Happy New Years

Me and ArmandPapa and AJ. Papa was texting Armand who was sitting right next to him.GrammyBeckyAyden was SO excited about the fireworksBrandon and Amber

Toni and Ashten outside checking out the excitement

This was an interesting evening. I won't go into detail, but I will say that this day will forever be known as Poo Years Eve. We started the evening at home not sure what we should do. Armand got home late, Ashten was still napping at 8:15pm. We were invited to Grandma B's so we decided to at least stop in and say hi. We stayed for a couple of hours but unfortunately events occurred that made it uncomfortable for us to stay and AJ needed to go to sleep. We kidnapped some of the family and headed to our house for some Rock Band. The kids were so excited that they got to stay up late and watch the fireworks in the neighborhood. They even asked me to tape the fireworks at the Space Needle (on TV) so they could watch them again. I think they loved that they played Star Wars music during the show. After that, the kids went to bed while the adults played and talked. I don't think anyone will ever forget this New Year!

Boys, Boys, Boys

Josh brought his DS and played it most of the time. Ashten was very interested in it and this is how they sat most of the time.

Ayden got some Star Wars school supplies for Christmas, so he sat a drew.Aj missed out on most of the fun as he was sleeping

This afternoon Ben and Josh came over to play while Valerie went to visit a friend in the hospital. All of the boys had a great time together and all of them behaved well. It's nice to have the kids' friends come over to play, it keeps them entertained and out of my hair, somewhat. On the other hand, note to self: don't even bother trying to clean the house with that many kids in it. They literally follow you around and trash any cleaning you've just done. Not that this doesn't happen when there are only three, but it just gets magnified. This brought me to the Duggars, who have 18 children. How do they keep their house so clean?

Christmas Part V

Cori played Mary

Ashten played JosephAyden played a wiseman
Ashley was the coveted Angel
Tana, Ashley, Cori, Ashten, and Ayden

Dad holding Taylor, he is a true Grandpa with that bottle in his pocket!

"I'm a G" Grandma is being silly

Ashten with a snowflake suction cupped to his head

At five we headed over to Great Grandma B's house for our last party of the day. We started off with dinner and moved into the Nativity program. I love seeing the kids participate in the Nativity, I remember acting it out when I was young and they are such good memories. This year was a little different as no one read the story but instead we sang a few Christmas songs. The kids were happy to be done with that so they could move on to opening more presents (when will the craziness end?) AJ missed out again due to napping. At Ggmom's house it always turns into a paper ball fight. We had some excellent paper balls this year thanks to Armand's skills. Although some people were trying their best to stop the insanity, it continued until we left, which was after 1 am. Even then the kids did not want to leave, I can't believe they held out that long!

Christmas IV

Britany, Taylor, Brad, and AshtenTana in her new jumper Grammy had sewn her.Ayden shooting his gun at the target Uncle Brad drew on the doorAshten's target was on the mirror Ayden and Ashten had a blast playing with Uncle Brad
We headed to Grammy and Papa's house next for Christmas lunch. Brad, Britany, Tana, and Taylor were able to come home from Arizona this year. We were so happy to have them back in Washington and also so happy to meet baby Taylor. We had a Country Rib dinner and afterwards thebig kids opened their presents while AJ napped. Dad, Brad, and Armand bonded while they played computer games. The girls had fun hanging out and relaxing (as much as we could with five kids ages 5, 3, 2, 1, and 0.)

Merry Christmas Aunt Vicki!!

We love and miss you and hope you are having a wonderful Christmas in Arizona!!

