Our Family Christmas

This Christmas was a wonderful one for our family. Christmas Eve we attended a service at our church. This was the first time in 9 years that I haven't been at the church for 11 hours on Christmas Eve. (I typically sing at all the services) It was also the first time that Luke and I have ever sat together in a Christmas Eve service. I missed singing a bit, but it was REALLY good to have some family time this year. After church I made a nice dinner, we put Boaz to bed, and then we watched Christmas Vacation!

Christmas morning, we woke up with Boaz and had waffles for breakfast. (and bacon for daddy!) This was the first time Boaz had tried waffles- they were a hit! We even let him have sugar-free syrup on them... he was a sticky mess when he was done. It was a fun way to start the morning.

Santa brought us funny things this year. I think he raided our cupboards and toybox the night before and put all of our old stuff in our stockings. He must have been trying to be pretty frugal this year.

Boaz showing mommy what he got in his stocking... yes- that's an old bottle of baby tylenol. Boaz loves to chew on the rubber cap!

Boaz had a lot of fun laughing and watching Ozzie open presents. This is Ozzie's favorite day of the entire year. He was hilarious. Each year when I get out the stockings, he is so excited. He knows exactly which one is his and proceeds to shake it wildly hoping that treats will fall out!

Ozzie helped Boaz unwrap his gifts.

After Boaz's morning nap, we loaded up and trekked across town to Dave & Linda's house. (luke's aunt & uncle) Linda made the traditional beef burgers and french fries for lunch. It just wouldn't be a Bartlett Christmas without the french fries. (Right, Joel??!) The cousins had fun playing Wii together.

After Boaz's afternoon nap, we headed out to Grandpa & Grandma Bartlett's house. They live a whopping 7 minutes away from us. It was nice not to have to travel much on Christmas Day. Grandma B found some old toys of theirs from when Luke was growing up. Luke used to like to play with this tool bench. Boaz liked it too!

Grandma & Grandpa Bartlett gave Boaz some really nice clothes and several fun toys. Grandpa helped Boaz unwrap them.

Uncle Justin gave Boaz a big stuffed teddy bear. He picked it out and wrapped it all by himself!! (Nice work, Uncle Justin!!) :) He also gave Luke and I a funny book about regrettable foods... it's now on our coffeetable if you'd like to visit and look at it!

Boaz, Justin, Bear

Boaz checking out one of his new outfits...

Yep- it's true! Your eyes really are smack dab in the center of your head!!

After Boaz went to bed, we played a game of Seinfeld Scene-It. Luke was the champ. Then we spent a couple hours laughing our heads off at some of the questions from Ron & Carol's new game "Would You Rather..." I think one of those questions sparked what you see in this picture.



We had a wonderful Christmas... we spent time with family, and also spent time giving thanks for all God did for us many years ago. What an amazing gift God gave us- sending Jesus to this earth to live as a human. Praise God that he offered Jesus as a sacrifice for us all. No matter what we've done in the past... through Christ's grace, we can live in confidence knowing that God forgives and invites us to share eternity with Him. We celebrate Christ's birth and God's amazing love this season. And we're thankful for all of you- our friends and family!!

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family! May 2009 be a blessed year for you!!

Love :: Luke, Becky, Boaz, & Ozzie

Ah-Dee

Boaz loves his fingerfood. But when he's tired and rubs his eyes, he gets nice and messy. The back of his hair was crusted with potato this night also.
He's been a tired little boy lately... maybe a growth spurt?? Tonight we did all we could to keep him up until 6:30!





This is how we found Boaz after his nap today. His little legs were dangling out of the crib and he was talking away.

Also... we may have a first official word (besides mama and dada)!! All day long Boaz said "Ah-Dee." We really think he was saying Ozzie. He'd crawl after Ozzie saying it, and everytime we said 'Ozzie', he'd repeat with 'ahh-dee." I'll try to get some video of it in the next couple days and you can all vote! :)

ozzie's turn...

Most of these posts seem to be about Boaz, so we'll let Ozzie have another turn. Ozzie wasn't too sure about Boaz for the first few months he was here. However, tides have turned in the last couple weeks. Boaz is moving all over the place now- and often after Ozzie. Ozzie thinks that this is 'play' and loves to bark at Boaz. He actually likes to be around Boaz these days. This is where I found Ozzie as Boaz was waking up from his nap today. As soon as Boaz started talking, Ozzie was waiting at the door. When I opened the door, Ozzie jumped up on the window seat and looked up over the crib at his little buddy. Thier newfound friendship is really neat. Although, we're having to work hard at teaching Boaz that you don't ever go near Ozzie's food (especially while he's eating it), don't try to pet Ozzie when he's in his 'spot' between the couch and the cupboard, don't steal the toy Ozzie is chewing on, and don't pull ears. It's a learning process, but Ozzie has been a great sport about it. Way to go, Ozzie!

family Christmas

We traveled to Eldora this past weekend to celebrate Christmas with my (Becky) family. We had such a great time with everyone. There are now 6 cousins, so it was a lively time with lots of laughs. Boaz enjoyed opening presents... grandma and grandpa spoiled him. Here are some pictures of the highlights...

