Pre-Christmas and Post-Christmas Fun

Here are the little boys working together . . . this is a few days before we left on our Christmas trip. Yes, I was getting them ready for bed and it was in the 80s here.

Will's holiday work lunch - Joel left

Nathaniel wanted me to bring his brothers to his Christmas party. Seth was not a fan of the party. He wanted to go home and take a nap.

I tried to get him to smile, this is what I got.

Joel at the party. He ate a sugar cookie. He had a better time than Seth.

Nathaniel's birthday book at school - they have a special program where they get a book with a nameplate in the front of the book celebrating their birthday. He was the first person to check it out from the library.

I took N to a friend's birthday party and we did this silly camera together. He had a blast. I did too. He made up captions and had me write the captions on here.

Seth is in red pants. Traveling at the airport.

We had some challenges during the Christmas break. Getting both little boys up to Nathaniel's school for the Christmas party during naptime was hard, but he wanted his brothers there to celebrate with him, so we went. We couldn't stay for the whole party. We missed our flight to Midland, because the airport was a zoo. We were stuck in line to check our bags for over 1.5 hrs. Very frustrating, so we spent all day traveling and in airports to get to Midland. But it was so worth it. All 3 boys did great (probably better than I did). The pictures above are from the Midland Airport as we waited to go home. I didn't get any pictures traveling there, because it was crazy keeping all 3 kids together and happy in the airport. In Midland we ended up boarding the plane and having mechanical problems, but what can you do. Will and I were standing in the aisles of a very hot plane holding babies and trying to get them to go to sleep. Right after we left Midland a blizzard hit that prevented my parents from flying here. I have always believed that you have to be flexible when traveling. Unfortunately I am still not very good at that . . . there's always another trip to improve. Plus we were all sick a lot from November through December, so it was a tiring couple of months (but also very fun)!

We gave N a robe for Christmas

N's drawing of our family. Daddy and I each holding a baby

We made salt-dough ornaments for family (didn't get done until after Christmas)

N's Kinder teacher helped them make this wonderful ornament with his handprint.

Family Photo

We tried a couple of weeks ago to get a good family photo. This was the best we could do. Nathaniel has a funny expression and Seth isn't smiling, but everyone is looking in the general direction of the camera. I ran out of time to do Christmas cards, but at least we can enjoy the picture here.

Joel on left

More Writing Samples

You may get tired of seeing Nathaniel's Kindergarten work . . . but I can't get enough. Look at the bottom of the first page - yes, it says "I love my mommy." This made my day.

This one is interesting. I noticed the girl on the left has the exact opposite colors of the boy on the right. For example, look at the hats - hers is gray with brown spots, his is brown with gray spots. He continued this theme for the whole picture.

Brother Love

These 3 boys love each other so much . . . it is so amazing to watch them. First up Joel (in blue stripes) and Seth having a little fun in a big box.

Seth stepping on Nathaniel in the box

Having such a fun time

Nathaniel reading to Seth

Nathaniel reading to Joel

I LOVE the pictures of Nathaniel reading to his little brothers. He is such a kind and sweet big brother!

Growth Spurt

Nathaniel has grown an inch since this summer. He looks taller to me every day!

Zoo Time

We had a great trip to see Aunt Hill, Uncle Shelby, and my parents for Thanksgiving. I don't know how I didn't get any pictures of the boys with Aunt Hill and Uncle Shelby. I will have to fix that for next time. We all went to the zoo and had a fantastic time. Seth and Joel loved getting to walk to the park in Aunt Hill's neighborhood.

He held a bird on a stick!

He didn't have any fun at all in the wind tunnel. :)