Tummy Time

I haven't been very good about practicing tummy time with Sara. I put her down on the ground yesterday and she was able to do keep her head up off the ground for a couple of minutes.  Go Sara!

Will giving a little encouragement.

Gingerbread Houses

We made gingerbread houses the other day as part of one of our Advent calendar activities.  I found a kit that had 4 mini houses which was perfect...2 houses for each boy so there was no fighting over one big house.  They seemed to have a lot of fun making the houses (and eating the frosting).  

 Very serious as they pipe the frosting onto their houses.  I was very impressed with their pastry skills!

Tada!  The finished products.  Jack wouldn't look at the camera at first so Will was trying to help me out by making Jack look.

And finally Jack cooperated.  How cute are they?

Happy Holidays!

Dear Santa

I got it!  Our first picture where everyone is sitting on Santa's lap and no one is crying!  Whoo!  The boys were so excited to go see Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.  Will marched right up to him and stood in front of Santa facing him and rattled off all the gifts he wanted. Also, earlier that day, Will touched Joanie the Elf (which he knows he is not supposed to do) so he told Santa that he touched him by accident.  Santa reassured Will that he would make sure that Joanie had her magic that night and thanked him for telling the truth.  Jack just kept asking santa where his reindeer were.  He was very interested in them for some reason.

Here's is the photo!  Oh and by the way, isn't this Santa awesome?  He's got me wondering if he is real. :-)

Guess who's back!

Joanie the Elf!!  Santa dropped Joanie off at our house on December 2nd and the boys were soooooo excited.  Will has been talking about Joanie for the past month now so he couldn't wait for him to get here.   I was looking forward to Joanie's arrival primarily for the disciplinary benefits.   If the boys are misbehaving, we tell them that Joanie is going to tell Santa.   I think last year this tactic worked a little better than it has been working this year.  Jack in particular doesn't seem to be buying the "threat".   However, this doesn't stop me from threatening no presents from Santa.  I'll march over to Joanie and talk to him about what the boys were doing asking him to report back to Santa.  Someday when the boys realized the truth about Joanie, they are going to call me out for having a conversation with a doll.  haha!

Secretly I was looking forward to Joanie's arrival as well since it means the start of the holiday season.  I feel like a kid again and I can't wait for Christmas to arrive!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

We took our annual trip to cut down our christmas tree.   Despite all the "my legs hurt", and "I can't walk anymore", we were able to fight through the pain and find the perfect tree.   When you are out in a field of trees, you lose perspective of how big the tree really is.  I kept wanting bigger and Eric had to keep bringing me back to reality saying that a 10 foot tree probably wouldn't fit in our house. LOL.   Here are a few pictures from our outing.....

All I had to do was bribe them with a candy cane and they were more than willing to pose for a few pictures.  I'm going to keep my bag stocked with candy canes if that is all it is going to take!

We decorated the tree the following weekend.  The boys had such a good time unwrapping all the ornaments to see what each one was.  They really got into it and this was the first year they lasted all the way to the very last ornament being put onto the tree.  Here is the finished product....

Give Thanks

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are ten things I am thankful for.  

1. I am thankful that I am a mom to three healthy, happy and beautiful children.  

2. I am thankful for a great husband and a wonderful father.

3. I am thankful that our children have such loving grandparents and for all the time they spend together.

3. I am thankful for all of our friends both old and new. 

4. I am thankful for our beautiful home and wonderful neighborhood and town where we get to raise our children. 

5. I am thankful for the activities we enjoy as a family.

6. I am thankful for the coffee that fuels me through each day.  :-)

7. I am thankful for sleep no matter how much or how little I get. 

8. I am thankful for the hugs, kisses and "I love you" from my kids

9. I am thankful for my job (most of the time).

10.  And last but not least, I am thankful for my camera and blog to capture all our wonderful family adventures!

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving which was spent at my parents house with cousins and uncle.

All the cousins

2 Months!

Happy 2 month birthday Sara! We have settled into life as a family of 5 pretty easily due to the fact that Sara is such a sweet and mild tempered baby.  Despite the fact that her brothers are constantly touching, pulling, squeezing and yelling in her ear, she takes it all in stride and doesn't even blink an eye as she is getting man handled by the boys.  Instead, she gives them a big smile and loves to intently watch their faces (or what she can see of them as they are usually nose to nose with her).  I have to say I really enjoy having a girl and feel fortunate to have my two boys and then my little girl to round out the mix.  Sara has grown a lot this month and here are some of the highlights...

 - At 2 months, Sara weighs 11 lbs 7 oz and is in the 52nd percentile. She is 23.5 inches long which is 84th percentile and her head is 15.75 inches which is 89th percentile.

- She has been more and more awake as the month went by and is starting to get into a routine of a morning and afternoon nap.  Fortuatnely, she is still a great sleeper both during the day and at night.  She only wakes up once in the middle of the night and usually does a  5-6 hour stretch.  Up until just recently she was still sleeping in our room, but we moved her to her crib and for the most part does pretty well.

- Sara loves to smile especially when she is getting her diaper changed and she can look up at us.  Big toothless baby smiles are the best!!

- Cooing and giggling is also a favorite of Sara's and she loves to have little conversations with us.

- So far Sara's eyes are still blue!  I'm hoping they stay blue but I just looked back at Jack's 2 month post and he still had blue eyes at this age.  His eyes are brown now.  But I'm holding out hope we will have one blue eyed child.

Here are some pictures of Sara over the past month.....

My walking partner.  Makes the walk a lot more enjoyable to look down at this little smile.

Sleeping beauty

Baby smiles are the best!!

Sara's already helping out with the yard work.

Mommy, I mustache you a question.....