Snow Much Fun

It's been a crazy winter... we had 4 snow days last week and we're working on our first one this week.  I remember loving them as a kid and rarely ever getting them.  Now I dread them as a parent and we're getting them all the time.  I know all you other moms out there totally understand when I say it is complete torture trying to entertain toddlers for 4 days when you are stuck inside.  I was pullin' out all the stops.  Luckily, it warmed up later in the week so we could finally go out and play.  Its definitely no fun playing in the snow when it's 9 degrees outside. 

The kids had been watching and waiting for days. 

Most of us had fun.  Tucker wasn't so sure. He's like his Daddy and totally HATES the cold.  We did manage to get him to play and laugh a little, but he would have been much happier inside where it was warm.  Reese surprised us all yet again... she loved the snow and could have spent all day outside! 

Reese was a professional snow angel-maker by the end of the day.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's for the day and the whole crew played outside together.  The kids had a blast being pulled around by the four wheeler on an inner-tube. 

Grandpa took the kids back to see the cows... one of Tucker's favorite things to do. 

It was almost like riding a snow mobile. Almost.   The boys got stuck in the snow a few times but, of course that didn't stop them from playing.   

Even the big boys had fun throwing a few snowballs...  Grandpa stirred up a little snowball fight with Chris.

I'm pretty sure Tucker would be miserable if we lived in a place that had this to deal with all winter.  But for one day it was tolerable even for him.  I could handle a few more days of snow much fun... but it won't be long until I'm longing for the hot, sunny days at the pool. 

A Special Bond

As we wrapped up 2010... took down all the Christmas decorations and "rang in" the new year, I realized that it would be the last year for Reese and Tucker to be the only Tims kids in our house. While I'm excited about the new baby, it makes me wonder if it will change the special bond that the two of them have had for the past 2 1/2 years....

Sometimes they enjoyed snuggling up to each other for a much needed (on Mommy's part) nap...

 And other times they beat up on each other...

She could give Tucker the best "evil eye" ever!

They even went through the "no neck" phase at the same time. 

I've always loved it when I've caught them being sweet to each other.

As they've grown, it's been fun to see them really start playing together.. they love to wrestle and get into all kinds of trouble. They've become more than twins... they've become friends.

They've shared everything... birthdays, toys, snacks, fun times, sweet times, "kill each other" times, and have pretty much gone everywhere together.

Last week, Tucker was sick and had to stay home.  Reese probably asked me and Nana a hundred times where her brother was.  Even though they have their mean moments, they really do love each other so much. I hope that they'll continue to have their special bond even after the new baby arrives.

Christmas with the Fam

Since we aren't blessed to have all our family nearby, we rotate holidays.  This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Tims so we spent Christmas with my family.  Sometimes we travel to Michigan to be with the whole fam, but this year we stayed in town.  It was nice not traveling, but I have to admit I was pretty stinkin' sad when I heard how much snow they had up there this year.  The kids would have loved it!  Plus we wish we could have been with the whole family. 

We spent Christmas Eve at Mom and Dad's eating and making cookies for Santa.  Then went back on Christmas day for more eating, playing games, opening presents, etc.  It was fun to be together...

Chris and Amber hanging out before the gift exchange.  Yep... her belly's getting round.  Baby Easton will be here in March and we can't wait to meet him.

Amber's pretty much the celebrity in the family.  The kids just naturally gravitate towards her...want to spend the night at her house.  I think it's because she buys them candy and lets them stay up all night.  How can we compete with that?   

Nick, Caden and Drew waiting to open their loot.  Caden is getting ridiculously big.  He's playing basketball right now.  Of course, he's the best player on his team... takes after his Mama and his aunt. And he loves riding his dirt bike.  He's practically a teenager.

Caden and Emma both play so well the Reese and Tucker even though they are several years older than them.  The wrestle, give them pony rides, read to them... pretty much anything Reese and Tucker ask them to do. 

Emma just finished her second year of cheerleading.  She's sassy, loves to pretend and do all things girlie.  Don't misunderstand though... she can drive a mean four-wheeler too!   Oh... and she's brilliant. 

Reese and Tucker are both really lovin' them some Dana these days.  They ask about her and want to go to her house to play all the time.  Tucker informed her the last time they were there, that it was too cold to go swimming though.  They'll have to save that for this summer. 

This pretty much wraps up the Christmas posts for 2010... I'm not sure the kids can wait another whole year for Santa to come back.  They are still asking for him. 

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas with your family this year. 

More Than Excited

I realize it's been a month since that magical Christmas morn, but now that I can post pictures again, I have to go back and catch everyone up. So... just pretend that I posted this three weeks ago.

Well, we weren't sure that Santa was actually going to come to the Tims' house this year... due to the time-out filled, defiant week before Christmas that the kids experienced.  But I guess he decided to cut them a break since they were pretty good 99% of the year.  After all, Christmas wouldn't have been fun for anyone if they didn't have any presents to open.  And there were plenty of presents to open.  Note to self:  make sure the kids open the "non-exciting" presents like clothes, etc. first next year... it will eliminate a lot of "I want to play with _____, I want to play with _____ now, etc. etc. etc." 

Santa brought the kids a Bounce House this year. The suspense was killing them as they waited for Daddy to get it set up.  Santa knew they needed to open all their other presents first... otherwise Christmas would have been put on hold for hours of bouncing. 

It was a huge hit... even with Dad.  He enjoyed some good old fashioned bouncing with the kids.  We love it because we can use in indoors or outdoors.  And the kids love it because they can't get in trouble for jumping on this. 

We really got a taste of what's to come these next few years.  The kids were more than excited about Christmas this year which made it that much more fun for us.  We've started some family Christmas traditions that we'll hopefully continue for years to come. 

oh, and once again, I failed to get any family pictures on Christmas morning.  I promise Chris and I were there.  That's my New Year's resolution... to get pictures of the whole family.  I know the kids will appreciate having pictures of themselves when they were little, but I also know they'll be dying to see what Mom and Dad used to look like!

Blasted Blogger

I've always wondered how many people actually read my little blog, especially since I only have 12 lonely followers.  But I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people wondering where in the world we've been for the last month. 

Long story short... I was hit by the technology curse once again.  I know just enough about Blogger to be dangerous and almost deleted all the pictures in my blog in one click.  Yep, it's possible my friends.  So... if you're a blogger, don't EVER consider deleting your Picasa Web Albums to free up more space for your online photos... even if you don't think you ever created a Picasa Web Album.  I got a little hasty in an effort to figure out why in the world I couldn't post pictures to my blog all of a sudden, and almost destroyed 2 years worth of memories. 

Anyway... it took me 2 weeks to figure out that all I needed to do was pay 5 bucks to get this baby up and running so that's exactly what I did.  Now I have room for 10,000 photos... way more than you want to look through. So... we're back.  And I'm not angry at my blog anymore, so I'll starting getting everyone caught up on the latest fun times with the Tims.