on christmas day

though i have post dated the last several posts i have written because i am so far behind, i figured since i was actually posting this sooner than last year, i would leave it be . . . so here's to a new year and new beginnings.

and, now, i give you christmas day at our house . . .

well, because on christmas eve, all our pictures looked like this.

 the next morning, these two were so patient waiting in our bed watching various christmas specials while they waited for their sister to wake so they could run down stairs and find this . . .

 carter was so excited about her princess bible (in her book stack under the tree) that she didn't even look at what santa had left.

 looks like santa found out about our insane love for peter and friends.

 look! a lego r2d2 watch with a little man! santa listened!

 monsters! spencer loves monsters and books, so this book was a hit . . .

 until she saw baby jesus sitting next to her and begged mommy to rock him and "sing sunshine". how could i say no???

 bed head and presents . . . what could be better!

 "gasp! baby boy!" spencer's favorite gift-mismatched bitty twins!

so, before, we opening any more presents, we decided to take our annual pj picture-

 really. i know it is hard to believe anyone has mad pitcher skillz when we have results like this . . .

but, it is a good thing we kept taking photos or we might have missed the getup someone demanded to wear the rest of the morning/afternoon:

what a mess!

falling for fall

i love holidays. it could possibly be considered an obsession, an unhealthy obsession at that. it starts in september/october with halloween. halloween has become one of my favorite holidays. to me, it is more of a child's holiday, a holiday that celebrates imagination and creativity and self confidence. those things are much better than the halloweens of the past, right??

i love halloween so much i have a tree. a small black wire-y tree that we decorate with handmade paper ornaments each year.

and, i definitely think i could create an advent-type calendar for this time, too. we have several yearly traditions, like the pumpkin patch.

we go to the same one every year. this year, because josh works from home, we were able to go during the day. interestingly enough, the sun shines right through all the trees leaving bright sun spots and weird shadows that you have to watch when taking pictures. note to self: next year, go in the afternoon even if it is fall break ;)

someone kept dropping all the pumpkins we were trying to show her and hand to her. sometimes, it is overwhelming when you are the youngest.

we picked out 6 pie size pumpkins for school projects and carving and one really cool green/gray pumpkin that we never took a picture of. too bad because it was the most perfect pumpkin even if its friend was housing a black widow spider-yikes!

the next day, we headed to do something i have been wanting to do for years. this was definitely a good year to start.

the maze!

we spent lots of time walking in the dusty dustiness. yes, it was so dusty it needed to be reiterated. it was so fun . . . even if we didn't always agree.

but, somehow, we made it out even with so many opinions.

then, just a few days before halloween, we had our annual pumpkin carving night with our friends, the tillmans.

i was inspired by martha's october magazine cover to use pie pumpkins instead of regular pumpkins. it was so much easier! each child had their own pumpkin and there wasn't so much work for us when they decided after the second scoop they were done cleaning it out.

and, they looked adorable in my kitchen window!

happy halloween from neverland

dear santa . . .

for advent day 6, we chose to write a letter to santa. my kids are great at proclaiming their need and desire to own every single toy advertised in commercials, but when it comes to christmas, they always respond "i don't know". so, i thought we would write him a letter. a letter that mommy could read and hopefully help santa purchase appropriately. 

we started by discussing things they had mentioned wanting at some point and then narrowed it down.

miller narrowed it down to the first two things he wrote down and then he was done, mostly because he ran out of room and partly because he is a three year old boy who was ready to move on.

carter, on the other extreme, color coded each word and really thought hard about what exactly she might want to see under the tree this year.

miller's hot blue letter for santa

they were very concerned about spencer telling santa what she wanted. too bad they didn't ask her before they each told me one thing they thought she needed. bless her heart, i really hope this letter gets misplaced on its way to the north pole.

carter's masterpiece letter to santa

she sounded out and wrote it all. we only helped with difficult sounds like "ch" and "th".

