Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we actually hung around the house and did some chores in the morning.  Mike willingly took the big kids and went shopping for my present.  I cleaned some more and did a bunch of cooking and then took advantage of a quiet house and sleeping babies and took a nap myself.  Then I cooked some more.  We went to some friends from 4-8ish for a big Christmas Eve delicious dinner.  I enjoyed the rolls and the ham...dairy free for the Holidays is HARD!

We came home and did our few little Christmas Eve traditions, Christmas story from the Scriptures and Night Before Christmas.  And of course Jammies from Grandma!!! THANK YOU!!! (I did a complete fail on our Christmas Eve book....I was late finishing it up and when I ordered it, it said arrival date 12/26. NO! I kept watching the tracking and it just didn't budge.  Note to self....December 14th is too late to order the books.  Haha!)




Isabelle's had a matching doll nightgown.  She was over the moon excited!


"Sit down and let's get a quick picture.  If everyone cooperates, it will be quick.  I promise." Thank you Michael for the 13 pictures and still never really getting one.  Oh well!

Buckaroo

Being a stay at home mom, I have so many moments where a smile and a giggle come from my toes and I want to freeze time.  This is always one.  Michael playing cowboy. He has his cowboy get up and uses a jump rope as his rope as he rounds things up around my house.

Only In Florida

Can the kids rake leaves and play in them in shorts and t shirts the week before Christmas.

My Personal Program

The week before Christmas Michael had his Christmas program.  It was so cute!  I picked a seat on the edge since I had both little boys with me, quick exit if needed.  Michael saw me and faced me completely.  He sang his little heart out looking at my face the whole time.  He didn't do any actions (and told me after, "I just sing the words, I don't do the actions.").

Singing just to me.  So he might still be on the small side for his age.  Haha. That row of kids he's with is his class.



This little guy was absolutely perfect.  He stood on the chair and pointed to Michael and smiled and waved and then listened the entire time.  I didn't even need to pull out the car I had stashed.


After, their little party.  Luke was given a plate too, fruit and cookies.  Under no direction from me, both my boys downed their fruit first while all the other kids gobbled up the cookies.  No wonder I can't keep enough fruit in this house!  Even when offered a cookie they eat the fruit first.

Happiness

Ducky

This was Isabelle's potty training prize way back in the day.  It got played with a ton, 4 years ago and then got buried in the stuffed animal bin with the occasional trip around the playroom quacking.  Michael discovered him a few weeks ago and calls him Ducky.  Ducky is his constant companion to the point he wanted to eat with him the other day.  "Ducky needs to eat too."  I convinced him to feed him on the stool with some play food.  He gave Ducky a piece of "bread" and then "spit it out", "Ducky doesn't like this food."  He switched out playroom food a few times, and finally decided he wanted real food.  Michael fed him an entire sandwich.  I guess I shouldn't complain because Michael at the entire sandwich.  Kid imaginations are so cute to me.

Christmas Jammies

These were Isabelle's first Christmas jammies.  I have pictures of all 4 of my kids in them, somewhere.  I'd love to put them all together, but that would take a little digging, and I added other stress to my life, so we are going to pass on this one.  Haha.

Battles

Where's Waldo?  Who is sticking out like a sore thumb?  Who didn't get the red memo?  Yeah, that's my child. I'm very much a "choose your battles" kind of mom.  I will not fight with my child over clothes (I get Sundays, they get 6 days a week).  Absolutely not worth it to me.  I offer to fix hair and help pick out clothes, but in the end, I let my kids do their own thing, no stress.  Isabelle rarely matches, her hair looks crazy, it kills me a little bit inside and I just think, "remember the little girl that used to let me fix her hair and help pick out her outfits?  She'll figure it out, right?" Anyway, Isabelle had a Christmas ASL program.  The memo was "wear a Christmas shirt, preferably red or green."  She has a red Christmas shirt and a mint green Christmas shirt.  I suggested the red one would look better on stage.  She asked if blue was a Christmas color.  She left for school with the worst outfit!!!  She wore the green one with a blue and white striped skirt and a headband. As I watched the program. I looked at her and thought, she looks like "that" kid.  The smelly one that comes from a difficult home life. I was laughing so hard.  She knew all the words and did all the sign language and was so cute, but I came home telling Mike, I think it's time I intervene a little bit more. So here we go, time to add some stress into my life.

I had to take a close up of what she looked like.  Here's the whole thing. Her personality cracks me up.

Happy Happy Baby

This is dairy free Spencer.  Seriously the best baby!  He's an awesome sleeper with 3 good solid naps, sleeps 8-9 hours at night and is this the rest of the time......(Picture overload!) Now if I can just keep it together with the Holidays.  We've had a rough few days with my lapses in self control. These little smiles verses screaming fits are usually enough to keep me going, but sometimes....sometimes, I still cave and then feel awful when it's going through his system. This little face and the few tiny giggles I've gotten out of him make it all worth it!

Movie Theater

For Thanksgiving, Mike tried taking them to Frozen, but it was sold out.  Since then, Michael keeps saying he wants a movie theater (he's been once).  I told him we weren't going to a movie theater and he kept insisting.  I asked him what doing a movie theater meant, "It means turning out all the lights and watching a movie with popcorn."  So one night we had a "movie theater" with a Christmas movie.  He was absolutely thrilled! He keeps turning off the lights anytime the tv is on, insisting we need a movie theater again.