This is the Last Post of 2011

Well, I’m sitting here on New Year’s Eve, feeling all reflective.  2011 was a great year for me.  Nothing much “big” happened, just adjusting to life with three amazing kiddos.

I didn’t take any pictures today (what?!), but I did make a new desktop background for my computer.  The old one had pictures from this summer on it.  I love opening up the computer and seeing my sweet family (not that I can’t look around and actually see my sweet family any time I want to.)  :)

So here’s my desktop background:

You should be able to click on it to make it larger.  It makes me smile!

Happy New Year to you all!

Playing Outside Today

It was really gorgeous outside today – sunny and warm, so we went out front to enjoy it a bit.

The girls are “practicing gardening” as Joanna put it.

James was pretty happy to crawl around on the driveway.  I LOVE that this is what I get when I ask for a smile!

Love a good shoveling pose!

I got some really sweet pictures of James and Natalie on the driveway.  I don’t see their interaction as much as the interactions between each of them and Joanna.

They’re both looking at the biggest sis here:

This is my favorite picture of the day!  It is so rare for me to capture a genuine smile from Natalie.  She smiles a lot, for sure, but if she knows you’re taking a picture, her smile turns fake.

Natalie is such a princess… all the time!

I pulled out the car so James could practice some driving… or sitting anyway.

As you can see, it made him totally miserable.  :)

Cute face – he spotted Daddy who had just driven up!  (And just in time to change a diaper – TGIF!!)

The leaves are so heavy on one side of the yard toward the end neighbor’s house.  (It’s been vacant for some time.)  In fact, the space between the girls and the tree behind them is driveway… completely covered in leaves.

Time to head in for dinner!

So the amazing energy and feeling greatness I’ve had all week came to a screeching halt this morning!  It’s been quite a struggle to make it through the day.  Nothing major, thankfully; I’ve just been totally wiped out and not the least bit grumpy.  Poor kids.  My sweet James woke up on the wrong side of the bed as well.  Ooooohh weee!  That’s a terrible combo right there let me tell you!  Grumpy mommy plus grumpy one year old is no good at all!  I’m just so very glad it’s Friday, and now I’ll have back-up!

Seriously though, I really hope my happy James is back tomorrow – I miss him!  He’s been so happy all week (last week was torture!), so I thought we’d turned a corner.  Just goes to show you can’t really count on anything with children.  :)  Maybe Daddy will make it better.

2011 in Review

Well, not a full review…  if you want one of those you can click back to January and start reading!

I found these printables on a blog I read and thought it would be fun to fill them out for/with the kiddos as a snapshot of right now in their lives.  I think it might be fun to try and do something like this every year.  The children can fill them out themselves eventually!

My scanner’s not working (need a new one!!), so I took a picture of them all filled out – virtually the same effect.

For Joanna’s, I asked her the questions (I may have paraphrased some), and wrote down just what she answered.  You should be able to click on the image to make it bigger and easier to read.

My favorite answer of Joanna’s was the last one.  A place I want to go in 2012?  She told me she wanted to go to Home Depot and spend the money from her bank.  :)

I basically wrote down exactly what Natalie told me, but some times her brain just couldn’t go there or she was distracted with something else.  In that case, I put my answer for her in parenthesis.  :)

My favorite answer of hers was to What I want to be when I grow up.  She answered “feed food to Jamsie.”  I asked her if she wanted to be a mommy, and she said yes.  :)

James’ isn’t really that exciting because I just wrote down what I thought he would tell me if he could.

Enjoy!

Living with Girls

This picture has nothing to do with the title of the post; don’t be confused.  :)  James LOVES sitting in the fire engine.  It won’t be long before he can actually get himself in and out.

When you live with girls…

sometimes you just have to put on your purple beaded necklace and use the purple computer to get your work done.

I think it’s about time to think about some manly dress-up for around here… hats and things.

Though the crown necklace sure is… something anyway.  It’s his new favorite accessory.  He’s wearing it right now.  And he loves it.  And he doesn’t want me to take it away from him.

I’ve been getting some pretty cute smiles this week from my Jamesie boy!  I love how they’re crooked and toothy – so cute!!

And… he has slept until or past 7:00am the past four mornings.  I am literally a new woman.  I think it was maybe sometime in 2008 (or possibly even 2006) the last time I slept through the night until 7:00… no getting up to shift a baby bump or go to the bathroom five times, and no getting up to nurse a baby.  I do really love those early morning snuggles, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything, but I cannot believe my energy and mood this week.  It’s AMAZING.

The Hooded Shopper

I found this hooded shopper wandering my kitchen yesterday.

He knew just where he was going.

He stopped.

He shopped.

But I guess he didn’t find anything he needed.

