Weekend happenings.

Our weekend was pretty low-key. The kids still have coughs so I kept them home from my nephew's birthday party on Saturday and from church on Sunday. I was 99.9% sure they weren't contagious anymore, but we really don't want to spread the germs.

Friday was warm, so I took the kids for a walk in their new wagon.

Saturday we cleaned and played. While I was doing my hair, L&L had fun doing their bears' hair.

Playing "Matching" with Daddy before he left to play in a concert.

Two happy kids early Sunday morning.

Having "church" at home. I'm thankful for sermonaudio.com.

Levi reading while mama cooks dinner.

Uncle Judah is awesome!

We typically have Sunday dinner with Jacob's family, but his mom and most of his siblings were out of town for the weekend, so I cooked and his dad and brother came over. L&L had so much fun playing and reading with Uncle Judah.

Me and my girl snuggling after naptime.

Sweet babes in their jammies with their babies.

Mr. Mischievous.

Homemade chocolate chip cookies.

All of my family came over for supper Sunday night since we normally go over to my parent's on Sunday evenings.

Levi and his sweet babysitter, Hannah. He loves her!

Papaw and Ridley.

Happy 4th Birthday, Ridley!

Hope you all had a fun weekend!

9 & 10 months.

For some reason I got it stuck in my head that I had done a 9 month post for Asher, but when I went and looked just now, I realized I never did one. Oops.

He is a mover! He can speed scoot (army crawl) and he's getting faster at actual crawling. He goes all over the house chasing Lily and Levi and sneaking into the bathroom whenever we accidentally leave the door open.

He's pulling up on everything. He can also push things and walk after them.

He's a great sleeper - 1 1/2 hour morning nap, 1 1/2 hour afternoon nap, and 12 hours at night. When he wakes up, he usually just plays in his crib until I go get him. 

He takes his afternoon nap in the pack and play in our room because he and Levi disturb each other when they are trying to nap together. They do fine at night thankfully.

He wears mostly 9 month clothes.

He weighs 18lbs.

His smiles are the sweetest.

Everything goes in his mouth. We have to watch him like a hawk because Lily and Levi have some small toys that Asher will get if we're not careful. I'm constantly digging things out of his mouth...a piece of felt, dog food, left over food from under the table (before I've had the chance to sweep).

Poor child's socks rarely match his outfit. :-/

He is ready to move up to the convertible carseat, and I am certainly ready to not have to lug around the infant seat. We are planning to get Lily a new seat so Asher can have her old one.

He is a mama's boy through and through. He's not a big fan of others holding him (when mama's in view) or mama leaving him.

He has 4 teeth - two on top and two on the bottom.

He eats so much! He still takes 4 bottles each day and eats solids 3 times. He loves to feed himself and is doing great with his pincer grasp and hand/eye coordination. He still eats anything I give him and enjoys gnawing on raw carrots and apples. So far he is still grain-free...except for the piece of animal cracker he snatched from Levi and gobbled up before I could dig it out of his mouth. ha.

Little man is growing up way too fast!

I'm thankful for this little guy!

Sick house.

We've had the sickies at our house this week. Levi woke up with it last Friday (cold and cough) and then Lily and Asher got it Tuesday. We've been hanging out at home playing and resting and drinking warm tea.

I am so thankful my babes love to read. If I just need a second to do a quick chore or take a sip of coffee (or tea these days), I tell them to get a book and sit on the couch and read for a minute. 

The cough has been what's been waking them up throughout the night. Tuesday night was a good sleep though - Levi was doing mostly better and Lily and Asher weren't bad enough for the cough to bother them. 

Last night, though, was the completely opposite. I was up rocking and comforting and covering these two all throughout the night. We've been taking it easy today, that's for sure! So far Jacob and I haven't gotten it. We are praying to stay healthy!

