Six Foot Snowmen

Bixente waited for months to go to Idaho and build a snowman with his grandpa. He was so excited he could hardly wait. All he wanted to do was play outside. I think they were out there for over 2 hours. Good thing Grandma got him all bundled up in the snowsuit Aunt Kelli got him for Christmas!

Do you see the look on his face? Doesn't it just say "Hurry up and let me go outside!"

I just thought this was a great picture of him

Grandpa, Papa & Bixente with Snowman #1

Bixente, Grandpa & their Frosty

Do you see the look in Nat's eye?

Bixente charging the snowman

Making snow angels. This picture makes Nat look very long, but then again he is 6 ft 4.

After 2+ hours he's still smiling

Nat building the snowman he called "The Ugly Step-brother." Guess they had so much fun building the first snowman they had to do anther.

A Second Christmas

My parents left the Christmas tree and all the decorations up for the boys to see. Bixente was thrilled to have a second Christmas! As soon as he discovered Grandma and Grandpa had a Christmas tree too there was no keeping him away from it. He opened all of Sebastien's presents too. Luckily Sebastien didn't mind. They were both quite spoiled! Thanks Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Shaunie & Aunt Kelli! (I had other pictures but they all turned out blurry!)

There Is No End

There is no end to laundry. I can honestly do 7 loads in a day and by the next morning somehow there are at least 2 more loads to do. See all the laundry folded up on the bed? And that was just the darks! I did 3 more loads after putting all of that away. At least someone thinks it's funny! Actually, Bixente is a great little helper. He seperates the clothes into darks, mediums, and whites, puts the detergent in the washer, pushes the button to start each batch, transfers the wet laundry to the dryer and tries desperately to help me fold it when it's dry though that usually means several clothes bunched up in little wrinkly balls. He then tries to put the folded clothes away and offers to let Sebastien help, which also means I get to fold everything at least twice! But I'm not going to discourage his sweet desire to help. What a good boy!

Uncle S, Aunt R & H

I still haven't downloaded my pictures from our trip. I know, I'm slow! But my sister sent me these so I'll post them for now!

Grandma and Grandpa gave B this awesome Thomas the train tent that he, S, and H all loved playing in.

Uncle S had a remote control helicopter. As you can see from their delighted faces, the boys couldn't get enough of watching Steve fly it. Bhas been insisting since we came home that Uncle S needs to come and fly the helicopter at our house!

Nat and cute little Hallie Jo!

H and Se getting ready to go outside.

R, H & S. Thanks for coming down from Montana to see us guys! We love you.

Did I mention that Babsolutely adored his Uncle Steve? I love this picture. He followed S around all evening then fell asleep on his shoulder while they were watching a movie together.

Our serious-faced , S and H

A Girl

This morning we were eating breakfast when B told me, "B's a boy. S is a boy. Mommy is a gril (girl). H is a gril. Papa is a boy." "Yes. Good job!" Then he says "Bwants to hold a gril." Oh, my goodness! So young! So I told him he could hold Mommy since I am a girl and he said "Okay!" and jumped into my arms and gave me a big snuggle. I'm glad I'll do for now! (Hopefully, I'll do for a long while yet.)

Sledding

My parents flew us all out to Idaho to see them for New Year this year. We stayed about 4 days then went down to Utah for 2. For those of you we missed or say "We didn't even know you were in town!" Sorry! We were only in Utah two and a half days and we spent a day and a half of it throwing up. We really had a good time up in Idaho with my parents and my sisters. We'll start with a little sledding fun that Bixente had with his cousin and his aunts and uncle. (I missed it while taking a nap! I don't know where Nat and Sebastien were.)

Bixente with his Uncle Steve, who he very much adored. I'm told Bixente didn't want to sled at first, so I assume this is him watching.

Bixente and Hallie Jo

Aunt Rachel & Hallie

Going down the hill with Aunt Rachel!

Steve and Hallie. I love the expression on Hallie's face in this one!

It looks like Aunt Shaunie dumped Bixente in the snow, though I'm betting she was really teaching him to make a snow angel.

And a run down the hill with Aunt Shauntel Marie!

Five Years

It's been five happy years since our perfect wedding day one sunny winter afternoon in American Fork, Utah. We've made a lot of wonderful memories since then and added two sweet little boys to our family. I'm so grateful to be with my Nat. He really is the angel I thought he was when we were engaged. I'm one lucky lady! Thanks to my sister, Rachel, and her husband, Steve for taking some great pictures for us when we were in Idaho earlier this month!

Where's Ugly?

