Our halls have been decked!

This past weekend I decided we would decorate for Christmas. With Thanksgiving falling a little later, soon to be followed by a certain little guy's birthday and a half marathon for us, I knew early December would be a little busier than normal. And I wanted to enjoy this time with the tree up. I love our little tree all lit up in front of our front windows. Even if the neighbors are cursing us for doing so before the turkey has thawed, much less been cooked and eaten. So Saturday afternoon, with the boys still in their jammies we decorated the tree and put most of our Christmas decorations up.

 

 this guy loved helping the most.

 And this guy is holding his precious little ornament from last year. It's a brown baby angel. Soon after this picture was taken, he threw it for fun and broke the poor angels wing off. So it goes in the pile of ornaments to repair because I can't bare to let go of them.

 The completed tree

Obviously Abe still needs a little work on his stocking to make it match the others. And we need one more hook. Hopefully this will be the year I make those things happen. I remember thinking that last year...

This year I'm using our tiny tree for all the boys homemade ornaments. And I anticipate we'll be making a few more in the coming month to add to it.

My smiling trio in front of the tree. I love this picture. All three in their reindeer/moose Christmas jammies. My long and lean 6 year old is outgrowing the cutesie jammies so this was our alternative this year. I'm looking forward to a memorable holiday season with my crew.

Flashback Friday

In honor of a very special date this weekend, I took a phone picture of a day in history I'll never forget. The day that we committed to forever.

Sunday we will celebrate 12 years! Some people say Jeremy looks EXACTLY the same today. Even down to the same hair. It's true. He hasn't changed much in the looks department. But we have both changed and grown up a lot in the past 12 years. Tomorrow we will celebrate with a little date night. And in two weeks we will celebrate with an entire weekend alone, including our very first half marathon. I am so excited!!

The Pumpkin Patch and Halloween

I count it a huge blessing for our family that Jeremy has every other Friday off from work. That's the only schedule we've known since starting work in the real world. So at this point, I might fall over dead if it were ever take away. But on one of his Friday's off we headed to a Pumpkin Patch. It's not fall without a trip to a Pumpkin Patch. Here are a few picture from our fun.

Sadly this is the best picture we could get of the three of them. Abe is at a hard stage to get him still and smiling at the same time. You have to accept one or the other, but not both.

 A fun hay bale maze.

 A hayride!

 

And just being silly.

 

Oh Halloween! It's not my favorite holiday. Especially as my boys start to deal with fears and there is much scariness out for Halloween. But they sure love dressing up in costume and touring the neighborhood for free candy. So that's what we did. We now have a 3 year tradition on Halloween. It consists of frito chili pie and trick or treating with some friends. This year we had 3 Ninja Turtles and a baby turtle in training. All of my boy's costumes still fit from last year, so we went with it.

 

 Buddies!

Now if only I could stay out of the candy!

October flew.

October just flew by. The month really went so quickly. How can I say that when I have so many days when I think....it's only 2pm? Here are some pictures from last month.

 Neighbor Sophie spent most of a Saturday with the boys. Playing outside, jumping on the trampoline and then they came inside for snacks and some craft time. She is an only child. She tells me that we have A LOT of kids. Ha.

 Holden and I spotted this guy at Hobby Lobby one day. He would have loved to bring him home but had to settle on just getting his picture made with him.

Popsicles on the edge of the trampoline. Abe was only there momentarily for this picture. :)

Legos and puzzles and two of this boy's biggest interests right now. He loves to build and put things together.

 A little picture of Abe crashing our school time. It's definitely been trickier this year.

 This activity may save us in the colder months ahead. Two boys get in the laundry basket while another boy pushes them down the tile hallway. Where do they come up with these ideas!? (And apparently this was a day that Pax wanted to stay in his jammies. We had more jammie days in our first year of homeschooling than we ever had in my first 5 years as a mommy. I'm not sure how this happened.)

 Since our camping trip was rained out earlier in the month, the big boys and Jeremy slept in the tent in our backyard on a Friday night. We also made s'mores over our grill. They thought it was the best thing ever. Pax said repeatedly, "mommy, this is the funnest camping trip ever." :)

 The next morning we sat in the back of Jeremy's truck and watched part of the airshow that happens each October in our town. 

Just a beautiful morning at the park.

 

 

 

Playing with our umbrella.

 This picture reminds me how little my 6 year old still is. Some times it feels like he is all grown up. Holden had to have some blood drawn last week. So we spent the day before anxiously dreading it. But we also did a little play therapy of how we were going to look away from the needle, take deep breaths and calm ourselves. He also got to play doctor so he could practice drawing everyone's blood, even Monkey's. Ironically when Holden was the doctor, none of us needed our blood drawn. He argued with us about it. We all insisted that we were there at our appointment to have our blood drawn. His response, "Nope. I'm the doctor. You're healthy. You don't need to have blood drawn. No needles today." Clever little guy. I love him so! 

 On our way to the dreaded appointment. This $5 green tea frappuccino took his mind off of the needle for about 20 seconds. First Starbucks drink I've bought for my child. It won't become a habit. But it was a big treat on this day.

All the while, these 2 guys were having a Fall party at school. As you can see Pax got a little treat on the way home that day. And he was kind of enough to share with Abe.

We are a few days into November and quickly headed toward the fun and joy of the holidays. I need to slow down time and soak it all in.

Flashback Friday

Nearly 18 months ago we were introduced to Abraham Malachi. This picture was taken minutes after he was placed in my arms and I had dried up my tears. Our hearts nearly burst that day. I can't even believe that I'm planning this little guy's 2nd birthday party. How is it possible?!

Pax's tooth and his mohawk.

Pax lost his very first tooth today! It had been lose for at least a week. But disgustingly wiggly for the last few days. I could hardly stand to look at it. Unfortunately, Jeremy and I just won't mess with teeth. Which is so ironic now that I think about it, since Jeremy considered going into dentistry not too long ago. ??? Anyways, he's so proud to be missing this tooth.

 Then later this morning, Jeremy took the big boys for haircuts. They both told him they wanted mohawks. So this Pax's first mohawk. It's hard to really see it in this picture. It's pretty subtle. But I love it. And so does he.

Weekend with friends.

Last weekend we had planned a camping trip with the Myers. As the weekend approached we realized we were going to get rained out. So at the last minute, we changed our plans and decided to spend the weekend at their house. I'm still sad that we may not be able to squeeze in a camping trip this fall before the cold hits. We had such a great time taking the big boys back in May. But we still had a great time with our friends last weekend playing, talking and catching up together. A few pictures from our time.

 Lots of nice weather for time outside.

It didn't take long for Holden to help himself to the princess dresses. He loves dressing up in her dresses. :) They are exactly 1 year apart. He is ginormous and she is very petite. It makes me laugh.

A little Jesus Storybook Bible time before bed. Pax and Camryn were nearly inseparable.

 

And the following morning, more princess time. Complete with a crown.

 

 Dinner out and all the kiddos lined up by age. Pure coincidence.

 

 The kids ended the second evening with a little pre bedtime dance party with glow sticks.

 

More great memories were made!