holiday haps

I thought I'd try something different this year and get all of our Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving. I've already felt different- first of all since I didn't have to wake up early or even step inside a store during Black Friday and the weekend. (Oh- I definitely felt an insane urge to go, but turns out I didn't need anything.) I think I can get used to this. Now maybe I'll wrap all the presents one of these nights so we don't have to stay up to an insane hour doing that on Christmas Eve.
Adam's Mom always put code names on the kids presents when he was growing up, so we thought we'd try that this year too. They get to see the presents and shake and feel them, but hopefully not look inside them? Adam came up with the Greek God theme, can you figure out who is who?

And Sunday while we were eating breakfast (Adam was at a meeting), we heard a huge crash in the family room. Our tree had fallen over and a couple ornaments broke. And the presents got soaking wet. (I'm finally laughing about it now...)

Loving the holidays- it's such a fun time of year!

snowshoeing

We had a fun time taking the boys snowshoeing for the first time yesterday. Read about it HERE.

tree

Finding a tree at our favorite tree lot is one of my favorite traditions! It's a funny thing, having traditions with my little family of five. We love it!
Usually we wait until December, but the boys talked us into it the day after Thanksgiving this year. We also usually go at night after Adam gets off of work, so it was different going in the day. It was still so very cold though! Brrr.

Adam finds the good ones and I give the okay or no way. :)



I hurried to put the lights on so the boys could decorate and they were too excited and took everything out. I love it.

Elliott wanted to put all the photos of years past on the tree...

They were making up funny games with everything.
They even got to help Daddy on the roof. ;/

{decorating}

They did a really good job. I had to move a few things around and put things on the top, but otherwise I was impressed with their skills.

We got some cute painted egg shells from Prague, and we remembered to put them on after the boys went to bed. Pretty special I say.

Yippee!! So excited for Christmas time!

thankful

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at my Mom's house. It was very low key and very comfortable. I loved it.

Linc won't usually eat mashed potatoes, but he'll always lick the spoon.

saturday morning

Saturday mornings are yet ANOTHER excuse for wrestling at our house.
As I made breakfast I overheard Elliott say, "Ollie, let's take our shirts off. Because that's how the real wrestlers do it."

brother from another mother

Going to school- Elli, Benny, Elliott, Addie and Linc (Ollie didn't want a pic.)

Cousins are so cool. And my kids were lucky enough to have their 3 cousins stay with them for 5 days last week. We had so much fun!
The fun thing about having more kids in the house meant collections were displayed in cool ways...

Pillows were an ever changing art project...

Stuffed animals got LOTS more play than usual...

Busy kitchens!

Lots and lots and lots of playing...

Lots of fun at the dinner table...

Dance parties EVERY night!!! (Is Addie teaching Linc a new move?)

Art projects are definitely more fun with cousins.... (making slime)

These two were happy to play together all day every day... (Ollie- 4 1/2, Addie- 3)
And pizza, cookie, movie nights on a Thursday since it was their last night here.




I had more fun hanging out with these guys than I even thought I would! Homework time was a little crazy but other than that, I can't wait for them to come and stay again. :)

boysies

My good friend, Naoma took our pictures a few weeks ago. I love the way they turned out! She is so good with kids and even got some cute ones of Lincoln who was being SUCH a STINKER. He wouldn't let me hold him, wouldn't stand still and just wanted to run... as far from us as he could. Anyway- here are some of my favorites, although I haven't decided what we are using for our Christmas card yet, so I'm not posting the family ones right now.

Lincoln Noah {18 months}

I love how dark his eyes are! He is such a little busy sweetheart. He follows his brothers everywhere and copies them in every way. He loves taking naps, loves his blanky and binky and is obsessed with our cat. They even take naps together sometimes.

Oliver Jack {4 & 1/2 years}

(The above pic is SO Ollie- I love it! Thanks for capturing this face Naoma! :) ) Ollie loves to play with friends and cousins and loves to snuggle. He is very sweet and so funny. We're finding he picks up on things really easy and can memorize a lot. He also loves to sing and play music on the CD player. (Let's just I've caught him a few times shaking the maracas we brought from Mexico- along with his booty- to the music.)

Elliott Adam {7 years}

I'm in love with his golden brown eyes... melting...

I still can't believe my cute baby is 7 years old already. And so big. He's such a sweetheart. He loves that I get to help in his class at school so much this year. He is always asking to play with his cousins and always counting down the days until it's the weekend again. He is still obsessed with Ben 10 and will tell you all about it if you want. He's always thinking about the stories he's reading and laughing at the pictures. And I am so glad he finally caught on to reading and is good at it. I've been reading him chapter books for a long time now and he could listen forever. It's fun talking about the stories with him.



So I actually requested this pose. I know everyone's doing it right now, but I love for my kids to know that their parents love each other and to see us kiss once in a while. And now I love that it's captured on film. :)

{more misc photos}

I'm so thankful for all of my boys! They are my world and teach me everyday to be better. I know that I am very blessed. I just hope to be a good Mommy and help them learn how to be good people.
Thanks Naoma! For her contact info, click here. Or below. She has the best prices I've seen and gives you the copy of all the pics on a CD. Plus she's the nicest person you'll meet. And you need some pics for the holiday yes?

http://photosbynaoma.blogspot.com/

Naoma Wilkinson

neilnaomawilkinson@yahoo.com