This Week

Jake got dressed for church last week and decided all he needed was a pair of shades to save the world from alien invaders.  Meet the next generation of the MIB's... "What's that stand for? Men. In. Black."

We got a load of firewood last weekend from our brother in law, and believe it or not, this entire stack was done almost single handedly by....

The Laziest Child God Ever Created.  He's working hard on earning a new title.

Sister is starting to work on her letters, primarily writing her name.

Mine is a little bit easier to write.

Our favorite part of the day is still picking up these yahoo's from school.  It makes Lil Sister pretty darn happy.

This Weekend

Austin and Leah don't always get along, and sometimes struggle to find things to play together without fighting, but one thing they can always agree on is playing Family.  This week's incarnation -  the Royal Family.  I bet you'll never see Prince William rocking plaid shorts with a homemade Superman cape and leopard print crown...

This whole week has been cold, but this morning we woke up to 20 degree weather, frozen ground everywhere, and the slightest smattering of snow flurries.

The most amazing part - the gorgeous collection of spider webs that looked like they were made out of thick yarn after being frozen.

My ding dong kids of course think that 20 degree weather and "snow" means they need to play outside.  It lasted all of about 20 minutes, but they enjoyed themselves.

Sister's Big Day

The boys went back to school today, and oh was it hard on Sister.  As excited as she has been about my being home with her each day, our regular routine without the boys being here didn't start until today.  As soon as we dropped them off at school, she burst into tears crying, "I want my brothers!".  After being consoled by some chocolate milk and a sausage McMuffin, we went about our normal day, with some extra cuddle and coloring time at her request.  When we went out to run errands, she must have been feeling better, because she announced that she was gonna be a "sass-a-frass" and got her bling - and her sass- on:

 She also packed her purse full of the necessities - Wheat Thins and colored pencils.

And just because she wasn't quite over her boys being gone, she carried a picture of Austin in her pocket all day.

Christmas 2012

I have fallen off the picture taking band wagon.  It seems like it's been several months since I took a decent photo or made any attempt to capture something other than a quick snapshot.  Thus, sadly, our wonderful Christmas is left to be remembered in these few paltry shots:

Grandma and Grandpa spent the holiday with us, and we had a wonderful time.  I think this may be one of the first years we've hosted them for Christmas, and hopefully it will just be the first of many.  There was lots of cuddling and reading, along with special one on one time for each grand kid.

The kids were overjoyed when we told them they got to open a gift Christmas Eve - new jammies, a new tradition.

 Grandma helped The Littles check Santa's progress on the iPad.

 Sleepy Christmas morning.

 Grandpa had such a raucous good time Christmas morning......

 that it apparently wore him out.

It truly was a wonderful holiday this year.  We baked, laughed, visited family, got sick, Grandpa and Jake junked our old furniture (hallelujah!), Dad and Grandpa put together new bunk beds for the boys, and Grandma and I had a mad wrapping party when I realized it was the 23rd and I had not wrapped one.single.gift.  25 gifts in something like 45 minutes, quite possibly a new world record.