My name is Rachael and I am a bad blogger.

I may have skipped blogging the last, oh, 1 month and 2 days. Life got in the way and once I get a little behind I just give up until I am in the mood again. I don't even know at this point what I haven't shared so I'll do my best here. I also haven't processed my photos from our Christmas day or trip to Utah between that time either. I'll post here what I do have and go from there later.

The only non-phone pics I have to share now are two from a bath at the hotel in Utah. I love both though.

Our most awesomely bad Santa photo. I love everything about it down to Santa getting bad at Carson for holding his hands up and Max's belly poking out even after my try to pull it down.

Some Elf catch up: Santa sent a personal message with Shawn for Carson to let him know he was currently on the naughty list. Lets just say Carson hit a rough patch leading up to Christmas day.

Shawn put on a cast like Carson.

Max had a fight with the toy box and the toy box won. (He loves brushing his teeth too.)

It was a little too quiet....

Carson was a big help when we painted our guest room/Dustin's room. Once we started painting the trim I told him he could paint whatever on the walls before we got to that part. Apparently it didn't totally sink in to him that we were going to paint over it because he was devastated when he came back and it was all gone. Oops.

"Mommy, I think Max loves me."

Max got his own day at the museum.

And this moment took me back to this day during one of Carson's first visits on the exact same bear in the exact same place:

On our way to Utah we stopped to let the kids run at McDonald's and I instagramed this pic. The best part of all was when McDonald's retweeted it! I've arrived! LOL

Grandpa Rick and his boys.

Carson and Uncle Jordan - It was great timing that Jordan had leave from the Marines while we were going to be out there so we got to see him for a few days. He brought Carson that Marine hat and he loved it.

Max's belly

This one is titled "Future Blackmail". Those are tampons. :)

Another trip to the Children's Museum.

Playing with cloud dough.

Gave Max a whole box of crackers when I needed a few moments of silence. Bad idea.

Weekend boys

I had to take a trip out to Salt Lake on Thursday and Carl was at training in California. Luckily Grandma stepped I to save the day and was able to take off and watch the boys. Max got to ride forward in her car and they got all kinds of treats. The rest is all random. New coat (FINALLY), car shopping cars, iPad at dinner, slides with Daddy, asleep on Mommy.

Elf on the Shelf: Day 15

Shawn snuck in Carson's bookbag and tried to stowaway to preschool.

Elf on the Shelf: Day 14

Shawn was trying his hand at Christmas photography with Carson's camera.

Big boy chair

Max has been trying to climb up in the chair next to Carson every time he sits down to eat. I absolutely adore watching Max follow Carson around copying him. One day last week Carson was acting like a monkey and crawled from our room to his. Ever since that day Max insists on only crawling down the hall in the morning. It's so cute!

He was freaking out today at lunch over not being able to get up on the chair when I realized I had a little seat for him. I strapped this thing on and he was a happy camper.  I've been feeling like creating black and white mages lately....

 And I forgot to post these yesterday. Max figuring out the iPad. 

Elf on the Shelf: Day 13

We decided Shawn could come back today and he came bearing a gift. This seemed to reset Carson a little and he's been wonderful so far today. I debated on whether or not Shawn was stealing a penny or giving a penny. Carson ran in my room his morning yelling that Shawn gave him money and that he loves him and they are best friends. Better that way. LOL   Carson's a sucker for change. 

Elf on the Shelf: Day 12

Carson was still I being unreasonably argumentative (to put it nicely) so Shawn went on strike for day 12. His little elf bum didn't move and Carson was pretty disappointed. It seemed to sink in a little at least. 

The last week's photos

Max has been staying asleep when you take him out of the car lately. Usually I'm holding him though and can't appreciate how cute he is. I made Carl freeze for this one.

Max's new trick is to clear the tractors off the toy box and climb up here. He pulls all the toys out and revels in the mess. Check out hat floor. Rawr. 

We all went for a drive up to Estes Park yesterday just for fun. It was super windy and annoying when we got out to walk around in town though. We stopped at the little playground and could only play for a while because we were cold. 

Look at that little tear on his cheek. haha

We explored in a bunch of new places and came across this huge herd of elk. (Are elk in a herd??) We pulled over and tried to get some pics out of the car windows and hoped none of them got mad. They seemed to not even know we were there though. 

