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On Christmas Eve, we carry on Chris’s family tradition by having a large German dinner with Christmas cookies for dessert. It was my family’s tradition to light a German pyramid, which we now do with our boys. We talked about the Nativity; Davin dressed as a shepherd and Rowan was a king. We sang Christmas carols and before we even asked Davin if he was ready for bed, he bolted up the stairs and started getting himself ready. I thought for sure that it would take awhile to get the boys to settle down but both went to sleep rather quickly. The next morning I woke up around 7:15. I looked at the clock in surprise, wondering where my 5:30 am wake-up crew was. Lying in bed, I waited to hear a thump of little feet hitting the floor and the click of their bedroom door. Waking at 7:15 is a usual wake-up time for the boys for any day, let alone Christmas. Unable to go back to sleep, I listened to the heavy rain outside, hoping some deep and profound Christmas thoughts would come my way, but al...

As I watched the news reports of the Midwest getting slammed with snow and the long lines at the airports as flights were cancelled, I gave a small sigh of relief not to be traveling this year. Although I miss family dearly during the holidays, it has now been three years of not traveling and I haven’t missed that part too much. We are starting to establish our traditions and I noticed it more this year. Davin is old enough to remember what we did last year and notice that we are doing the same thing again this year. He is starting to anticipate what we are supposed to do at Christmas time and it is fun to have him recognize a decoration from last year or that we decorate German cookies on Christmas Eve. It is the first step towards recognizing the meaning behind these traditions and why we do them. Because Davin recognized Christmas and knew what to anticipate, December was the longest month yet in his entire childhood. We even had an advent calendar to help him understand how many...

Salt Lake City is one of my favorite cities to visit. Obviously there is a cultural attachment in addition to many memories, but there are new discoveries too. We have a list of favorite restaurants and places to visit, so we don’t complain too much when we go back to my home for a visit. One of our recent favorites is the Gateway Discovery museum. The boys love this museum, especially the big ball exhibit and the real helicopter. We had a great time escaping here a couple of times for some good little boy fun (and we didn’t mind that they let us in with our reciprocal pass from our museum at home). We finished our trip by going out to dinner to celebrate Amy’s birthday and then paying homage to the lights at Temple Square. The boys loved them despite the late hour and cold weather. Walking around with Chris reminded me of the year that we got engaged and the night I told him yes (no, it wasn’t the same night he asked me, poor boy). It’s a good thing he is patient with me, even still.

Thanksgiving week is a busy week for my family in that we have three birthdays within a week of each other: Dad, Rowan, and Amy. Davin was super excited about all of the birthdays and even wanted his own candle when we did a birthday breakfast for Amy and Rowan. Rowan figured out how to blow out his own candles, so he took care of business this year. Rowan’s birthday was on the day of the BYU vs. Utah game, so we headed to Provo to celebrate and go to the game. We met Karl and his family at Thanksgiving Point to visit the animals but decided it was too cold to stay, so we headed to a park in Provo instead. We met the rest of our group at Brick Oven for lunch where Rowan got his own birthday treat. Rowan had a great time at the game where he cheered loudly, took a nap in the third quarter, and then cheered again for the exciting overtime conclusion. On Sunday we had cake and ice cream for Rowan and Amy, and opened presents. Not a bad weekend for the big number two!

We spent Thanksgiving with my dad’s side of the family and had dinner at his sister’s house. It was so fun to see everyone and to catch up with what they have been up to. We didn’t mind eating food either. Rowan slept through another Thanksgiving dinner (he slept through his first one last year), so maybe he’ll join us next year. Chris’s nap time came after dinner but he came around in time for pie. Of course, with my family we can’t have just one party. The next day we got together with my mom’s side of the family for an after-Thanksgiving party. We played at the church, ate dinner, and made caramel apples. Davin had a great time playing with his older cousins! Karl and Angela came to Utah for a quick visit and we had fun seeing them. It is always fun to get the little cousins together!

One of the main highlights of the trip was going to two BYU football games at the Lavell Edwards Stadium. It was so fun to be back on campus for a game; we haven’t been since we were first married. The games were awesome, too! Davin went to both games and Rowan came with us for the BYU vs. Utah game. The boys loved the games, especially eating popcorn and hot chocolate. Of course hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma was a big plus. We were awfully happy that BYU won both games, especially the nail-biter with the U of U.

