Christmas in South Dakota

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. The boys had lots of fun playing in the snow. It took us about 20 minutes each time to try to get bundled and out the door but once we were out, there was no stopping them. Nate loved being pulled in the sled and Collin and Bob built a snow fort. We had lots of great food and plenty of laughs. Santa was very good to the boys. Collin even got the trombone he was asking for.

All the Quickstad guys.

Grandma Jan made the boys aprons.

This is the snow pile that Collin helped make driving the John Deer tractor with Boppa. This later became a snow fort with a cave, steps and a slide.

Here is our really sad looking snowman. They did get out later and get him a carrot nose. Collin insisted.

Collin was so excited to make a snow angel.

Nate helped us pack.

A little update

Collin and Nate are doing great. They are really looking forward to Christmas. Collin is really getting into Santa this year, which is really fun. He also really likes singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer....he asks me to sing it all the time. All he wants from Santa is a trombone...yes, a trombone. So, we feel very confident that Santa will come through since he has been a good boy. Nate is talking more and more. He can say Santa and point him out in pictures and TV. Nate loves to dance. We have been having fun playing music and if you tell him to dance he smiles really big and spins in circles. It's so cute. They both have mild colds right now but that does not slow them down. I can't remember if I have mentioned this but we found out a few weeks ago that Nate is allergic to peanuts. We took him to a specialist and they confirmed it. Last week I took him for blood work so we can test him for a few more things. Currently he is on a nasal spray and I was hoping that would be enough. The doctor wrote us a prescription for Allegra too which we started today. Let's hope it helps. It will be nice when we get the results back from the blood work so we know what we are dealing with. We are very lucky that none of his allergies seem to restrict his airways. He just has a runny nose all the time and sometimes a rash.

We are heading to South Dakota next week for Christmas. It definately looks like the kids will have lots of snow to play in. Let's hope it warms up a bit because I know they are going to want to be outside as much as they can and all these negative temps are a bit much for me. You should have seen me bundle the kids today and it was just 32 degrees...which is cold for us here in Texas. It is going to be nice to have a white Christmas. Bob told Collin yesterday that we will be even closer to Santa at Grandma Jan's and Boppa's house.

Did I mention they are advanced for their ages?

Getting ready for our trip to South Dakota

Here comes trouble

Collin and Nate are little partners in crime. A few mornings ago, we heard the kids on the monitors waking up. Well, the next thing we know Collin comes running into our room telling us the sun is up (he is supposed to stay in his room until the sun comes up) and guess who comes strolling in after him....Nate! He somehow climbed out of his crib and then Collin opened the door for him. We have since dropped the crib to the lowest setting and I took the bumper out because I think he used that to give him an extra boost. I am still hoping to wait until at least January before we try out the big boy bed but he may bump that up a bit. It was pretty cute though. You could tell he was so proud of himself. He had a great big grin on his face. Oh, and the other thing that he thinks is great is to get his own diaper off. He has done this twice now. I guess this means I need to keep pants on him!!

Collin's 3rd B-day Party

We had Collin's party a little play-gym this year. We did our party together with Collin's friend Shelbi since she turns 2 this month. The kids all had a great time. There were bounce houses and trampolines and a foam pit. Tami made a wonderful Pablo cake that the kids loved.

Our little readers!

I know you have all heard me say that the boys love books. Well here is the new thing they like to do together. They pull all the books off the shelf and look through all of them. They play quietly in Collin's room. It is really nice for so many reasons!! Thank you to all of you that have helped with our collection!