My parents got the boys "The Jungle Book" for Christmas. Bixente loves it. For those of you who don't remember, the main character is a little Indian boy named Mogli. Mogli wants to stay in the jungle and keeps running away from the animals that try to take him back to the "man village." Every time Mogli runs off, Bixente gets worried. "Hey Mommy! Where's Ugly?" This kid is too funny. Oh! I love him!!!

Silliness

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Christmas Footage

Clearly I haven't got a clue how to merge all these little video clips into one. Sorry about that! I need Sam or Steve to help me out. Next time I see you guys maybe you can teach me!

It's Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you all had a beautiful day. We sure enjoyed our Christmas. After a fun morning of opening presents Nat made us an amazing lamb dinner! Merry Christmas to me! I didn't have to cook or clean the kitchen! And the boys loved it! Bixente ate 3 slices of lamb himself and another 2 later on that evening!

Cute little Xente waiting patiently to open his Christmas presents. Nat was beyond exhausted so I sent him back to bed and cut up apple slices and put "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer" on for Bixente. It wasn't very long before I just had to go and get Nat. He would've missed it all!

Opening stockings. This is Bixente's "silly" face. He likes to make this face now whenever it's time to take pictures.

My boys on Christmas. Look at poor Nat! Doesn't he just look beat up? That's what being an operations manager for FedEx will do for you during the Christmas Season.

Bixente with his Emily train. He has been so thrilled! Emily even went to bed with him last night.

Mommy and Sebastien opening Sebastien's first ever Christmas present!

Does anyone else ever wish there was time to do their hair and get dressed so they felt a little less embarassed when they see pictures of themselves on Christmas morning or is that just my own vanity?

Bixente also got some new tracks for his train table. Nat has been just as excited about the new tracks as Bixente.

Sebastien loved the "ding dong" as Bixente called it. He's been toddling around with it and trying to take it everywhere with him.

We had some other pictures (not that you want to see more anyway!) but the sun came up and the camera was still on night setting so they're pretty blurry, so I didn't bother. But we sure had fun!

T'was the Night Before Christmas

These are just some fun pictures I took of the boys on Christmas Eve. I tried to make it fun even though Nat wasn't there. Poor man is worked to death the month of December. But the boys and I had a good time getting ready!

Sebastien Man on his first Christmas Eve!

I love this picture of the boys.

"The stockings were hung . . .with care" These stockings are a Christmas tradition in my family. My grandma, who passed away when I was only 3, made stockings like these for all of her 70+ grandchildren and I thought it would be cool to keep up the tradition, so my sister Rachel and I learned how to crochet them and each new in-law or grandchild recieves a "Grandma Petersen" stocking their first Christmas.

My beautiful nativity scene from Israel. Bixente and Sebastien loved it when I let them hold the pieces and we did the nativity story and sang Christmas carols together. They both seemed to really enjoy it.

My silly helper. Bixente helped me put the presents under the tree and look what an artistic job he did! He stacked everything up so pretty and nice. I was quite amazed!

My sweet little Sebastien took off with a present for Nat with the happiest of smiles. I think this picture is so adorable!

Hanging Out With Papa

Here are my cute boys hanging out with their papa. They are playing Mario Cart Wii. I always swore my kids wouldn't have video games, but that was before I realized that pretty much all guys like them and I really had no say in the matter as my sweetheart already owned a system when I married him. Nat hardly ever plays but when he does the boys climb all over him begging for a turn--even Sebastien. Electronic equipment really must be a boy thing. It's so funny. I really don't get excited about video games at all, but I must admit that I find the Wii tennis and baseball games rather fun since they simulate the real thing and you actually have to swing and stuff!

Setting Up

Setting up for Christmas has been so fun. Kids certainly double the fun. Sebastien is absolutely in love with the Christmas lights and points and keeps repeating "Tree! Tree!" He also loves the nativity scene and keeps trying to climb up on the piano to get a look at Jesus. And yes, he does say "Jesus." Amazingly, Bixente remembered from last year and when he saw the Christmas tree yelled "Thank you for mine Christmas tree Pa! Mama, you forgot the lights!" So, we got up the lights and Bixente was dancing around the tree yelling "Happy Christmas tree! Where are the presents?" while Sebastien clapped and pointed at the tree. I was so amazed that Bixente remembered Christmas from last year. How fun. I hope everyone has been enjoying the season as much as we have inspite of Nat's insane holiday schedule. Poor Nat! I love him to pieces.

