End of the Year Wrap Up

Where has the year gone?! Christmas is over again, and my kids were almost in tears when they woke up this morning and saw that the tree was gone. It really felt like Christmas snuck up on us this year, maybe because we missed some of our usual holiday events like the lights at CALM and caroling. I didn't even get a Christmas outfits for church picture because Andi & Sammy had Strep and didn't go to Church the Sunday before Christmas. Luckily with a few days of antibiotics under their belts, they were healthy enough to enjoy Christmas Eve at the Bulkeley's. This is the first year Sammy really got into the Santa Letter reading, and thought the parts about him were so funny.
 All the kids with Grandpa while he read the letter.

 Christmas morning was low key. We opened presents and made a big breakfast, and even Peter got to try something special that morning. Rice Cereal. As you can see he loved it.

 Unfortunately he seems to be allergic to it. After a couple days his little cheeks were red and peeling with eczema, and he had a runny nose. So it was back to a bottle for a few days before we tried oatmeal. He hasn't had a reaction to that which is good, but still makes me nervous for all the other new foods to come.
Back to Christmas. After breakfast the kids hit the street with their new scooters for about 2 minutes, when they realized it was much to cold to be running around. But they have been on them every afternoon since. Sammy also decided he could ride his big boy bike with no help now and they have been outside non-stop.

 Here's Peter enjoying the wraping carnage.

And Sammy modeling his new tools. Thad found these and is hoping it will keep Sammy from raiding his toolbox. Yes that's a real hammer, and screw driver. What was he thinking?!

We headed over to my parents house around noon to do the tree with them and then have a big Christmas dinner. The kids made out like bandits and spent all afternoon running around playing with their new toys. Whack a mole, battleship, and spy costumes were all a huge hit.
This is the first year I've had to truly appreciate the two weeks that are Christmas Break. No getting up early for school. No running off to dance class or swim class. No homework. It's been grand. As much as Andi was not looking forward to no school, she has begun to appreciate sleeping in and spending the entire day playing with Sammy and the neighbors. What a life.
2012 has been an eventful year for us as a family. New house, new baby, new church callings, new to public school, just a lot of new and different. It's been wonderful, but I'm looking forward to a low key 2013.  Happy New Years Eve!

3 days left

 I can't believe Christmas is almost here. December has flown by, and I'm not even sure what has kept us so busy. Before the big day I wanted to post some updates on the kids. Andi has been losing teeth left and right. She's currently missing 3, and the permanent ones are taking their sweet time coming in.

Sammy has been a little jealous of all the teeth Andi has been losing, well, maybe not the teeth part, but the tooth-fairy money part. So he has been trying to trick the tooth-fairy by putting different thing under his pillow each night hoping she'll take the bait and leave him money.  So far she's proven to be too smart for that Sammy, but he keeps trying.

Sammy also has a new favorite phrase. "That hurts my feelings." Anytime I tell him no, whether it's no I'm not buying you that toy at the store, or no you can't have candy for breakfast I get:  "When you tell me no that's bad. That hurts my feelings."  And it's pronounced fee-o-lings. Anytime he doesn't get absolutely exactly what he wants I've hurt his feelings. I'm very close to telling him to man up and get over it, but I don't want to discourage him from talking about his feelings. . . or do I. . .
Peter is 5 months today and the little beast is sporting a 12 month onesie and 9 month pants.

He loves the doorway jumper, and sitting up tall in the bumbo, and laughs at the kids all day long.

Oh, and he's been sucking on his bottom lip like crazy.

He likes to play peekaboo with a blanket. Meaning you cover him with the blanket and then yank it off. Anytime Thad plays this though, the other two think they need to be involved. All Daddy play time must involve them. It's some sort of law I think. So here all three of them are as Thad yanks the blanket off. Bunch of crazies.

3 days left till Christmas, and Les Mis! I'm equally excited about both of these things.

Rollin

Peter has officially rolled over by himself a few times now. The first time it happened there were no witnesses to the event, but we know it happened because I put him down on his back, a few minutes later he started screaming, and we ran in to find him on his stomach. Apparently rolling over feels like the tower of terror to a 4 month old.  Now that the initial shock is over he thinks rolling on to his stomach is pretty cool. Here is a pictorial play by play. Sammy tempting him with Christmas ornaments.

Trying so hard to get that arm out of the way. Not enjoying all the effort it takes.

 Finally!

Thad has been working on lighting/electrical again and this time put in 6 new lights in the dinning room and moved the fan and chandelier.  It's ridiculous the lack of lighting built in to houses.  Here's a diagram of what he did.

Keep in mind he had to crawl around between the 1st & 2nd floor of the house to get this done, and cut an access hole in the floor of his closet to get there. There is nothing he won't do in the name of a good project. My contribution to the whole endeavor was to tell him where to cut holes and to paint the chandelier, which was silver and shiny before. A little spray paint makes a big difference.

Our tree is up and our stockings are hung. I just got Peter's up today because I had to make his and then have his name embroidered. I have been looking for a stocking for him for weeks, but no one had anything even remotely similar to the ones I have found for the other two. Serves me right for not thinking ahead and buying multiples when I found one I liked. But I do like that all three are different yet similar, and think I did a pretty good job winging it with no pattern.

Christmas came early for Thad and I. We went looking for a mattress the day after thanksgiving and ended up getting one, and a bedroom set, and an entertainment console. All of which have now been delivered. The room is a wreck because we still need to get rid of the old bed, so there will be no pictures of that. But our console is in the front room and looks so lovely. It's hard to tell how big it is with this close up, but it's roughly the size of our long couch. It's still funny to me that bigger furniture can actually make the room look bigger.

And looking at this picture made me realize how much work I have to do in that front room still!