Wait, it’s only December 11th??

We have been so busy already this month I have hardly had time to catch my breath. Let alone upload pictures and blog or facebook. I am ready for Christmas to be over already which is a shame. And I have decided that next year we are going to start in the middle of December that way it doesn’t drag out so long and I don’t burn out before the candle is even lit. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Anyway, since November 30th we have had supper with friends, gone to a cookie swap, gone Christmas shopping, been in a parade, had our annual church Christmas partay, will go to a 5 year well check tomorrow, welcome Susu and Pawpaw into our home tomorrow night, go to grandparents lunch on Thursday, go to my sister’s for the weekend to do Christmas with my mother and grandfather, go to another Christmas partay, have a Polar Express Day and a class Christmas partay next week and then get out for a 3 week break. Then we will do Christmas with our kids before heading over to B’ham for the week of Christmas and then head over to Mississippi for the New Year. Shew. Is your head spinning yet cause mine sure is :)

But despite all the hustle and bustle it’s been a good “year” so far and the family time is what we are looking forward to. And we can’t wait. Literally!!

This is my favorite picture

How cute is my little boy on his tippy toes?

Hey, Mama was there!

Trying to put the star on the tree...

Daddy ended up doing it...

Our Elf, Fiskel

Admiring their (our) work

Church Christmas Party

All the kids. Poor Livi....

One day. One day I will get a FABULOUS

picture of my kids in front of the tree covered in lights.

ONE DAY. But not this day.

Merry Christmas and to all a good night!! (in case I don’t make it back on here until next year...)

Turkey day is upon us

One week from today we will be (Lord willin) deep in Copiah County, Mississippi gathered together with 75+ of Jon’s family (my family too!) waiting to dig into some Turkey and all the deliciousness that comes along with this great American holiday!! I’ve always loved going out to the country for holiday’s as it is just a wonderful place to go. I like being out in the middle of nowhere for a few days. And the older James and Audrey get, the more excited they are every year to go to the country too which makes my heart glad that they are growing up in a family with such wonderful traditions. We head out Monday morning bright and early for New Orleans to spend a few days before heading to Mississippi. Can’t wait!!

In other news, today was the twins Thanksgiving day “party” at school and they got to wear their turkey shirts that they made last week and I got to make a dessert. Audrey and I had a great time picking out what we wanted to make, I love that girl and I love the fact that she likes to look at food with me on Pinterest!!

These little acorns were pretty easy to make. Simple ingredients but it was rather aggravating trying to get the donut holes out of the icing with them breaking apart. I let James and Audrey stick the pretzels in the top because, as much as I hate to admit it sometimes, I am a bit of a control freak in the kitchen. They enjoyed getting to help make them and were ever so excited to carry their contribution into school this morning and show them off to their teachers!! Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!

My Grace is graceful

Audrey’s ballet class had parent observation day last Monday (yes, a week late) and Jon, James and I went. Because of her late birthday she is still in Creative Movement so I was a little concerned she might be bored this year but after witnessing first hand what she is doing this year, I know she is not.

The Artistic Director of SGB is her teacher this year and where as last year there were only 4 other little girls in her class this year there are 12, I think. SGB moved to another location and I can no longer watch her thru the glass doors :( so I had no idea what they were doing and was really excited to get to watch.

To me, it’s much more involved than last year. I like that. And so does Audrey. She’s not shy and she participates so well and interacts with the other girls so good. Made my heart happy!!

Ms. Allison told us she was doing excellent. I tend to agree :)

Her class is on Monday’s from 4 to 4:45. It’s a bit of a hassle to pick her up from school in time to get her dressed and her hair up and make it to the studio by 4, but it is so worth it. James and Olivia and I usually go to Walgreens or the grocery during that time because I can’t watch her and the waiting room usually gets so crowded it’s stressful to contain Olivia in those surroundings. James enjoys the time with out Audrey I believe even though he always wants to get her a little treat when he gets one!!
#ilovemykids

Oh, Peach! Oh, James!!

Last night at the supper table there was some conversation going about eating our veggies to grow up strong and healthy and James interjected that he would eat his veggies to grow but not grow up and leave me. He will stay with me forever. Really, he said that. So all of you remind him of that when he “falls in love” and wants to “grow up” and leave me!!

Any way, during that time Audrey interjected with “I don’t want to have surgery on my belly. It will hurt too much.” That statement threw me for such I loop, I really had no idea what she meant by it so I asked her. She says “Because when I grow up and have a baby I will have to have surgery on my belly to get it out.” Oh. My.

Talk about speechless for a few seconds. It was definitely NOT the time to explain all that to her so I told her it would be soooo worth it if she gets to have 2 little girls and a little boy like I do.

