Christmas with my Family

We went to my mom and dad's after we were done at Ricker's and had our family Christmas with them, my sister Shauna, and Jay, Heather and Gwen. We wanted to be there with Gwen when she opened her gifts since this would be her first year to actually "get it". We also thought it would be fun to have Grandma and Grandpa there to watch them open all their gifts.

We made them stay in Gwen's room until we were ready and then had them come out.


Sawyer and Finn ventured out first....

We had Gwen's new slide in the middle of the room and I'm not sure anything else was noticed. Everyone went straight for the slide....


Gwen loved it!

We finally had to remove it from the room to get the kiddos to focus on the other presents awaiting them!

So excited for presents!


A new submarine!


Tractors for Finno!


A new book full of pirates!


Finno loved his Tonka Truck...(note the adorable truck noise with his lips!)


Gwen loved Finno's workbench too!


Airplanes are the best!! Especially ones that drop rescue rafts out of the bottom and the propellers move!


This is Finn playing with Gwen's cute piano, but I wanted to include a photo of the matching blankets I made for the boys. They were A LOT more work than I expected, but they turned out super cute!


Pillow Pets all around....


More time on the slide....super cheesers!


Must say it is STILL the most played with present of all the toys purchased! Yay for Craigslist!

We spent the rest of the day at my parents. Ate Fondue, talked with my BIL, Jade, in Arizona and I even got a nice nap in! We had such a great day and are so happy to live by both sets of grandparents and share these special days with them and most of our family!

Christmas Morning at Rickers....

We always go celebrate with Josh's family first thing Christmas morning and this year was no different...



The famous picture on the stairs.....


Jaylo and Headow! (and Oscy)


Jordan and Shanna


Gwen running around before everyone got there


Chum with Sawyer and Gwen


Sawyer and his Buzz Lightyear car


Finn opening his new truck...loved it!


Sawyer with his Cars puzzle and Buzz car

Mr. Oscar's cute Santa bunz.....

Christmas Eve

Here are the boys in their cute Christmas pajamas....



Big Cheesers!!


Last year we had Sawyer open up just his pajamas and he was very disappointed it wasn't a toy. So this year, we let him open one present.



Here he is with his new Dr. Seuss puzzle....



.....and all ready for bed!

Lost and Found

So 2 years ago for Christmas Santa brought Sawyer these fun little cars....well, minus the orange car on the end.




A month or so later....they were NO WHERE to be found. I searched our house for days looking for these buggers, but seriously could not find them. I figured they would turn up, but after a few months I gave in to the fact that most likely Sawyer had thrown them in the trash without us noticing.


Well, this past December when I was moving stuff around to decorate for Christmas I moved this brown flask and heard something jiggling inside....



And look what I found inside....



...the opening is just perfect for these little guys to slide through!



Sawyer was VERY excited to find them, but I still cannot figure out he got this flask down off the shelf (at 2 1/2 years old!) to get them in there! Or how I have not noticed them when I dusted or moved it before!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours....

Josh, Leslie, Sawyer and Finn

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

We set off last Saturday to find the perfect Christmas Tree!


Sawyer was VERY excited....



"This is the ONE!"



My cute, cute boys!!



Sawyer helping daddy cut the tree down....



All decorated and ready for Christmas!!



Our stockings are hung by the chimney with care....



And it looks like we'll be getting a baby GIRL for Christmas!!

Happy Holidays!!

We got snow!!

A wee bit of snow came in November...



I think he ate more than he played!!









Poor Finno...watching from the window :)

Free From Shutterfly

Free From Shutterfly

So I'm sure you all have seen this on a million blogs already, but who doesn't love a great deal?? And by a great deal...I mean FREE FREE FREE!! So this year we are going to give Shutterfly a chance to impress us with their 50 free cards. We have always used Etsy in the past or I've designed my own, but I am anxious to see the results on premium card stock and not photo paper.

I'm also excited to purchase a photo calendar poster!!

So go to Shutterfly have a look around and see what you think! If you like what you see you can enter to win your 50 FREE cards! It's easy as this!!

You can enter by clicking HERE!

Finn's one year stats

Finn Campbell Ricker



Weight: 22 lbs 14 oz - 51%
Height: 30.25 in - 65%

Mr. Finn turns ONE!

Happy Birthday Finno!!

We celebrated Finn's actual birthday by having both family's over for cake and ice cream. We are so grateful we live close to our family on these special occasions. We had quite the crowd and felt so much love for our dear Finno!


I.AM.ONE!

We visited for awhile and then opened presents.

Gwen carrying around ALL the balloons!


Choo Choo Train from mom and dad


and books too!

Super cute hat and shirt from the Rickters!


Lots of bath toys from Grandma and Grandpa Arnell and Crawfords....


Tonka Monster Garbage Truck from Todd, Jacki and Quinn


Randy and Teri with Soy

Miss Gwen...so cute! (and still holding ALL the balloons!)


Rickters, Chan & Andee, and Angie, Traci, Ashley and Dustin all came too!


The highschoolers in the back...too cool to join the party! ;)
(Fabian, Chum, Chad and Taylor)


Finno with Grandma


I helped my mom make this cute banner


Ready for cake and ice cream!


BRING.ON.THE.SUGAR!


Finn's very own birthday cake! (the rest of us had Red Velvet...delish!)


First bite...


So delicious Mom!


Forget using my hands....


Sawyer with his side of Finn's cake!

Finn has been such a joy in our family! Always so sweet and full of loves! He puts up with quite a bit having Sawyer as an older brother, but Finn LOVES Soy and is always laughing and smiling at him, well most of the time! He was such an easy baby...hardly ever cries and sleeps like a champ (naps too!) from the first night I brought him home from the hospital! He has been much more "normal" in his development and we at times are finding this to be a relief and a challenge all at the same time. Sawyer by 1, was running and climbing and Finn, even though he started walking at 10 months, is much more calm and tends to stay put! Sawyer also spoke A LOT of words by 1 and could sign over 20 more and Mr. Finn has a vocab of about 3 words...Mama, Dada and baba. Needless to say, a talking one year old is A LOT easier to figure out! We are trying to figure out the grunts and the screams and the woo's...I think we'll eventually get them! ;)

Thanks to everyone who came and shared his special day with us!

We love you Finno!!

And lastly....



Sawyer wanted me to post this of him and his pumpkins. I mean why should Finn get all the attention anyways. It's only his birthday! :)