Merry Christmas!

I am so tired, but I just had to post a quick Christmas message!  I still have to go get all the presents down and fill the stockings, but then I will be finished!  I did just make the cutest swaddling clothes for a tiny baby Jesus for the morning.  We already have had 2 Christmas events and now are looking forward to tomorrow.  I'll be glad to have a day at home!  And we're having so much celebrating as a family of five.  Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow.  Merry Christmas!

Sitting with support!

Aren't they too cute?  Annie has been doing really well sitting up on the couch or chair with some support, so I finally snapped a pic of it.  She was sitting up better than this but when she leaned over to Wy I just thought it was so cute I had to snap a pic of them cuddling! 

Annie seems partial to Noah, but I think its only cause he is calmer and talks to her longer.  So just now I was showing Wyatt how to be real still when he's around her and sure enough she started talking to him and smiling, and even grabbed his nose.  What a happy boy he was! Then he asked me if Annie could sit in the chair with him and watch "the baby show" (aka 19 kids and counting).  I figured why not?  They need to bond, right?

Little pud boy

Do you see this surprise kiss I got from my little man?  I told him to come take a picture with me and this is what he did!  I love it!

I just had to post what Wyatt said tonight before I forget, cause I just love the stuff this boy says.  On the way home from my parents this evening he starts talking in the van and telling me about how he wants me to take him to see a possodilla.  A what?!?  A possodilla.  Evidently last night he was a possum in the truck with my parents and he didn't see it, so he wanted me to show him one.  Of course Noah was right on top of him letting him know it is possum, not possodilla.  I can't stop laughing about it!

I love his other little slips as well....

pack pack  for *back pack*

snoot snacks for *fruit snacks*

candy cone for *candy cane*

and my other favorite - his lips are spicy for *chapped lips*

#8,297 reason I love my husand!

What other man would so readily take to being woken up with, "Do you think you could go in the garage and take some scrap wood and make me a teeny tiny manger?".  After groggily pulling himself from the bed he promptly went outside and 30 minutes later created this masterpiece. I LOVE IT!!!  I ran to Wal-Mart and got some spray paint and we were done.  It is just what I have needed for our nightly devotionals for Christmas.

Every night in December we have been doing a version of Jesse tree devotionals with the kids, and in the box there is 1 piece of yarn for each kid.  After doing our devotional they take their piece of "straw" and put it in the manger to get it ready for baby Jesus.

Even Annie got in on the action! (If you can't tell, she is quite mesmerized by the tree!)

I got this tiny little baby boy doll at Old Navy that I have wrapped in a tiny blanket, and on Christmas morning we are going to put him in the straw!  I can't wait to continue this tradition for years to come, it is so sweet and precious!

Turkey day!

She doesn't look too happy, does she?  All the kids were less than enthusiastic about taking pictures, if that is not obvious.  Our thanksgiving was a bit off this year.  We went over to Josh's moms Wednesday night, and then to my parents for lunch on Thursday.  Little did we know that Noah James would come down with the mysterious virus that we have all gotten.  So Noah and I had to go home and just hang out, drinking ginger ale and watching the Clone Wars.  Poor guy was pretty heart broken to miss hanging out with everybody.

Do you see Annie's little turkey  bow?  It was so adorable!  So glad my dad is such a sucker for this little girl and got it for her at a craft show.

We're already praying for a better Thanksgiving next year!

Our advent calendar!

Can you believe we don't own an advent calendar?  Me neither.  It is something I want to buy/make every year, but never can decide which one to get cause there are so many cute ones, so I just end up with nothing.  But I couldn't let another year go by without counting down the days with the boys, so when I saw this version over at eighteen 25, I just knew I had to make them.  So I stayed up till 12:30 cutting and taping, and this is what we ended up with.  I'm really happy with them!

Since Noah is not a candy fan, I knew I couldn't put that under the trees.  And on top of that, my boys would totally get into them before they were supposed to!  So I have been putting little strips of paper with clues written on them, to find some sort of Christmas surprise.  The first day's clue told them to look for a new decoration on our bed.  Once they figured out how it worked they were pumped.

I love Noah's face on this picture!  I got these cheapo nut crackers half off at Hobby Lobby, and they love them!  Lots and lots of playing.

