December Recap Part 2

Thanks to Jon's mom, visiting a couple of special train exhibits in town has become a yearly tradition.  Scott looks forward to this each year and always comes home inspired to set up a more elaborate train layout across the living room. 

Thanks, Grammy, for a good time!

 

A sweet friend sent us a fun package with these cute snowman cookies inside!  Kate was even thrilled with the box in which they arrived. 

 

This was our first year to do stockings.  I had fun with it!  Wrap up some Dora underwear or a new kid toothbrush, throw it in a stocking, and a child is thrilled!  

 

 

Above is a picture of my parents with all of their grandchildren.  :)  The picture below makes me smile every time.  I love Brody's expression.  He is so fun!!

A picture with Grammy and Grandpa on Christmas Day

Play house fun in Grammy's basement

 

Scott received Geotrax for Christmas and has been enjoying them!  He also got a new spin-toothbrush which is why his sweatshirt looks the way it does in the shot above.  He brushed his teeth so many times that day, that I finally had to put a limit on the number of times he brushes.  Never thought I'd hear those words come out of my mouth!

Okay...so as I proofread this blog post, I noticed that the word "fun" was overused.  However, that seems like one of the best words to describe our December and celebration of Christ's birth.  We enjoyed many fun times as a family and had a blessed month.  

December Recap Part 1

We had a busy, yet fun, month of December.  Can't believe it's coming to a close here in a couple of days!

Christmas outfits/cute red sweaters= lots of pictures!

First time to play in the snow this year...

Snow angels

 

Scott had his school Christmas program.  

Before church battle- "No, Natalie, you cannot wear the headband like that!" (but let me take a picture first)

After the first snow, Jon said that we were need of a sled.  After a trip to Meijer, the kids happily tried it out during the second snow of the year.  THEY hope to get more use out of it in the coming months.  I, on the other hand, am ready to put the sled in the shed and pull out the trikes again.  :) 

Kate and I stayed inside during the snow playtime, and I pulled her around in a wagon in the warm living room instead.  That counts, right?

Part 2 coming soon...

The Christmas jammies live on...

Scott

Natalie

Kate

A Picture or Two or Twelve

Kate's finally getting some hair.  The other day when she woke from her nap, her hair was standing up everywhere.  Natalie walked in her room and declared that she looked like a porcupine!  :)

The kids really wanted to crack some nuts with the nutcracker.  We settled for Cheerios instead.  Lo and behold, the nutcracker can make some fine Cheerio dust. 

Scott took his turn with the flu bug last week.  He was miserable, but was a sweet little patient.  He greeted me in the middle of the night with, "Mommy, I feel sick."  He then proved he wasn't joking right beside our bed.  Lovely. 

Thankfully, when I took my turn with the flu a few days later, no one had a camera out snapping photos of me sprawled out on the couch.  Sorry about that Scott.  It was pretty awful! 

Everyday as of late...yes, EVERYDAY...Natalie changes into some odd clothing combination.  It always involves (Dora) pajama shorts and whatever else she chooses to "match" them.  This has been going on for at least a month. 

Kate loves her singing dinosaur and will often growl at it.  Thanks Uncle Derek and Aunt Maggie!

 The Crew at 5, 3, and 1

The church hallway is becoming much too fun for Kate. 

Kate's starting to make some pretty funny faces!  Sometimes when I tell her to smile, I get this.  We'll need to work on that!

:)

My dad recently said that he can tell what kind of weeks my sister-in-law and I are having based on the frequency of our blog posts.

Yes...life has been busy and blogging has been put on the back burner.

Busy with what?  Oh...you know...the usual.  Running Scott to and from preschool, reading books to kiddos, turning the house upside down to find my wedding ring, bathing Kate after self-feeding attempts, going to Meijer (again!), scrounging through the full kitchen trash can to find my wedding ring in the bottom, breaking up arguments over who gets to open the van door, doing laundry, making cookies for an upcoming cookie exchange, hiding the glitter glue and whistle, starting Christmas shopping, cleaning out the pen drawer...like I said...the usual.

I have been continuing to jot down some of the kids' funny lines as of late though.  Here are the latest Natalie-isms.

"I wish I was born a dinosaur."

When I was looking everywhere for my ring the other day, Natalie came up to me and rubbed my back.  "I know what would help you not to be worried.  Maybe we could cuddle and play Starfall together on the computer."   (Natalie had a lot to do with the ring disappearance, so perhaps this was her attempt to distract me!)

Last night, Natalie requested "pasta with Papa John cheese"...after some thought, I realized she wanted pasta with parmesan cheese.  They do kind of sound the same!

Natalie was in the van and watched a man smoking a cigarette across the parking lot.  Once we drove away she asked, "Why was that man puffing steam?"

As some of you know, Jon has a lovely Marines tattoo on his bulging bicep.  I like it almost as much as his mother does!:)  Anyway, Natalie pointed to it one morning and said, "Daddy, why do you have a stamp on your arm?"  

Smirking, Jon said, "Ask your mother."

I told Natalie that he got that when he was in the Marines and kind of implied to her that it came with his enlistment.  

She listened to my wishy-washy explanation and then exclaimed, "OH!  I know what kind of stamp I want to get someday!"

AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kate's First Birthday Recap

Pictures for proof that she was celebrated...(Hopefully she won't do any "first birthday party" comparisons with her siblings...eek!)  Happy Birthday, Third Child!  WE LOVE YOU!

She looks happy enough, don't you think?  Blow up a few balloons, sing "Happy Birthday" and call it a party!

Thanks to some prompting from Scott, we got her a cake and pulled out a party hat...that has to count for something too, right?!

Kate knew just what to do with her cake!  Perhaps she's seen her mama demonstrate a few times during these past 12 months of life.  :/ 

Kate, we'll really live it up for Birthday #2.  Promise!:)

Oatmeal, Eggs, Cake...Take Your Pick

So I served my kids chocolate cake (WITH A BIG GLASS OF MILK) for breakfast this morning.  As I was giving it to them, I was telling them how we don't do this very often (more for my benefit than theirs as to appease the mommy-guilt that was creeping in).  Scott agreed with me and said with all sincerity, "Yeah, we should only do this every once in awhile like maybe just once a week." 

Mmmm...speaking of cake...