He is ONE!

Is it true? How can it be?

Wasn't this just yesterday?

How did he get so big so fast?
Regardless of the time travel that occurred somehow, we had to have a celebration.

With a monkey cake for our little man who has turned into a monkey suddenly.

This is a lot of cake for a 1 year old who has never had any cake. Don't worry! He ate it all! Plus some ice cream, and the rest of my cake. He did not disappoint!

Justice tried to help him but since her birthday is not until February her mom wouldn't let her. Don't worry Justice I'm sure Rigdon will be happy to show you the tricks in a few weeks.

Tricks like this! Didn't you know this the best way to eat Ice cream? You don't get your hands cold!

AND Don't worry about the mess, mom will come and get that later!

Remember how I said he has turned into a monkey?...

Showing off his new moves. He started taking steps the week of his birthday and on his birthday he just walked across the room. No big deal. Our life just got a whole lot crazier!

He climbs on everything! He follows Josh around everywhere. To say he LOVES him is an understatement! He has to be with him every second! He cries when we drop him off at the gym daycare, we have never experienced this before. He cries every time he walks out the door.
When Josh is sitting on the floor he will just sit by him. He doesn't leave his legs. It is so cute and annoying at the same time! Annoying to me because I thought he was going to be a mamas boy...and annoying to Josh because...well you know!
We have a tradition to let our kids pick out their own 1st birthday present. Every time I think, there is no way they will be able to do this, but then they always do. We set out like 6 things in the aisle and he carefully started at one end and touched and looked at each thing. When he got to the Woody doll, which was at the end, he turned around and got a huge grin. He then got so excited at started hitting it and laid down on it and hugged it. It was so cute. We loved watching the process of choosing.

Happy Birthday to our little man! Our little Monkey! Our little crazy boy! Our little lover! Our King Kong ( the recent name the girls have given him when he wrecks their princess castle)! Our bubs, pal and special boy! We love you!

Dear Tooth Fairy

I have two simple request:

1. Please quit taking my little girls teeth! At least until she grows some in.

2. Please don't forget about her like you did last time.

Thank you!

If you could see inside these walls...Today, Yesterday, and The day before!

Today:

A journey to a magical fairyland!

Quote of the day: Hope "I'm not naughty I'm just mad!"

Yesterday:

SEVEN whole steps mastered.

*he only walks between us, not fully walking yet. He side steps keeping left foot in front at all times.

Quote of the day: Brielle "I just wanted to spend some time with MY Jesus!"

The Day Before:

Secret bonding time in the cupboard.

Quote of the day: Hope "I'm so mean at you briwell"!
pretty sure she meant mad!

Saying Goodbyes!

The one thing about being a student and living in student housing is saying goodbye. We have already had to say goodbye to so many wonderful friends. Friends I still think of daily and my kids still talk about daily. Friends we will probably never forget. This month we had to say goodbyes to two more families.

We were so blessed to live in the same building as Tabbi and Ben and we had so much fun with them. Maddi loved to come to our house and borrow toys. One time she even asked to borrow Rigdon. They are moving on to do the military thing and have orders to go to Korea! Oh. how they will be missed. Love you Huzzey family!

Nate and Angie have always been happy and fun. They have kids our kids same ages, except their boy is a year older. It was so great to have Nate in the same classes as Josh as they had many study sessions together. Angie and I had fun in church and in law wives. They are such an amazing family and headed back to UTAH! So happy that we will be able to see them some. We love you guys!

Christmas ball!

In the beginning of December we went to the Christmas ball at Regent. We figured since it was our last year we would do both or the balls. We had a blast.

Fun to spend time with the Downings!

This is how we are spending our sunday....

It started out as a group project...being Brielle's idea

Rigdon and I supported them through the window

Hope was the first one in because "my toes are too cold"
Brielle followed soon after, but was in and out. Hope refused to go back out. I don't blame her, it is freezing.

And then there was one! Josh hates to be cold and hates the snow. He gets the award for the best daddy!

Brielle admiring daddy's hard work!

I came out of hiding for a picture with frosty.

Orange eyes, banana nose, and candy cane mouth...Josh made due with what we had!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Love,
The Fawsons
(Maybe next year we will get around to getting Christmas cards out, but for now this will have to do!)

