Parking Spot

Little J was sitting with me the other evening and found a perfect parking spot for his truck.

Little J's Kitchen

Little J was enjoying playing with the kids kitchen.  I love how he had it all set up.

Cups filled with balls in the fridge and tractors on the oven!

Me

After bath cuteness!

If I ask this little guy "who is in the mirror" or ask a question that would require his name as a response, instead of saying his name, he answers "me!!"

Daddy's Sidekick

This little boy LOVES his daddy so much and wants to be with him all the time.  If daddy is home, Little J is right there with him.  Daddy was working on the sofas the other evening and Little J was right beside him, using his screw driver to fix just like his daddy.

Sisters

These two have become such good friends.

Of course they have their moments, but

they really do enjoy playing together.

Cousins

Some of the cousins were over earlier in December.

Grandma always likes pictures with the kids.

We attempted to get a nice picture of these 

three boys.  They are all within almost a year of

one another (and we are missing one more little boy 

cousin).

Little J just wasn't sure about sitting next 

to his cousins - he had quite the serious face.

New Look

Big J found out he needed to get classes.  His teacher (haha...me) was noticing him squinting, getting headaches from reading and having to move closer to objects to read certain things.  So, daddy took him in and sure enough, glasses he needs.  So, he has a new look.  Not that I am bias, but I think he looks quite handsome!  (not that he didn't before).  They make him look older...my little boy is growing up.

Daddy's Home

Daddy had a two week business trip he was gone for.

Needless to say, we were all VERY excited for him to come home.

The girls made pictures to hold up at the airport when 

we picked him up.

I wish I would have been able to video Little J 

as he saw his daddy come down the escalator, he 

hopped out of my arms and ran across the room 

yelling "Daddy, Daddy!!!"

Daddy had presents for the kids -

new John Deere t-shirts.

Purple Girl said she was ready

to go shoot a deer now that she had this shirt.

Baby Doll

Purple Girl just love her baby doll Belle!

She had fun dressing herself and Belle up the other afternoon.

Trip to Grammie's

The kids and I were blessed to take a weekend trip to visit Grammie.

Like always, they had so much fun!

Busy Bee is always so excited to jump into the blue car.

Little J fills up his stroller with all the 

balls he can find.

The girls love to dress up in the 

princess dresses and carry around stuffed animals.

I didn't get a picture, but Big J is either

reading a book (we usually check some out from the 

local library) or playing with Lego's.

Little J wanted to sleep with this

purple hippo...isn't he adorable?!!

On Saturday there were some

Christmas activities downtown,

so we got to ride in a Horse-drawn wagon.

Purple Girl was the only one who wanted

to pet the horse! 

We had safe travels and a good time!!

Overnight Guest

Daddy was out of town, so Grandma came and stayed the night. 

 The kids just love when Grandma stays.

Helpers

One of Big J's responsibilities is to sweep up the floor after meals.  Daddy rigged up a little sweeper for Little J as well.  So, whenever Big J's sweeper comes out, Little J gets SO excited to help.

Little J is very precise.  He noticed some crumbs that Big J had 

missed with his sweeper and Little J was quick to make sure that Big J knew and 

that he went back to clean them up!

Christmas Program Pictures

Before the performance I attempted to take some photos.

The girls:

The boys:

Cute Little J - he had to hold a "ball" in his hand.

The four....

I am trying to remind myself 

that no photo is perfect

and just to be thankful they are all in the

picture and no one is crying!!

Christmas Program

For the past few years we have gone to the nursing home with our cousins and put on a short Christmas program.  Here is the group: 

One word:  Blessed!!

We are so blessed to have so many cousins living close by.

The kids sang songs...

and they all memorized verses to recite.

Even Miss Busy Bee...she did a great job.

They all did.

One of the favorites was singing Little Drummer Boy

and getting to play our "drums."

Where was little J during the performance?

In my lap!!

More Reasons...

Costco shopping is good and the boxes are fun!

Build a fort and read with your sibling.

Morning Prayer

In the mornings before Daddy goes to work Daddy often says a prayer.  Usually the children are still sitting in their chairs, but Little J was down already and took his position right next to daddy when he started to pray.  I had to quickly grab my phone and get a picture...it was so sweet.

The older children often put their hands over their eyes when

we pray because they have a hard time keeping them closed. 

Hence why Little J is covering his eyes.

Ballet

The girls and I went to a ballet performance.

Elsa (from Frozen) was there.  

Purple Girl was very excited to get her picture with Elsa.

Busy Bee not so much.

Busy Bee does not like loud noise 

(for those of you who follow our blog on a 

regular basis, you probably remember this same pose

from Busy Bee at Adventureland this summer).

It was special to just have the girls with me

and have this time with them (thanks to Grandma watching

the boys that morning).  Busy Bee and I were 

able to snuggle while we enjoyed the performance.

Setting up the Tree

It was an exciting Sunday afternoon this past weekend when we set

 up the Christmas tree.  The kids were SO excited!!

As you can imagine, we had many  helpers!

Big J stuck with the project and helped Daddy set the tree up.

Then the lights....once again, several helpers.

The lights gave daddy a little trouble.

So while he figured it out, 

the kids looked at Christmas books.

Once the light situation was figured out,

we put the ornaments on the tree.

Then we enjoyed pancakes and smoothies for dinner.

Afterwards the kids each got to open their special 

boxes of ornaments. 

It is always so much fun for them to see their very 

own ornaments.

It was a fun evening. 

It ended with watching Frosty the Snowman.

And now we have to keep an eye on a 1 year old,

who thinks the ornaments are all balls and fun to throw!

One of the Many Good Reasons...

to shop at Costco!  You always get many boxes.  And boxes to children mean FUN!

This morning they put the littles in the boxes and played bummer cars.

You can only imagine how much Little J LOVED this game.

I heard many giggles.

One of Mom's Favorite Games...

Pretend we are sleeping!

I wanted to get in on this game,

however, if I would have laid down next to them

1) being 29 weeks pregnant, I might not have gotten back up

and 

2) I might have fallen asleep in the 30 seconds they lasted 

pretending they were sleeping.

So I took a picture instead and encouraged them to 

continue playing!!

Pull Up

This Little Guy just loves to pull himself up.

He is quite the climber and quite the lifter of any item

that might seem heavy!