I wish I had pictures of the next day.  The note read, "Make sure to take your bath early, cause we won't be home tonight.  Where are we going?  There is a clue hidden under the train table."  Those boys were under that table in a flash and found a picture of Santa's Wonderland.  When they realized they were really going, there was lots and lots of jumping and screaming.  I'll blog that later this week!

Poor kid

I continually find this girl asleep in her swing just like this.  Notice the hand?  I love it!!

My little decorators!

Every year we bake gingerbread cookie ornaments for our kitchen Christmas tree.  We usually use this tiny fake tree we have, but this year we gave that tree to Annie, so we found this larger fake one at Wal-Mart for a mere $38 so now we have this HUGE tree in the kitchen.  Ridiculous?  Yes.  Do I love it?  You know it.

Well, I left the cookies out on the kitchen table that night cause we were going to ice them and put the ribbons on them the next morning.  Little did I know, my little decorator elves would get up and the crack of dawn and then surprise me with the fact that they decorated the tree all by themselves.  I was so incredibly confused, trying to figure out where they got hangers from, that is until I saw it.  I could not stop laughing, but of course had to gush about what a great job they did.  Its a good thing we have such a sturdy tree, so that they could stack 5 cookies at a time and balance them perfectly on the branches.

And I've left it this way!  I just feel like I would crush their spirit if I changed it or told them this wasn't the way its supposed to be.  They are seriously super proud of what they did and think they really helped me a ton.  I love those boys!

how we nap

Yes, occasionally I just throw my daughter down on the floor and make her nap.  Well, not quite! ;)  I was trying to get everybody ready to get out the door, and she was just so ready for a nap.  So I laid her down and told Wyatt to go talk to her, which he did for a few minutes, until she started crying.  I decided just to leave her for a few minutes while I got everyone ready to go, cause I wanted her to sleep in the car.  When it got quiet I got concerned and went in to check on her and this is what I found.  So funny!!!  I love it!

Sick muffin!

This...

is not how my sweet little girl is feeling today.  This mystery illness that has been invading our home has now made it's way to our dear Annie girl!  Well, to both of us, actually.  So far all the boys have made it through, and then last night it hit my babe and myself.  Mostly just sad faces today, and then being such a sweet snuggle bug.  Praying this ends soon!

Horse Show!!

First of all, every time I think of the words 'horse show' all I can think of is that SNL skit "Dog Show."  Do you remember it?  With Will Ferrell?  Josh and I have been singing the dog show song this week after the horse show. Anyways, totally not the point of of this! :)

The homeschool group had a fieldtrip to see a horse jumping show (apologies to all horse people out there cause I'm certain I'm just slaughtering all the horse lingo!).  I didn't really think the kids would be into it, but they loved it.  It was a nice and mellow field trip, so it made me happy.  You can even see Annie loved it!

She has been really into sitting up and facing outward these past couple of weeks.  Don't even think about trying to cradle this little baby girl, she will have nothing to do with it!  I really can't believe how quickly she is growing!  She has also discovered chewing on things this week - she even got ahold of Wyatt's stuffed animal and put it in her mouth.  He was just tickled to death, and now keeps bringing her stuffed animals when we leave the house.

After watching a bunch of horses jump there was a nice lady who took the kids on a tour of the stables and they got to pet one of the horses.  They were just beautiful!  I am so seriously not a horse person, but they really are such a beautiful display of God's work, don't ya think?  I was surprised the boys went right up to them, not afraid at all.

They gave the kids a handful of hay and told them they could try eating it, too, just like a horse.  Of course my sons loved it that someone told them they could basically put grass in their mouth.  Wyatt even brought his hay home, in his typical hoarding style! ;)

The trip was such a success it zonked all three of them out on the way home!  I love it!

Sick little spud!

Poor Wy is sick today!  He told us last night at dinner that he didn't feel good, but you know kids say that all the time, especially at the dinner table, so we didn't really think much about it.  We had a movie night for Josh's birthday, and five minutes in he was asking to go to bed, so we knew he must really be sick.  Sure enough, he fell asleep the minute his head hit the pillow, and it was only 6:00!  He got up an hour later and we checked his temp and it was 104!    So he has been taking it easy at home all day today.  I gave him a "special" bath (you know, when you get to take a bath in momma's tub!  oh so special!), and he looked just oh so pitiful I had to snap a pic of him.  And sweet boy that he is, as soon as he saw the camera he smiled for me!!  I love this little guy.  I got one more shot of him with is normal expression for today....

