Happy Birthday Brenan!

(this picture makes me laugh, I love the line of drool)

Brenan turned 1 today! I can't believe how this year has flown by. It's been a bittersweet day. I'm just not ready for him to grow up yet!! He has been such a sweet fun baby, I could keep him like this forever. Chad assures me there are good times to come still too.

This little boy has some major personality. It's hard for me to get much done with him around cause I just want to play with him. He has started taking more steps the last couple of days and is standing great on his own. He loves playing with his older brothers, and they are so patient and sweet to him. He gives the best slobbery kisses ever, and will give them whenever one is requested. He's getting a few more sounds down. He is totally all boy I can tell already. I'm going to have trouble with this little guy and his manners. The other day in the bath tub he was tooting up a storm (I'm pretty sure it was on purpose) and after each one he would bust out laughing. I'm in for trouble for sure, haha.

We had a little family party for him tonight that was fun. We ate chick-fil-a (I love that place) and then had cake, and sang to Brenan. I made him his own little cake and he dove right in. It was so fun watching him, he was in heaven. Devan and Tristan were happy to help him out with it to. We got him a cozy coupe car. We didn't have time to take him for a ride in it tonight, but I'm super excited to see how he likes it tomorrow.

I'm so blessed to have this little guy as part of the family. Happy Birthday Brenan!

hmmmm.... what do we have here?

Tastes good...

Seriously Mom? I can just dig in, you're not even going to stop me??!!

K, I'm gonna need some reinforcements.

Nevermind guys, back off, I've got this.

Best day EVER!

Cruise, Christmas, New Year

Long time, no post! December was a busy busy, but very fun month. On the 10th we took off to Houston, and left the next day for a 7 day cruise. My Mom, Iwalani, Bruce, and Grandma Paquette were all able to join us. It was so fun to spend some time with family around the holiday season.

We had a little bit of a scare while we were checking in. Chad had left his passport in his checked luggage. Without it he wouldn't be able to board the ship! I am so thankful for good friends. One of our friends came to our house and found his birth certificate and had it faxed over to us. We were seriously down to the last minute of boarding. I don't know how Chad stays so calm in those situations, but I was a wreck. He said, "It's ok Lana, you guys just go and have fun, I'll drive home, and come pick you up when you get back." haha, I'm glad things didn't end up that way!!

The first couple days we just cruised, found our way around the boat, and ate to much. Our first stop was Cozumel. We didn't plan any excursions there, but me, my mom, and Devan got off the boat for awhile to check things out. There wasn't a whole lot to see right off the boat, but I did buy a Nacho Libre mask for the boys ;)

The second stop was Grand Cayman. We went to 7 mile beach there and it was beautiful. The weather was perfect and the boys had a blast!

The last stop was Jamaica. At the port they had a really developed, quite touristy area, with some shopping. We took the boys on a pirate excursion which was a lot of fun. They took us out on a pirate boat, sailed off, performed a show, had an encounter with some other pirates, took the kids on a treasure hunt, and had a little lunch. We all had a lot of fun.

Other than those stops we enjoyed our time at the ice skating rink, swim pool, different shows, and having the boys try new foods (Devan had escargo). Devan said his favorite part of the cruise was ice skating, who would have thought! We really enjoyed having the boys with us, so much in fact, that they didn't got to the kids club until the very last day. There wasn't much going on that day so we took them there and they had a great time, and ended going back that evening!

When we got home it was hard to get back into the swing of everyday life. I got a little to used to being waited on! We had made Christmas Eve plans with a group of friends, but had to cancel when Chad and Tristan got sick. Poor Tristan had a stomach bug that night, but thankfully he was doing much better by morning. We ended up having a nice quiet Christmas at our house. It was fun, like always, watching the boys open their gifts. (pictures to come... someday.)

