Christmas Tree Shopping

We have had a busy Christmas season, probably like many of you. :) I was hoping to get our tree early this year, but that didn't happen, mainly for two reason, first, Mike worked until it was dark everyday and our favorite tree place to cut our tree down closes once it is dark (it wouldn't be much fun or very safe to try to cut a tree down in the dark after all), and second, it was far too rainy. We actually had plans three different times to get our tree and had to cancel due to work related issues, the dark, or the weather. These pictures were taken in the van on our first attempt to get a tree. I hate using my flash with my camera, but for a dark night sitting in the car it was either the flash or no photos that we could see the kids in.

Here they are snuggled together while we were waiting for Daddy to come get in the car.

D was not a fan of the flash!

J sitting in the back seat stretching tall so that his head was above S's seat.

He looks a bit giraffe-ish here. :)

A grinning and being a happy girl!

She is turning into a quite the sweet helpful mature girl these days.

S with a tired grin.

She was very excited to get the tree, "but was just SO tired!"

D didn't get a nap this day, so he was ready to snooze on the drive out to the tree farm.

He actually fell asleep after the dejected return treeless!!

Eventually, a few days after these pictures, we drove to the tree farm on the Saturday before Christmas and bundled everyone up and tromped through the tree farm amid the rain and the mud. This kids didn't mind much; I think they have acclimated fairly well to our WA mist. The only thing that I don't like about the rain/drizzle/constant mist is that it limits my ability to cart around my camera, so I was unable to snap any pics that day. We ended up with a HUGE tree. Mike, J, and A all selected a different tree and then played Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide whose tree was the winner. J's tree one, and it was the hugest one. It was a beautiful tree, it just took up a large space in our living room, and we could barely fit our star on the top.

We have a practical jokester in our midsts...

We untied the tree from the top of our van and Mike and I were shaking the tree out to shake of some of the rain, and some of the loose pine needles. Moments after we shook it out and went inside, J, who was outside moving some sticks, came running in screaming, "There was a mouse in our tree!! There was a mouse in our tree!! It fell out while you guys were shaking it. I saw it run over into the bushes." I sort of started freaking out, worrying that I might have just brought a tree full of mice into my home, which after our mice infestation in our TX apt complex (only 5-7 mice in our actual apt, but MANY more in the apt next to ours--it was SO SO gross!!) was SO NOT OK!!!! Mike had J show him where the mice ran, Mike even went to look for it, and then J cracked. He could not keep a straight face any longer. J thought he was hilarious. I was not entertained, still worried that maybe I still brought a tree full of mice into my home, even though J didn't actual see one (because I am sort of irrational like that). In the end I loved that he got Mike and I. It was fun to see him pulling his Daddy's leg like his Dad pulls his SO many times before.

There is still plenty I could share about our Christmas, but I am hitting the hay for now. :) TTFN!!

Happy Bday!

We celebrated S's bday today. She is such a hoot! We had a simple family bday party and she was spoiled. :) She talked to a ton of family, and felt very special!

Happy Birthday Sassy little S!

Admiring her lovely cake!

hahaaaaa! blowing out her candles!

(and with this blow she only got one! hahaha!)

Posing on her new bike with her new helmet.

I find it interesting that I LOVED Hello Kitty when I was her age.

Being a nut; these type of pictures always sneak in when she is the subject of my photos.

I think she had a great day.

Here you have it--D's cut!

Yeah, I know he is just about the cutest little guy ever. No posed and fabulous pictures, but here are a few shots of D doing his "homework" and the standing by our glass door watching our neighbors dog. You can see his full head and get a great look at his haircut. His hair was not combed, I did nothing special to it, this is just the way it is. And sorry for those of you who frequent Facebook for the redundancy.

D trying to smile at me.

His fake smile consists of squinty eyes and some sort of upturned lips.

Squinty eyes again

Oh, wait, he does have a real smile, and it is pretty cute, too. :)

D staring out the window, wishing he could go play with our neighbor's dog.

Just about as cute as cute can be! :)

peeks of D's new do!

