Liam's First Pinewood Derby

Wes was called into cub scouts earlier this year. He's had so much fun doing the activities with the boys and I think he was just as excited for the upcoming pinewood derby as the scouts! Because Wes is in scouts and Liam will be 8 this year, they allowed Liam to participate in our pinewood derby this year.  Wes and Liam had a BLAST cutting out his car and decorating it together. Wes was so good about letting Liam do everything and design it just how he wanted.  We all attended the derby and had so much fun watching Liam race his car. I must admit that I had no idea how serious this all was. They had brackets and rules and check in, etc, etc. And it lasted for HOURS. lol. That being said, it was fun.  Liam's car got second place in his division which was really cool! It was fun watching the suspense in his eyes as he raced his car. So cute.  I love that kid's enthusiasm. He also got the award for best details on his car.  He's already planning his car for next year.

Sweet As Honey

My lovely friend Natalie and I threw a bee themed baby shower for our friend Debbie, who we visit teach. We had SOO much fun planning the decorations and food. Debbie had her sixth baby and each of her children have had their photos taken in the same bumblebee costume, which served as the inspiration for the party. We displayed all of their photos and had everyone guess which baby was which. Natalie did a killer job on the food- almost everything was yellow or honey themed and was delicious! I had to take some photos of our party just because I thought it came together so well. Unfortunately I didn't actually take any photos during the party- guess we were having too much fun!

Valentine's Day

We made Valentines for our friends and family with these "I LOVE YOU" series of photos of our little lovebugs. Everyone loved them.

For Valentines day we had fun making valentines and decorating sugar cookies.






Unfortunately I had to work on Valentine's Day and with the crazy work schedule I've had, we didn't do a ton to celebrate. However, even just these little activities we did with the kids were fun.

The Rascal Baby

When Finn was 9 or so months old he earned the title of "The Rascal Baby" from Addy and Finn. He'd sneak up and steal their toys, food, water, etc and then sneak away laughing. Now, at 16 months old (when these photos were taken) he continues to live up to his nickname! He is a busy, busy boy but he thinks he's pretty hysterical all the time. And the good news is, even when he's getting into everything, we think he's pretty hysterical and darn adorable as well.  His big baby blue eyes and blonde curls get this boy pretty much whatever he wants. He was so thrilled when we finally decided he was safe enough to go up and down the stairs on his own and we took the baby gate down.  He watched TV and just stood on the stairs to play for days. It was the cutest. One of my other favorite things that he does lately is say "CHEEEEESE" whenever I go to take his picture. It's hysterical.  He loves to climb and get into whatever he possibly can. He also really loves to sit in boxes or put them on his head. His very favorite toys right now are cars. He screams "CARRRRR" every time he sees a car. He is saying so many words every day. Some of my favorite are car, Thank You (he even uses it in the right context- so stinking cute), mommy, Bubba, Sissy, Elsa (from Frozen- he looooves Frozen), Sven, show, Daddy and so so many more. His baby sitter has been impressed with how much he talks. The minute he gets to her house when he goes there he yells "CARTER" so clearly because that is his little buddy's name that goes there too. Finn is pretty much a nightmare at church though. He hates sitting still and 1pm church is killing us. We are all looking forward to when he finally gets to go to nursery.  He loves his Grandpa-Great and GG.  He runs up to Grandpa the minute we go there.

So anyway, those are a few tiny tidbits about Finn these days. I know it's a jumble of random information, but they are all things I just want to remember about our awesome boy.

Happy New Year!

Our friends, The Perrys, invited us over for a little New Year's Eve shindig.  We decided to celebrate east coast New Year's because I had to work the next day and we have lots of young children. We had delicious treats and fun games of Killer Bunnies. Steve set up a balloon drop for our celebration which the kids thought was pretty much the best thing ever. It was so cute. Thanks for having us over to ring in the New Year, Perrys!

Christmas Brunch

For some reason I never take many photos of Christmas Brunch. Maybe it's because I'm all camera'd out. ;)  We enjoyed a lovely brunch at my sister's house this year with my sister's family, GG and Grandpa-Great, Aunt Pam and Uncle Bill, Uncle Larry, and Aunt Bethie.  We played games and the kids ran around like crazy people. ;) It was a good day.


Playing the family memory game Santa brought us.








Tired Santa Papa.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Christmas Morning

I love Christmas morning. But, I think I love Christmas Eve, after the kids are in bed and the presents are out and the lights are off and the tree is beautiful, even more. iphone takes surprisingly beautiful photos of such moments.
 

We knew Christmas early would come early around these parts. The kids were extremely excited, to say the least. And they lucked out that Aunt Bethie slept on their floor that night (although I'm not sure she actually slept much.) PLUS, it was our year to have Nana and Papa for Christmas morning, which was the icing on the cake.

Now, the things that the kids asked for changed a few times. Liam asked for (surprise, surprise) a Thomas set, but then he changed his mind to a Nerf Megacenturion. Addy had asked Santa for a princess castle, and then she changed her mind to a Barbie car. Finn, well we decided, that he wanted a Santa balloon. The kid loooves balloons.

I asked for some cozy felted wool slippers. Wes asked for a book press to personalize his library.

Christmas morning came and we were up around 5:30.  The kids were so surprised with their goodies. It truly is so much fun watching them. Santa also pulled a few surprises- he brought Liam and Addy some low maintenance frogs which they decided to name Castle and Harry Potter.

Addy had been eying a present from the Darringtons for a few day, and she decided to open that first, I guess because she had been anticipating it for so long. She loved her blanket that matched mommy's.

The kids got their wishes- Santa brought a balloon, megacenturion, and a barbie car. The kids also were extra lucky and mama and daddy got their other wishes. It was a good Christmas!

Finn decided that he needed a break once or twice. He was most interested in his balloon and Christmas cookies.  He and Papa enjoyed cookies for breakfast.

My favorite surprise was a German music box that I found for my mom online. My dad bought it and I found it, so it was from both of us. ;)  She was shocked. It was a wooden music box with a grandma making sugar cookies with her grandkids. So perfect.  I also bought her some beautiful nutcracker soap from the hospital gift shop, which was sort of funny, but it was SO cute and she loved it. I think I enjoy shopping for my mom's stocking most of all. :)  She's spoiled us with our stockings for so many years that it's fun to do that in return, especially with my dad's money. :)

The kid got lots of goodies in their stockings as well. I think they may be my favorite part of Christmas morning. We've always done them last, which is probably sort of backwards to some people, but it always felt like the grand finale for us.

Without further ado, here are photos from our blessed Christmas morning.