New Years Eve we took the boys fishing. They got poles for Christmas and were excited to use them. We drove to Blanco State Park which is about 45 minutes north of San Antonio. They dam off the river there and stock it with trout. Also in Texas you can fish for free in State Parks. We didn't catch anything, but it was still a lot of fun, and cool to visit a new place. That evening our friends came over and played games. We played a fun one called "Ticket to Ride". (pictures to come... someday.)

Devan started school again on the 2nd. Although it's nice to get back onto a schedule, I was a bit sad to have him go again.

Tomorrow Brenan turns 1! I want it to be a happy day, but tonight I just feel sad about it :( That Mariah Carey song "Always Be My Baby" keeps playing through my head, haha. He's been such a fun, loving, snuggly baby I would be ok keeping him like that forever. Does he have to grow up?

Thanksgiving

We had a nice relaxed Thanksgiving this year with just our little family. Last year we ordered our Thanksgiving meal and it was horrible. This year I decided to do it myself and it turned out pretty tasty with Turkey, gravy, candied sweet potatoes, stuffing, vegetable cas
serole, jello salad, rolls, and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. We went over the Thanksgiving story, and made little popsicle puppets to act it out, along with a couple oth
er activities, watched some football, and went on a little walk to work off all that food! It was so nice to have Devan home for a week from school. I miss having him with us during the day. Poor Chad worked so much the week of Thanksgiving. He worked through the weekend before, had an 18 hour Monday, followed by an early Tuesday. I was glad to see by Thursday he could relax and take the day off. Friday I had a photo shoot for a friend.

The other day I asked Devan if he'd like to go on a nature walk. He said, "

Ya, lets go on a nature walk and kill some animals!" Yikes, it looks like he has some Lufkin blood running through those veins. We ended up going on a walk, but did not kill any animals, haha. After the walk we stopped to vacuum at the truck. Some hunters had just g

ot back from a trip and were cleaning up their truck, when Devan heard they were hunting deer, he was quite impressed, and said "I want to go do that!"

Tristan is under the impression that there is nothing faster than uncle Jess's four-wheeler. We were on a walk and saw some big kids on their bikes. He said, "We're much faster than them" When I told him, they were probably faster, he said, "ya, but not faster than uncle Jess's four-wheeler!". A bit later we saw a motorbike and he was absolutely positive it was "not

faster than uncle Jess's four-wheeler!". I love how these boys idolize their uncles. I wish they could hang out with them more.

We leave for our family vacation in less than 2 weeks. I'm so excited to be cruising to Cozumel, Jamaica, and the Grand Cayman. It's just started to get "cold" here, so it's perfect timi

ng. I'm super excited that my mom will be joining us as will as Iwalani and Bruce, and Grandma Nancy. We'll have lots of hands to help with our 3 crazy boys!

A couple weeks back I took my friends family picture and she took ours. Our boys are so awful when it comes to family pictures. They weren't even unhappy that day, but this is still how our picture turned out...

Last year they looked just as grumpy...

Yep, when it comes to family pictures, no smiles for these boys.

Halloween

We had our ward trunk or treat tonight. The boys were SO excited to get dressed up, except for poor Brenan, he hated his costume. I thought my boys would think it was cool if I dressed up. I came out of the bathroom with a green face, black hair, and a witch nose, and they didn't even react! Brenan looked at me a little funny and tried to grab my nose, but that was about it!

Dear Santa

Devan had a bike rodeo Wednesday. He had such a great time, and did really good. When I came to pick him up later that day he said his head hurt and he didn't want to ride his bike home (not like him at all!) I ended up walking him home in the stroller and leaving his bike at school. Turns out he caught the flu bug that's been going around our home :( The next day when I went to pick up his bike, it wasn't there. I figured someone stole it and gently broke the news to Devan. His reply, "Santa's not going to be happy someone kidnapped my bike, he's going to give them something really stinky for Christmas. Can we write Santa a note for a new bike?" He wrote the cutest little letter. That evening when I checked my email I got a message from his teacher saying his bike was in the gym safe and sound :)