December Week One

These uploaded backwards, so start at the bottom and work up!

Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.

Dale Evans

Baby hats are the best. The end.

Kandy and Cane the elves returned and we enjoyed searching for them every morning. I usually remembered at Sam's 3 am feeding that they needed to try a new acativity! Again, whew!

They love taking posed photos. 

This boy, this boy. Loves to sleep in my arms. Hates sleeping at night. I love coffee.

When did she turn 13? And how cute is her copycat?

One night, we were hoping for snow (and Daddy, who hates breakfast for dinner, was working late), so we had snowman pancakes! Kate loves a self timer pic!

Flashback to Kate and Reed at their first Tree Lighting

I took the kids to the Collierville Tree Lighting for the 6 year in a row! Whenever I feel like I can pat myself on the back for getting three kids somewhere on time and dressed, there is an explosion of some sort. I always get there a little early so we can stand in line for Santa while watching the tree get lit. I had the baby in the sling and a kid in each hand and we ran from an alley where I parked to the Collierville Square. I was feeling rather proud and sent the two big kids to get hot chocolate where I could still see them but keep our place in line. I pulled my camera out to take their pic because they looked so cute and noticed they were running and definitely not  smiling. They had taken off and the hot chocolate had spilled a little and burned them and then they ran more, which of course spilled more, until they were at a dead sprint with hot chocolate everywhere. Mom for the win right here. I felt horrible but was soon able to distract them with Reed! So so so glad to see the Gardners, sneak them into line, and have extra eyes on the kids. Whew! We made our way to Santa, and Life was grand!

 

We got our real tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. I had already put up the fun tree in the entry hall and the kid's trees in their room. They helped me decorate those, and then I put the lights on and decorated the pretty den  tree one day during nap. Next on the list was helping decorate the tree at church. We had movie night with Charlie Brown's Christmas and then decorating fun! 

 

Kate is really loving being a big sister. She is so good with Pickle, and he smiles the biggest for her. Love it! Sam and I had thrush for about eight weeks, and let me tell ya, I wouldnt wish that on anyone! I had suspicions at his two week, and we saw someone other than my normal ped because I went in a few days prior to my scheduled appt. Anyone that knows me that I must have been in pain because A. I dont ever take my kids to the dr (#nursekidproblems) and B. My pain tolerance is pretty high. She told me we were fine, so at 6 weeks I had my ped check Sam's mouth while we were at church. Yep, mama was right! He got us fixed up with a prescription for both of us, and then at my check up with my dr at 8 weeks, she got me a rx for the best cream ever invented. Anyway, I also think that is why Sam was still so teeny at his 2 month check up. Every time I nursed I cringed and  gritted my teeth and swore a little, and I think that affected my milk production and his desire to nurse. Ok, enough about nursing!

Is everyone already over Christmas? Yes? No? Well then you might want to skip my next three posts because I am catching up on our Christmas month. It is my favorite month because it is the only time in the year Luke lets me plan "Acativities" (as Kate pronounces it) almost every day. He is a definite homebody and I like to have a full calendar. Because he works so hard and such long hours, I try to honor that by really protecting our family time on the weekends. He leaves our house before six every morning (while we are all still snuggled in bed), and returns at 7 pm. That makes for not much family time during the week...and a really tired mama! Anyway, he kinda lets me run loose and take the kids to all the Christmas acativities that I want to. Sweet man.