"Mama"

The boys have recently found a magical word that will stop Mommy in her tracks and turn all attention to them. I am now hearing "Mama!!!" many many times during the day, and with each word they giggle and smile like they have their own little secret. :) They have been able to say "Mama" for quite some time now, but I think it just dawned on them how much power this one word held. Dylan is now in the habit of saying "Mama!".....Erin: "Yes honey?"......Dylan "HI!". He thinks he is hilarious. And Mom falls for it every time! :)

Both boys also LOVE dancing, and everyday they get so excited when the Ellen Show comes on so they can dance with her. They also dance every time they hear music, no matter what the tune is. It could be a song from a commercial on the television, to hymn music from church...not matter what it is, they will dance. These boys love to move!

Some other favorites right now:

-Saying "cheese" whenever they see a camera

-Clapping and stomping their feet to "If you're happy and you know it"

-Cucumbers and avocados

-Chocolate (of course)

-Tutu and Grammy (their Grandmas)

-Linnet and Carter from church :)

-And of course, Veggie Tales

Teage and I are so grateful to be the parents of such special boys. We love them tremendously, and are thankful to have them in our lives.

Water water everywhere

Last week we had some major flooding in our area, as well as many other parts of Western Washington. A combination of snow storms one week and high temps with massive rain the next was not a great one for us. Thankfully where Teage and I live we did not receive anything in the way of flooding, but there are many who live just down the road who did. After much of the water had subsided, we decided to drive down to Snoqualmie Falls and see how large the water flow was, as well as check out the damage all the flooding had done to Snoqualmie itself. We were shocked and saddened to see first hand the amount of devastation in just our little area. There were homes with all of their belongings, from mattresses to television sets, just thrown out onto their front yards because nothing was salvageable. A recycle and garbage center was set up in the middle of the city for all those who needed to dispose of their belongings, and the number of bins and trucks was just unbelievable. We are keeping those families in our thoughts and prayers continually. The falls after all of the rain and snow...I don't think that I have ever seen it so large

Teage and I with the boys after our little hike out to the falls. We are soaked....and not because it was raining, but because of the heavy mist that cascaded down on us from the water flow of the falls.

These pictures are not great, they were taken out of the window of a moving car. :) But, they give you just a taste of what these poor residents were going through during the flooding.

Snow Days

This winter we have seen a record for snow fall around Seattle. Most people in colder parts of the country think that we are such wimps around here....closing school with an inch of snow on the ground, hunkering down in our homes and not wanting to drive. :) However, our snow is a bit different then most other parts of the country. We have mainly ice on the roads as opposed to dry snow, and there are lots of nice big hills for cars to slide right down. :) This year has been a big one for the snow fall...not my favorite thing in the world. I have had a few bad experiences with cars and snow, so I tend to stay at home when there is white stuff on the roads. We actually ended up not being able to see a lot of our family on Christmas Day because we literally could not get our car out of the driveway...there was about two feet of snow all along our alley in the back of our house. So we made the best of our Christmas with just our little family, played in the snow for quite a while, then had good ol chicken nuggets for dinner (the boys' favorite). :) The missionaries from our ward walked over on Christmas Day as well, and helped Teage build a giant snow fort in the front yard. I think they all had a great time. All in all, not exacly the Christmas that we were planning on having, but definitely one to remember. :) I hope that you all had a beautiful and wonderful holiday!

The boys getting all ready to brave the snow

The missionaries building giant snowballs in their nice clothes and ties

Teage standing in the first part of the snow fort

Sweet Lucas

Sweet Dylan

The finished fort with all the "boys"