A week before Thanksgiving we embarked on yet another journey to visit family in Utah. I actually looked forward to the flight; Rowan was nearly two and could be entertained with a movie, so the prospect of keeping both boys somewhat contained until we landed seemed feasible. We have a knack for picking wild days to fly. The entire FAA system crashed (because of a glitch in Salt Lake City, ironically enough) and our flight was cancelled. The staff worked to reroute our flights but the prospect of arriving in SLC at a reasonable time seemed grim. By some miracle, we landed in Dallas 20 minutes early and made a quick connection, landing in SLC at the same time as our original flight. We were so glad to be there and with our luggage no less! When we travel to Utah, there are always so many friends and family to visit. We had a great time catching up with some friends that we haven’t seen for awhile. Their families have multiplied and it was so fun to meet their kids and have our kids play...

I love my leaf blower. It is by far my favorite yard tool. It makes me feel like the goddess that I really am. Piles of leaves scattered about in the lawn? Crank it up to full blast! Leaves and dirt littering the deck? There they go! Sand drifting all over the patio from the sandbox? Watch it fly! Kids with runny noses and dirty faces? Wait, maybe not. Blowing leaves has been a therapeutic activity for me this week. I feel like a mini Moses parting my personal Red Sea . Even better, the boys love it when I blow leaves and we have a good time playing with the piles afterwards. Leaves are the greatest fun for little people. It is like confetti littering the yard. You can jump in it, throw it, and pile it on your brother’s head and no one gets mad at you (as opposed to dirt and sand). When we are done, I put on the vacuum/compost attachment to the said glorious leaf blower and before long the mess is sucked, chopped, and bagged. I need one of these for the house. The only bummer is that ...

Have you had the pleasure of going to the doctor with small children? If not, let me share. First, you enter the lobby. Chances are you are bit late because you had to corral everyone into the car, buckle seat belts, make sure that your bag is packed with ample snacks, sippy cups, diapers, wipes, and toys, not to mention wallet, keys, and cell phone, franticly drive through traffic, drag everyone out of the car safely across the parking lot and into the lobby. Likely you will encounter a line of people waiting to be checked in at the desk. You wait in line, keeping an eye on the four year old while holding the squirmy two year old. Once you get to the desk, you scramble through your purse for your insurance card and credit card, all while holding the two year old and keeping an eye on the four year old. Hopefully this isn’t your first visit because otherwise you are given a huge pile of forms on a clipboard that make you fill in your address and insurance information maybe ten times. F...

Our life is like alphabet soup these days. Davin is learning his letters and finds them everywhere. His favorite is D because it is his personal letter, and R is a close second. Not only does he know the first letters to his name, he knows the first letters for most of the kids in his class. He finds letters everywhere we go! Waking up can be a little hard sometimes, but as soon as it sets in that he is riding the bus, he perks up and runs up the hill to the bus stop. He spends the weekends asking if he can go back to school. It is so fun to see him learning new things and having fun in school.

I am often asked how old Rowan is and I find myself saying that he is two. He is nearly two and I find myself rounding up. He seems so big lately I forget that he is still one. In a recent acrobatic achievement, he figured out how to climb out of his crib so he moved to a toddler bed. He moves furniture around the kitchen to maneuver up to the cupboards to find a snack or help pour salt into the soup. He loves to color with chalk on the driveway, eat suckers, and wear my sunglasses. He recently got a haircut and he looks so grown-up. He is growing so fast!

Davin and Rowan have been on a Disney Cars kick for the last few months. We have the movie memorized and feel intimately connected with all of the characters. So when we asked Davin what he wanted to be for Halloween, the answer wasn’t a surprise: Lightening McQueen. We looked around for costumes in the stores and decided they were a little lame, so Chris came up with an idea to build one out of cardboard. Our initial plan was to dress Rowan in one of Davin’s old costume (a BYU football uniform) but as soon as he saw Davin’s costume, he clearly indicated that he wanted one of his own. We spent Wednesday night in our car shop whipping up vehicles for our boys to wear to the church trunk ‘o treat the next day. They were a hit! I was a little worried that Rowan wouldn’t wear his but he kept it on the whole night. On Saturday, the boys wore their costumes to our neighborhood Halloween party. Sadly it started to rain and kept raining all night, cutting back our trick o’ treating activities ...

