Twas the night before Christmas...

and all through the house....



We went to Chris' cousin Robin and Bill's cozy and warm home today. It was beautifully decorated and so welcoming! There was yummy food and plenty of it.

The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. Ben enjoyed trying to get all the decorations that he could reach as well as chewing on a brand new bottle of some type of alcohol. Don't fret, it was sealed tight!



Then we came home, had a quick dinner, and got jammied in our new Christmas jammies.

Not too long from now the monkeys will be nestled all snug in their beds while visions of sugar plums dance in their heads. The stockings will be hung on the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicholas will soon be here.....

I wish I was creative enough to go on but since I'm not I will say....

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!!

Santa Claus is coming to town

Yesterday it was pretending to take part in a live nativity, today it was pretending to be Santa, a reindeer, and an elf...

Connor decked out the fire truck with sleigh bells. Maggie and Connor, and me a couple of times, took turns being the reindeer and Santa. They both wanted to be Santa a lot more then being the reindeer, pretty sure it was a lot easier being Santa, LOL!

Ben was an elf that was obsessed with trying to get the sleigh bells. Do you see the sleigh bells? They are the silver things on the back of the fire truck.

Look out everyone, Santa Claus is coming to town!

Away in the manger...

The kids created their very own live Nativity today. Pictured here is baby Jesus laying (lying) in the manger....

And here is Mary loving baby Jesus...

Connor was Joseph (although he didn't like being married to Katelyn, lol), Sierra, the little girl from next door, was a donkey. Maggie was the angel and I was a shepherd (fitting???).

Perfect....

Dear Katelyn

Dear Katelyn,

I am sorry you had to wear your jammies to school today. Maybe next time you will get dressed when I ask. I hope you don't get too chilly...

Love you,

Mommy

Ok, seriously, I did not make my daughter wear her jammies to school, although that is something I have been known to threaten at times. Today was Jammie day at school, so much fun! I know all you grown-ups are wishing you had jammie day at work sometimes!

Katelyn picked the new nightgown that Grammy made her to wear today. She received it about a week ago and has worn it a couple of times since. Yesterday she asked us to make sure it was washed because that was what she wanted to wear. So we made sure it was washed.

Well, she grabbed it out of the laundry basket this morning, fresh and clean. She put it up to her nose, took a big sniff, and got genuinely sad. It didn't smell like grammy anymore. She still loves it, of course, but is quite disappointed that it no longer smells like Grammy... I get that!

Have I mentioned?

Have I ever mentioned that I love this baby???

I think I may have, you know, once or twice...

I love the new scrunched up "cheese" looking face he gives me every time I take out the camera

now!

So, just in case you wondered, I love this baby!

Our tree is up!

We finally, on December 15th (Ben's 10 month birthday), decorated our Christmas tree! The kids really enjoyed decorating it. Well, all the kids but Ben, of course. (You know, he's more into eating ornaments then putting them on the tree and all.)

It came out beautiful, at least from a mom's point of view! Possibly, if you are a person who goes to Christmas tree shows to see "perfectly" decorated trees then you may disagree.

Then we had to "Ben Proof" the tree....

Ben does love it though! He can still reach some of the ornaments too.

My favorite part is the memories that come along with decorating the tree. It has the ability to bring me back to my childhood. I can still see my mom and dad sitting on the couch drinking coffee while watching us decorate. After we were done we would have some hot chocolate and maybe even some popcorn.

My most cherished memory, by far, is coming down early in the morning where my mom would be sitting on the couch watching the news with no lights on. I would climb up next to her, snuggle, and watch the tree lights flash shadows on the wall. It was so beautiful and peaceful.

Yesterday morning I was up for a while before any of the kids were up. I was just sitting in the dark, listening to my book, and watching the tree. Connor was the first monkey up and I just LOVED when he climbed up on the couch and snuggled in with me. It was so beautiful and peaceful. He may not remember the moment when he grows up but I will never forget it...

my inventors...

How do you think the chocolate cake was invented? Do you think a mom of young children just let her children go to town with different foods in the kitchen?

What do you think maple syrup, water, milk, and snow cone syrup all mixed together would make?

These monkeys think it will make some delicious ice cream. So after mixing all these ingredients they put them into separate containers, such as empty cottage cheese containers, bowls, and Ziploc bags. Then they put the containers into the freezer...

All the while they were talking about how rich they would become when they sold this new ice cream that they invented. Connor felt they could sell each container for a hundred dollars! Katelyn said that no one would buy it for that much but that if they sold it for five dollars each people would want to buy a lot since it would be such a good price.

