{my birthday}

i'm one lucky girl.  jake pampers me for sure.  i woke up to the boys making me breakfast.  they brought it to me singing happy birthday with a candle on the french toast.  lukie was singing so loud and proud.  he is really cute to listen to.  

i was able to go to the gym and shower for as long as i wanted.  they made me lunch and were such good boys for me. 

later that night we got together with friends for some brownie sundaes.  yum!!!  we had our traditional picture.

followed by our other traditional picture

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they even made me blow out some candles.  

kelsey was so cute and spelled my name out in the candles.  

it was a perfect day to be 27.  every year i get older i still feel like i'm 19.  time has flown by for me. i'm so lucky to have three amazing boys in my life.  i love them so much and that's all the really matters to me.  yeah for birthdays!!!!

{grandma rabe}

we love having visitors around here.  especially during the winter when it is too cold to go out much and the boys get sick of me.  we were fortunate to have grandma rabe come visit for 6 days!!!  the boys were in heaven.  

nolan would corner grandma and make her go in to the book room and play for hours.  it's a good thing that grandma didn't mind.  

they also made grandma play in the fire truck.  it was a tight squeeze for the boys let alone an adult.  but grandma was a trooper and did what they asked.  

nolan didn't like lukie playing in the fire truck when grandma was in there.  

we only have one bathroom at our place so getting ready in the morning was a little different.  i brought all my stuff in the bedroom to get ready.  i couldn't get ready fast enough in the morning because the boys were be doing my hair the entire time.  they thought it was so fun to comb my hair and help me blow dry it.  i guess this would be how it is with a little girl.  i could handle that.

while grandma was here jake took full advantage and booked a hotel downtown for us to get away.  he said it was for my birthday but i think it was more for the both of us to have some time without kids.  we haven't had time away since before nolan was born.  that is four years ago!!!  it was very much needed.

our night started off with us going to the budget theater.  we saw "life as we know it" and loved it!!!  i think it's because we have kids that we thought it was so funny.  then after the movie we picked up a papa john's pizza (my favorite) and headed to the hotel.  

i couldn't believe how nice the hotel was.  we stayed at the hyatt downtown.  it was so cool inside.  i loved the bedding in this place.  

here is the view from our place.  amazing!!!

we took full advantage of their gym.  it was so nice!!  everything was new and pretty.  it was nice to work out with jake.  we haven't done that together since before med school.  can you see a pattern here.  we don't do much together like this since kids.  i miss the old days when we would go to the gym together 5 days a week.  we use to be in such good shape.

none of this would have been possible if it weren't for grandma rabe!!  she was so kind to watch our kids.  they didn't even care that we left.  

we had such a blast with her here!!!  i'm glad the boys were able to bond with her and have some one-on-one time with her.  we went tubing, played with trains, puzzles, read books, went to stone fire pizza, and shopped till we dropped.  so very fun!!!!  thanks ann for the amazing time together.  and especially for watching our crazies.  we love you!!!

{a day in the life....}

there is no ordinary day at our place.  about a week ago when jake was gone interviewing i decided to get a papa murphey's pizza to cook.  we got it home i turned on the oven and waited for it to heat up.  when it was ready i open the oven and go to put the pizza in and i find.......

lukie's NEW blue car that he just got for his birthday!!!  nolan had put it in the oven without me knowing.  and i didn't even check the oven before i turned it on because i never knew nolan knew how to open it, let alone pretend to cook in it.  the car was completely soft and melted.  i'm so surprised i didn't burn the place down.  lukie was so sad that we had to go to the store and get him a new one.  i now check the oven every time i turn it on.  

there has been quite a bit of trouble going on at our place.  the boys were playing together one day and they were just giggling so i thought they were playing well and having a good time.  then it got real quiet.  i went in to the room and saw this.  nolan had pushed the desk chair over to my dresser and they threw all my jewelry over the entire room.  this picture is just of what was next to the dresser.  i still can't find one pair of earrings.  naughty boys!!!

