Bennett sitting in Dave's truck.

Ike loves bringing me sock hats to put on him.  Hard to tell, but he has 2 on at this point.

Dave "accidentally" got paint on his hand while painting.  Oops.

















We spend lots and lots of time upstairs.  The boys were thrilled to take this picture.














I showed Dave his grump face, so he tried to make an even grumpier one.

Ike loves playing with the skiing santas.  Here's a video.












Taking advantage of big brother being at preschool.  Dave does not like sharing his table.

We also have frequent dance parties in the living room.  Lately we have been jamming to Christmas music, but Josh put on their favorite song (What Does the Fox Say?), and I took a video of them busting a move.  Kids dancing.  It's worth it to watch the whole thing because Ike starts screaming at Dave towards the end.  Gives a little taste of what happens at least once an hour on a daily basis around here  :) 

                                                                                                  

 

     

Ike is 14 Months!

This month really seemed like Ike transitioned from being a baby into toddler-hood.  He is one crazy kid and such a joy to have around.  Seriously, he is the happiest kid ever.

He definitely understands a lot of what we are saying.  For instance, he gets when we say to throw things away, and will get his shoes if I ask him.  His vocabulary list grows every day and he jabbers constantly.  Here's a video of him talking with me.

Ike is learning his animal sounds, and still consistently says "baa", but otherwise he is hit or miss.  It's really adorable when he gets elephant!  He has recently started jumping and spinning, which I will post a video of soon.  He has started competing with Dave over toys, which is hilarious to watch.  He continues to work on the art of tantrum throwing and loves to throw himself on the ground when he hears, "no". 

He really loves his dad and totally favors him whenever Josh is home.  It is great now that Ike is older and more excited about the world because Josh takes the boys out for adventures and I get a little alone time!  Ike is constantly climbing on everything and I can't leave anything out because he will either eat it or throw it in the trash (he threw away the TV remote today). 

Here are some pictures of Ike's daily life from the past couple of weeks...

I was able to get one good picture with his sign.















Just lounging.

Are we done yet?

Still in a love/hate relationship with Dave.

They do enjoy each other at least half of the time.

Ike likes to hide in the living room when he eats his snack.

He can't wait to see Josh at the end of the workday!

Let's Eat!

We headed over to Logansport on Thanksgiving to have lunch at Josh's Aunt Gayle's house.  The food was delicious of course, and it was great to see the Bowyer side (well half of them) and hang out.  And it is an awesome perk that Josh has cousins who are younger and love to entertain our kids!  (Thanks Brody and Luke).  Dave brought every single new toy he received for his birthday, so he had lots of cool stuff to show off.





Ike taking off with Aunt Em's gatorade.  He kept running away with it.











The boys playing with Luke.

Uncle Scott named Dave the sheriff for yet another year!

Ike and grandma Bertie.  Dave was in the picture but he was so frowny I cropped him out of it!  One of these days he will smile in pictures again...








I mentioned in my last post about the bad storms we have had recently.  Well, one of those went through grandma Bertie's neighborhood and tore apart one of her outbuildings.  We drove by to check it out...not much left of it.

Josh posing with the old barn.









Finally, Ike found some old kitchen decorations of mine behind a cabinet and was so pumped.  Who doesn't love a giant fork and spoon?  Here's a video of the kids playing with them.

I love this look of concern and am dying to know what he is thinking.

Dave is a 4!

It is just not possible that my little baby can be four already.  He always refers to himself in future years as, "mom, when I am a 4, I will be able to write my name" or "can I watch that movie when I am a 10?".  I find it super cute for some reason!  Anyway, he's just our little ball of energy and we couldn't be more excited to watch him grow up!







From his Christmas picture photo shoot.














Some of Dave's favorite things:

Book- Any Pete the Cat, Fox in Socks, Butter Battle Book, The Pigeon Series

Song- Lorde's "Royals", "What Does the Fox Say?", Miley Cyrus' "Wreckingball", Relient K's "I So Hate Consequences"-this one is still going strong for about two years!

Movie- This is always the movie he has watched most recently.  So right now it's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

TV Show- Transformers (the 1980s version) and The Amazing Spiderman

Food- Anything chocolate, lots of veggies (broccoli, pot roast carrots, green beans), and almost any kind of meat.  He is still not interested in many starches, except french fries of course.

• Dave loves playing with his switch-n-go dinos and rescue bots.  They all go on extremely elaborate adventures, which usually involve lots of ramps and lego people or superheroes who need rescuing.

Some of Dave's not-so-favorite things:

• Naps.  Sleeping in general.  Blech, how is this still a problem?!  Most days he does "quiet time" in his room with the Kindle, and on days he does not nap he generally goes to sleep pretty easily.  However, he comes into our room every night and sleeps on our floor.  Not ideal, but at least we are getting some sleep!
• Any kind of casserole.  For instance, he loves broccoli, cheese, and chicken all separately.  But put them in one dish and he turns up his nose.

He is able to draw maybe 5 of his letters so far, and knows how to spell a couple of words (out loud, not writing them).  He constantly uses vocabulary that I do not expect a kid his age to use (accurate, understand, appropriate, realize, etc.).  For some reason, he believes he can speak Spanish and frequently makes up words and then says they are the "Spanish version".

Here's a video of him entertaining himself during a storm.  We had to chill in the bathroom for a little while the other day during some intense storms.

We had a party for him on Saturday since Josh was on duty for his actual birthday.  My mom was up visiting, so she was there, along with Josh's parents and Emilee, our neighbors Stacey, Jason, and Bennett, and our friend Greg (works with Josh and is one of Dave's many BFFs).

 He was soooo excited about the cake.

It was so much fun to make.  I love that he has definite opinions about things now.  When I asked what kind of cake he wanted, there was no hesitation!

Getting ready to blow out his candles.









Dave was not at all patient about opening up his presents.  We told him that he had to wait until we all finished eating before he could open any up.  So, he went around checking how much food everybody had left and encouraged us all to eat faster.  Finally, it was time to get to the presents!

Greg and Dave checking out his presents.

He got two new switch-n-go dinos!








For his birthday, we took him to the Creation Museum in Cincinnati to show him the dinosaurs.  Josh and I are not young earth advocates as the museum presents, but it was still cool to see a lot of biblical scenes depicted and Dave got to see lots of cool dinosaurs (and a really really awesome insect exhibit).  Ike seemed to enjoy it for the most part, and may have gotten really into the dinosaur den (he climbed straight in and I had to go rescue him...oops).  We stayed the night with Josh's friend Dave and his wife Jess, and then went to Ikea on our way home.  I think Dave enjoyed his little birthday trip; he is not one to shy away from any kind of adventure!







Posing on the triceratops.

Ike crawled into the dinosaurs when we weren't looking.  I had to go in for a rescue.















Josh and Dave with a dinosaur.













Dave helped me build a coat rack for Josh's office we got from Ikea.  He can be very helpful if he is feeling like it!