31
Dec
Granny and Pop are here!
31
Dec
Granny and Pop are here!
31
Dec
Granny and Pop came to visit and we saved our Christmas from them to celebrate together. The kids didn’t seem too upset to be opening more presents.
30
Dec
We first saw these mini-arcade games at The Grind (our favorite milkshake restaurant in TN) and the boys each got one for Christmas. They have been a hit with everybody.
30
Dec
Another raddish recipe for dinner tonight – Thanks Teague.
30
Dec
Boxes are still the best.
30
Dec
We have reached the point in Christmas vacation where anything goes. You want to play in the unheated sunroom in your pajamas? Sure. You want to play with your older brother’s new toy? Sure. Anything goes. Let’s just hope their requests stay reasonable…
29
Dec
Thank you note time.
29
Dec
Morning shenanigans
29
Dec
We tried something new with Kaitlyn’s hair last night. We all kind of love it.
28
Dec
Growing crystals.
28
Dec
Growing crystals.
28
Dec
Growing crystals.
28
Dec
Ben loves his new bed companion – Ellie.
28
Dec
Big brothers doing what they do best.
27
Dec
Alex’s favorite chore – but he’s getting really good!
27
Dec
Reading books with Dad.
27
Dec
There is always that one Christmas gift that you put under the tree at the last minute that nobody has on their list, but you just can’t resist buying. I picked up this wooden pretend shaving kit at Target and wrapped it for Ben. It has been a hit from the minute it was opened.
26
Dec
Enjoying a few of his Christmas presents.
26
Dec
Just enjoying a little exercise time.
26
Dec
One of these boys should have known better…..
26
Dec
I knew I wanted four kids. I saved all of my kids’ clothes hoping we would have a fourth child. I didn’t plan on them being so far apart so some of the saving of clothes didn’t work out so well. (Turns out jeans have actually changed styles quite a bit – the legs used to be much wider when Alex was a baby!). Sweaters, tops, shorts, shoes, etc have help up fairly well and most have made it to the third boy. I have even found handfuls of socks in the clothing bins. At first that seemed great. Then I realized that the socks weren’t lasting very long… Poor Ben. Most of his socks end up looking like this very quickly. Sometimes being the third in a hand-me-down line is a little rough.
25
Dec
Waiting for the “go” to see what Santa brought.
25
Dec
Christmas is here. The kids are so good about gathering at the top of the stairs and waiting to go down together to see what Santa left for them. It’s always a crazy Christmas morning but so fun to watch.
After everyone has enjoyed their Santa gifts, their stocking goodies, and possibly some breakfast, we then got ready for the day. That of course meant more gifts and more squeals and lots of paper and craziness. Christmas!
24
Dec
Christmas Eve.
24
Dec
Although we love making cookies on Christmas Eve, we also have other activities. We take family pictures, go to the Christmas Eve service at church, and dress in matching PJs! Pastor John asked if Ben would agree to be baby Jesus for the second year in a row and although he seemed a little old we agreed. So hello 2 year old baby Jesus. Amazingly our wild child sat still for the entire time he was in front of the congregation (whew!).
24
Dec
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is making cookies for Santa. So far even Alex still joins in the fun. We spend the morning rolling out the cookies and the afternoon decorating the sugar cookies. There might be some eating of the dough and definitely some mess making!
23
Dec
These two were happy to spend a little time with their basket presents.
23
Dec
Morning games with Gram.
23
Dec
Ben still loves stacking anything and everything and today he got Gram to join in the fun.
Gram is in town and the kids had one last day of school. Here’s a few pictures from our crazy day.
22
Dec
Gram must be in town if cards are being played.
22
Dec
Just a little sibling fun with the train tracks.
22
Dec
What you should see is two wrapped presents left in each basket. Instead you see two wrapped presents in three baskets and the remains of some wrappings in the last basket. In ten years, I have never had a child unwrap presents early, but Ben seems to be a child full of firsts for me.
21
Dec
Rip. Rip.
21
Dec
Ben and Madison spend a lot of time together. I shouldn’t have been surprised to realize that Ben has started to imitate Madison. He now purposely dumps his raisins onto the floor so he can eat them like Madison – meaning with no hands…
20
Dec
Basket presents.
Today I found it hilarious to try to photograph Ben opening his basket present. It was quite the process!
19
Dec
Christmas concert marathon today – lastly fifth grade.
19
Dec
Christmas concert marathon today – third grade up second.
19
Dec
Christmas concert marathon today – kindergarten up first.
19
Dec
Just hanging out reading with Elmo.
19
Dec
It has been a week of Christmas concerts. Two in one day was especially awesome. We made it to them all and got to see the kids perform the songs and skits they have rehearsed for weeks. It was adorable – all of it.
18
Dec
It’s one of my kids’ favorite days of the Christmas season – the first day of basket presents.
18
Dec
My mom continues to do basket presents to count down Christmas for all the kids and grandkids. That’s 70 presents that she procures and wraps every year before she even starts her Christmas shopping. My kids are always so excited for the day they get to open the first present. Today was the day. Everyone got dressed in their matching pajamas, posed for a picture, and then tore open a present!
17
Dec
Look closely. There is a Daddy under there somewhere.
17
Dec
I walked into the kitchen to find these two snuggled up together.
16
Dec
Here’s how this chore works in our house. Odd days Teague unloads the dishwasher. Even days Alex unloads the dishwasher. (Both boys agreed to this and Teague knew he would sometimes get two days in a row.) The rules state that the boys can possibly unload it twice a day. If we run it three times in a day (it does sometimes happen at our house) then Mom does the unloading.
16
Dec
Daddy has a helper.
16
Dec
Learning new games.