on a holiday-induced high

I absolutely love this time of year!  Even though I'm still struggling to get used to having three kids, and it's getting dark earlier every day, I am on a holiday-induced high.  I love getting together with family on Thanksgiving - eating all day and then playing games in the afternoon.  The kids play so nicely with their cousins.  It feels like a mini-vacation for us. 
And then there's Christmas.  I am in love with Christmas.  I look forward to it all year.  And then, the day after Christmas, I start thinking about next Christmas.  I think the reason I like this holiday so much is that it gives us an excuse to have extra family get-togethers. 
This year, I am excited to see Naomi's reaction to her first Christmas.  I'm sure she will love the twinkling lights, and try to eat her fair share of wrapping paper.  I will enjoy opening girl-themed gifts and taking a million pictures of her in a fancy-schmancy Christmas dress. 
The boys will so much fun because of their contagious enthusiasm.  They love opening the advent calendar every day, receiving stockings on St. Nichoas Day, and playing with their cousins during family get-togethers.  I love that Caleb asks so many questions about why Jesus came to earth to die for our sins.  He keeps reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas.
I could go on and on about Christmas, but right now I have a little boy who won't nap. 
Thanks for reading!

lazy this morning

Well, the boys are gone, and I'm at home with a baby who is supposed to be napping.  It is VBS week at church.  Caleb is participating in VBS, Mark is the speaker for the week, and Micah is going to the VBS childcare.  That leaves me at home with one cute little baby.  I have several things to accomplish this morning, and I haven't done anything yet except sit around and order things online.  I could do so much this week with the boys gone.  I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by the prospect of trying to do so much.  I think first I'll take a little nap...

Well, so much for my blog...

Okay, it's officially been a YEAR since I last blogged.  A lot has happened in this last year.  I'll try to recap, but I'll probably forget half of what has happened.

First, and most importantly, last August we found out we were going to have another BABY.  Yes, you read that right, another baby.  This from the girl who said over and over that she was done.  I actually had several friends laugh when they found out.  I completely deserved it:)  Anyway, around the same time we found out, three of my other friends also found out that they were expecting.  Then, a most exciting thing happened.  All four of us found out we were having girls!  As my friend stated on her blog, "we thought we were boy-breeders", so we were stunned at this wonderful news.

On March 21, 2012, (three weeks early - usually I go late, so we were stunned by this too) I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl with tons of dark curly hair.  (whose child is this anyway?)  We named her Naomi Noelle.  We brought her home and proceeded to fall more in love with her every day.  Her brothers have been so sweet with her.  It's been four months, and they still fawn over her constantly.

We also celebrated Micah's second birthday and Caleb's sixth birthday.  Mark and I celebrated our ninth anniversary. (kind of, I mean we had a new baby at the time)  The boys have been growing like weeds.  Caleb recently lost his two bottom front teeth, and Micah's vocabulary has been exploding.  He has been counting, identifying colors, and speaking in complete sentences.

Well, Naomi's crying to be fed, so I must go.  I'll try to come back and blog a bit more about our summer some other time.  Thanks for reading!

camping out

Mark and Caleb had a guys' night out last night.  Mark took Caleb to a local baseball game, and then they camped out in our tent in the backyard.  Caleb has been so excited he can barely stand it.  They had quite a successful evening.  Caleb asked to play baseball outside with Daddy this morning.  So, they are out taking down the tent, and then they will play baseball for a little while.  I'm so glad Mark wants to do special things like this with the boys.  I'm so thankful for him.
Meanwhile, Micah and I had a night in.  I thought it would be low-key, but Micah tried getting into everything about 500 times and was very naughty.  Oh well.  I had a little me-time when he went to bed and that was really nice.
So, here we are on a Saturday morning trying to figure out what to do with the day.  I'm looking forward to a girls' cooking night at the lovely Jenelle's house tonight.  I suppose I should go round up some ingredients for a peach galette.  Is it wrong to bake something when I'm not sure how to pronounce it?  I hope not.  Anyway, that's all for now.  Thanks for reading!

letting go

I took Caleb to a friend's birthday party this morning and had the hardest time leaving him there.  Don't get me wrong - the birthday boy's parents are wonderful and just about as conservative as I am:)  Oh, and did I mention that they live next door?  I just have such a hard time letting other people watch my kids, even people I trust.  He is my precious gift from God, and I treasure every day with him.  I hate that he is growing up.  What I am going to do when kindergarten rolls around?  It's enough to make me want to homeschool him just to keep him home with me.  I am struggling right now with my parenting skills and feeling inadequate anyway.  I just keep worrying about him and the future. 
Anyway, these are probably the rantings of a crazy woman.  I'm sure he's fine.  At least if I want to check up on him, I can just peek out the window...

Caleb's birthday

A couple weeks ago, we celebrated Caleb's birthday.  He wanted a Cars theme, so he got a cake with a racetrack on it and some Cars themed games.  The party went pretty well, considering they had been predicting rain and our house is under 1,000 sq. feet.  It was a beautiful, sunshine-y day.  Here are a few photos:  (Yes, that is Caleb in his Buzz Lightyear costume)

Happy Birthday to my sweet little guy!  He's a big 5-year-old now!

greatly amused

It's time for yet another peek into what I am thinking today.  I am greatly amused by several things at the moment.  Here are a few:

• Caleb just asked me if he could watch The Backyardigans:  Mission to "Menards"  (It's really Mission to Mars)
• I went to a playdate this morning where Micah sat down in a drawer of Legos and played.
• At this very playdate, a friend shared an amusing anecdote about a squirrel.
• Caleb keeps telling me that with each birthday celebration he has, he turns a year older.  He'll be 10 instead of 5 within a few days.

I guess you could say that right now I love my life, and with two little boys, it will probably only get more amusing by the minute.