Christmas cookies!

Well on Wednesday Ashley was coming over for the day so I decided it would be a great time to decorate Christmas cookies. Austin and Ashley were super excited. When Ashley got here at 8am the first thing she said to me was, "is it time to make cookies"! So after lunch we got after it...

Austin hard at work

This is his new face when I say smile...got to love those boys!!


Ashley hard at work!!


The little boys did not do a lot of decorating but did a lot of eating!!


Both of them putting on the final touches


The final product!! Aren't they beautiful! I love Christmas and all of our family traditions. Decorating cookies is something I have done since I was a little girl and I love that this is a tradition that I will do will my boys each year!

Blankee

Barrett love his green blankee! Blankee can make everything better if Bear is ever upset. Both boys were giving these small blankets as a gift when they were born and Barrett automatically was in love. It took us awaile to understand how happy it really could make him until several long car rides with Barrett screaming. Barrett is happy 95% of the time but he became the worst car rider ever! So we decided to bring his blankee that he slept with and wow what a difference...he never made a peep. Since then (about 6 months ago) we don't go anywhere without it. Barrett drags his blankee around the house, sleeps with him, sucks on him, bites him, pretty much does everything with him and because of this he gets dirty. One morning Barrett had an accident in his bed and blankee was wet and had to be washed. Well Bear is especially attached to blankee in the morning and was not going to give him up. So to the laundry room we went and in the washing machine blankee went. Barrett was NOT happy. Once he got over the fact he was in there he waited by the washing machine for him to come out!!

Too cute!! This is my only baby that has had a blankee attachment and as I know it won't be cute at 12 it is super cute at 1.

Mornings

Mornings at our house are pretty slow. None of my boys are much of morning people. Austin will and can sleep until 11am if you let him and no matter how much sleep he get he is cracky when he wakes up. Barrett is the happiest of all in the morning but is ready to eat. Dylan is usually happy but needs at least 30 minutes of snuggle time to get him going. Most mornings start with waffles or pancakes and a movie...


And on special occasions Daddy brings home donuts before he heads to work...

No matter what type of morning it is I know that me and my family are truly blessed!

Austin's New Found Friend

Since the weather was getting so cold we decided to let our chocolate lab come inside. Before the little boys were born Suzie was both an inside and outside dog but for the last 18 months she has been strictly outside. Since all the boys are getting older we figured we would try it out. Austin fell in love. Even though he plays with Suzie outside her being inside is completely different. They are now best friends and she is now HIS dog. She has worked wondered in Austin's bedtime routine too. As long as Suzie is in his room he will take a nap if needed and go to sleep in his bed with no arguing. It is really sweet to see Austin so protected and loving to her. The little boys really like her as well. The love to chase her around and watch her tail swing!!

The Santa Letter

Austin decided to write Santa a letter to let him know what he wanted for Christmas. It went like this;
"Dear Santa, Hi my name is Austin. I have been a good boy this year. I have been good at church and at home. I don't break stuff of pull down the stockings. I also help mommy with my brothers. Please Santa bring me a pogo stick, a real motorcycle with a helmet, a racecar, a computer game like Luke has, batman toys, new movies, and a roller coaster like at school but bigger. Love, Austin
Oh yeah and Barrett and Dylan have been good also!"

So after the letter was wrote we decided to give the letter to our elf on the shelf, because we all know that he flies to the North Pole every night to report back to Santa if the boys are good or bad.

Austin was very excited. The next morning he woke up to find that his letter was gone and that they had landed on the bar in the kitchen. He was so excited. I love Christmas!!!

A Day to Remember

Today was one of those days that I think I will remember forever. My mom and I have had plans to take Austin to Dallas to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at the Dallas Children's Theater for about a month. And even though I have seen the play at least twice before I could not have been more excited. I as a little girl went to the DCT many times and loved it and love that I now get to take Austin. Also I LOVE the book, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It tells the story of Christmas in such a fun and entertaining way but at the same time pulls at every emotion that allows us and the youngest of hearts to know that God can do ANYTHING at ANYTIME!! Before we went to the theater we went to Northpark (of course) to do a little shopping and got a few surprises. We were right in time for the puppet show...
which Austin loved!! We were also able to give back to a charity for the homeless by decorating a gingerbread cookie...