The highlight for Carson is that he gets to sit in back when Grandma comes. 

Max and Daddy playing grab the hat at lunch. 

This is Saint Malo church outside of Estes Park. It is historic and called the church on the rock for good reason. Apparently it caught on fire last year which explains why there were boarded up windows. Such a same because it was breathtakingly gorgeous. 

I broke down and finally got an iPad this weekend. ::happy dance::  The boys claimed quickly. 

Action shot. Carson takes the brunt of the attack baby. 

Clothes. You're doing it wrong. 

Elf on the Shelf: Day 11

As a continuation of Carson's bad attitude, he got a stern letter from Shawn. Will it sink in? Time will tell. I'm going with a big probably not. 

Elf on the Shelf: Day 10

Carson had such a good week when he was off school during thanksgiving week. This last week he has been a sassy terror though. Sunday morning he found Shawn acting like a baby in Max's swing. Again, we told him his elf reflects the way he acts so Shawn was being a baby. He didn't think it was funny. 

Elf on the Shelf: Day 9

I think Shawn got together with Daddy for this one. This was a big dirt track made from our basket and pillows and blankets. Lets just say it was a hit for the whole weekend. 

Elf on the Shelf: Day 8

Shawn wanted to read books in Grandma's bed is morning like Carson does. Grandma's bed is always better, right??

And I'm posting this from my new iPad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm only a little excited .........

Elf on the Shelf: Day 7

Shawn the Elf did a little wrenching last night. He likes to pretend to be Daddy too. :)

Brothers

To say we didn't sleep last night is an understatement. Luckily Carson is great and said he would take quiet time early with us. I put on a movie and they did this all on their own. My mommy heart about exploded. Now it's time to sleep.

Elf on the Shelf: Day 5

Carson has an obsession with plain glazed donuts. He asks for them every single time we go to the store so they have to only come at special times now.

His elf must have listened because he brought Carson donuts for breakfast and made his own little elf-sized ones. :)

Find the chub.

The latest random iPhone and other pics from the last week or so.

As soon as I tell Max I'm going to take a shower he runs right for his little couch and wants to watch Yo Gabba Gabba. He loves it just as much as Carson did at that age. He always wants my pillow and a blanket, but the other day he fell asleep right there before one episode even finished. We're still working on this whole "sleep through the night" thing so he was probably still tired. 

I took the boys to the prairie conservation center by us over the weekend. When we went in the spring we saw the baby chicks in a box and so Carson thought they'd still be there. He wasn't having it when I told him the were grown up so we had to drive down to the farm to find them. That's chickens and one turkey.

Max loves playing hide and seek with Carson. He was wandering around and I realized he was hiding in the towels and thought I was playing with him. Just this sight is enough to make me smile for days!


We took a drive to see the lights at the Capitol on Saturday night.


This photo is no joke and straight out of the camera. Carl was playing out front with the boys the other night and told me I had to come out and see the sky. Man, he wasn't lying! It looked like it was on fire! Can you believe that???

Elf on the Shelf: Day 4

Carson's favorite game to play when he's with me in the office is Connect 4. Like most little kids, he doesn't really play the game, just puts the coins in and then leaves them lying all over for me to step on. We're working on that last part.

Shawn the Elf thought he'd try playing last night with Stuffy the Dog.

Elf on the Shelf: Day 3

This morning we woke up to find that Shawn the Elf had gotten into my jewelry. Carson kept telling him that my jewelry is for girls. LOL

Elf on the Shelf: Day 2

This morning Carson woke up bright and early to find his elf had spent his free time putting all of his puzzles together. He keeps laughing and telling me the elf made such a big mess!

Elf on the Shelf: Day 1

We asked that an Elf on the Shelf come visit us this year and Santa delivered. This is "Shawn the Elf", as named by Carson. Hopefully this stays fun and not ridiculously stressful having to come up with something silly for Shawn to do every night. I mean, I hope it isn't stressful for him.....

We woke up this morning to see that Shawn had set up our Christmas tree. :)
Carson thinks it is so cool and keeps asking adorable questions. "Why can't he talk to me?" "Did you see him move?" "How does he get his magic?"  I love this kid.