Sleepy head

This is what happened the other day when we let Maxwell skip his nap.  I thought it was so funny, because it is not like he was laying there playing and just feel asleep.  He clearly climbed under the tool table, propped his feet up on the ball basket, and snuggled up with the Rapunzel doll.  This boy sure loves his naps! 

Happy Birthday Honey Wunny woo!

Matt loves being called honey wunny!  He also loves having his birthday right after Christmas.  He says it bothers me more than it does him.  That is just because I feel like a bad wife.  It is hard to do things for his birthday, because we are always just recovering from Christmas stuff.  Well, this year I think he had a pretty good one.  He got his favorite kind of cake that only his dad can make right.  Luckily his dad was here.  He got a new horse trailer he had been wanting (I know, he is kind of spoiled), he got to spend time with his wife at the hospital (don't ask), and I even made him a birthday dinner when I was all drugged up!  

 Isn't he cute, posing with his birthday cake?

And just a few pictures of us around the house during the holidays:

Britney, these ones are for you.  Your kids are kind of crazy!

 Sawyer and Grandma Peanut

That is a seriously cute baby, if I do say so myself!

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year!  There were a lot of things I wanted to get done that didn't happen, but it was nice to just relax and enjoy the season too.  There were several nights we just sat by the Christmas tree with the kids to sing songs or read parts of the Christmas story.  We also loved having our sweet baby Sawyer with us for the Christmas season.  

A few days before Christmas, we headed down to my parents for a little family Christmas party.  We had a good time visiting and playing with cousins.  Sawyer spent a lot of time snoozing in his bouncer seat.  A few of his cousins must have figured he was bored, so they were nice enough to share some toys to help entertain him.  I found him like this a couple of times.

Yes, that is a She-ra doll next to him if that is what you were wondering.  It was mine when I was little, and no, you can't have it.  

We had a little talent show, so all of the kids could show off their skills.

We were treated to a lot of singing, front rolls, and even some donkey kicks.  Savannah made up a song about Christmas lights that she sang for us along with "Santa is Coming to Town".  Maxwell requested a little help from me to preform his Diego song.  

Matt's parents were able to come to Utah and stay with us for Christmas this year.  It was nice to be able to spend time with so much family.  His sister Britney came from New Mexico, and three of his brothers live here in Utah.  Our kids are so lucky to have so many cousins around.

On Christmas eve, we had dinner with some extended family, then headed home to get ready for bed.

They got to open their Christmas jammies along with gifts from one another.

We read a Christmas story book, set out cookies for Santa, then headed to bed.  The kids fell a sleep a lot faster than I expected.  Especially considering that Savannah couldn't fall asleep the night before Halloween, or the night before she got to take her goat to show-and-tell.

Savannah requested the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" from Santa.  She suggested he bring Sawyer a zebra toy like max used to have.  Maxwell just asked for a kitty (a stuffed animal kitty).
Santa pulled through for everyone, and Christmas morning was very exciting!

Don't ask about this next picture....Santa is going to receive a strongly worded letter from me about it.

Playing in the Snow

Our kids feel pretty differently about the cold weather.  Savannah loves to play in the snow, and doesn't seem to mind being cold.  Maxwell hates to be cold!  He never lasts more than a few minutes outside.  My feelings this winter have leaned more toward Maxwell's attitude.  Luckily, Matt has been willing to play outside with Savannah a few times.

Playing in the hot tub with the Nygren cousins

 It's a tradition now.  You have to make snow angels if you are going to play in the hot tub.  Actually, Andrew was the only one tough enough for it this time.

 Savannah in her snow get-up.  At least she will play long enough to make all the work of getting on snow gear worth it.

Kaylee and Savannah with their snowman.

I love these pictures of Maxwell.  The boy sure does hate the snow, but at least he is cute.

Sawyer John Kolste

Our little baby, Sawyer finally made it here.  (Well, a couple weeks ago, but you know how it goes).  The delivery went really well.  I must just have a short memory, because I was surprised by how hard it all was.  Anyway, we sure are glad to have him here now.  I don't have a lot of pictures right now, so I will just post a few.  We did have his pictures taken by our friend who is a real photographer with a real camera, so those will come soon.  

 He is our smallest baby weighing in at 7 lbs 12 ozs.  

The kids have both done really well with him.  Savannah LOVES her new baby brother.  She wants to hold him all of the time, and she does really well with him.  She loves to show him off to everyone.  Maxwell doesn't really care, but occasionally he shows a little interest.  One morning, while I was getting ready, the kids were watching him in his swing and singing to him.  It was really cute, so I had to grab my camera.  Of course as soon as I pulled it out, Max started showing off, but it was still cute.

Update

Yet another random post filled with lots of pictures.  We have had a great fall and are happy that we have been able to enjoy some good Utah weather.  Here is a quick update on our family:

Matt recently took a hunting trip to Montana.  I couldn't go because it was too close to my due date, but he decided to take the kids along anyway.  They were excited to see Grumpy and Grandma Peanut, and I was excited to get to sleep in a little.  Thanks Grandma!  Matt got his deer about 4 hours into the hunt.  I think they all had a good time, and now he has been  busy making jerky.  Anyone want some?