Later, as I was putting them to bed, she said it again. Completely out of the blue this time. Bless her heart, it’s apparently weighing on her mind. She’s only 5 for crying out loud!! I told her again that it would be so worth it and she’d forget the pain when she saw the beautiful face of her children staring back at her. Then I said “But Audrey, you are only 5 years old and the only things you need to worry about and think about right now is what you are going to wear to school tomorrow, who you will play with on the playground, what kind of snacks you want to eat and whether or not you are being a kind, obedient little girl.” She smiled and kissed me and hugged my neck good night.

Her brother then said “What kind of snacks are we gonna get to eat?” Oh lawd!!!

A little update

I haven’t posted lately about Olivia and the child she is becoming. She such a joy to all who are around her (when she is not screaming). She puts a smile on her mama and daddy’s face and makes her brother and sister laugh constantly. She wants to be in the middle of everything that’s going on around her and thinks she is just as big as the kids she plays with. It’s so cute to watch her in action.

Her attitude has gotten a little bigger lately too. She has no problem popping someone in the face that doesn’t do things her way or give her what she wants in the moment. We are currently trying to tame that and she’s catching on pretty well for the most part. She also doesn’t think twice about pinching someone in the face either. Especially if she is upset and said person gets in her face. She’s a little like her mama with the personal space issues!! (Just ask Jon about my personal space issues!) The other morning she pinched her finger in a drawer and was squalling real tears. Audrey, being the sweet caring soul she is, tried to comfort her and got in her face with it and Olivia hauled back and pinched the mess out of her cheek. Poor Audrey just couldn’t understand what that was about.

Her vocabulary and communication skills are also getting bigger. She can say go, wow, no no, bear, moo, bankie (for blankie) and ball in addition to all of our names. She nods her head yes when you ask her a question and 3 out of 5 times she gets it right. For example, if I ask her if she has poo poo she will nod yes and she rarely gets it wrong. For as long as I can remember we have been teaching her to say please by bringing her shoulder up to her ear and lately she does it with out me asking when she wants something. I must admit that that gesture makes it difficult to deny her what ever she is asking for!

She still loves animals (especially dogs and cats) and lately she is obsessed with teddy bears even more than before. We were walking by Build-A-Bear yesterday and she went nuts when she saw the Christmas bears in the window. I’m thinking Santa will be bringing her one :)

She loves to read books and watch Mickey Mouse. She even makes two sounds that sorta sound like Mickey Mouse when she wants to watch it. Her favorite things to eat are grapes, cheese, raisins, strawberries and broccoli. But I found out that I have to limit her intake of raisins :)

She is a champion sleeper at night time even though this time change has her waking up between 5:30 and 6:00 every morning. She has 3 blankies that my mom made out very thin material. 2 are a rosebud pattern and 1 is another small flower pattern and she is attached at the hip to them. Sometimes she has all 3 in her bed and she must have one to sleep with. She squishes them up in a ball under her chin and pats them. She drags them around the house and outside with her and sometimes she will drape it over her shoulder. They really help calm her down when she is upset. You tell her to go find her blankie because it’s night night time and she runs off to find one.

**I’m sure there are things that I’ve left out because she does new stuff every day but this is the gist of it!

A Mother’s Love (or her warm body)

Olivia woke up at 9:30, moaning and groaning. I laid there, continuing to read, hoping she would go back to sleep. She is prone to crying out at night. After about 10 minutes I decided she was not going to stop so I went into her room. As soon as she heard the click of the door knob she sat up straight and reached her short little arms out for me to pick her up. I rocked her till she fell back asleep, which thankfully wasn’t very long.

11:30 rolls around and she wakes up again moaning and half way crying. This time I was tucked deep into my covers in bed (it’s so stinkin cold in this house right now) trying to drift off to sleep and I laid there for probably 10 minutes before I knew I was indeed going to have to get up again. This time I got the Tylenol and ear drops since she has a little cold and I figure at least one of the two ought to provide us with a decent nights rest (fingers crossed here). Again, as soon as she heard the door knob click, she bolted up and stretched out those short little arms. She didn’t make a sound, just looked at me with confident eyes that I was going to pick her up and comfort her. Make what ever it is that’s bothering her go away. I laid her down on the changing table and gave her medicine and ear drops and the sweet little thing barely made a peep. I grabbed her blanket and we settled into the rocking chair and I rocked her to sleep again.

James and Audrey love to get in the bed with me. I don’t know why in the world they wake up in the middle of the night like they do. But they drift down those stairs one by one as silent as a church mouse and gently and quietly (most of the time) crawl into the bed next to me and get deep beneath the covers cuddled right up next to me. Audrey has to be on the right side, she cannot be on the left for what ever reason. If James beats her down stairs first and is on her side up by my head, she will lay down next to my legs. Beats all I’ve ever seen. Again, I don’t know why they wake up in the middle of the night but they do and they want to be with me. Touching me, I might add. I guess it’s like Olivia needing me to hold her in the middle of the night when something just isn’t right.

