We Wish You a Merry Christmas...

We are off tonight to drive 12 long hours to be with my family for Christmas and I couldn't be more excited. Granted I will be more excited once the packing and drive are over...The kids are SO excited about Christmas this year it is going to be so much fun. Plus our baby will be celebrating his first Christmas which is extra special...

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas!

{light} up my life...

These kids certainly do... I've been wanting to get pictures like this for years, everyone makes it look so easy on Pinterest but it is not. Some how this year they all humored me and to my surprise I used my normal setting on my camera and really I couldn't be happier...

PIcking out oh Christmas Tree 2012...

We went and got our Christmas Tree last weekend which is the official start of the Christmas season as far as I am concerned (the kids think it is the elf's arrival, they are usually close:)... We don't have the most exciting tradition of getting our tree but it is tradition just the same. We get in the truck, drive down the street and pick out a tree. I pretend that the kids get to pick it but it is really me who has the final say because it needs to be perfect right? And we did good this year just wait and see...

{ten} months old...

Here we are already, 10 months have flown by... He is fondly known as "wrecker crane" on our house, because he constantly wants to be part of the action and is known to crawl into say a train set up and knock the whole thing down. But that is one of the many things I love about him! You can tell he is the 3rd, he does not like to be left alone for fear he will miss out and absolutely loves his brother and sister (even though they are a little rough on him)... I am shocked that he is not walking yet, he is very sturdy on his feet and pushes anything he can find around the house (laundry basket, boxes, chairs, you name it). He still eats like a champ. I have been trying to feed him what Charlie and I eat for dinner and he usually loves it. His favorite has been hamburg soup, I think he had 5 helpings the other night! He finally got his 2nd tooth, which again doesn't seem to bother him with his eating but seems crazy he is this old with only 2 teeth... We found out some news this week about his poor ears. We took him to be re-checked for the ear infections he has had and found out they are still there in both ears. The poor kid :( The doctor mentioned we should probably take him to ENT doctor to see if they think he should get tubes. Not what we wanted to hear, but we also don't want him with ear infections all winter (it is only November/beginning of December!). So we will see how that goes... Until then we are preparing for this babies 1st Christmas and trying to figure out what to get the kid that has everything already... Wish us luck!

{nine} months old...

This is REALLY late but I wanted to do something quick for Grayson's 9 month post... We just had his 9 month check up yesterday due to re-scheduling several times to work within Charlie and I's work schedule, blah... So his stats are 23 lbs (just under 90th percentile) and I think we was 29" (it was 95th percentile). So he is smaller than Chase but still a big boy :) He did get his first tooth finally this month which is a big deal! I swear he has been teething forever. I'm shocked the other ones haven't popped thru yet, but I'm sure they will soon enough. And I'm sure he will smile when they do. This kid could not be any happier... We went in for his check up to discover that he had an ear infection in both ears (we think that one hadn't cleared from the week before) and was wheezing away and you would never know it other than him being a little clingy the past couple of days...

His 10 month birthday is next week so I will do a real post then...

Grayson's First Halloween {Roar}...

So this was Grayon's first Halloween, so crazy! We were lucky enough to find an adorable Lion costume from a friend to borrow since we didn't have one from Chase already (I think we borrowed one for him too?). Grayson and I hung back on Halloween to give our candy while Charlie took Audrey and Chase out trick or treaking. I put his costume on to take some pictures and he humored me for way longer than I had expected. The costume was huge on him but so stinkin' cute and it didn't bother him at all. Don't you just want to give him a big hug???

The Ballerina and the Police Man...

So Halloween 2012 was a success... Audrey and Chase had a blast this year, both leading up to it and the night of. They are at great ages for this kind of stuff and it is hard not to get excited when you are around them. They both decided what they wanted to be awhile ago, and I was concerned they would change their minds but they stayed with their original picks thank goodness. They had a blast trick or treating and got tons of candy of course. Chase could finally keep up this year which makes it a little easier. Apparently they told houses that Chase couldn't have peanuts because he was allergic which is hilarious to me (especially since he came home with tons of peanut candy!).

Audrey decided to be a ballerina this year. As she put it she has already been a fairy, so it was time to be a ballerina. I couldn't have been happier because what an easy costume! I ended up making her tu-tu but everything else we already had from ballet class...

Chase announced one night at dinner he wanted to be a police man. I did a double take, what do you want to be. He was very clear that it was a police man. The kid has never in his life talked about a police man, but he loved every minute of it and looked pretty darn cute...

And then there was the lion, I'll give him his own post...

Grayson and the Pumpkins...

I love the apple orchard for many reasons, but the main one is the pictures I get of my kids. And one of my favorite pictures of my kids is when they are babies being plopped in the middle of the pumpkins that they sell. It was raining and wet, but I decided to go the bad mom route and try and get some of Grayson while we were there. He is at a tough age where he doesn't sit still or really look at the camera as much on call, but I managed a few which is all I needed... LOVE...

A Rainy Day at the Apply Orchard...

We had one shot to go to the apple orchard this year due to a busy fall schedule (soccer on Saturday's at 1 pm was a bit tough). We of course woke up to rain that day, which was a bummer. Charlie and I decided to go anyways and take our chance with it clearing up since the kids were really excited to go (and so was I!). It was not an ideal day to go, but we managed to apple pick between the rain falls and the orchard wasn't as crowded as usual due to the weather so there was a silver lining. We had a lot of fun regardless. It took us a little while to find trees with apples on them (apparently we went late in the season?) but once we did the kids picked (& ate) like pros.

Yumm-o!!

 

This picture reminds me of a Ralph Lauren ad... Too cute...

 The yearly tractor pictures, a little tough to get in the rain but we managed...

Pumpkin Patch...

We have had a tough time this fall making it to the Apple Orchard due to weekend activities and crappy weather we have been having. The Apple Orchard is by far one of my favorite family activities (and picture taking opps) so this has bummed me out. The kids have been dying to so something fall-y so last weekend we headed to a pumpkin patch down the road to try and get our fill. We had never been because we always get our pumpkins at the Apple Orchard, but I'm glad we went. It was a perfect activity for the kids, they got to pick their own pumpkin from the vine and go on a hayride. Oh and pull the pumpkins in a wagon, I mean what more do you need?

These have some how become the picture poses for Audrey and Chase, not so sure what I think about it...

 

 

Somehow we ended up with more pumpkins than people in our family...