Chris and I decided to host an adult Halloween party this year and picked the Harry Potter series as our theme. We invited our guests to come in Wizard appropriate wear and assigned dishes from the books. Roast turkey and butter beer were our contributions for the evening and we also enjoyed other Hogwarts dishes such as Cauldron Cakes, Fizzing Whizbees, and Pumpkin Pasties. The house was converted to a modified version of Hogwarts, including floating candles in the Great Hall. Each couple was sorted into a house and we played games to see which house would win the house cup. We played “Guess the Bean” where participants tried Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans and tried to guess the most correctly (most were yummy flavors but there were a few nasty ones as well), “Guess the Costume” where we tried to determine who was who, and “Harry Potter Pictionary.” Of course, Gryffindor took the house cup and won a stash of Gringott’s gold. We had a great time hanging out with our friends; they we...

There is a reason why you have two ears. Sound attacks your head from all sides and it helps to be able to hear from your right as well as your left. Rowan had a cochlear implant put in his left ear and we opted to go forward with the right ear as well. He had the surgery over a week ago and everything went really well, much like the first. He had a huge bandage on his head again, but it didn’t take too long for him to rebound and get back to his normal busy self. In a few weeks, assuming that he heals normally, he will start wearing the device on the right as well. Like before, it will slowly be turned up in order for him to adjust to the increased input, though it won’t be nearly as dramatic because he can already hear at full volume in his left ear. I’ve had many ask about his progress and he is doing very well. Of course he isn’t quite up to speed with the rest of his peers in terms of language development, but he is catching up. He can identify sounds and link them to ideas. He ca...

…I noticed this strange rock. When I reached down to pick it up, the rock looked at me! It wasn’t a rock at all but a darling little tree frog. He hung out in my pot until it got dark. A few days later we spotted this chameleon in our mandavilla. It was fascinating to watch it change from brown to green as it jumped from our bird house to the green leaves. We enjoyed our little visitors.

September and October is festival season in Charlotte. There is nothing to do all summer and then once the weather cools off, the weekends are full of events. Some of our favorites include the Greek Festival hosted by a local Greek Orthodox church and the Festival in the Park at Freedom Park. This year we were invited to a Renaissance Festival that runs several weekends in October and November. The facility was amazing; it was literally a village that they built with real wooden and stucco structures. The artisan goods for sale were well made to look authentic to the times. They had a dozen stages set up throughout the village, each with performers running constant shows, climaxing with the jousting arena. We had a great time hanging out with our friends, the Gardners. Admittedly, the greatest spectacle was the crowd. Apparently we were under dressed in our modern garb; at times it was difficult to discern the staff from the participants. So if any of my DHS choir friends want to reliv...

Tis the season to get a pumpkin so we decided to hunt for some in a local pumpkin patch. We had a great time checking out the barn animals, going through the corn maze, and checking out the pumpkins… until we realized they were $28 dollars! So as lame as it is to buy pumpkins at a grocery store, I couldn’t resist Trader Joe’s $4 pumpkins instead.

Chris and I ran away. It wasn’t a permanent choice, just a weekend adventure. We enjoyed every minute of it. I worried about the kids and called home and sent text messages to check vital signs. However, there was something strange and wonderful about not having kids for a few days. It was like I had been carrying a 30 lb bag and a 40 lb bag and I got to take them off for a few days. I felt a little lighter. The back seat seemed a little empty and quiet. Doing things seemed a little easier. For example, getting in and out of the car was just that: getting in and out of the car. It wasn’t: pick up the child, put him in his car seat, make first attempt to buckle his seatbelt, push his squirmy self back into seat, succeed at second attempt to buckle his seatbelt with one hand while firmly holding child with second, hand him a sippy cup with water, give him a toy car to play with, confirm that the older child was not trying to drive the car but was in his own seat, remind three times to p...

