Hannah & Will's Christmas programs

Hannah had her 1st preschool Christmas program last week and she did great. She was very excited for it and wanted to wear her new favorite color, black. The kids sang a few songs and we all had cookies afterwards.

Will had his program this week and he sang loud and knew most of the words. He told me when I dropped him off that morning that we should sit in the front row so we could get good pictures of him. He also asked who was coming because he wanted a crowd to be there. We also had cookies after his program. Hannah was in heaven.

Max is getting so big and after all of his breathing treatments and medicine, his wheezing is about gone! The pictures above of him were just taken. He is such a happy baby. The kids keep telling him about Santa. When they called Santa on the phone a couple of weeks ago, Will made sure to ask Santa for "1 toy and 2 milks for Max". Santa probably thinks that he needs food!

It is almost Christmas eve and the kids are so excited. They are at great ages and check the naughty/nice list often. They also think that it is unfair that the kids in China get their toys first. They don't really understand the whole time zone thing.

They do understand more each year that Christmas is only possible because of the birth of Jesus. The know that it is his birthday and the reason for celebration!

Merry Christmas!

Church Christmas Program and SANTA!

Jack showing Max is first snow!
Max very intrigued by the snow

Jack in his snow fort

Will reading his list to Santa

Santa walking to his car. Where are the reindeer?

Jack is in the green robe and crown

Before the Christmas program

The kids had their Christmas program at church yesterday. Will and Hannah sang 2 songs and Jack was in the whole program and was one of the 3 wisemen.

Will decided on the last song that he was hot and unbuttoned his whole shirt and basically took it off. He was of course in the front row. I about died. When it was over, Will cut the whole cookie line and proceeded to take at least 6 large cookies. The pile on his plate was high! Everyone was laughing but we had a little talk on how it is rude to take more than 1 or 2.

Hannah did a good job and Jack was a great wiseman. My pictures stink because I had the camera on the wrong mode.

After that big event we went to see Santa. Hannah would not talk to him but stood for the picture. Will brought his entire list and tried naming everything off. Jack asked for the 5 things he wanted and that was it! No lines and rather painless.

Will now has the flu and so we are home today. This week Hannah has her Christmas program at school and Will's is next week. They are so excited and I have a lot to do!

The kids all had 3 days off last week due to a blizzard. Jack and Will played in the snow 10 times a day and had a blast. They built their first now forts and went through countless mitten and hat changes. We put together gingerbread houses which I still need to get pictures off. It took Jack about 10 minutes to throw candy on his. He is definitely not my craft one. Will spent a little more time but then the snow was calling. Hannah may be my crafty one. Her and I sat and finished them up!

Hannah's 4th Birthday

We had Hannah's birthday party on Sunday and the theme this year was "Hello Kitty" everything! She was really excited for her outfit and her hair bows I promised to make for her. All she had asked for were "Hello Kitty babies" and an Aerial barbie.

Grandma Lana took her shopping on Saturday and they went to Build a Bear to stuff a Hello Kitty. She was really excited and had a great time. Hello Kitty now has a working heart beat, a beautiful dress and black heeled shoes.

When it was time to sing Happy Birthday to her, she had a breakdown because she did not want us to sing so we didn't. Darren helped her blow out a candle and we carried on. She said that she had a fun party and that she was even bigger now that she is 4.

Having Hannah has been more than I had ever imagined. I never was one that dreamed of having a girl and thought that all boys would be fine but having a daughter has been amazing. She is loving, caring and helpful. She loves her brothers and relies on Will for most everything. She has accepted Max fully and is wonderful with him. She is my girlie girl and loves dance class. She will only wear dresses unless I force her to wear pants and adores anything that sparkles. If she could take a bath in lip gloss she would. She puts on 10 shades at once. She wants her nails done weekly and never argues about wearing bows. She doesn't mind getting dirty but would rather stay clean! She LOVES her dad and wrestling with him.

Hannah has brought so much joy to our lives not to mention PINK! We love watching her grow and spread her wings. Happy Birthday Hannah!

Thanksgiving Feasts, Dance and Basketball

Will's ever changing Christmas list

Darren & I have spent some time at the kid's schools for their Thanksgiving feasts. Darren went to Jack's and took deer meat. They were having a traditional feast, eating food that they ate back in the day. Jack was excited to have Darren there.