Christmas Eve

We had one extended family get together on Sunday afternoon, the 23rd, but I didn't get any pictures. Jacob was late because of an Christmas program, so I was busy with the kids and snapping pictures didn't even cross my mind. :-/

Anyway, we had our little family's Christmas on Christmas Eve morning. I ended up staying up until 3am to finish Lily's quiet book, but it was so worth it! 

A few details before I get to the pictures. You may notice the lack of Christmas decorations - our Christmas was pretty simple this year - we put wreaths on the doors and strung all our Christmas cards up so the kids could look at them, and of course we pulled out our Christmas books that stay put away all year. We didn't have a tree though. We've always gotten a real tree and this year we just didn't have the extra $25 for it. It was really ok. We enjoyed the beautiful trees at our family and friends homes. Also, we don't do a lot of gifts for our kids because of the outpouring from both extended families. Our tradition has been 3 presents each. 

Levi got his quiet book, a vacuum, and a puzzle.

Lily got her quiet book, a musical instrument set (harmonica, tambourine, etc), and an American Girl book. (She loves for me to read them to her)

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Asher got a dump truck, a light up musical toy, and new batteries put in the Leap Pad learning table. :)

Jacob had taken Lily and Levi (at separate times) to the Dollar Tree to pick out gifts for each other, Asher, me, and a couple friends from church. The kids and I had picked up a few little things for Jacob too. Lily and Levi had the best time giving each other and mama and daddy the presents they had bought for them.

Levi was obsessed with his vacuum. It was seriously his favorite thing this Christmas! It did not leave his side for several days. The awesome thing is that I got it at a consignment sale for $2!

Levi playing with his quiet book.

Lily talking on her quiet book "iPhone"

After eating breakfast and getting ready, we headed out to my extended family's get together.

We enjoyed a traditional Christmas dinner, then a time of Scripture reading and prayer, and then exchanging gifts and playing dirty santa. It was fun!

Lily and Levi with their cousin Ashlyn.

We went home for quick naps, food prep, and gift wrapping before going to Jacob's immediate family get together. Yes, Levi wanted to sleep with his vacuum. 

Lily playing with her new silly putty.

Levi and Grandpa reading the Christmas Story.

I didn't get many pictures this time either - none of Asher! :( He's a bigtime mama's boy right now, so I guess he was sitting in my lap the whole time while I snapped pictures. Oh well. The kids were super exhausted by the time the evening was over. It was such a wonderful, fun, and tiring day!

Christmas Festivities

Um, yes, I am just now blogging about Christmas. Oops! Better late than never, I suppose. I feel like I've been in a whirlwind since October with Jacob's grandfather's illness and passing, Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law's wedding and all those details, Christmas planning and get-togethers, Levi's 2nd birthday, New Year's and Lily's 3rd birthday. Craziness. 

The later part of last week, we spent at home - relaxing, playing, cleaning, and trying to get organized. 

Here are some pictures of some of the fun things we did leading up to Christmas.

Decorating Memaw's Christmas tree. I love this tradition.

We got a free pass to a drive-thru light show. They had a place the kids could get out and play with "snow," build with these blocks, and see real reindeer. It was such a fun evening! Lily and Levi just loved the lights!

Growing up, we always made goodies for neighbors, family, friends, and church family. It doesn't feel like Christmas if I don't carry on that tradition. In past years, I've done brownie mix in a jar, homemade granola, cookies, and other sweets. This year I decided to do homemade potpourri. I borrowed a friend's dehydrator to dry oranges, lemons, apples, and cranberries. Then we added them with the spices in a little bag. I think they turned out cute, and we enjoyed having some simmering on our stove too!

Out of the dozens of concerts and programs that Jacob played in and conducted, I only took the kids to one youth orchestra concert. It was fun, the music was beautiful, and the kids did well until right at the end. My mom and some of Jacob's family came and they helped me with the kids - such a blessing!

We made sugar cookies together.

Enjoyed one of Uncle Josh's basketball games.

The kids loving Memaw's "boo-ti-ful" tree.