then, carter wanted to know how they would get to santa. but, she immediately suggested that charlie (our elf) take them with him that night when he visited santa. she even suggested leaving them under the tree and, very matter-of-factly, informed him of his task while he sat perched on the hallway sconce.

i guess we will have to wait and see if santa is able to deliver.

so, tell me, what is on your list??

a trip to the pumpkin patch

i love fall. i love pumpkins. i love falling leaves, cooler temperatures and warm sweaters. i love decorating for the holidays. i love beginning traditions and continuing those traditions.

each year, we have gone to the same little pumpkin patch in our area of the city. it is in a church yard and the money goes to the student ministry's mission trip (who doesn't want to support that?)

this year, josh has been so busy that we went on the only night someone didn't have something. somehow, it wasn't raining. josh called me that afternoon and asked if we would be ready. i had totally forgotten. the kids were napping. clothes were dirty. i wanted to say no, but how could i? we had to have pumpkin patch pictures, right?

spencer didn't think so. i sat her on the ground and it broke her heart. i don't know if it was teething or the cold, wet ground, but she was sad.

this picture is our children. carter is in her own world, singing or talking non-stop. miller is being a boy and giving spencer all of his attention. spencer is trying to roll with the punches no matter what is happening to her (teeth, brother, or worse).

so her. i found the leggings this summer and knew they would be perfect for fall. she picked each fabric in the pumpkin applique this year. i love the way her legs are intertwined!

why do we even try to pose our children? they are so used to josh and the camera, it is pointless. so a few puffs for the baby and a little freedom for the others and all was well.

oh, how she loves her momma.

and, oh, how her momma loves her.

then, miller proclaimed this his pumpkin. and he attempted to move it across the yard . . .

slow and steady wins the race. s.l.o.w. and steady.

i wish i had a rabbit in a hat

(do you remember that song? it reminds me of junior high.)

around labor day each year i start asking my children what they want to be for halloween. each year i receive a different answer almost every day. each year they finally choose at the last minute.

this year was no different.

as a mommy who likes to make things, i started early with my creative suggestions of what the 3 of them could be this year. to no avail.

carter had her own ideas. in each scenario she gave, her sister was a dog or something carter was going to carry. um, no.

then, we had to have the talk about age appropriate costumes. "you are 5. you have all the time in the world to be barbie. let's pick something warmer. it will be cold by then." that's code for "uh, no. i don't think so. there is no way you are wearing that. you need to find something with more clothing. or you will not go."

obviously, not everyone had that conversation with their girls because i saw more little girls in tight, short dresses or fishnet stockings or worse. hello, people they are still little girls even if it is halloween.

so, two days before our first halloween event (because this was the longest halloween in history), my mom and i took the kids to costco to see if we could find a costume for the baby. we were short on time and thought her costume would be the hardest to make. we did not find an animal, but we did find a magician/vampire costume for miller. the costume came with everything-top hat, wand, cape, yada yada yada.

so, after a moment of creative thinking, we decided spencer could be his rabbit and carter could be his assistant. what does an assistant wear? isn't that similar to barbie's costume? i don't think so. but, then josh said she could just wear a princess style dress. and as we were leaving costco, they had a new rack of black velvet and satin dresses. carter was headed straight for them when i blurted out, "look at those pretty costumes! that would be a great assistant's dress." of course, the glittery flowers overtook her and she obliged.

so, now the rabbit. apparently, white rabbits are more of a springtime costume. i didn't know people typically dressed in costume for easter unless they were the bunny sitting in the chair at the mall. but, whatever. i took a chance at a local children's consignment shop and found ten of varying sizes and cuteness. i took the cutest and we made do with the size. (because every girl knows you will put yourself in any size if the outfit/shoes are cute enough.)

they wore the same costumes to four different events. i was a little sad they weren't homemade, but not for long. last year i was up to 2 am painting wendy's stripes. and, i am still working on miller's wardrobe for fall/winter. so, maybe next year. i actually look forward to the year miller wants to be a washing machine or something crazy that i can't buy off the rack.

even if the rack is super cute . . .