Wish you were here! Love, the Nicolas Family

Christmas Part III

Ashten, Ayden, and Anderson in their matching jammies sewn by Grammy If you look closely you will see the scariness of this picture...yikes!What a studly little manGrammy and Papa watching the kids open their gifts Ayden helping Daddy set up one of the new toys

Ashten woke up in the morning to find that Santa had set up a new big boy bed in his room. But I knew that he knew Santa wouldn't bother cleaning (only Mommy would do that) when he came running from his room saying "Mommy, I'm so proud of you for cleaning my room. " HAHA

This morning, we were lucky enough to have Ayden and Ashten sleep in until 8:30am. I jumped up and started making breakfast as Mom and Dad were coming over at 9am. We got to use our Christmas dishes and had eggs, waffles, sausage, bananas, and hot chocolate. It was simple but yummy. Afterwards, Ayden sang a Christmas song, which was unrecognizable...mostly humming, humming, humming and then singing "Christmas Time." He had been practicing at the top of his lungs a few days before this, downstairs in his room, and I yelled for him to stop screaming. He came up the stairs and informed me that he was singing Christmas songs and then just to stick it to me said, "Mommy, you lied! You don't love me!" Wow, how was I to know that it was a Christmas song? Anyway, after the "singing" we opened presents. We all got fun things! We hung out until about eleven when we started getting ready for our next party.

Christmas Part II

Ashten, Anderson, and Cousins

Our next celebration was at Armand's cousin's house. The big boys like going there because there are so many other boys to play with I think there were 5 other than our three. They ran around and played with toys watched their cousins play computer games and ate dinner. Having not gone to bed until 4am the night before I was so tired and AJ was having a very hard time breathing so we couldn't make it until midnight to open the gifts. We packed our things and left not getting home until 11:30pm. It was already a late night and I knew we had a long day to follow. The kids came home and went straight to bed. We brought mattresses into our room and put one boy on each side of the bed. It was kind of fun having a slumber party, but we missed AJ.

Once There Was a Snowman...or Two

Mom took the boys out to build a snowman Ayden
Ashten choosing out buttons for the snowman

Anderson would just sit by the door sticking his fingers out Ayden, Mom, and Ashten with their snowman

Armand starting team two's snowman

Dad giving "Aunt Gemima" a face lift

Dad, Armand, and me with our finished snow woman

You can't get blessed with this much snow and not build a snowman. Mom got motivated and took the boys out. Which then inspired the rest of us to make one also. It was hard to make anything with this snow because there was a layer of ice in the middle of the snow. We had too much fun molding cheeks, a nose, arms, and yep even boobs. We had such a busy but great weekend, we're sad that it's over.

Sunday Snowday...Again!

Ayden sledding for the first time Looks like he likes it!
Ashten is so excited!

Dad, Armand, AJ, and Ashten walking up the hill to meet us

Mom and Anderson

Church was cancelled today. I'm sure that someone is kicking themselves for cancelling last week when we had almost nothing on the ground. I suppose they never imagined that it would only get worse. Anyway, we took the opportunity to have some fun. The night before, just before midnight so that it wasn't Sunday, I stole a sled that had been hanging out on our street for several days. After breakfast we went over to the hill by Mom and Dad's house. There were a ton of people at the hill. I believe this was the first time that the kids have gone sledding and they loved it! Mom, Dad, me, Ayden, Ashten and even AJ took a turn going down the hill.

Christmas Part I

Ayden and Ashten playing Horton Hears a Who

Ashten looks so cute as an Elephant
You have to collect these "clovers" using the Horton hat.
Ashten had so much fun he passed out watching a movie
In the evening we went to Wes and Kristin's house for dinner and to celebrate Christmas with them as they will be in New Hampshire this year for Christmas. Kristin made lasagna, manacotti, and meatballs. it was all very good. The boys had fun playing their new game and watching movies. It was a very long day but a great start to the holidays.

Family Picture Day

Ayden Ashten
Uncle Wes helping Tana go down the slide
Oops this little Arizona girl does not like the feeling of snow on her fingers

Dad, Aunt Julie, Britany, Armand, and Brad

Mom and Taylor

Today Aunt Julie braved the snow to come take our family pictures. Our last one was taken just after Anderson was born and since all of our family would be together we had to get some new ones done. You can view our pictures here:

http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=AE39F32C71A&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW_APM

Afterwards, Tana, Ayden, and Ashten really wanted to go play outside so they got bundled up and headed to the big toy. It was so fun to see the kids playing together! When they were completely frozen they came inside and I fired up the cocomotion. While the kids were drinking their hot chocolate the adults played some Rock Band. It was so great to be able to spend some time together, especially with our Arizona family!