It’s a Baby Joke

The kids and I tackled some errands this morning then were rewarded with lunch at Gran’s house!  She made chicken soup with bread and she had chips and guacamole too.  YUM!  We played there for a while before heading home.  It feels so good to have filled up the car with gas, picked up my prescription, returned shoes, taken care of some cats, and done the banking.  Ahhhhhh…

James thinks this is hilarious:

That’s probably because it entertains us and we laugh.  :)

With the help of his sister, he can stack many socks on his head!

He’s a hoot, especially when he’s happy!

Christmas with Family

We went over to Mamma and Pop’s for lunch and even more presents!

Joanna told me she was shocked when she opened her new laptop!

Natalie got one too!

I guess I didn’t take pictures of James’ gift after he (or maybe his sisters) opened it, but he got an Elmo towel and some stacking/pouring cups – so cute!

At some point, we turned on kid TV.  Kurt was singing along to Dora, and Joanna kept reaching over to shush him!

The girls love all their cousins!

Aunt Mindy wore her new footie PJs – she says she may never take them off they’re so comfortable.  :)  Natalie kept asking her why she was wearing them; it was cute.  That night Natalie asked to wear her footie PJs to bed.

It was so nice to spend time with so much family!  And Mamma and Pop surprised the big kids with Keurig coffee makers!

We all had such a nice time!

James says “Peek-a-boo!”

I don’t remember actually falling asleep, but I look pretty out in this picture!  And most of the pictures after this one on the card were unfamiliar.  :)

Awwww…

Kendra worked some magic on James!

Mindy and Steve brought the kids over the little fire engine from their house.  They love it!

The children slept very well last night.  I went to bed about midnight (which is a bit late for me), fully expecting to be up early.  I was very surprised when Natalie came into my room for some snuggles and it was 7:56!!  BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER!!!  I heard James immediately, so I don’t really know who woke up first, but I don’t care!  James has been up in the 4:00 hour all week long and struggling to get back to sleep for any time at all.  (Last Tuesday morning the 20th at about 5am was the last time I nursed James.)  He’s so accustomed to waking up early, having some milk, and going back to sleep.  We’re trying to retrain his little body.  Boy does he ever wake up hungry though!  I was FLOORED he slept until eight today.  I’m just hoping it wasn’t a fluke.  :)

Today we had a big lunch over at David and Gran’s house with his family and Kathryn too.  Soooooo yummy!  And the kids were very well entertained with all the family around.  They sure are cute!  I didn’t take any pictures, but David did with his fancy camera.  I’ll have to do a catch-up post at some point with pictures from David’s camera and Mamma’s camera and Candice’s blog (she posted some of Joanna from the Christmas party that I’m planning to steal borrow).  Perhaps I’ll stalk these people with my computer this week.  (As if I have time for that!)

Kathryn headed back this afternoon.  :(  She has a job interview tomorrow with the NICU at OU Children’s hospital!  Send some prayers her way please.  It would be an awesome opportunity for her, but at the very least she’ll get some practice at interviewing  She’s been working so hard!

We’re looking forward to a laid-back day at home tomorrow, checking out our new toys!

Christmas Day at Home!

We headed to church for the only service on Christmas Day, 11:00.  Before we headed out I had to get some daytime pictures of the children’s outfits.  They wore the same thing as on Christmas Eve… except for Joanna’s boots. :)

Maybe it’s the hair, maybe the sideways look, but I think Joanna looks so grown up here!

Sweet sisters!

I love the look on Natalie’s face here:

Sweet sisters – best friends!

Jamesie boy and me, looking so sharp!

I really love winter clothes.  I’m sure it’s because we don’t get to wear them that often or for very long.

We took all the kids to church, mainly because that was our only option.  :)  We always take the girls, but are most of the time happy to let James play in the nursery.  As there wasn’t a nursery, everybody who came to church got to listen to James talk and blow raspberries.  Good times!  It was all happy baby noises, but he may have been a teeny bit of a distraction.  Ahem.

Back at home, we opened up the playroom to finish up the presents!

Joanna unveiling her shopping cart.

I said, “Turn around and let me see your face!”

Natalie got the little people house you can kind of see here in front of sweet smiling James.

Sweet smiling Joanna is in front of James’ new Little People airport.

The shopping cart had a few things tucked in it that didn’t quite fit in the stockings.  James is pulling the peanut butter out of the jar.

The kids have had a great time checking out the new toys!

And eating some of the treats from their stockings.  Yum!

I made the girls some play make-up using nail polish.  I poured it into empty make up containers and let it dry… over and over and over until they were full.  They LOVE them.  Too cute!

There’s our boy, playing in the car seat again!

Here’s a sample of his raspberry face.  :)

Love that kid!

I think one more most should catch me up for Christmas.