This morning, we all decided to head out for coffee. For those of you who don't know, Brent is a serious Peet's Coffee fan while I prefer Starbucks. We each visit our favorite coffee shops on a daily basis. Conveniently, there is a Starbucks located just across the street from Peet's. Before leaving, Brent was trying to teach Finn to say "Peet's" which he did! I tried to make Finn repeat after me when I said "Starbucks". Brent would shake his head "no" and FInn would say "no". Brent thought it was awesome. He brought out the Flip camera to memorialize it all. When Finn was being filmed, he was quiet. Brent tried desperately to get Finn to say "Peets" again. He became quite disappointed when FInn instead said "Starbucks" over and over. Brent turned off the camera.

We were lucky enough to have another sunny and warm weekend - at least on Saturday. Yesterday was cooler and a bit windy and from what I hear, winter is arriving this week. I was hoping we would just skip winter all together this year! Max had a playdate on Saturday. He and Charles spent hours playing outside. They jumped in the jump house, played baseball and basketball, all while Brent and I got to work in the yard. Later on, the Uffelmans came over for dinner and the kids were finally able to exchange Christmas presents. Luke gave Max a light saber, just like the ones in Star Wars! It was a fun evening.

I look at my beautiful and handsome boys and I cannot believe how big they are! A year ago, Finn was a little baby, mom had just left after watching him for two months and Finn had just started at Colista's daycare. Now he tells you what he wants, what to do and not to do. He loves his big brother and tries to copy everything Max does. Finn is extremely cute, knows it well and uses it to his advantage. Max is 4 1/2, going on 10. He is so handsome, is 46 inches tall and wants to be measured every night in case he grew since the day prior. He likes to be in charge, tries to reason and negotiate with us and wants to show his independence. They are a handful at times but they are of course the best thing that ever happened to us. So beautiful, so strong and smart and amazing. To say that we are blessed is an understatement!

It has been so long since I wrote and I have a lot of catching up to do..I plan to still upload photos from Christmas so stay tuned for those. We travelled to Dallas on the 23rd of December and stayed with Brian and Holly and the girls; Ava, Maya and Lexi. I think the girls were a bit disappointed when they realized that Finn was no longer a baby! They had not seen him since Scott and Amanda's wedding in October of 2010 when Finn was 7 weeks old and expected him to still be small. Max and Finn had a blast with their cousins! They enjoyed all kinds of outings, including Going Bonkers, Jump Street, the dinosaur museum trails and the Forth Worth Zoo. Brent, the boys and I visited Jenny and her family together with Carin, Jim and their daughters and with Helene Honeybone. It was so fun to see everyone! Jenny's boys are so big now. Jonathan and Max are close in age so they hung out for a bit. Carin and Jim keep busy taking care of Mia and the twins Emma and Julia. They all came up to visit us a few days later at Holly and Brian's house when Brent and I were asked to be God parents to Julia! We accepted of course! Holly arranged for baby sitters one evening and us adults were able to enjoy a fabulous dinner out. Very nice. We kept it simple on New Years Eve with dinner at home and we flew home early the next morning. It was an adjustment to get the boys back on schedule and I am thankful for having another day off as we got home. The new year is going well so far. We are back at work and the boys are doing well with being at school. The weather has been amazing for being the month of January and I assume we can't be this lucky for much longer. We are thankful for our wonderful family, our amazing boys and the fabulous lives we are fortunate to live. Here is to a great 2012!