The Chandlers on reality telelvision

Its two days after Christmas and all the festivities have been had. We return home to find that..................

Iron Chef America held a throw down in our kitchen



What Not to Wear decided that all our clothes were soooooooooo out!



Supernanny is due to arrive to help us learn how to control our wild boys!


Thanks to Niecy Nash and the Clean House crew our living room doesn't look like this anymore. PS. you win a golden ticket if you can find the child in this picture!

How I find them sleeping

who needs two beds when they just share one!

I'm with the band

Saturday we met up with some friends to go see a local children's group perform. I had never heard of Recess Monkey but one of my friends had. Boy were they fun! They are a trio of elementary school teachers who in their free time started a band. Their music is a bit rock Ala the Beatles and a bit folk song but all centered around children! The songs are really catchy and something as a parent I can totally enjoy listening to in the car. My favorite song so far is Marshmallow Farm.

Eli as you know takes his guitar everywhere and this was no exception. You should have seen his face when he realized that there was going to be a band and signing and dancing. What I didn't know was that instead of being the audience Eli was going to be part of the group! He stood next to the guys the whole time and played his little Ukulele like he was a member of the band. Do I see a future rock star here, following in uncle Curtis's footsteps? Maybe. I couldn't help but laugh as he sung along (even though he didn't know the words) and played his little heart out. Even throwing his hands up in the air at the end of every number. Be still my heart!

Lights of Christmas and Fun in the snow

A week ago last Saturday we decided that it was time to go find some Christmas lights. Eli is always so excited to turn ours on every night and just loves to OHHH and AHHH at them. SO we bundled up for the cold and headed to Lights of Christmas I had heard about this place from a few people and read about it in the paper, since it wasn't to far, we went. I have to say the lights are beautiful and I cant believe how much! They even had pony rides, train rides, places to eat and all sorts of fun going on. It was defiantly a 2 year olds paradise!







Sunday we woke up to snow in our yard! It wasn't enough to play in but it sure got Eli all excited. After breakfast we geared up and headed into the mountains to Stevens pass to find some really good snow and some good fun. We had purchased a sled a few weeks earlier knowing that it was just a matter of time before snow and looking forward to Eli getting to play. Kai even got in on the fun. It was his first experience with the white stuff and except for getting cold little cheeks he even had a few giggles going over the snow with his big brother. Now I cant wait for our next snow day!

Oh Chistmas tree, how lovely are your branches

As every year we hiked out to the U-cut lot Farmer Browns and went on the hunt for the "perfect" tree. I consider myself to be a bit of an expert on this if not a bit anal about it. I want a certain type, a certain height, and a certain roundness to it. Okay I'm picky! But if its going to be something I look at everyday I want it to be just right.

This year Eli really got into the whole tree hunt and had a blast helping daddy cut it down. I already look forward to next year when Kai can be just as involved.
Kai and mommy ready to go

Eli says thumbs up, I'm ready to go!

let the games begin

A good one! But I still wanted to look at more to "make sure" so I left a little yellow ribbon on it (so we could find it again) and off we went to search some more. Granted we came back to this one of course. Look at it, it's perfect!

Eli helping daddy cut down the tree.



At one point in the trip Kai decided he wasn't having fun and lost it, completely lost it! I cant help myself but he is just so cute when he crys!


All better now


Note: only when we were leaving did we see the sign that said "Saws are for grownups only!" oh well I guess we were those irresponsible parents letting our child do all the dirty work!

OOPS!



And just because.

Here's looking at you ladies!

One small step for man....................

First trip to the dentist.

So it only took 2 and a half years but I got Eli to the dentist finally. We went to a dentisit that specializes in children here in Marysville, and I am so glad I did. Dr. Lugo is awesome, and even though Eli wasnt happy about getting his teeth looked at this first time, Dr. Lugo really built a nice repor with him and I am sure next time will be easier sailing for me. Eli did like however htat you could sit in the dentist chair and watch cars, he just didnt like having to wear headphones to hear it.

Kai did great and was a super patient at only a year old! Unfortunalty since I had to hold Kai on my lap I didnt get any pictures of his visit but here are some of Eli.

Side note: I think you really have to be a special kind of person to work with kids in this kind of enviornment everyday. Big applause for Dr. Lug oand his team

Marysville Childrens Dentistry

Oh and yes that guitar goes EVERYWHERE with us.

Okay I lied....................

We did do something in November. We saw SANTA! We have seen the same Santa the last three years in a row and really he is the real Santa, his passport even says so!

The Seattle Times article

Here are pictures from the last three years.

Eli 9 months old


Eli 21 months, Kai 2 months



And this year!
Eli 2.5 years, Kai 14 months

Family photos

In October I made a barter with a friend. I made some goodies for her daughters birthday and she would take some pictures of our family. She is a budding professional photgrapher and I am so thankful for her time and the wonderful photos she captured for us. While I wish that I didn have that god awefull double chin, it is what it is, and I am working on it! LOL

you can see more of her work here J Shelton Photography