Haircuts

Poor Bixente did not enjoy getting his hair cut. He hated having the hair all over himself. He kept squirming and crying and trying to get away. Nat kept yelling, "Mais s'est pas vrai! Stop the drama!" And pretty soon Bixente was yelling back, "S'est pas vrai! S'est pas vrai! Wash mine drama!" It was absolutely hilarious. He thought "drama" was the little pieces of hair that were all over his face.

Sebastien's first haircut! He didn't even squirm. I was so amazed. After all the crying Bixente was doing I was sure Sebastien would be terrified to get his hair cut, but he did great! (Don't you love Nat's lavalava?)

Thanksgiving

I just realized I totally forgot to post our Thanksgiving pictures. We came down with the swine flu the night of Thanksgiving and were miserably sick for about 10 days. That must have distracted me! But Thanksgiving was fun. We met up with some friends who were visiting from Alexandria. We went over to Jamestown--site of the first ever Thanksgiving. We thought it would be a fitting way to spend the day.

A turkey roasting on a stick. Bixente was fascinated by the fire.

Nat & Sebastien Nat at the Indian Village

Papa and Sebastien exploring the passenger quarters of a replica of one of the original ships that sailed into Jamestown in 1600 and whatever.

Papa and boys looking at a cannon in the hold of the ship

"Bixente sees the New World"

Playing in an Indian canoe. They really burn out old logs and dig out the ashes to make canoes like the Native Americans did. Bixente and Sebastien loved helping scrape out the coal and ashes with big seashells.

It was a really fun day. We all enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner. Especially Sebastien who even ate an entire slice of pumpkin pie himself! (Bixente did not care for the pumpkin pie, but he loved his turkey!)

What Are You Thinking About?

Kids say the funniest thing. Here are a few of Bixente's recent funnies--

Mommy: "Bixente, what are you thinking about?"
Bixente: "I'm thinking about birds. Bixente wants to eat birds. Ok!!!! That sounds fun! Come on Mommy. I want to eat it. Cut it Mommy."

We had just been laying on the bed reading books about dogs and the dogs had not been eating or chasing birds. Where did that come from?

Bixente: "Bixente needs a dry guy (a.k.a. diaper). Xente has nasty fishes in his diaper!"

No idea where he got the idea to call his nasty diaper "fishes" unless he thinks Sebastien's salmon baby food stinks. I really don't know!

We were eating and suddenly Bixente started crying his heart out.

Mommy: "Bixente Baby, what's wrong???"
Bixente: "I chewed mine head!"

Poor little guy had bitten his tongue,but somehow the idea of "chewing his head" really tickled my funny bone and I had to work hard not to burst out laughing.

Memorable Moments

Sorry I don't have any pictures to go along with this, but the boys both had some memorable firsts this past week or so.

Bixente:
Has started trying to dress himself. It's so cute! He can get his head and one arm into his shirts but needs help with the 2nd sleeve. He keeps trying to get his own underwear on too and changes them about 5 times a day. Sometimes he gets it right and sometimes he gets 2 legs through the same hole. Then he calls out happily, "Xente did it!" I love it!

Sebastien:
Started walking!!!! He took his first steps on November 29th toward his sweet Papa then fell on his bottom and clapped and yelled "Yeah!" while the rest of us did the same. He's getting braver and braver. Unfortuantely today he fell against their train table and got cut over the eyebrow. But he was so brave and hasn't let that deter him from trying to walk one bit. Hooray Sebastien!

Misc. Pictures

I just thought Sebastien looked so cute relaxing in his high chair eating an apple. Poor boy had a rough day. I don't know if you can see the swollen lip, but a wasp flew in his mouth and stung him while we were on a stroller ride! Then see the black eye? Compliments of Bixente who whacked him in the face with one of Papa's shoes. But look at the sweet boy smiling inspite of it all. He really is an angel.

And here's my helper. Bixente peeled all of those carrots himself and he did it almost perfectly! He loved his little coveralls from his Grandpa. Merci!

Nat and I came out of our bedroom one morning to find this: Bixente had reached up onto the counter and got a tupperware full of muffins down and had divided them equally between himself and Sebastien. It was a huge mess but so cute!

Swine Flu

Well, the whole family is down with the Swine Flu (H1N1 Virus) and it is MISERABLE! We haven't got the slightest idea where we picked it up from. The poor babies can barely breathe, it's quite scary! They have strep too. And I'm doing my best to get around and barely making it. Thank goodness Nat has a fairly light case, poor guy has been taking good care of us all though he's not feeling very hot himself. Between copays for doctors and medication it was over $200! And insurance paid over $400 on perscriptions alone! Thank Heaven we do have insurance! Now if we can just get better! This is our family's third bout of illness is under a month.