Are you wondering how it came out? Well, not so great. Back to the drawing board.

So, do you think this was how the chocolate cake may have been invented???

The first snow day...

Winter has, unofficially, begun. Last week the kids enjoyed their first snow day of the year. They spent lots of time playing outside in the snow.
I spent lots of time looking at them out the window from the warm house. At one point when I opened the window to ask them how things were going Connor said, "The snow is really deep" and Katelyn followed that with, "yeah, it's really cold too!". Yep, they are perceptive kids!

As much as I prefer staying inside I can still remember that feeling of waking up to hear the words, "no school, it's a snow day". The excitement of playing for hours building things, sledding and who knows what else. Then coming in and putting warm, dry clothes on and having hot chocolate.

I think next time I may venture out there with them!

Basketball

Katelyn started basketball. At her age it is "clinic basketball" which is where the kids just practice dribbling and doing drills for an hour. She was signed up last year but only made it to two weeks because of her pneumonia, me being very pregnant and then having Ben.

So we decided to try it again this year. It started off a bit rocky. Lots of tears were shed which is not like Katelyn at all. She didn't know how to do it, it was too hard, not fun, she wanted to go home!

After some hugs from me and Nana she went back out there. Gave it another try...

At the very end she scored a basket!!! She was thrilled! The coach told her she scored the game winning basket. I had tears in my eyes that I had to fight from spilling over. Here is my 7 year old, smiling ear to ear, so proud! I don't think that I could have been any more proud then I was at that moment.

She ran over to me afterwards and said, "I can't wait for next week!". Neither can I Kate, neither can I!

Just in case you were wondering....

JJ is doing very well! He is getting lots of love (sometimes maybe even a little too much)...

Connor had a half birthday!

Last week, on December 6th, we celebrated Connor's half birthday complete with a small ice cream cake!

Ooops, we forgot to sing "Happy Half Birthday" until after the cake had been cut into...

It sure was a yummy ice cream cake! We all agreed that the chocolate crunchies in the middle were the best part!

What do you see???

When you look at this what do you see???

Ben's chubby little finger picking up a cheerio? Well in our house we see...

Fish food and dog food...

The imagination of a child is so wonderful! The older monkeys thought I was giving Ben fish food when they first saw the container.

Then last week Connor and Maggie decided to turn it into dog food. LOL, whatever it takes to get them to eat, right???

What a ham!

Lately when I take the camera out Ben gives me the funniest face. He wrinkles his nose, smiles big and makes a cute growly/giggle sound. It is just so funny!

This baby just loves to read!

He can often be found sitting on the floor turning the pages of a book...

How cute is that?

Babies and tunnels

Babies love tunnels and Ben is no exception!

I just love the face he makes when he is coming through!

And he is soooo fast that it was hard to take a picture!!!

But, I finally got one! Hello big boy!!!

Father/daughter dance...

I love watching Chris and Maggie dance around the kitchen being so silly!

I worry there will come a day when she no longer will want to do this...

But then, maybe she will get a little older and want to do it again... Chris hopes maybe to dance one day to "I hope you dance" with one of his daughters at their wedding. Guess we will have to wait and see...

Like Mother, like daughters...

Like mother, like daughters...

Just like Ben loved his wrap.....

JJ loves his sling...

The kids are just loving our newest family member!

I think JJ is loving his new family too...

He and Katelyn spend a lot of time just snuggling...

On the floor or on the couch they both seem to really like being together! JJ surely is not lacking attention, that's for sure...

He loves me... He loves me not...

Remember these flowers??? I loved them till the end!!!

He loves me... He loves me not... He loves me... He loves me not...

When Katelyn got to the last petal it was "He loves me". Connor said, "Who loves you?" Katelyn said, "God loves me." Yep, He sure does love you Katelyn!!!

When Maggie was doing it her three year old patience shone through as she pulled of 5 petals at a time, LOL!

And then there were 5 monkeys...

Yup, we have a new monkey in our house. I guess he is technically a guinea pig but that's a minor detail.

Last night as we all slept Santa's Elves came by and delivered a very special guinea pig to Katelyn. Katelyn had just asked for a cage but apparently Santa found a guinea pig in the cold, snowy woods at the north pole. He thought of Katelyn and figured she would be the best home for JJ, the guinea pig. Here is the Letter Santa's Elves left attached to the cage. It is hard to read though.

Needless to say, Katelyn is just thrilled!

So are the other three monkeys in the house...

He is a bit bigger then I had imagined but seems like a very sweet little guy.

He does have a cute little face!

Welcome to the family JJ