I was awake at 4:30 so excited. I went out to get a drink and that was it for Brielle. I brought her in to our bed and all 3 of us laid there counting down the minutes for Hope and Rigdon to wake up. We told Brie to wait until 6.

This year Josh and I realized we had turned into parents when we went out and made them say a prayer first. We always have had them open the gifts one at a time, but we both were trying to drag it out as long as possible. I remember my mom and dad doing the same thing.

Thanks for the blanket Grandma!

They loved all their Royal boutique castle stuff, and both of them loved their baby all gones.

The bubs was a little confused why we were waking him up at 6 in the morning. He just kinda chilled with daddy for awhile.

And then he got into the action. Rigdon I promise next year we will have boy wrapping paper for you! Poor guy!

The sisters got a little impatient waiting for him to open his present so they helped him out.

And he loved it. Thanks Grandma!


So happy! This is his newest thing, he usually does both arms but that would require being able to stand on his own...and he is a bit chicken when it comes to that.

This kid finds all sorts of goods left over from his big sisters. He got a hold of this sucker and was saying "mmmm" over and over again.

When I asked him what he found this is what he did. "Here it is mom!"

We had a fabulous Christmas. A very quiet Christmas. Here are some fun quotes from the day:

Hope: "We are having a Christmas party!"

Brielle: (after all the presents were opened) "Don't worry Hope, Santa is going to come again tonight!" Ummm no! He's not!

Josh: "I never miss!" (after telling me over and over that the running shoes he got me were "a miss" Lan came over with a sewing machine....) AND he really doesn't! He is such a great gift giver. He REALLY never misses!

Brielle: (When her baby all gone said more please) "This baby is killing me!"

Hope: "I want to open another one, I want to open another one!"

Hope: "I don't like a hummer!"

Brielle: (when I got my sewing machine) "Now you can stop borrowing everybody else's"

SNOW DAY!

When we first moved to Virginia Beach we were told that it never snows. The first year it didn't. We were so happy to be away from all the cold, wet, white stuff that covers Utah all winter long. We thoroughly enjoyed our first Christmas here as it was 74 degrees on Christmas eve. The past two years we have not been so lucky. Last year we had the biggest snow storm Virginia Beach has seen in 20 years. This year we have had 2 small ones, and one day of school canceled.
The girls are always beyond thrilled to have the snow. They love it. They even love making snowballs with no gloves!

And throwing them right at the camera!

Brielle loved drawing in the snow.

Meanwhile this little man was couped up in the house getting into all kinds of trouble. He found a (mostly) empty ice cream container in the garbage and had way too much fun.

Bath time!

What has happened to my life?

I don't really know what it is these days but it seems I am always struggling to stay caught up. I haven't had a day in a long time where I had nothing on my to do list.

My sink is always full of dishes. I think this is because Josh has been CRAZY with finals.
I am always four loads behind in laundry.
Beds are never made.
I don't get ready til 4 pm on some days.
I always have 4 craft projects going at time.
I do my blog 4 post at a time, because I haven't stayed caught up
My bathrooms usually get scrubbed while Rigdon is contained in the bathtub.
The last time I worked out was in october.
AND the list goes on.

LETS FACE IT I HAVE BEEN A SLACKER!

I have no excuse for it! I am not pregnant, or sick. I have just been lazy. Yet, I feel so busy. I have been trying to figure out reasons for this.

Rigdon has started making messes now, maybe it is that extra mess?
I started babysitting every other school day. I have two extra kids on those day.
My days run by the bus schedule. And mondays and wednesdays run by speech too.

I don't know!
All I know is it is time for me to get it together. So now that you know why my blog is always posted 4 at a time...I am going to try and get everything in my life back to order.

Ward Christmas party

Last night was our ward Christmas party. The girls did a little dance for the talent show. Hope had to make an early exit because Brielle stepped on her toe.

Josh sang in the nativity and did great. The girls also sang with the primary. It was a great night.

AND we saw SANTA! And that makes everything better!

Rigdon just kept trying to look back and when he finally got a good look he lost it. It was really cute. He was just so curious.