and last but definitely the worst, nolan was playing over at our friends the barber's and jumped in to the corner of their end table.  he put a hole right through his head.

the cut was pretty deep and we would have needed to go to the emergency room.  thank heaven we have jake, who is almost a doctor, to save him.  jake got all of his shenanigans and cleaned out the cut, super glued it shut, and made his own butterfly bandage.  nolan didn't like the super glue.  he said he didn't like it hot.  i think it just stung for the first second.  

but nolan is as good as new and jake saved us from a trip to the ER.  thank you doctor rabe!!!

i'm pretty sure he will have a scar.  sad that it had to be on his face and that it happened so young.  i still think he is the cutest kid to walk the earth.  just another day in the life of the crazies.

{some footage}

lukie's birthday!

sledding on christmas eve!

{and then there was new year's}

i've decided that new year's is definitely not a holiday meant for the non drinking crowd.  i always think that the whole experience would be better if we drank.  but then i quickly remember how ridiculous i get when i'm with friends and realize that i'm way better than the crazy drunk people.  i'm way more funny and loud and obnoxious, and i totally remember my entire evening. 

speaking of the evening, we had our friends the fitzgerald's and the robertson's over for some dinner and games and of course...the loud giggly girls that get together and can't stop laughing.  we decided to have cafe rio salads for dinner.  wasn't as amazing as the real.  but i am starting to not remember what it tastes likes. (sad)  then we had some "better than sex" cake for dessert.  i did a great dance with the spoons before serving everyone.  and we played games, laughed at each other and the people on the countdown and busted out the bubbly when midnight arrived.  

now, look at this picture.  most people would think we were all drunk.  haley and i can't stop laughing and jake, well jake looks completely plowed.  i love our friends and how much fun we have when we are together.  

we, of course, had to get the new year's kiss on camera.  i'm warning you that it is pretty graphic.

so from left to right.  the fitzgerald's kiss is the "we've been married for six years and i'm going to keep my eyes open during the kiss" kiss.  then there's us, the "classic kiss that you expect from your spouse on new year's" kiss.  and then there's the robertson's........ there kiss is "we are still newlyweds and don't know how to appropriately kiss in front of people but do we really care because we are busy right now" kiss.  the progression of the kisses is quite noticeable.  we couldn't stop laughing when we saw what the robertson's did.  thanks for the great night friends.  we missed the barber's and the fairbourn's.  who knows how long it will be until we can all get together again for new year's.

{christmas day}

we were so blessed this year.  we decided to stay home to do our own thing for christmas.  with jake interviewing for residency he is gone here and there with no real schedule so we just figured it was easiest for him to be here so he could drive to as many interviews as possible.  and it has worked out nicely, for him. (me on the other hand am going crazy with the crazies. i think they get sick of me real quick.) but back to christmas.

our families were so kind to send us such wonderful gifts.  the boys are truly loved by their grandparents.  as for jake and myself, we kind of like them too.  it is hard not to spoil your kids.  we found ourselves thinking of one more thing the boys would love.  but there are ways to help that....the big one....being poor students in medical school with absolutely no money.  i think that helped a lot.  (well, maybe) 

jake woke up when he heard the boys and got the camera out.  i will try to post video soon of that.  the boys ran down the hall and started with their stockings.  we had their stockings full of suckers, matchbox cars and toothbrushes.  the boys were content with the cars and suckers for a good ten minutes.  

we needed to interrupt them to get them to open their other gifts.  once we did they were all for it.  they loved everything!!!  i do think the highlight of the gifts was the race track my parents sent them.  the cars are battery powered and the track is so cool.

here is the damage from the morning.  oh, we also got the boys matching thomas the train jammies.  i think that could win the overall favorite gift.  they live in them.  it is like pulling teeth to get them in normal clothes.

we also got them some extension pieces for their train track.  they play this all day long.  it is pretty cute to watch them play together.....and fight together.  

later in the morning we had a brunch with all our neighbors that stayed for christmas.  the food was amazing and so was the company.  the best part about the day was we didn't get out of our jammies all day long and went absolutely nowhere.  fabulous!!!  we did get to skype our families, which the boys thought was so cool.  the day was perfect.  we had a great christmas. 

