my boys goofing around

Love these cute pics of my boys. I can't believe how well they play together. Zander is such a "mother hen". I love overhearing Zander talking to Mason in a higher pitched voice, "Mason, would you like to play blocks with me?"

big boy bath x 2

The other day, we did a "big boy bath" with both boys. Zander was so excited, until he realized that he only got half of the bathtub to sprawl. But then once he realized how much fun Mason was having, he was okay.

P.S. Yes, Zander needs a haircut - he's getting one tomorrow :)

Holiday Craziness!!

Where do I even start?! Chronologically, I suppose... How has this holiday turned into such a rat race. It's for the kids, I tell myself!

Dec. 22nd
Eric & Mindi hosted the "Weinhagen Christmas". Super fun. All were there except the Handts who were sick. After we ate, the "kids" (big and small) went sledding out back. Eric's gotta to be in heaven now with his 3 acres of land. I love their house, even if it is out in the boonies.
































Dec 23rd
Two photo shoots and lots of last minute xmas gift making/buying/gathering! Here are some of the homemade gifts I put together (I stole the holiday card keeper and regular card holder from a fellow scrapper Lain Ehmann) ...









































Dec 24th
We hosted the xmas gathering that includes my parents, Marissa & Jason and June & Dud. I made 2 pasta dishes. They were yummy and pretty easy. I kept forgetting that this is Mason's first Christmas. He mostly loved climbing on the presents. I wouldn't say he really opened any presents, but he tore a few pieces of wrapping paper. He was excited to see what was inside. The only problem was getting the toys out of the packaging. Everything has a gazillion twist ties. Zander's fave toys were lincoln logs and a car ramp that attaches to a door. This present was actually for Mana & Zander :)
We also took family photos...the first time in many years. I guess we took one at M & J's wedding, but nothing since. Very sad since we're photographers and all. I'll update this post with a link to Phanfare from the "session".














Dec 25th
The boys woke up around 6am to see what Santa brought. The first thing Zander said when he came out into the living room..."Santa ate his cookie!". We then opened up presents from each other. Zander insisted on a "Christmas mohawk" like our friend Todd.










After Mason's nap, it was off to Grandma Wendy and Grandpa RT's house. Talk about chaos. I guess you can't expect 4 kids to sit and watch each other open up gifts. I didn't really see what everyone got. Wendy made super cool hard-cover books from all the Duluth trips. There were a bunch from the last 5-7 years and then a whole bunch from Mana's childhood. Super cool!






















Then it was off to my parent's house for the massive Kutzner gathering. There are two pools of gift exchanging. On group draws a name. The other group brings 4 random gifts totaling ~$30 and we play the dice game. Mana and I are in the dice game group. I like the adventure of "stealing" and thrill of not knowing what you're getting until the "buzzer".

Go home, go to sleep!!!!! Seriously, I wish I had a whole day just to sleep! After being up until about 2 am for the last 4-5 nights, 10pm is sounding like heaven about now!

Christmas card

We finally got our Christmas card out. Since people should be getting it today, I'll post the images here.

iPod nano red has arrived!!

Tuesday, the ipod nano red that I won from MommyCast arrived! It's so awesome. It's even inscribed - see photo below. I just love the way that Apple packages their products. I've been playing the iquiz game a lot. It quizzes you on the songs you have loaded. Too fun!

Holiday madness

How did this time of year get to be so crazy?! To me, the preparation of the holidays is so stressful and chaotic. The celebration factor has been lost. I've been working like a mad woman in my office on some "projects" which cannot be revealed until after next week. I will definitely be posting photos, just not yet. I'm so excited. Zander has been helping me, so it makes it even more fun!

Lucky winner of...

an iPod nano red!!!! I've been enetering the "secret word" contest from the MommyCast podcast. There are secret words hidden in the 5 most recent podcasts. I found them all and emailed the show each time I heard a secret word. I've won a bunch of prizes already. Then, on the 5th and final podcast you have to email the show all 5 secret words and also figure out what the 5 words have in common. It was easy.... all were things or characters from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! A classic at our house! The 7th person to do this final task, wins the iPod nano and that is ME!!!! So excited!!