So we couldn’t have made out trip without a special friend in Charlotte and my parents. They volunteered to watch our boys, making the trip possible. We hurried home from Charlottesville so that we could spend a few days with my parents. This was my dad’s first visit to Charlotte and we hope he enjoyed his stay. I know the boys were excited to have their grandparents here. We had a great time showing them the town and can’t wait for them to visit again!

Going to the local art museum was on my list of things to do and getting a free pass bumped it up pretty quickly. I wasn’t sure how well the boys would do with an art museum. We have been to museums before and although we have the boys under control and they behave well for little people, I always feel like the staff is breathing down our necks and eyeing us as we pass through the galleries. However, The Mint was a lot of fun. They had great activities for kids, like a treasure hunt to find various artifacts located throughout the museum. Davin was really engaged with everything (Rowan’s attention span was a little shorter). I particularly loved the interpretation that he gave this piece:

Fall arrived here overnight it seems. August 31st was everything August should be: warm and muggy. The next day, the humidity turned off and temperatures dropped fifteen degrees, and we entered happily into fall bliss. Fresh, ripe produce, the beginning of football season, pleasant weather, it is a happy time in the Rees house. We bid a fond farewell to summer when we attended the home game for our local minor league baseball team. It was a beautiful night and we had a fun time sharing the evening with friends even though the boys didn’t last too long. Ice cream cones and hot dogs certainly helped their attention span. Since then we have spent our weeks playing outside enjoying the weather, and the weekends watching football and making barbeque and fresh salsa.

With Davin leaving for school, I wondered how Rowan would handle not having his big buddy around. Though we both miss seeing Davin during the day, Rowan seems to enjoy the extra attention. I have enjoyed spending time with just Rowan too and I feel like we have developed a closer bond lately. We work on Rowan’s therapy lessons and Rowan is making good progress. He recognizes and connects sounds with objects (i.e. will point to the cow when I say “moo”) and he is starting to try making the sounds himself. He seems to like music and loves to jump and dance. We went to a Greek festival a few nights ago and Rowan entertained the other participants with his dancing to the loud ethnic music. However, like his big brother, Rowan loves anything to do with balls. Basketball is his favorite, and he is good at pointing out all of the neighborhood basketball standards on our walks. Lately Rowan seems "so big!"

Davin started school the week before Labor Day. He is doing a pre-k program through our public school system and it was a big change for all of us. He attends five days per week, rides a bus to and from school, and gets to eat breakfast and lunch at school (though I pack both for him as I’m not ready to trust the school cafeteria yet). In order to catch the bus in the morning, we have to wake up at 6 am, which was a big change for Davin as well as Chris and me. Davin seemed to adjust quickly; he is so excited to go to school and ride the bus that he bounces out of bed when we wake him (we’ll see how long it lasts). Chris and I drag ourselves around a little more but we are adjusting too. To be honest, I was a little worried about it all but Davin has done amazingly well. He seems to like his teachers and the fun things they do at school. The bus ride is the highlight of his day and he comes home bouncing off the bus. He even wears his school uniform without any protest though he strips...

I found these dahlias at a farmers market last week and couldn't resist a photo shoot.

Our flight for this trip was out of San Antonio, so we stayed the night there and met our friends, the Smiths, for a visit. We had a great time catching up, eating barbeque, swimming in the hotel pool, and seeing a little of San Antonio. Too soon it was time to return our rental car and get on the plane yet again. Airports are no easy feat for us. There are so many things to worry about, packing the correct weight in as few of suitcases as possible, verifying that you have everything you need on the plane for any random contingency as long as it is not more than 3 oz of liquid, making sure that you didn’t forget the proper identification, etc. After arriving at the airport, parking the car, dragging two suitcases, two car seats, backpacks, and two boys onto the shuttle and then off again, we try to keep them happy while we check luggage, etc. Then it is time for the security line. Davin is fascinated with this process and rightly so. He likes to play pretend security line when he is at...

