Sugar Cookie

We did sugar cookies at our house this year, and as always, we had so much fun. The task always seems so daunting when planning our weekends and such, but once we do it, we are always so glad we did and have so much fun doing it. Izzy and Peyton and Aunt Pam joined us this year. Aunt Pam was a HUGE help with all these kids and Izzy made sure that we had lots of pink cookies! Addy really got into it this year too. In fact, she was pretty good at just undecorating and redecorating the same cookie over and over. Until she realized she could eat it, then she'd try to take a bite out of every cookie she went to decorate. Finn wasn't a huge fan of the cookie decorating experience, but we'll give him a few years.

The Nutcracker

I didn't take very many photos, but we had such a lovely time going to the Nutcracker ballet in Yerington again this year. Izzy loves to go. I can't wait until Addy is patient enough to be able to go. :) They have a dance company from Reno come and perform and some of the parts are done by kids from the dance school in Yerington. They do such a fantastic job and I always feel so much in the Christmas Spirit after we go. Izzy was SUPER happy to get her photo taken with some of the dancers.

Baking at Nana's

A couple of weeks before Christmas, we headed out to Yerington to bake some cookies, go to the Nutcracker ballet, and so that the guys could go duck hunting. It was a very successful weekend! We baked eggnog snickerdoodles (Addy was the designated smasher), cherry blossoms (Liam had to take a break from his strenuous job of unwrapping the hershey kisses- some of which rapidly disappeared), and gingerbread cookies. The kids all had such a blast together. They are always so happy just to be together at Nana and Papa's. It was such a fun weekend and we are so thankful that we could have that time together.

Tickling the Ivories

Liam has been taking piano lessons for almost a year now. He's very naturally talented at it and has done an exceptional job! He had his first piano recital at the beginning of December. He chose "Away in a Manger" which was a more difficult song. He practiced a LOT for a couple of weeks leading up to the recital. I was so proud of him and his diligence in learning the song. Sister Bodily hosted the recital at her house with all of her students. It was wonderful and definitely got all of us in the Christmas spirit. Liam played his tune flawlessly and took his bow afterward. He is now even more determined to practice to learn harder songs. Sister Bodily let the little ones do a little performance because they were feeling left out, so they did a little jingle bells and played the piano together. It was cute. Afterward, we had some yummy refreshments, one of which I had to take a photo of. The piano dessert was rice krispies and kit kats. So cute! Thank you Sister Bodily for all of your hard work. You are the best!

2 months!

Three kids, no matter how well behaved they are, is really putting a damper on me being caught up on blogging!  Better late than never, here's Finn's 2 month update!

-11lbs even and 23 3/4 inches long.
-SMILEY! He is by far my smiliest and giggliest baby.  I love it!  You practically just look at him and he just starts grinning away.  So precious.
-Still an amazing sleeper, usually from about 7:30pm-5am and then back to sleep until 8 or 9am.  Ah-mazing.
-Nurses like a champ!  Thank goodness we haven't had any real dietary issues or any eczema yet.  So, so thankful for that.
-Likes to be near mama, which I'm totally ok with. I just put him in the ergo carrier and we do what we have to do.
-He has the cutest, funniest little expressions. I always think of him as an 'old soul' because he always has a quizzical look on his face when he's checking something out.  He's just so expressive!

I look at him so often and am just so thankful for him and his perfect little presence in our life.  

Finn meets Ian!

As previously stated, my good friend Michelle and I were due a week apart with our boys. She delivered her little guy Ian on the 29th of September, so just 3 days before Finn's arrival. Sadly, they had moved to Washington in August, so I had yet to meet her sweet little guy. The came down for Thanksgiving and we were the lucky recipients of a visit! I was so good to see them and visit with them and for our little boys to meet. We got these adorable pictures of them together. They even did the smiling and cooing and holding of hands on their own. I think they are going to make great friends and even better, nursing school buddies in a few years. ;)
 

Trimming the Tree

We decided, sort of last minute, that we would put the tree up the weekend that Wes's parents were here. After a lot of coaxing from Judy and me, Wes finally agreed when his mom said it had been a long time since they'd decorated a tree together. The best part of this whole situation was that sweet Kim, one of the kids living with them, did my lights on my tree and all the kids helped put lights on the house. It was wonderful having such a great team of elves. Liam and Addy had SO much fun placing the ornaments on the tree- I couldn't get them out of the boxes fast enough!

As for our yearly ornaments, Liam got an M&M (he loves them!) from us- we got it when we were in Vegas, and an angry bird from my mom, which was the most excited he's ever been about an ornament I think! Addy got a big sister ornament from us and a cute "corky" kitty cat from Nana. Finn got the traditional Hallmark, "Baby's First Christmas" ornament from us, and a "Corky" baby's first Christmas from Nana. It was a lot of fun to put the tree up when Grandma and Grandpa were here.