Christmas Eve

We carried on our tradition of decorating cookies for Santa and pizza for dinner again this year. With all of the cooking and preparation that goes on around Christmastime, it's nice to have one easy meal that we all love! And the kids got into the cookie decorating a lot more this year. We made sure to leave a cookie for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer ;)

Busted eating the decorations!

Leaving out the cookies...

"Who's excited for Santa?"

Lately

We have been busy, busy lately, so it may take a while to catch up on all of our Christmas events. In the mean time, here are a few happenings from the days before Christmas... 

Sullivan's first time in the Bumbo

Porter wrote his name for the first time. He has been working on each of the letters, but with a little coaching, he put them together. It hasn't happened again, but I'll take it!

My girl is growing up way too fast! She is looking like a big girl all of the sudden. 

But then she fell asleep in the booth in a restaurant and reminded me she was still part baby after all ;)

  

And these three have been as snuggle as ever! They love watching a show in our bed together!

And we were told that there would be a meteor shower, so I waited until it was supposed to start and bundled the kids up to go out on the porch and watch. Savannah only cried and said it was "spooky" and asked to go back inside. Porter stuck it out, but we didn't see any. Later that evening, Sean and I went out and saw several. Beautiful!

Sullivan at 3 Months

My tiny baby has grown up quite a bit (way too much, actually) this past month. He has lost his newborn look and grown into more of a baby look. I'd love to know how much he weighs, but hopefully we won't be visiting the dr for about another month. He has made great strides recently towards sleeping better at night and making car rides easier on our ears. He is still up (usually) once at night for about an hour. At the rate this snuggle bunny is growing, I don't anticipate him dropping his night feeding anytime soon. He prefers to sleep in the swing. I'm not sure if it's the movement or the upright angle, but the crib has not worked well for us yet. He generally falls asleep in the car now (after a varying bit of crying), which makes things much more peaceful! He has found his hands and loves sucking on them any chance he gets. His smiles have gotten even bigger this month! He is such a happy, smiley little thing. He laughs a lot more frequently now and it's the sweetest sound! He is completely filling in 6 month clothes with all of his glorious chubbiness. I love it! He isn't seeming to be interested in toys just yet. But who needs toys when you have a big brother and big sister to watch?! And they, I might add, are equally obsessed with him. Happy 3 months baby Sullivan! 

3 Buddies

These 3. My heart. I could never even begin to put into words the amount that I love them. I love them with a love that one couldn't possibly understand until having had your own children. When I was a little girl, I wanted to be one thing. A mommy. I am literally living my dream. I I prayed from the time that Sean and I got married that The Lord would see fit to bless us with children. I wasn't sure how many, what genders they would be, who they would look like or what their personalities would be like, but it didn't matter. I could never have picked out 3 more perfect children. Not because they are perfect in their behavior, but because of the way each of them fits into our family is just perfect. 

They keep me on my toes and make me a better person. Honestly they do. Porter is quick to tell me "we don't say that in this family" when I've said something ugly. He is as much of a neat freak as his mama, so leaving messes out just doesn't happen. Savannah quickly reminds us to pray each and every time we sit down at the table or lay them down for sleep. She is teaching me patience in a way that I would have never learned on my own. Sullivan's smiley, sweet, chubby baby self is teaching me how to pray for grace on an hourly (at times by the minute) basis to make it through the day with a happy heart on far too little sleep. The selflessness required while raising my 3 couldn't have been learned anywhere else. But trust me, I've still got a lot to learn. And I couldn't be more glad to have them as my teachers, Having children has had a way of bringing out the worst in me at times. Your true character shines on the battlefield, right?! Seeing the ugliness in my own heart has made my Heavenly Father's unconditional love for me shine in a whole new light. 

While some mornings start a little earlier than I would prefer, waking up to these 3 precious sleepy faces and getting to start our day together is a blessing I could have never even known to ask for. Having 3 tiny, beautiful (yes, I do think my children are the 3 most beautiful people I've ever laid eyes on. Next to their Daddy, of course ;) creatures that rely on me for nearly every single part of their lives is both the greatest privilege and greatest responsibility I've ever known. 

And while mornings are (usually) fun, it's this time, bedtime, that I wish I could bottle up and save. For one day I know that these evenings will be just memories and likely hazy ones at that. When my 3 littles are fed, clean, and in pajamas all snuggled in our bed. Everyone is winding down from the day. We brush teeth, watch a cartoon, read a book and say prayers. It's in those little moments that we are (without realizing it) teaching our children how to pray, how to love their siblings, how to cherish our time together as a family, how to enjoy a good story, how to obey mom and dad when we say time is up and how to love life. The smell of their sweet heads as they cuddle up against me fills my soul with happiness. The feel of their tiny, squishy hands as they hold mine and the warmth of their tiny bodies snuggled beside me are feelings that I know I will long for with all of my heart when they are too big (in their eyes) to do it any longer. The tickles and giggles that fill the room as we try and prod them from our bed to theirs are sounds that will forever fill my heart and make me a blessed woman. These nights with my precious babies are my favorite time of day. I know that they will pass all too quickly, and so even when I am tempted to hurry them into bed because I am so very tired, I force myself to picture the nights way, way, WAY down the road when we have released them into the world to go and live their own lives and they will tuck themselves into bed without a kiss from mommy. And kissing their sleepy heads seems all the sweeter ;) 

Thank you Lord for seeing fit to use these 3 wonderful, special kids to make me the person I always dreamt of being. A mommy. 

Gingerbread Houses

Today was an absolutely amazing, perfectly festive day! Nonni and I took the kids to the Grove Park Inn to see the gingerbread houses and Christmas trees. I used to (and still do) love going there and couldn't wait to share the experience with my kids. We had so much fun! Everyone behaved and had a great time! Then this evening, Sean and I made our very own gingerbread house with the kids. While we might not have an award winner on our hands, they were proud of their work and had fun doing it! Tis the season!

Porter's Rodeo with Grandpa

This weekend, Porter got to go to his 3rd rodeo. Daddy and Grandpa took him. He enjoyed this one because it had more than just bull riding. He was able to see barrel racing and calf roping also. However, the highlight of his trip (other than seeing Grandpa) was getting to have his very own sprite! The look on his face as he was going out the door was pure excitement. I love this little cowboy! 

Gingerbread Men

The kids are very interested in books (even more so lately) and are loving the Christmas stories we are reading to them. So yesterday, we had Gingerbread Man day. I let them watch the story of the Gingerbread Man while eating breakfast. 

And then Jimi, our elf, surprised us with the supplies to make and decorate gingerbread man cookies.

Savannah was my special helper and together we mixed up the dough, rolled it out and cut out gingerbread men.

Then I gave the kids toppings and they decorated them on their own. Savannah's toppings seemed to "disappear" as quickly as they made it onto the cookies. Porter named each of his men (I remember Whitey, Chocolate Chipy, Beachy and Prancer). 

 

They weren't exactly the tastiest gingerbread cookies I've ever eaten (being from a package and all), but they were by far the cutest gingerbread men I've ever seen ;)