As we were already in Austin, we thought it only appropriate to stay awhile and visit. We had a great week visiting with Chris’s family and enjoying Austin. Here are a few highlights: Zilker Park This is one of my favorite haunts in Austin, though admittedly we nearly melted in the two hours we spent there (the highs during our visit varied from 100-105 degrees!). The kids loved the play ground and the train ride was great! Schlitterbahn Ever since we were married, Chris has made a big deal out of Schlitterbahn, the world’s largest water park, though we haven’t been able to attend for various reasons (wrong season, kid with broken clavical bone). This year was our year and we managed to make it to the park twice during our stay. Chris’s sister Becky, her husband Wayne and daughter Paela, as well as Chris’s parents Diane and Brigham joined us for our first visit and we had a blast. Chris’s parents are wild water park goers so be warned if they should ask you to go. Rowan was apparently ...

In addition to attending Grandpa’s birthday party, we were honored to attend his baptism as well. Chris had the privilege of performing the ordinance and his brother Karl performed the confirmation. It was a beautiful service for a long awaited event. Of course, we didn’t mind the amazing supply of Grandma’s butter cream cake that we enjoyed afterwards.

Chris’s Grandpa Nissen had the good fortune of turning 80 a few weekends ago and we decided that it was an event to celebrate. We (and everyone else who doesn’t live in Austin with the exception of Bryan who is on a mission) traveled to Austin to surprise Grandpa. We met at an Austin classic, County Line, for barbeque and our surprise. It was a good thing that Grandpa had a pace maker! He seemed pretty excited to see everyone and was probably more excited about the barbeque. Later that evening we attended a party in Grandpa’s honor at his church building. It was also a surprise and put together beautifully. We had a great time at the party and we were honored to celebrate this special event with an amazing person. Happy 80th Grandpa!

One night for our activity after Family Home Evening, Chris had the clever idea of taping two toilet paper rolls together to make binoculars for the boys. I would like to say that there was some deep and profound spiritual truth that was applied but sadly it was just fun with toilet paper rolls.

We recently met our friends Dodie, Alana, Ian, and Emily at the Dan Nichols Park, one of our favorite NC destinations. The boys always have a great time and we especially enjoyed meeting our friends.

Our little Rowan has become a big noise box lately. Most of the time it is fun, though at times it can be a little much (like on a flight we recently took). Some of his newest sounds include imitating pitch changes, imitating kissing (see video), and making a forced or imitated laugh (versus a natural giggle or laugh). Rowan loves books and I have been giving him a book to look at in his crib before his nap (after reading several stories to him before his nap). It helps him to settle down and sleep. Reading books definitely help him to work on his vocabulary and I’m so glad that he is willing to listen and look at pictures with me. Apparently he likes to cuddle with them as well.

It would seem that in every young boy’s life there is a pivotal event that occurs, launching one into true boyhood. It is the crowning event, an achievement so monumental that blowing milk out of one’s nose can only compare. The moment when a young boy realizes that his head fits perfectly into the space where his bottom usually goes, it is a moment to remember. Davin discovered how to use his underwear for a fashionable head-ware, smartly combining it with this tasteful railroad hat. It was fitting because his underwear is Thomas the Tank Engine underwear. See, I’m teaching him how to match!

Davin is going through a serious car/truck/train phase. We watched Cars every day for three weeks straight for his quiet time activity. He loves any kind of truck but particularly likes the ones that do things such as tractors, fire trucks, dump trucks, mail trucks, etc. He particularly enjoys going to Target to peruse the latest trucks and dream about owning this one or that. The large ambulance particularly caught his eye and he talked about it all the time. One day in Target, I made a deal with him that if he would pick up his toys and do other jobs, he could earn his truck. I wasn’t sure if he would catch on to the idea but he surprised me by insisting immediately that we go home so that he could earn his ambulance. The truck was $15 and because a four year old’s attention is short, I didn’t want it to take too long for him to earn it, and so we decided to give him a dollar every time he did a chore. It took a couple of months to earn the entire amount needed (plus a little extra f...

