Santa Babies...

Santa was very good to these babies this year (I think Tyler had to bribe Santa since he is well into his terrible two's)! We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, despite the fact that Andy had to work both days. We started our celebration with our outing to church and then coming home to find that "Santa's elves" had stopped by and left some presents for us to open before Santa arrived. This was the only way Andy could see Tyler's reaction to a stack of presents under the tree since he would be at work on Christmas morning. Tyler was thrilled! After opening presents from Grammie, Grandpa Larry, Opa, Uncle Matt, Aunt Ally, and Auntie Casey, we got ready for Santa's visit. Tyler put out the cookies, milk, and of course carrots for the reindeer and off to bed he went. After waking up, he saw that indeed Santa did come and unload his sleigh in Mema and Bepa's house. Tyler's reaction was priceless when he walked into the room and saw the huge mound of presents and the TOOL BENCH! He was so excited at the sight of the tool bench and the tools that all he wanted to do was play with them the whole morning. This worked out perfect because we were trying to wait to open presents until Andy was home at about noon. Tyler occupied himself the whole time with the tools and the gifts from the night before, so Andy was able to see both boys open their gifts just as if it were Christmas morning.

We hope that everyone else had a fantastic Christmas this year and enjoyed some time with family and friends. We feel so fortunate to have so many wonderful blessings in our life.

My Santa Babies...

Blake (6 1/2 months old) ready for Santa's visit.

Mommy and the boys after church on Christmas Eve...

Tyler's shopping cart...

Dr. Tyler to the rescue...

Blake and his little workbench...

Getting the cookies, milk, and carrots ready for Santa's visit. Tyler was very concerned about Santa's visit. He asked us about where he would go to the bathroom when he got here. " Little potty or big potty?" he asked us several days before Christmas. He also kept asking about the chimney..."Where is the chimney?"

Before Santa's visit...

After Santa came!

Tyler's favorite gift was his tools and workbench.

Playing doctor with his favorite patient, Blake, while waiting for Daddy to come home.

Such a happy boy with his teddy bear.

Yea! A car carrier for Matchbox cars.

A Dodger baseball...

and a Dodger baseball hat! Go Dodgers!

Blake loved watching everybody and playing with his new toys.

A new guitar was just one of many new instruments for our little musician.

This was a gift from Officer Claus. Tyler walks around and will say, "Can I help you?" Too stinkin' cute.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Lafflam's!

Blake at 6 months...

I cannot even believe that Blake is 6 months old now. We went in for his check up and he is doing great. He is a strong boy who is constantly moving around. He can almost sit up on his own. He will just roll himself along the floor and he can get anywhere he wants to by rolling. He is infactuated with his older brother, Tyler and watches him dance and play. Tyler can make him laugh anytime. They are interacting more and more, which is so nice to see. They will be best friends for sure. Blake has outgrown the 6 month clothes and has moved onto 6-12 month clothes. He is already in a size 3 diaper. He may be bigger than his brother someday, so we are teaching Tyler to be really nice to him, which he is anyway.

Blake's stats...

Weight: 18 pounds, 12 ounces (75th percentile)

Height: 27 inches (85th percentile)

Favorite Foods: Squash, Carrots, and Sweet Potatoes

Favorite Toy: Exersaucer

Halloween 2010...

Better late than never! So, we have been a little bit busy. We sold our house and moved in with Barb and Steve on October 15, so we have all of our things in storage and are living out of boxes for now. That being said, we were able to spend Halloween at Barb and Steve's house, dress up, carve pumpkins, and go trick-or-treating, too! Here are a few pictures from October and Halloween.

The boys dressed in their matching skeleton PJ's.
Tyler got to carve his first pumpkin and "make" pumpkin soup while he was stirring the pulp.

Here it is...

See! He told me what shapes to carve all the parts of the jack-o-lantern.

Blake's first Halloween as a skeleton.

Happy Blake with Barb, the tattooed devil!

Here are Tyler, Grayson, Sam, Payton, and Rylan on their way to Trick or Treat Street at Fossil Ridge High School a few days before Halloween. A dress rehearsal for the big day!

Tyler and Blake took pictures with the pumpkins that we grew this year.

Sweet boy...

Tyler loved the pumpkins and everything about Halloween this year. It was so fun.

This is Tyler with Ben. Ben will be our neighbor in our new house once we move in. They came over to trick-or-treat with us since there are no neighbors in our neighborhood yet. I am so happy that they get along so well!

A Very, Very, Very Fine House...

We are moving right along with the building of the new house. We have sold our other house and moved out into Barb and Steve's house to spend the next 2 months. Since September 11, the first day of digging on the new house, there has been a ton of progress. We drive by daily to see new changes. It is truly amazing how fast they put up this house without compromising quality. The team of workers are wonderful and pay so much attention to details. We look forward to the finished product and can't wait to be living there by the end of December (if everything stays on schedule). We are so excited!

The family on the front porch.

Empty lot at the end of August.

September 11, 2010...

Excavation started.

Foundation was poured on September 21 and driveway was poured on October 1, 2010.

I took pictures from the same spot throughout the process to see the ever changing progress.

October 4, 2010...framing began.

October 5, 2010...more framing and starting the second floor.

October 6...second floor complete.

October 9, 2010...framing completed.

Back of the house.
October 13, 2010...windows installed.

The roof was completed on October 22, 2010.The outside decorative touches are being added. Our front door was installed also. They have started with the inside now. All bathtubs, showers, and rough plumbing is installed. Along with the electrical switch boxes and canned lighting installation. I am sure they will finish by the end of the week. More updates to come!

Happy Campers...

We had a blast setting up camp...in our family room! It's a little hard packing up everything you need for 2 children, dogs, and us, so we decided that we wanted to camp at home. We have always wanted to take Tyler camping and over Labor Day weekend we decided to go. Tyler packed up his cars, books, snacks, drinks, and so much more and headed into the tent to learn from Daddy how to make shadow puppets with a flashlight. Needless to say, we had a ton of fun and hope to go camping again really soon!

My Happy Campers!

Dodgers vs. Rockies...

We had a chance to go to a Dodgers/Rockies game a couple weeks ago. This was Blake's second baseball game, but his first Dodgers game. In other words, it was the first time that we could start to brainwash him into loving the Dodgers and becoming a huge fan like his Mommy and Daddy. The brainwashing didn't really work with Tyler. He really does love the Rockies and the Dodgers both, but I think he is more of a Rockies fan. We still dress him in Dodger gear mainly because we don't yet have Rockies gear for him. Either way, we had a great time with the family at the game!

"Warming Up" to each other before the game...

Brotherly Love...in Dodger Gear!

Our Dodger Family...

Watching our favorite team play ball. We were rooting for Casey Blake, one of our favorite Dodgers!

Coors Field is on Blake Street...he is destined to be a ball player!