{christmas eve}

staying home for christmas is exciting for us because that means we get to do our own traditions.  we started the day off with sledding, which i want to keep as a tradition until they want to replace it with skiing.  the boys really liked it.  towards the end nolan went down the entire hill all by himself and loved it!

i have to say that climbing the hill, although it doesn't look that big in the pictures, was exhausting for me.  i usually had to carry luke and the sled.  it made me realize how badly i need to get back in shape.  or maybe it's my age?

after sledding lukie was tuckered out.  he fell asleep in the car and slept on the sofa for a good hour while nolan and jake went outside for some more snow fun.

later we had dave and kels over for our traditional scones and egg salad sandwiches.  it was so yummy!!!

then we opened our christmas eve jammies.

and of course took the traditional jammy picture.  the first one was the best we got.

this is really what we look like.  lukie crying over a toy, nolan having the toy, jake comforting luke, and me always rolling my eyes or making some type of face because i'm tired and sick of their fighting.  such good memories.

the whole day was definitely a success.  we ended the night with a phone call from jake's grandpa marv.  he pretends to be santa.  he has jingle bells going in the background and just talks with the kids.  nolan loved it!!  when "santa" asked him what he wanted for christmas nolan went off.  he started naming every truck he could think of.  "santa" thought that was funny. 

christmas is so much fun with kids.  i hope we can teach them more about giving and the gift of our savior jesus christ.  how lucky we are to have the knowledge of the gospel and for our savior birth. 

{the wilderness resort}

since we decided to stay home for christmas this year jake surprised us with a trip to the dells. we were in need of a vacation.  we left on lukies birthday and stayed for 3 days.  it was a blast!!!  the boys had a great time.

there were 3 different indoor water parks.  i only got pictures in the last one.  the boys had such a great time going down the slides.  we even took them on this big tube slide that was in a dark tunnel.  luke loved it!  nolan....not so much.

oh, and check out the two pictures of us each taking the boys down the slide.  notice that the boys are having so much more fun with me.  finally!!!  usually jake is their number one.  i was for that tiny little moment and i liked it a lot.

we played at the arcade.  

and at the end of the trip we went to buffalo phil's.  it was the coolest restaurant.  they bring your food on a train!!!  now if any of you know our boys they are obsessed with trains right now.  so this was heaven.  

the girl running the train loved how excited our boys got each time it came around so she would always stop it by our table.  they would have different things on the flatbed cars each time the train came around.  i think the favorite was the bubble machine.  

we are so lucky to have jake to plan these amazing trips.  i love starting all these adventures with our boys.  it's fun to see the difference in their personalities when it comes to trying things and what they like best.  such a highlight of our holiday.

{2 years old}

the month of december is a busy one for us.  first comes our anniversary, then lukies birthday, then christmas, then new year's.  it's nonstop.  

we wanted luke to feel extra special since his birthday is on the 20th and is a little too close to christmas.  when we asked him what kind of cake he wanted he said a snowman cake.  he is quite obsessed with frosty the snowman.  we watched it a lot at our house during the holiday.  and luke sings the song so dang cute!

jake did another fabulous job on the cake!  

we did a small gathering since everyone goes home for christmas around here.

luke got to open his presents, which was brutal for nolan.  for some reason nolan didn't get why luke was getting these fun toys and not him.  there were lots of tantrums over the blue car that lukie got.  poor nolan.  thanks heavens christmas was just 5 days away.

we are so lucky to have this boy in our family.  he is so much fun.  he's goofy, sweet, cuddly, funny, smart, and very handsome.  we love you lukie!!!  you make us smile everyday with your cute face.