Movin to the country Gonna eat me a lot of peaches Okay, it was hard not to have this song running through my head as we picked peaches. We found a great spot to pick them (recommended by a friend). The Peach Orchard had amazing peaches and before long we had a full bushel (for only $20!). We had peach-everything all weekend long and froze the rest to enjoy in the months to come. I will have a hard time eating store-bought peaches after this. Millions of peaches, peaches for free

We were there in the kitchen, Rowan and I, when out of nowhere came this sound: “ma ma ba ma.” I stopped for a moment and repeated the sound to Rowan. He looked back at me and did it again: “ma ma ma ba.” This funny laugh bubbled out of me, the kind of laugh when you witness a miracle, something that someone told you was possible but you weren’t quite sure it was, but there it was in front of you, that perfect little miracle. I made the sound to Rowan again and he repeated it again. Picking him up, I spun him around, kissing him repeatedly. It was like a scene from a movie. I’m sure there were violins crescendo-ing somewhere and the audience was getting teary. “Be patient!” they told me, “it could be six months before he makes any kind of sound.” I was all prepared to be patient and I still am. There is a lot left to do. Even after this afternoon’s happy moment, I told myself that it could have been an accident or coincidence, but when he made the noises for Chris later this evening, I...

Rowan’s progress with his cochlear implant has been amazing. Over the past several weeks, we have been going to the audiologist for weekly visits. She tests Rowan’s hearing and increases the volume for three new programs that we use over the next week. Each program is progressively louder so that by the end of the week, he has progressed to a new level of hearing. He is now hearing at nearly the loudest level and should be hearing the entire speech banana. (It is amazing how our vocabulary has modified lately to incorporate our new vocabulary. A “speech banana” refers to the various speech sounds; when graphed according to pitch, the sounds look like a crescent shape and are thus referred to as the speech banana.) Rowan is definitely alerting to sounds and starting to process them. In therapy, we have been working with airplanes (apparently they make the sound “ahhh”). One day Rowan saw and heard an airplane flying above. We alerted him to the sound and pointed to our ears. Yesterday w...

I just love my silly Davin! Lately Davin has become aware of princesses. We went to a birthday party for our friend’s little girl and her mom made a Cinderella cake. Davin thought the princess cake was impressive. By no means is he requesting to watch princess movies or play dress-up in frilly frocks but he likes to call me “Princess Mommy” and it makes me smile every time. In a house full of trucks and balls, it is fun to have a princess moment every now and then. Davin is my valiant prince; he will run up to me and give me a big hug saying in breathless tones “I’ve got you Mommy, you’re safe!” I love my little hero! I was so proud of Davin today. He gave his first talk in Primary. The topic was “strengthening the family” and although he needed a little help, he managed to get through it okay. He was so brave! Davin is growing so brave these days. He was a little scared of the pool and I don’t know if it was magic goggles that helped but now he is jumping in with full force.

I love all things green and I especially love freshly picked vegetables from the garden. There is nothing better! However, my luck with garden growing has not been good. Since Chris and I were married, we have moved nearly every summer, making garden growing somewhat pointless. I tried a few patio gardens but the result has been mediocre. One year my beautiful plants were engulfed by mildew. This year, I thought, would be my year. We have a great yard that we are not moving from, plenty of space for a garden, and time to do it, or at least I thought. But then this spring happened. My husband left for two months and things were a little crazy with the boys. I found this up-side-down garden planter at Sam’s and it seemed like a great solution. I could still have a garden, or at least grow some herbs and tomatoes. Well, the results were mixed. The plants were doing okay but not super. I had one tomato plant that I was really excited about. It was an heirloom variety and there was at least...

I have complained a little (or maybe too much) that our vacation this year has all been allocated to visiting family and we didn’t reserve any for a fun family trip with just the four of us. Don’t get me wrong, we love to visit family and we chose our trips on purpose. However, I have tried to make an effort to make our time here at home a vacation as well. It won’t be long until Davin starts school and I know I will miss these carefree summer days. We started the month with a trip to the backyard camp ground. We set up a tent on the back lawn and Chris bravely lit a fire on our cement patio. The evening was pleasant with a break from humidity, a great night for sleeping outside. (Oh how I miss camping in cool desert mountains!) My sister Tiffani was visiting, so we opted to let her and Rowan stay inside. We roasted marshmallows and managed to get Davin to fall asleep in the tent. After playing a round of Ticket to Ride, Chris and I joined Davin in the tent. The next morning I cooked b...