Hard at work!

Posing with Mommy and Mimi

The finished product

We finally made it to the play and Austin loved it. He surprised me how still and quietly he sat and listened. It was a great experience and one that I hope to do so many more times.

Before we went in...

Waiting for it to start...

Sharing a seat...cousins!

Autographs after the play

And one more to end the day!!

Once we got home Daddy had yet another surprise, Coco and Carlee were coming over! Austin as usual had a blast and so did Daddy!


Time goes by too quickly and days like today create memories that last a lifetime. As a mom of three I try hard to find one on one special time with all of my boys. Today "Austin Day" was a huge success!!

Thanksgiving or Christmas

Today was both a preparation for Thanksgiving and Christmas. For Thanksgiving I decided to let Austin makes some special cookies to take with us to Michael's parents house. He was really excited about making them and I was excited that I had found a recipe that he could actually do mostly by himself.

Austin getting ready to make the cookies

Proud Austin with his cookies

The finished product...they were so easy just take a fudge striped cookie and place it chocolate side up, dip a large marshmallow in melted chocolate chips, and once cooled add the buckle on the hat!

Barrett and Dylan did not help make the cookies but definitly helped eat the ingredients!!

Once we had Thanksgiving cookies out of the way we were moving on to decorating for Christmas. Austin helped me pull everything down from the attic and unpack all the decorations. He was so excited to find his tree for his room, however when we found it he said, "this tree is not small it is tiny, I am going to call my Mimi and see if I can get a bigger one. I will give this one to my brothers." In his defense the tree was tiny!! We turned on Christmas music and me and Austin sang while the little boys danced. In one moment today I looked at my three boys and thought about last year. I remembered how tiny the little boys were. I look at Austin and have to struggle to see the baby left in his face. And then I thought about next year and how the Austin will be in his last year of preschool and the boys will be about the same age as Austin was when they were born. Time is flying by and in this moment I remember why I like to make every moment count and every memory last forever. I am so excited about this Christmas. Austin is at a great age and loves to learn and understand all about everything. The little boys literally see things for the first time and the expressions on their faces tell it all. I know that this Christmas is going to be a Christmas to remember forever!

The stocking are hung and the tree is up, not decorated, but up!!

Outside

Well today was a beautiful day outside and the little boys are learning to love to play outside and have discovered that they can do this without me. So after afternoon nap I put on all the boys coats, sock and shoes and opened up the back door. Out they went we started out at the swings after much begging from Austin. After swinging three boys in the swings I got everyone down and headed in to clean up the kitchen. The boys had a blast sliding down the slides, playing in the sand box and throwing leaves. They also love to play with Suzie and I really think she enjoys playing with them.

Suzie and all the boys in the sand box!


Going down the slide


Bear and Suzie

Austin and Suzie

Playing on the slide

Eating crackers in the sand box!

Austin, like any three year old, always says thing that amazes me. When outside playing today he looked up in the sky and saw this...

and said "Mom look at that comet." He became obsessed with it and wanted me to take a picture of it so here is Austin's "comet" for everyone to see!!

The night ended with a houseful, 6 adults, 1 three year old, and 3 one year old or my parents and my sister's family. We had a lot of fun, grilled hamburgers and mostly played with babies!!

Thanksgiving Feast

Today was Austin's Thanksgiving feast at his school. He was so excited to go and sing his songs with his friends. He told me before we left that he was going to sing his song and then we were going to eat some good food and he was right. The boys were great and loved watching Austin sing. Barrett was himself and wondered around visiting with everyone and refused to have his picture taken, I guess he was too busy.

Austin at his Thanksgiving Program


Austin singing "Oh I am glad I am not a turkey, a turkey, a turkey, oh I am glad I am not a turkey on Thanksgiving Day. They will stuff you and bake you and then they will taste you, oh I am glad I am not a turkey on Thanksgiving Day."

Austin and Macie at Thanksgiving at Sunshine Friends

Dylan on the go!!

Dylan and his favorite person...Mommy!

I promise Barrett was here just too busy for pictures...I tried and so was Daddy but you know how that goes!