Merry Christmas....

Our Christmas started the Saturday before Christmas with Matt's Family

Then we had our own Christmas Monday night...the boys loved their gifts.......

We left Wednesday afternoon for Pennsylvania, to have Christmas with my family

Christmas Vest! So cute!

We are so blessed...

Ian and Diesel (PopPop & Mimi's Dog)

Another Birthday cake for Levi.....

The whole family at the Van Horn Christmas Party...

Cousins playing "Ring around the Rosie"

A white Christmas!!

Matt having fun in the snow....

Frosty the Snow Man!

PopPop reading a story to the boys

Picture of all of the Grand Kids together

Ian had a blast playing in the snow and sled riding with his daddy!

Dear God,
Thank you for our wonderful family and the many blessing you have given us. We want to thank you for sending your One and Only Son Jesus to this earth to die for our sins. Help us to always remember the true meaning of this joyous season.

Levi's 1st Birthday!

Happy Birthday to you....

Happy Birthday to you......

Happy Birthday dear Levi....

Happy Birthday to you!

We love you!

Birthday Boy!

Look at those cute bottom teeth!! He has four up top, but they are hiding!!

It is hard to believe that our little baby is "ONE" already. Levi loves to chase his brother around the house...though he can take six to ten steps at a time..he still likes to crawl really fast to where ever he is trying to go.

Words He is saying..
Dadda, Momma, Ball, Diesel (Poppop & mimi's dog), Thank you, Ut oh, Hi, Bye Bye (and waves his hand)



Levi,
Happy Birthday!
We love you and can't wait to see all of the
new things you learn this year.

Big boy...

Levi took three steps today! Maybe he will be walking by his first birthday!

A sad trip to PA...

...to remember the life of Ruth Jean Snyder "Great Grammie" Snyder to the boys...

What a week....

Potty training has not gone as well as I was hoping it would go. He went pee pee in the potty several days in a row but, now he has gone 5 days without going pee pee in the potty. I am constantly praying for patience. He will get it one day!!!


Wednesday morning Matt almost fell out of an attic at work. Thankfully, he was able to keep himself from falling out on his head, but in the mean time, he caught his right toe on the metal hinge that attaches the attic to the attic stairs. He ended up going to the ER Thursday night, and was told that he broke the bone in his foot that goes up to his pinky toe. They put a splint on it and gave him crutches to use until his doctor appointment on Monday. Monday, he went to his doctors and the doctor told him he could actually walk on it and that he didn't need a walking boot or anything. That was an answer to prayer. (I kept thinking they were going to tell him he couldn't drive for 6 weeks). He has to take it easy on his foot and his boss told him not to come back to work until Monday, so he actually got a whole week off for Thanksgiving.

Mark, surprised us by showing up at our house Saturday morning and offered to help Matt in any way he could. Matt took him up on the offer and had him work on the leaves. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends.


Then today, Grammie Snyder passed away. I am leaving Friday, with Levi, to go up to PA for the viewing and funeral. We will miss her so much.

Am I crazy.?.?.

Monday of this week, I decided to start both, potty training Ian and weaning Levi. Crazy Right? Well, the first day, was exhausting to say the least. I put him in his "big boy" underwear and put plastic pants over top of the underwear. Then I set the timer for 15 minutes and then took Ian and sit him on the potty. We sat there a little while and then I let him up. I set the timer for another 15 minutes and repeated the whole thing again. Without any success by lunch time....I decided to called a friend of mine who also has two boys (older and both potty trained) for advice (which, I totally copied). I went to the dollar store and bought poster board (to make a Potty Chart), stickers and his favorite candy. Then I set the timer for every 30 minutes, sit him on the potty for 5 minutes during this time, we read books, sing the ABC's and count, then I would let him down and give him a piece of candy just for sitting there. Day one ended with out success. Discouraged..I wasn't sure if I wanted to get out of bed Tuesday morning to start the whole thing over again, but of course I did.......and Ian actually went pee pee in the potty as soon as he got up. YEAH! He was so excited when he got to put a sticker on his "GOOD JOB IAN" potty chart and even more excited when he got 3 pieces of candy for going on the potty. ( I didn't even care that it was before 8:00am and he was already getting candy). HE DID IT! He actually ended up going pee pee in the potty 3 times the second day! Today, we had to run some errands, so it was harder to work on the potty thing..but he still went 2 times.

As for the weaning - Levi is happy to drink whole milk warm or cold out of a sippy cup!
Thankfully, this seems like it will be an easy transition for him! I can't believe that he is going to be 1 in less than a month. My baby is getting big to fast.

Hiking

is one of our favorite things to do with the boys. Today we took them hiking on the Chattooga River Trail and up to the Walhalla Fish Hatchery. All in all, it was an 8 mile hike (about 5 hours of hiking). It was a beautiful day and the boys did great! On the way up we dropped Levi's hat. We only realized this
after several hikers passing us said there was a baby hat farther back on the trail. Matt found it on our way back down! Then when we got back to the truck and started to get the boys out of the carriers we realized we were missing one of Levi's shoes. Just as Matt was getting ready to go back looking for it, two hunters came out of the woods and asked us if we had lost a baby boot. Matt said "YES" and started to ask how far back it was, when one of the men held up Levi's boot! God is good!


Our lost and FOUND items!

SURPRISE!

Mimi surprised us with a visit for Ian's 2nd birthday party!



We had some friends and family over Saturday night for pizza and cake! Ian loved all of his presents and
enjoyed playing with friends.

IAN IS TWO!!

We spent the evening of his birthday with just our family. We took the boys to Kids Planet Park. Then we went home ate dinner and then Ian opened is presents!

Happy Birthday Ian! We love you so much!

A quick look back over the last year.....





1. Your brother Levi was born

2. Daddy had to take you to the ER
"New Years Eve" night when you had a reaction to the
antibiotic you were on for an ear infection and
you broke out in hives.

3. Your first hair cut.







4. Daddy made you your first South Carolina "SNOWMAN"










5. Your first ART WORK








6. You finally got most of your teeth between 16 & 18 months!!
7. You welcomed two new cousins to the family "Gabe" and "Paige"
8. You had a blast playing in the pool in the back yard



9. We went on our first official "Family Vacation" to the Westgate Resort in Gatlinburg, TN

















10. We took 5 trips to P.A.



Your Favorite words and phrases
-Oops
-Uh-no
-where did it go?
-Dad-da, Mom-ma, & Levi
-Kitty & Keys

You love...
-playing with your brother & making him laugh
-reading books
-turning toys on & off. If there is an on/off switch "YOU WILL FIND IT"
-keys
-your thumb...yes you are still sucking your thumb.
-riding on everything and anything that has wheels