Darren and I both went to Will's feast and they sang some cute songs. The teachers read what each child said that they were thankful for and Will was the only one that said "my mommy". You should have seen Darren's face! Will and Darren ate a few doughnuts, pumpkin bars and an array of other things. Hannah's feast was not for parents but she said that it was "ok". She wanted to sing songs for me like Will's class did. I told her next year she would get to sing.

Max of course has a feast every 3 hours with his milk. He is getting so big and talking up a storm now. He smiles a lot and sleeps well at night. I actually really like having him so close in our room. Now if the cold that he has had for 3 weeks would go away, we would all be happier.

Hannah had her first "watch night" last week. Parents are not allowed to watch other than this assigned night every 3 months or so. They say that having us watch more than that is too distracting for kids this little. The whole family went and it was fun. She really loves it, participates and smiles. She is not shy at all. She can't wait to see her recital costume even though it is months away. She asks me every week who is coming to watch her recital. I tell her that it is too far away to know that but for sure Darren and I would be there.

Jack is doing really well in basketball. He is great at defense and shoots many times a game. He is also great at rebounding and sometime rebounds his own shot 3 times before it goes in. He does not give up which is also great to see.

The kids are getting really excited for Christmas. We put the tree up this week and they about went out of their minds waiting to put the ornaments on. They have all made their list but Will has erased and rewritten his numerous times. I took a picture of it tonight. He basically copied down everything he saw in the Toys r Us catalog. I have only determined 1 thing that he wants that has been consistent.

Hannah is really excited for her upcoming birthday. It is all about Hello Kitty this year. She wants all of the Hello Kitty "babies" as she calls them. Just what we need...more stuffed animals!

Grandpa visits, Field Trips and the Barn

Will on his field trip at the museum
Will signaling me to "come here"

Our handsome little guy!

Kristi, Bryson, Max and Hannah

Grandpa & Max

Jack in front of the barn

Will in front of the barn

Jacob, Will, Max, Carly, Bryson, Hannah, Jack and Braxton

Our try and getting a picture of the cousins. Notice Max's stomach hanging out and throw up coming out of his mouth.

We have been really busy lately. I went back to work a couple of weeks ago after taking 12 weeks off (but really working most of that time) and I can't seem to catch up.

Jack started basketball and is doing great. He is awesome at defense and scores a couple of baskets each game. I will take pictures soon! Will just signed up to start wrestling which starts in January and Hannah LOVES dance. Max just spends a lot of time in his car seat! Poor guy!

My dad finally met Max last week and it was great that he was able to hold him and spend time getting to know him. The kids loved their time with him also and so the "When can we go to Arizona?" question is more alive than ever. Getting to Arizona is more work than I care to imagine right now but we will do it hopefully go sometime before summer.

Last weekend Steve and Kristi were in town from Colorado and we finally were able to meet our new nephew and cousin Bryson. He is so good and looks so much like Braxton. Braxton is talking a lot and loves his cars and balls. It was so fun getting to spend some time with them. We also got together with Jason and Melea and their kids. We all decided that we need to schedule a night to go out together without the kids over Christmas when Steve and Kristi are back.

This week Jack had a field trip to SilverRidge retirement village and the Post office. They walked to both and I realized how out of shape I am not being able to keep the pace with 2nd graders!

Will also had a field trip to the Durham museum which he told me was boring but I thought it was pretty neat!

Hannah had "crazy hat day" and I did not get a picture but she was really excited and I was surprised that she wanted to wear the hat I found for her. She always surprises me!

Finally, there is a (VERY old) barn that we see in the middle of a field every time we get on the interstate. Jack and Will have wanted to go in it since they could talk. Darren took them each separately on Sunday. They rode on Darren's motorcycle (I did not like that) taking the back roads to the barn. They went inside, saw a can opener, some other stuff, and a sign that said "do not tear down". They were both very impressed and have not stopped talking about it. I was glad that Darren decided to take them because times like these are so important especially to Jack now that he is a little older. He will always remember that afternoon with dad. Darren makes so many memories with the boys doing things with them that he loves too. Jack, Will and dad have so much in common and could talk about cars, hunting and dogs all day.

I can only hope that when the kids think about me that they will also remember times that we spend together playing games, doing crafts, carving pumpkins or making hats for New Years eve. I may not be able to spot a Mustang GT 500 like Jack and Darren or spend the afternoon at Cabela's but I love that they are taking after Darren and that they look up to him so much.