Christmas in Arizona

We went to Arizona and spent Christmas with our family. First we went to Snowflake for The Christmas Eve party and Christmas morning. Then we went to Sanders and spent the rest of Christmas day and Saturday with everyone out there.

Here are some pictures of our time there in no particular order.

This is one of my new nieces. Her name is Haidyn and she is so funny. She does not crawl but scoots across the floor on her bottom.

Here are all the grand kids on my side of the family plus my little brother and sister.

Lavada and Ransom

This is my favorite picture because my dad was so cute playing princess bingo with my niece Kolbee

The kids having a fun

I made Ransom and Reaves pillows for Christmas

Here is Reaves'

Christmas morning they were tired

Santa at the Willis Christmas Party

Reaves was a Shepherd and thought it was pretty cool

Alyssa and my other newest niece Kylee. Kylee was adopted a few months ago by Lincoln and Anjane. She is a sweetheart and we are lucky to have her in the family.

My little friend Olivia. This girl is dang cute and knows it.

I forgot to take pictures of Halloween and I know I am a terrible mom this month. I took the boys to pick out Halloween costumes and they both picked out Power Rangers. I like to let them pick out what they want to be because it is their favorite thing in the world to dress up on Halloween. I wish I could coordinate cute little themes but they would never go for it. Ransom wore his costume many times before the big day and when we finally got dressed to go out he wanted to wear last years Spider man costume. Man I could have saved some money if I would have known that would happen. We went to the Ward trunk or treat and they loved it. Our ward is great and I can tell my kids feel at home with everyone. They ran and ran around with the other kids and got a little candy too.

Reaves is doing good in school. He can count to 100 now and is getting closer every day to reading. I am excited for him because he loves books and would have me read to him all night if I would do it. I let him empty his piggy bank and make his first purchase at the book fair. He had $8 to spend and it was a great experience for him to learn about budgeting his money and he really had to pay attention to the prices. He was so happy in the end even though he couldn't buy the book he originally had his eye on.

Ransom seems to be learning right along with Reaves. He knows many of his letters and sounds and actually traced the letter 'J' over and over that he was learning today. He usually tries one letter and then gives up so you can imagine how happy I was to see him progressing. He is finally sitting and paying attention when I read to them too. Ransom is definitely doing all of the other three year old things that drive me crazy. He used to love to eat whatever I gave him but now he seems to dislike everything I give him. He used to love bedtime but now does not. He will not let anyone help him do anything. There is so much more and I am tired from just thinking about it all. Ransom is the sweetest boy and still says "will you hug me?" when he wants me to hold him or pick him up.

We are excited for the holidays and Reaves wants to decorate for Christmas now. We aren't planning on going anywhere, just staying home and having fun together. Reaves has the whole week off school for Thanksgiving and the weather here is nice so i think we will go to the zoo or something. In the spirit of Thanksgiving I want to express how very Thankful I am for a wonderful husband. He truly is the best. I am also so blessed to have 2 sweet little boys who bring such joy to our lives.

Pumpkin Patch

Our silly boys had a blast at the Pumpkin Patch in Flower Mound, Tx. Most things were free. They played in the Jump Houses and had a train ride pulled by a tractor. The pumpkins were of course not free and we had fun walking around trying to find the perfect one. They let you use a little wagon to load your pumpkins into which was nice since we were there a while.

Labor Day Fun

For the Labor Day holiday we went to one of the many lakes we had to choose from. This one is called Lake Towakoni. We wanted to get out of the city so we traveled about an hour to get their instead of going to one closer to us. I took pictures and read, Kenny tried his hand at fishing while the boys played in the water and mud. It was my idea to start fishing with our kids but we really don't know what we are doing and didn't catch anything. Maybe next time. It was so much fun and obviously the kids loved it.

Going Private

I will be making our blog private soon so any of you who want to continue viewing please leave your email address. If I already have your email address then don't worry about leaving it here.

First day of school- 8/24/09

Yesterday was Reaves' first day of kindergarten. He was so excited and loved it. I asked him what his favorite things were and he said recess and lunch...of course. He walked right into the classroom and never looked back, I was a little sad at this point but I am glad that he can be independent and enjoy school so much. Most schools here in Dallas wear uniforms so he will be wearing red, white or blue polo shirts with dress pants either blue or khaki. He can also wear a school t-shirt with dress pants. Ransom was very sad when we left Reaves in the classroom and cried when we got him saying "we have to go get Reaves." We had lots of fun together though. We painted pictures, played with play dough and went to the library where we got books about dinosaurs (Ransom's favorite thing right now). He would still ask every hour or so when we were going to pick up Reaves.

Thunder Man

We had a big thunder storm on Saturday and When it started the boys were upstairs while I was down. It got really loud and one in particular felt like it shook the house. Ransom and Reaves came running down the stairs screaming. Ransom was crying and screaming...he was very frightened. I asked him what he was so afraid of and he said "The thunder man is yelling bad words at me." I asked him what bad words he had yelled and Rans replied "dumb dumb and poo poo head." He then said, "the thunder man is not nice he is rude."

Ransom's Birthday Party

We had a birthday party for Rans at a place called Addison Circle. It is a big park with several fountains that you can swim in and a place where water shoots out of the holes in the ground.

We had a busy summer. 3 of my 5 sisters came for 9 days and we had so much fun. Here are some pictures of their visit.

The boys won these Superman capes at Six Flags and love wearing them.

Here they are beating on Lavada



Lavada and Lyndrea

Kenny was so scared to get on but Ransom held his hand

Lavada, Reaves and Ransom ready for church

My beautiful sisters Lyndrea and Amber

Cute Lavada and me after just waking up in the morning...scary

Lyndrea had an 80's Flash back. I did her hair and she had to wear it that way all day.

Sonic

Happy Birthday Ransom

Ransom Is 3 Years old!

We named Ransom Vernal Hiatt after his two Great Great Grandfathers who were ranching friends. I love my little Rans. He is such a sweet little boy. This guy loves to make mommy happy and hugs and kisses me whenever I need it. Ransom Loves to play trains, trains and TRAINS! He got a new Thomas the Train magnet set for his birthday and all he wants to do is push those trains round and round the tracks. Ok so when he isn't playing trains he really likes to color and draw. He will sit for long periods of time doing just that while he makes this little clicking noise with his tongue...so cute. Some of his favorite things are hot Cheetos, chips and salsa, going to bed early, playing in the dirt and mud, finding bugs and other little creepy crawlies, snuggling, taking baths, and playing with his big brother Reaves.