I still haven't taken any good pictures of D with his hair cut. but I have some poor ones, in bad lighting, blurry because D wouldn't hold still, and with a majority of his face cut off. And then I cropped them even further, just to be a pain in the butt. haa haa!! :) Really the pictures are quite poor, but to pacify those aunts and cousins that have been itching to see his hair cut I put together a little photo montage... a Sneak Peak... Enjoy!

Here is one last photo...

He was Sheriff Woody from Toy Story for Halloween. And once again, I failed in getting pictures. But here is one from three days before Halloween, when he insisted on wearing his costume while watching the movie. :) He is the cutest, rootin'est, tootin'est, cowboy in the wild wild west!

He looks like such a big boy now. I do have to admit that I sort of hated his hair cut the first few days. Even though he looked cute, I just was lost without my little darling long locks. I kept looking at this little boy and thinking where's my baby, and who is this little boy! LOL! But this last week I was looking back at pictures of his long curls and I have to admit that now, to me, D is a short haired boy. It was funny looking at the long haired boy pictures, it just wasn't my D anymore. Plus, Mike combed it on Sunday, all to the side with a cute little part, and MAN!, did he look adorable!

Any way, I hope to get some nice pictures tomorrow.

TTFN!

My baby's locks...

will soon be gone! SIGH!!! I feel the need to take a bajillion photos of him with his long shaggy hair. Here are some I took this morning. I am hoping to get some more this afternoon, although he is fairly grumpy, and I think getting a little sick. Then, I think he and I are off to the salon. SIGH again! I will miss his darling baby curls. Mike had been MORE than patient with me and my desire to let his locks grow. :) He wanted them cut way back last spring. I told him I would cut them when D turned 2. And, well, he has been 2 for over a month now. SIGH!





and here are a few pictures from a year ago. WOW! He was still totally bald then. What a difference a year makes in hair--for sure!

My dear dear nephew, Ty!!! :)

I just wanted to bop in real fast and let those of you who know Misty, my sis, in on some really fantastic and very incredible news.

Her little Ty gets to be off his oxygen during the day, as long as they test his O2 stats every hour and they stay above 92%.  

For those of you who know Misty and don't know her situation, her little one has been on O2 since he was about 2 months old. and he is now a little over 2 years old.  Without all the details, he has a childhood lung disease that they anticipate he will grow out of completely, and the first step in that is getting off the daytime O2.  

Last Friday Misty called me as Mike and I were waiting for the airplane to leave Las Vegas to tell me!  I cried just a little bit as she told me the good news!!  He still has to wear O2 at night, as his stats drop quite a bit at night time.  She is about to have her second baby (a week and a half away) and so it comes at a great time.  She will no longer have to lug O2 tanks with her everywhere she goes, however, she will also lose her "leash" on her VERY busy boy since he will no longer be attached to a tub and then tank.  

What a great blessing for them. 

First day of school

This last week J and A started school.  We had to go through a period of adjusting in the early part of the week to prepare them for waking up earlier than normal and getting to school on time.

The big day began with me waking up early and making pancakes.  I even work up S and D because I need them to adjust as well.  D will have to take an earlier nap to get one in between the time I pick S up from preschool and the older two up 3 hours later, so that means he has to get up earlier.  Everyone moved a little slowly in the morning. hahaa!!  but everyone also sacked out as soon as they were in bed that night.  We had spent the evening before packing back packs and laying out clothes, so the morning went smoothly.

Here are my grown up kids right outside our front door waiting to get into the van.  They are a bit stare eyed at me and the photos are a little off colored, but I have been playing with my camera settings and I forgot to change them back to easy mode.  LOL!!  So it is a little off, but they are still cute!

J and A together outside of our house.

J waiting to go to school, his first day!

A smiling sweetly as she is VERY excited to start school again.

J at the school, ready to go in.

A, I think she is feeling a little hesitant.  I couldn't get her to relax and smile here.  

J, being DONE with photos and walking in.

A turning around so I could get her back pack shot.

J and A walking in together.  I love them.

So they both had a good day.  I am looking forward to getting to know their teachers better and helping out.