I will admit that more often than not I am selfish and wish that Olivia wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night and need me. And that James and Audrey would cram their daddy into the sardine can. But, they don’t. It’s me they need and tonight I am especially thankful that I am blessed to be called their mother.

Auntie and Uncle

This past weekend Jon’s brother Will and his wife Angela came to visit us! It was Angela’s first time to visit us at our house and Will’s first time in over 2 years so needless to say we all really enjoyed our weekend together!!

Angela is just a joy to have around and the kids love her so much. Especially Audrey and she will tell you just how much she loveeeees Aunt Angela! After a lazy morning of drinking coffee and spending some time on the front porch we went inside and the kids finally got to have their aunt and uncle all to themselves. Olivia was in desperate need of a morning nap so I put her down and Audrey kidnapped Angela and they went to her room to play. James kidnapped William and they went to his room to play lego’s. A little boys dream!! Will and Angela were so sweet...they stayed up stairs with them for over an hour.

When Olivia woke up we got ready and drove to our favorite little restaurant in Whigham to get the best hamburger you will ever put in your mouth at The Corner Cafe and then we went to the school and played on the playground for a while.

Then we went home where Olivia was ready for another nap and we settled in for a little football watching, lego playing, coloring afternoon. I have to brag on my kids a little and tell how well mannered they were the whole weekend. There were many times that us adults would get into a conversation and the children would sit patiently and listen and wait for their turn to talk and try once again to talk us into letting Will and Angela go back upstairs with them!!

I must say it was the best weekend. It was so relaxed and easy going and so much fun. James and Audrey really got a lot out of their time with Will and Angela. The twins are blessed with two other sets of wonderful aunts and uncles that love them very much but Will and Angela have a little bit of an edge on the others: they don’t have any kids so they can focus all their attention on their nieces and nephews!! My sister in law Emily and I have often joked that if Will and Angela are ever blessed to have children of their own, we are going to spoil them ROTTEN and fight over them. Reason being we have never really been able to do that with each other’s kids because we have always had our own to chase after and tend to. Harrison was really the only one who got extra special attention since he was the first!

Thanks again, Will and Angela, for taking the time to make the time to come see us.

Pumpkin Patch

Tuesday of this week was the kids first field trip and boy were they excited! And boy did they have a good time!! The Pre-K classes from Whigham went to Quincy, FL to Rocky Comfort Farms and got to have their first ride on the big yellow bus. Like I said, they were pumped!!

When we pulled up to the “pumpkin patch” I saw a poor looking corn field off to the left with a large wooden picture of a pumpkin sticking out of it and no real pumpkins to be seen. My initial reaction was that this 1 hour ride was going to be a total bust. How can you go to a pumpkin patch if their are no pumpkins??

It turned out to be a very neat place and it happens that the poor looking corn field I saw was supposed to be the corn maze but something had destroyed it leaving these big empty holes in it during the middle of the night one night. When I heard that I thought about that movie Signs and really thought twice about taking the hay ride.

We made it through the hay ride with out any horror movie encounters (!) unless you consider this cows tongue some kind of creepy. Or just plain gross!!

We learned about cows and how their milk is made and what all you can make out of milk and how one milks a cow. The lady who was teaching them about it was hilarious with a capital H. She made no effort to use different words when speaking about cows um, private areas and of course it went right over the 4 and 5 year olds heads but us moms were having to hold back the snickers. And the lady kept forgetting to use her real name and kept calling her self “memaw” and the kids would just stare at her with blank faces until she said her real name. And watching and listening to her showing the kids how to milk that simulated cow was just too much!!!! Too much.

That’s James milking the “cow” and his best

buddy Welles is watching. Audrey wouldn’t

go near that “cow”

We also learned about pumpkins. How they grow, how many different varieties there are, what family they come from, how many different colors pumpkins can be, what ones you want to eat or not eat, which ones make the best pies and so on and so forth. 30 minutes she talked. 30 minutes. Now, it was all good info and the kids sat there the whole time and listened and answered all her questions right at the end but geez that was a long time. Well, I say they answered them right. She made this big chart with the 6 steps of growing a pumpkin and she quizzed them at the end and mixed up the steps with the numbers to see if they could get them and James shouted out “7” one time. Hilarious! Btw, we also learned that if it rains to much then the pumpkins don’t produce much. We have had a lot of rain around here lately, hence no real pumpkins in the patch. They had to be picked early.

We ate a picnic lunch and then the kids played and played. There was a giant slide that James went down twice with out thinking about it but Audrey had to be coaxed....

There was also a corn bin and the kids got to take home pumpkins and peacock feathers. That farm had something like 40 peacocks on it....

Audrey was not digging the farm, she acted so clingy and depressed and at

 first I thought it was just because I was there but at lunch 

when all the kids got back together I realized it was 

because she had been separated from her best buddy, Katelyn

Mrs. Ponder’s Pre-K class

Audrey and her best buddy, Katelyn!

My son. He is definitely going to be a class clown!