We're praying for this love bug!

Sleepy muffin!

We were feeling like we have not taken enough pictures of Annie these past couple of weeks, but this is what she spends the majority of her time doing.  And of course I could just stare at her for hours, but it just doesn't make for a great picture!  She is such a great sleeper, as long as she isn't having reflux problems. Can you tell this guy loves his little girl?  And check out her crazy hair situation - the normal Marlatt baby cul-de-sac, the long piece on top that never falls out, and then tiny fine hairs growing in.  And this is the shocker - I think she is going to have brown hair!!!!!!  Both of the boys had nearly white hair growing at this point, but hers looks much darker.  I still can't believe it.

What is so crazy about her is that she sleeps well under any circumstances, swaddled, not swaddled, in a swing, just laying in the crib - it doesn't really matter.  Although, she does have less wakings if she is swaddled.  We actually found her this new swaddle wrap - I have 2 other ones from the boys and they just didn't work.... her arms were constantly just slipping up to her face.  It was causing me to think she was hungry all the time cause she had her hand in her mouth, but that is also the same thing she does when she is really sleepy.  So we got this sleep sack/swaddle wrap combo thing and I just love it.  Now I just need another one so I don't have to wash it all the time!

She usually sleeps in the swing at night wrapped in the swaddle until 11:30, when I take her to bed and give her a bottle - the one and only bottle all day that she willing takes and sucks down without a fit.  I love it!  We took her to her 2 month check up and she is doing well in all areas except eating!  Her reflux is pretty manageable at this point, although still unpredictable.  She was 10 lbs 4 oz, which puts her in the 32% for weight, and she is at the 66% for height, and they would obviously like those 2 numbers to be closer together.  So I am continuing to try to force bottles on her, usually with no success.  This girl knows what she wants!

BFFs

I love these two doing everything together.  One was on the computer by himself, and the next thing I knew they were doing it as a team.  It just makes me happy!

Why I love homeschooling!

As crazy and insane as homeschooling makes me, every single day there is a moment where I am just *so* happy that I get to do this with them.  Our science experiments have these great report pages where you print out a picture of the experiment and then the kids narrate what they learned from it.  The first week I didn't take the picture or do the report page, but after I did it one time and put it in his binder he was just in love with it.  And now  I know I have to do this every time.  And really it is a good thing it asks for the pictures, or I would never get the camera out during our school day!

Wyatt's responses to what he learned are just hysterical - for the dilution experiment with koolaid Wyatt's response was "I saw red."  I love it!! :)  And the top picture is our float/sink experiment and Wyatt's answer was "I learned that 2 Cheetos sink in oil."  What is even better about this is that there were no Cheetos involved at all.  To give him some credit, though, they were Fritos and they did sink.  Ha!  I guess that's what you get when a three year old does science work made for a kindergartener!

Jerry Mouse!

So I know its way past Halloween, but I am just obsessed with this kid as Jerry mouse!  He is so over the top adorable in it.  I'm also obsessed with this picture of Jerry with his tail sticking out of the back of the swing - it was so funny!  When he was standing it kind of hung down, but in that swing it just stuck straight out.  I love it!  We were at the trunk or treat the Friday before Halloween, so we had Darth Maul there braving the slide as well!

And I love this little boy snuggling up with his Daddy and his stretching sister!

I love these guys!!

Pumpkin patch cowboys! (and a cowgirl!)

Years ago we let Noah J wear his cowboy hat, boots, and a cowboy shirt to go to the pumpkin patch in.  Well, now the boys thinks that you MUST wear cowboy clothes to the pumpkin patch.  Enter my parents, who then have to take him to go buy all this stuff, cause there is no way momma is spending that much money!  This year they got all out of control with these adorable shirts, vests, and even teeny tiny wranglers!  They could hardly walk, but they were adorable!

Annie was having a bad night, so we only got a few pics of her.  She then threw up all over Josh and herself, poor thing. 

I'm in love with about a hundred of these pictures!  Can't wait to edit them all and hang them up!

When Joseph got there they were all so completely adorable showing off their cowboy stuff to each other.  I just love it.

 Can you tell this cowboy just got shot down?

And then I am totally in love with this shot of Noah J and his sister - he is so completely in love with her!