Merry Christmas to All!

So this is Christmas......

2013

Noah is 8 months and crawling EVERYWHERE.

He is pulling up on things...

And trying desperately to stand up....

Which he hasn't mastered yet....

Note the shiner.

Oh and he loves Cheerios......

Luke is 5 days shy of 3, loves putting people on the naughty list and finds the hustle and bustle of the holidays exhausting.....

He's also been ice skating twice and has mastered skating from the seated position....

Sam is 4.5, loves pushing every limit we give him and is already growing very suspicious of this Santa character.

Elf on the Shelf- no chance.

He is a marginally better skater than Luke....

This year on Christmas Eve we went to Church and remembered all the things we have to be grateful for. 

There have been so many stories of people who are ill or who have passed away too soon and too suddenly. Stories of people who are alone, lost or struggling. We feel so humbled by our blessings this Christmas...none of which are under a tree. 

Well, three of them might be under a tree trying to sneak an early gift.....

Here we are...

Yes. We take pictures at church. 

International blogger, remember?

(Luke's hair caught on fire about 60 seconds after this picture was snapped...)

Then we went home, had some Potato Soup and opened 1 gift.....

Set out cookies for Santa and hit the sack.....

And this morning???

Well, see for yourself......

Merry Christmas to our family, friends, & millions of blog followers all across the world....

We love you!

9 days till Christmas!

This past week we got Luke's school pictures.....

Noah has turned into a mobile munchkin, who lives to try to stand up....

Phil and I celebrated our 6 year Anniversary. 

We had a glass of wine out of paper Halloween bowls...

And since the traditional 6 year gift is iron, he got a scooter. 

I'm not sure if it has iron in it but it's metal so close enough.... 

We've been battling pneumonia and the pollution has been too high to go outdoors so we are trying to keep busy inside....

I attempted homemade ornaments. 

FAIL. 

Play-dough. 

Yes, it's taped to his face. 

Phil's idea. 

Buckeyes!!!!!

Dodgeball!

I think it was therapeutic for Phil....

video:

 http://youtu.be/-T6xaGIPleE

Bath time.....

Play time

Sam had a family Christmas show at school today. 

SO cute!!!!

Video:

http://youtu.be/K9YhWdaNSzE

Here's Luke reorganizing the classroom tree...

The boys getting rudolph noses....

And here is Sam with his amazing teacher Mr. Ueland!!!

Here are couple videos from Luke's Christmas show last week

( you may have to cut and paste these links)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JNXz8Jh0Mk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdpD-9bJDsw

Tonight we are going to get a set of chest x-rays for the boys and hoping they look clear. 

9 day until Christmas!!!!!

Santa Claus is coming to town.....

Santa Claus is coming to town....

We are preparing by being super heros....

Flying...

We also went to see Santa at the mall

And Luke’s class dressed up for a Christmas show as little Santas to sing and get in the Christmas spirit….

And hard work deserves a reward.....

No matter where you leave Noah, he ends up stuck under this chair. 

Every. Time. 

We are currently working on patience. 

Grandma Patti sent some wrapped gifts which I thought would look lovely under our ugly tree. 

I left the room for a split second and apparently the two gift bags fell, and the boys "had to open them to make sure they weren't broken"

The wrapped gifts are a bit trickier.....

Unfortunatley, along with Santa Claus.....Pneumonia has also come to town.

All three boys have it. Luke and Noah are much worse than Sam, and we are praying they recover soon and that we can avoid hospitalization.

We’ll know more tomorrow.

In the midst of all this stress I have a whole new appreciation for my husband who:

- has taken the afternoon off to take Luke to respiratory therapy while I stay home with Noah and Sam

- took luke to get a haircut after his appointment

- came home and took Sam to a super hero birthday party so he didn’t have to miss it and could get out of the house away from his brothers and hand to cancel a work dinner because of it

Our 6 year anniversary is Sunday and it’s very clear I hit the jackpot. He’s a stronger, more patient (not that that says much), and more selfless than I am.

He is the calm in the storm while I tend to be a bit more…. Over reactive. 

Being married to him makes me to be a better person. 

Most importantly - He’s an amazing dad.

 Thanks Grandpa & Pada…. You did a good job with that one.

I also have a deep appreciation for our families so far away who are helping us and praying for us….