I am having a baby soon....hopefully this week.  We are excited to meet the new little guy, and I will be happy to be able to breathe again.  It has been a pretty good pregnancy, though.  Nothing too crazy,  I'm just obsessed with chewing ice.  

Savannah is loving preschool.  She is always singing funny songs, I assume she learns there.  Some of them, I am certain are completely made up though.  She is still obsessed with any kind of animal.  If you took her to the toy store and let her pick anything she wanted, it would certainly be a stuffed animal.  She recently had a speaking part in the Primary program.  She walked right up and said her part, nice and clear.  It surprised us both a little bit.  

Maxwell certainly keeps us entertained.  He still has quite the temper, but he can be pretty darn cute too!  He loves naps, and will often sneak upstairs and put himself down for one.  He talks a LOT (it seems to run in the family), and love to play pretend.  He copies just about anything his sister does.  Max is obsessed with the neighbor's kitty, and will chase it around all day long!

My mom is doing pretty well with her treatments.  She is half way done now, which means she gets to switch to a drug that is not quite as intense.  We are hoping it will mean her side effects will be more mild.  She did get an infection and had to stay in the hospital for a few days, but it is all cleared up now.     We appreciate everyones' thoughts and prayers for our family.  

The boys all shaved their heads for mom.  Matt, Jake, and Jakers did it at our house (Miles was already bald).  Joe, Bubba, and Mike also did theirs.  They get all sorts of comments at work, since they are all bald together.

One day, when we were at my parents, we saw a baby deer in the backyard.  We brought the kids outside to see it, and were making sure they were quiet, so they wouldn't scare it away.  We soon realized it was pretty tame, and it walked right up to us.  We brought it into the garage for a little while to feed it some treats.  She has been around a few times since.  We hope she survives the winter.

Matt continues to acquire new animals for our own backyard.  A few weeks ago, at a wedding reception, Matt approaches me and says: "So, I may have just committed to taking a miniature donkey home."  Funny thing is, it didn't really surprise me at all.  He picked it up on the way home from Montana, along with our new baby goat.

We need to get a picture of the donkey, Batman.  This is our baby goat, Dandelion.  Savannah was completely in love with this little goat.  She would spend all day with it outside, and even took it to show-and-tell at preschool.  Sadly, she died a short time after we got her.  We were all pretty sad about it.  Savannah still talks about her, and wants to know if we can get another one, and name it Dandelion.  We might, but probably not until the spring.

Savannah, passing out treats for her classmates to feed the goat.  

Of course we took a trip to the pumpkin patch this fall.

 The kids painted their little pumpkins, while Matt and I carved the big ones.  This is the first time we have carved pumpkins since we were dating.  We tried to let the kids help, but they thought the guts were too disgusting.

 Maxwell, posing by our pumpkins.  They actually looked a lot better than this, I promise.  The BYU one looks funny in the picture, because the candle is showing.

Halloween was a big hit this year.  Savannah was so excited!  She kept yelling downstairs to me the night before that she couldn't sleep, because she was too excited about being able to go trick-or-treating the next day.  In the morning she was looking out the window in the backyard, and asked if the candy was already hidden out there.  I think she was confusing Halloween with Easter.

 She wanted to be a deer, but I told her I couldn't find a costume, and wasn't going to make one, so kitty-cat was the next best option.

 Maxwell was a monster, and a pretty scary one at that!

We went to our ward's trunk-or-treat, but got rained out.  It was still fun though.  Afterward, we headed to Jake and Krystal's to do a little bit of real trick-or-treating.  They were all pretty darn cute!  I think it may have been the best night of Savannah's life.  She still keeps saying that Halloween is her favorite holiday.  What can I say?  The girl loves her some candy!

Well, that about wraps it up.  Other than that, we have just been chillin' at home.

Hopefully we will have baby news soon!

Pink Party for Mom!

 A lot of you know my mom was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer.  It has been kind of a crazy month for our family.  I thought I would do a little update for those that want to know, but don't see her updates on facebook.  She is receiving treatment at Huntsman in Salt Lake.  We are grateful that she has a good team of doctors helping decide her treatments.  We received the bad news that it was inflammatory, then had some biopsies we thought confirmed it was not.  We were excited about that news, but now we know those tests were wrong, and it is for sure inflammatory.  We are hopeful, and feel confident with her doctors.  The Lord has blessed our family so much, and we appreciate all of your prayers.  She starts her chemo therapy on Monday, the 27th.  It will be a 16 week regiment where she goes in every other week.  She is planning on surgery around late January.  My mom is pretty amazing, and is one tough lady!  We love you mom!

Last week, while my sister was in town helping out, we decided to throw mom a pink chemo kick-off party.  We decorated everything pink, dressed in pink, and ate a dinner full of pink food.  It was a fun way to be together, show some support, and lighten things up.

Our pink table

A completely inappropriate, but really funny cake.

I will post occasional updates throughout her treatment.  We sure would appreciate any extra prayers in her behalf.