Katie got Dance Dance Revolution... we had lots of fun with that after the kids were all in bed!

We secretly got all the kids together in November and had my friend, Christina, take some professional pictures of them. That might have been the hardest gifts we've ever tried to pull off. Not getting them together, but actually getting a picture of all 6 of them sitting in one spot!! Mom & Dad loved the pictures... they turned out great.

New picnic table!!

your opinion, please...

We need your opinion. Watch the video below and then tell us if you think we could win some money on a funny home video show somewhere...

** Disclaimer- Boaz was not hurt in any way in the filming of this video. No tears were shed, no bumps or bruises afterward.

Boaz was using a cloth to 'wash' the cupboard and I thought I'd get video of it to do a funny post about him helping out around the house. Instead... I filmed what you just saw! It's horrible to watch, but for some reason you just have to watch it over and over again and laugh! (Luke and I did anyway) He's trying to get around everywhere these days and the 'head bonk' happens quite frequently.

winterizing...

It's very much winter in Iowa! We've had some good snow and ice around here, and Boaz can no longer get away with wearing layers of sweatshirts outside. We made a trip to Old Navy last week and got him his first winter coat. We already had the hat and mittens and were excited that they matched perfectly! (I was, anyway!)








The new winter coat made Boaz poofy. So poofy that he no longer fits in his 'baby' carseat! (it was getting close anyway) We had to get our next-step seat this week. I went to Walmart b/c we had some gift cards. The lady said the first giftcard I handed her paid for my entire purchase and I couldn't believe it. I lugged the big box out to the car in the snow and when I looked at the receipt, she had only rung up my milk & lettuce!! No wonder my gift card paid for it all! So I had to go get my cart again, load up the seat, haul it back in, and pay for it for real. I asked the lady if I could have the 'good shopper' discount, but she didn't think I was funny. Anyway... the box from the carseat has made for some good entertainment in our livingroom. Boaz loves his new tunnel.

Snuggling up and reading seems to be an activity that happens more as the weather gets colder. This is actually a picture of Luke cramming before our small group and Boaz studying the Brown Bear, Brown Bear book. (it's one of his favorites currently) Boaz loves to be just like his daddy.

Sunday was our 6th anniversary!! Time has gone so fast!! We had a great day. Church was good & I had a nice nap while Boaz slept that afternoon. After naps, we bundled up and went to the UNI campus to visit Holly- our adopted college student. She is graduating this December and had her senior portfolio show. We got to see all of her interior design projects- quite impressive. After our outing, we went to Texas Roadhouse. You just can't beat the portabello mushroom chicken and barbeque ribs (guess who orders which) to celebrate our love. Boaz likes that he can eat what we do now... and it makes it so nice not have to pack food everywhere we go!

putting up the tree

We got our Christmas tree up on Monday! This is the first year Luke has helped with the process and it was fun to have him do so. If you look close, you can see little Boaz guarding the tree while Dad vacuumes the area.

Boaz has been pulling himself up and cruising around this week. He's definitely going to be a climber.

Once we got the tree all put together and branches fluffed out, Boaz got to do the honors of putting the star on top!

Nice work, Boaz!

The finished product is quite nice... but I forgot to take a picture of that. I'll get one on here sometime soon. Boaz is enjoying staring at the pretty lights in our living room. And my favorite thing to do is turn out the lights, leave the tree lit, and turn on Christmas music at night.

This is how I found Boaz when I woke him up from his nap yesterday. This is the first time he's gotten himself standing up in the crib.

We had his 9 month check-up yesterday as well. He now weighs in at a whopping 18lbs 6oz (25%)!!

Unexpected Fun?

This morning Luke took Ozzie to the vet to get groomed. He had work junk in his front seat, so put Ozzie in the back to ride. Normally Ozzie loves rides, but this morning didn't. He was probably nervous about going to the vet combined with mad that he was in the backseat?? Luke smelled something funky as he was nearing the vet and turned around to see that Ozzie had pooped all over the back seat. I mean ALL OVER! Then stomped through it and smeared it all over the seats.

He returned home to say that his trip was unsuccessful. He told me about the poop and I went out to help him with it. It was far worse than I ever could have imagined. We spent an hour scrubbing his seats and his carpets. (good thing he has a leather interior!)

Next time, we'll be sure that Ozzie goes poop before he gets in a vehicle!! Oh, Ozzie... thanks for the morning adventure.

Speaking of adventure... Boaz is ripping all the books off the bookshelf as I type this. Better go distract him!