Playin' in the Snow

Two days ago I walked in on R standing on a chair, taking down all of the ornaments from the tree while I was in the other room on the phone. When I asked her what she was doing she yelled, "Christmas is done Mama!". So I had to take down all of our decorations a bit early because I pictured her pulling the tree down on herself or worse. She is such a down to business girl, she is already telling me what she wants to do for her birthday in May. Apparently, she wants a blueberry cake that is shaped like Toodee from Yo Gabba and she wants to sleep in a tent and go to the zoo. I will have to get her excited about something that is coming a bit sooner.

Today we got over a foot of nice fluffy snow to play in. We couldn't make a snowman because the snow was too light to roll into balls, but it was perfect for snow angels and R made about 10 of them.

"It's Kissmisstine!"

This was such a fun Christmas, I have never seen R more excited than she was on Christmas morning. On Christmas Eve she put out gingerbread cookies and chocolate milk for Santa (she was sure that he would rather have chocolate than regular). She told me to put his milk in the giant mug I got when I was in the hospital having L. "It's the biggest cup in the whole house". We asked her if J and I were going to get presents or if only her and L would get them and she said that we were too silly to get any presents from Santa. When she woke up in the morning she came and got us and said that she heard Santa say "Ho Ho Ho", then ran out to see her presents. When she saw that Santa had come she said "oh my goodness!" about 20 times. L slept through basically the whole morning so R had to open his presents for him. Then we put together toys and R played non-stop until bedtime. She did stop to eat though, we roasted a chicken and had sweet potatoes, salad and potato rolls.
I truly missed all of our family, but I loved having Christmas in our own home, it' fun to have our own little traditions and steal some from our childhoods as well.
I am also glad that R is able to understand the spiritual side of the season more and more. It was so cute to see her play with her nativity set and say, "Happy Birthday Jesus, I love you". I can't help smiling when I think of how sweet and precious my little ones are and how blessed I am to have my husband who, as corny as it may sound, is my best friend. One thing we can always do no matter what problem we are facing is make each other laugh. Family really makes life worth living.

Our December so far...

So reality gets to start setting in for our family now that we don't have so many helping hands around. My kids are sweeties though and we have had a lot of fun watching R with her little brother. She wipes his spit up for him, gets diapers for him when it is time for a diaper change, and likes to help burp him too. We just have to remind her to be gentle and she usually listens.

The other day I told R I was going crazy from something or other (I don't remember what). Then she said, "Oh dear, Mama, don't go crazy like Daddy please!"

J just caught up with me age wise and turned 28. We didn't go all out this year for his birthday but we did have a yummy cake that I made up the recipe for, chocolate cake with peanut butter and banana frosting.

R and I built a great, big snowman yesterday (it was as tall as me) and I was going to take a picture of it today but it either got knocked over or fell on it's own in the never ending snow storm. I think I was sadder than R about it because I worked really hard to get it so big. I almost had a hernia trying to lift the the body and head. We had a lot of fun. R thought it was hilarious that there was so much snow everywhere and giggled nonstop while we were outside. She has become a real giggler lately.

Light Festival

Baby Blessing

While J's family was here we blessed baby L.

Thanksgiving with the In-Laws

J's parents and brother stayed with us for Thanksgiving and we kept them busy. They helped us clean up the appalling amount of leaves in our yard and drywall a couple of walls in the basement, not to mention helping with the kids. We had a yummy Thanksgiving and J's cousin joined us for that too.

I miss my mommy!

We have had a heck of a lot of company stay with us this month. I am so glad to have had them and all of their helping hands. First my mom and aunt came and it was heaven to have them, I never had to ask them for anything, it was always already done before I had a chance to. They are truly super mommies and I miss them both.

My sister came next and I miss her as well. She is such a fun aunt and R has come to me a couple of times since she has left crying that her aunt is gone.

Some More Pictures/Birth Details

I couldn't have asked for things to go any smoother than they did for the birth of my little boy. My Dr. was inducing 4 women at the same time and somehow each baby took their turn as they came into the world (such good manners). L came last but I was only in actual labor for 5 hours and I am pro epidural, so I only felt a couple of contractions. I stayed in the hospital for 2 nights and couldn't wait to get home to my family.
R has been a great big sister from the start, she tells him that she loves him every day.

L is a big eater and eats every 2 hours sometimes more and he is getting big quickly. We have nicknamed him "The Tank".