December 2013 in a Nutshell

December was a busy month filled with (mostly) holiday things. Besides going to school: 

 Aren't the sweetest?

There was visiting Santa at the Home Depot. We didn't go there to visit Santa, but since he was there while we were there, it worked out nicely.

We decorated our tree with stars and lights and all sorts of fun items.

Finn got bored with the tree decorating festivities rather quickly, so we handed him the iPad and let him chill.

 Pele photo-bombing my kids as they decorate.

For some reason we had cupcakes one day. Probably with some hot chocolate after they came in from playing in the snow.

Santa drove around post on a firetruck again, handing out stuffed animals to the kids on post. This is one of our favorite holiday traditions here.

The Saturday before Christmas was my family's big gathering. This pretty much sums up how we all feel at the end of the day: 

Which brings us to the big day - Christmas!

Like most years, we all made out like a bunch of bandits. My dad and stepmom came around lunch time to have Christmas with us. After they left, my mom, stepdad and sisters came for dinner. The following day Josh's parents came up. It's nice that we're close and everyone can come here so we don't have to pack up the boys and make them travel around on Christmas Day. Something we'll miss whenever we move.

And that's about it for the month. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

Let's Talk About It Being the Last Day of November

Wow guys.  Where did this month go? I seriously have NO idea. We started decorating the house for Christmas today and I'm like, where did this year go? HOW are we almost back to Christmas again? I don't know, it's just crazy.

Anyhoo, we had a really nice Thanksgiving down at Josh's parent's house. Josh's sister Linda, and her son, Sam, were there, as well as Josh's Uncle Ray and Aunt Lorrie, and his cousin, Holly, and her husband, Jordan.  It was really good to see them all again, even if once we were finished eating my kids spent the rest of the evening on iPads.

I must say, though, I was rather impressed with Zeke's ability to carry on a conversation with Holly while playing on the iPad. Only a few times he got too wrapped up to answer her immediately. It was also very sweet watching Deacon and Aunt Lorrie play music together on her iPad.

We all had a great time and oh, my, goodness was there ever SO much food! And of course, all of it was delicious.  I think I gained 11 pounds, but I did so happily. 

I'm so thankful for so much.  For my Savior and His love, grace, and mercy. For my husband who loves me and provides so much for me. For 3 beautiful and wonderful boys who make me laugh (and stress me out - let's be honest) every day. I'm thankful for my family, and my friends; for a home, food, and clothes. God is so good and I'm so thankful.

I guess I'm also thankful for Legos (when they aren't causing fights). And on that note, I'm linking here to Josh's Lego page where he wrote a little Thanksgiving post with the Thanksgiving things he built.  Check it out, it's pretty sweet.  JOSH'S PAGE.

Enjoy the rest of your long weekend (assuming you have one)! I'll see y'all in December (but not tomorrow, I don't like to blog on Sundays)!

Let's Talk About Sleeping With Books

Besides being the name of my new band, sleeping with books is a fairly regular occurrence in our house. I give you examples 1, 2, AND 3, ALL taken on the same night:

The worst "offender" is the wee one. I cannot tell you the number of times we've gone in at night to check on him before we go to bed ourselves and found him squished in the top corner of his bed like this:

because all of this:

was all over his bed.

Now, I love reading as much as the next girl, but I think this might be a little bit out of control. Although, I guess there are worse "problems" than my kids fall asleep with so many books in their beds there's usually not enough room for them.

Sorry for not blogging ALL of last week.  I got a killer cold that wiped me out pretty good most of the week. It didn't stop me from going to a concert or leading Bible study, but it probably should have. I'm feeling mostly better now though, so hopefully I'll get back to blogging a couple times a week again!

Let's Talk About My Youngest Child

My sweet boy, Finn, loves the iPad. He's on that thing for at least 10 minutes every day. If I'm being honest, most days it's more like an hour or so. In the morning. And again in the afternoon. Some days it bothers me, some days I tell myself he mostly plays learning games, so he's just figuring out how to spell and add and what's it.  Like most 3-year-olds, right?

Finn loves superheroes. His current favorite is Batman - as you can see by his pajamas, socks, and sneakers. He also has a Batman blanket on his bed.

His best friend is Chase. I was going to write a whole post about these 2 with lots of pictures, but what else can I really say? They ask for each other, get super excited when they see each other, then fight with each other over every toy when they are actually together. That's not entirely true.  They really do play very well together. But 3-year-olds can only behave so much of the time, not ALL of the time, and we love them for it.

Finn wants a puppy. He loves dogs and doesn't usually shy away from them like the other two always did.  I almost caved the other day and bought him one when him and the puppy played with each other through the glass (excuse my finger - like I've never taken a picture before or something - geez).

Mr. Finntastic LOVES being outside. Well, he loves being outside when he's not allowed on "his" iPad. He's getting pretty fast too. He was also super pumped to go to the "pumpkin farm to go Halloween picking."

Even better than pumpkin picking was the tractor ride to the pumpkin patch. We rode the tractor to the pumpkin patch and back not once, but twice. We got our pumpkins, paid for them, put them in the car, then went back around for a second ride, much to his utter delight.

Finn also had his first dental check up last month where he didn't cry and freak out. I'm telling y'all, we have a new favorite dentist. This guy was amazing. Finn didn't even ask me to sit in the chair with him like I usually have to do.  *sniff, sniff*

Look who got a new seat! Just looking at him in this seat makes me a wee bit sad.  My boy is no longer a baby (even though he'll always be my baby).

Finn also LOVES the beach.  I'm not sure we'll ever be able to visit Josh's parents again without making a quick trip to the ocean. We had a hard enough time convincing him it wasn't going to be warm enough two weeks ago to go in the water.

The little man has also been helping out a bit more around the house. We've started a chore/allowance system with the older two and I guess it's influencing Finn a bit. One of the chores is to set the table. A couple of nights this past week when I've yelled, "Whose turn is it to set the table?" Finn usually runs into the kitchen and says, "My turn!" He then proceeds to help me set the table. Finn also "cleaned his room" the other day.

So close!

My sweet boy also loves to books. He loves to read books, he loves to have books read to him, he loves the library - both for story time there and for getting more books. His favorite author is Mo Willems.  Right now his favorite Mo Willems books are the Elephant and Piggie books. And to tell the truth, I rather enjoy all of them too.

Finn also loves music and puzzles. Car and firetrucks. Football and all other things that little boys love. And don't tell Josh, but I'm totally Finn's favorite parent.

Oh, Finn. You make things so much more interesting and fun, and we wouldn't want it any other way.