St Nicholas Day 2012

L: Mason wondered if more boots would bring more loot. R: Cabey wasn't quite ready to abandon his beloved boot on the porch for a whole night.

 St Nicholas came to our home and stuffed our shoes again this year! We love St Nicholas Day in this home and we look forward to it all year round. This year the big day fell on a Thursday, however, since James wouldn't be able to celebrate it with us on that day, we got the okay from St. Nicholas himself to celebrate it on the following Sunday. When I told Mason that I got a personal note from Santa Claus, and that he was planning on a special trip to our house, he was seriously impressed and I could tell that his esteem for me grew mightily! (Seeing as I am on fairly good terms with the big man himself, maybe I should have him leave notes around the house on a regular basis so that Mason doesn't forget what a wonder I am!)

When the big morning finally came, Mason woke us up with his head two inches from my face saying, "Do you want to hear something funny?!!! I could NOT sleep 'cause I was SO EXCITED!!!" He then started telling jokes in rapid-fire succession which only proved the validity of his first statement. James and I could not stop laughing because, in fact, not a single thing he said while he was flapping his lips was actually funny! But even if his jokes were lacking in humor, he had so much enthusiasm and spirit that it made up! Our boys were stoked! 

While I headed out to grab my camera, I heard Mason sincerely say to James, "I sure hope that St. Nicholas brought me a monster truck." Seeing as no mention had been made of this St. Nicholas Day wish up to this point, James was blown away that Santa had it covered already! Santa sure is amazing, if I do say so myself!

 Why, even Ratty was remembered by that jolly old elf:

 While I got our cinnamon rolls out of the oven, James wowed his monster truck-loving men with real youtube footage of all three of their new trucks:

Every year a little king is hidden in one of the rolls and whoever finds it is the king (or queen) for the day. For the second year in a row, Poppy was the victor! To say that he was thrilled is an understatement! I guess a whole day of foot rubs will do that for you!

 Happy belated St. Nicholas Day, everyone!

Our Mothers day

 L: Charlie, with a huge loaf of bread that my menfolk made a couple days before. R: Mason, probably reflecting on what a great mom he has.

I'm not going to lie, this Mothers day was not my favorite one to date. When sleeping in is the only thing on your wish list, 9AM church is a hard way to start the day. But the thought of my big boy serenading me with the rest of primary made the sacrifice worth it.....until I read the program and found that the young women were going to take center stage with some non-mothers day themed song. As nice as they sounded, it just wasn't the same (I sure hope that Kansas has the primary sing on mothers day because I am going to be one sad momma if I never get sung to on my big day). Boo. Later in the day we headed off to our nearby pond to feed the ducks and then headed to a nearby park where we played until it was time to go home and hear my whole family talk to my brother during his bi-yearly missionary call. It was nice to hear him but sad that our microphone didn't work on the computer so I didn't get my five minutes of special talk time. Poor baby me. Oh well, who cares in the long run. I am unbelievably blessed to be the mother of these stinkbugs....even if I don't get sung to.

 L: Poppy and our big boys. R: Baby Cabey, sampling the duck food.

 McCabey

 L: Char, getting a better view R: McCabe and Pops.

 A mother duck celebrating the big day with her brood.

 McCabe is all about slides

 When Char isn't grouchy Mason, these two are the best of friends

 This section of the park had all sorts of futuristic-looking climbing and spinning stuff. I should have taken a picture of the climbing structure, 'cause it looked like some sort of  Lego thing. Sorta cool until I spun on one of the attractions and ended up feeling sick for the next day and a half. I am never spinning on another thing in my life!

I can't get over how cute this little guy is at this age. Especially now that he has had another haircut.

St. Patrick's Day

A trail of leprechaun dust leading to where it left out the back door.

 This St. Patrick's (or Pat-twitch as Mason calls it) was a good one. The boys were sure to set an ingenious leprechaun trap before going to bed the night before so that they could get three wishes from our little friend. Last year we tried a shoe box that didn't work so this year Mason hatched a brilliant plan to lure them into a clothes hamper by putting a decorative leprechaun on top. He was quite sure that the fake leprechaun would make the real leprechaun think that his friend liked sitting there so he would like it, too and foolishly stick around for the night. Apparently leprechauns are like lemmings. Surprisingly, his plan didn't snare our leprechaun but luckily he left Lucky Charms and chocolate/gold coins for his worthy opponents all the same.

 Excited to see a real leprechaun

Mason was flummoxed at how the leprechaun got away with a trap as flawless as his!

 Pouring the green milk that the leprechaun also dyed in the night and sporting some fancy bed-head.

 Yummy

 Even though we didn't successfully catch a leprechaun, we had a ball all the same. 

St. Nicholas Day, 2011

 How is it December 6th already?!!! Time sure is flying by! This morning we Siegs celebrated St. Nicholas Day. This year was extra special since it is the first year that James actually got to take part in the morning celebrations (which is really the only special part of the day). In years past he has had to be at work, church meetings, and school instead of getting to witness our little men's happy faces as they find their stuffed boots. It was a treat to spend the morning with our favorite man.

 Discovering their loot

 I made my little men matching pajamas. I think watching them romp around in them was my favorite part of my day. Having three boys is so much fun.

Since this was Pop's first real year, we had to make sure that his boot was stuffed extra nicely.

 Checking out their treasures

 Wonder of wonders, Poppy actually ended up being king for the day by finding the king figurine in his cinnamon roll! As a result, he referred to us as peasants for the rest of the day and gave us orders in a kingly voice (like when he called me on his way home and said, "Peasant woman, ready me a feast fit for a king and have two peasant children sit under the table so that they can rub my feet."). It kept us laughing all day.

 I love St. Nicholas Day!!!!!

Fireworks!!!!

Last night we kicked off the 4th of July weekend with a couple fireworks on our driveway:

 (which are amazingly enough, just as piddly looking in this picture as they were in real life. D'oh!

 Then we strolled off to James' office/lab down the street...

The boys in our stroller that I just recovered. NOT fun.

...where we partied-hard. 

As if just being able to play at Pop's lab wasn't enough, we got to watch the firework show put on by Logan at USU's Stadium of Fire! Hot dog!!!!

 Even Baby Cabe thought they were nifty:

(...But couldn't help wondering why he had to stay in the stroller when he wanted to be out munching on grass instead).

The show was so exciting that Char jumped right out of his pants!

Needless to say, I was jealous. :) Thank goodness that we had the lawn to ourselves....otherwise we would of had to at least pretend to parent.

Now, THAT is freedom!

I don't know what part of the night I enjoyed the most; watching my men have so much fun or getting to jog past the endless line of slow moving cars as we headed on home. Such a happy night.