On to Christmas….

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree….

Friday we did some relaxing, some play dates, some shopping, some lights on the house decorating, and just enjoying each other.

Saturday we headed on our Christmas tree hunt….

 

Nolan found the perfect size for him.  Jacob and Lucas decided to be scarecrows in the middle the trees.  Makes sense right?

 

After some back and forth, the boys picked out their favorite choice.

 

While daddy got it loaded on top of the car the boys and I enjoyed warming up with some hot cider and cookies.   

 

Nolan helped hold the string so the tree wouldn’t fall off! ;)

 

Jacob is really into reading to Lucas right now, and apparently playing Santa…Ho Ho Ho.

 

The tree is always too tall that Matt has to do the top of the lights.

 

The boys have been gathering quite a collection of ornaments and each have their own container we keep them in.  Every year they still get excited when they take them out of their container and look at them.  They were awesome helpers putting the ornaments on this year.

 

The first night our Christmas tree is put up the boys get new pajamas.  We enjoyed being comfy in our pjs, munching on a snack, and watching a movie with the glow of the Christmas tree.  I love this time of year.

 

 

And to top it off, can you spot who made his appearance in our house once again?

 

Yes,  good ol’ Elfie is back.  Now only if he can remember to hide in a new spot every morning. ;)

 

Welcome back Elfie.  Bring on the Christmas joy……

Thanksgiving 2011

We were at my parents’ house for Thanksgiving this year. It just so worked out that we were all in town this year.

This sweetie is getting so big (Megan that is!).

Even though we have a spread of ages and 4 boys and 2 girls….the kids play so well together.

As usual we had a delicious feast. Mom and dad made some delicious turkey and ham, potatoes, and stuffing, and then the side dishes and desserts everyone made were awesome. It’s always so good.

The first grade teacher of the group brought a craft for the kids to do. The boys really enjoyed it.

Lucas even put his on for a picture.

Our 6 little turkeys!

There was working in our books from grandma and grandpa, watching a movie,

playing with all the toys, lots of football for the men,

doing puzzles,

of course a dance party,

and some Dance 2 on the Wii.

What a great day. I have so much to be thankful for. So much.

Diane, Kristin, Mom, and I decided to brave the crowds and go see what the Medford Outlet was like at 10pm. I was starting to fade at mom and dad’s, I think we all kind of were. Never fear though, we all got our second wind. Kristin had her coupons for us, and we shopped away. I can’t believe shopping is actually starting on Thanksgiving now. Kind of sad actually. Though I can’t complain because I got some good deals. I was impressed with the laser shower also. I think we might have started a tradition, the years we are all in town that is. I came home for a little catnap and then got up at 3:30 this morning to go get one more deal.

I came home and got into bed, only to find that Jacob was in my spot, so I went and crawled into his bed to sleep. ;) While Jacob and Nolan were at a friend’s house, Connor got asked to go to a movie with a friend, Matt put the lights on outside….my shopping partner Lucas and I went out on the town. I got quite a bit more shopping done.

Now tomorrow brings more adventures.

Happy Birthday Barb!

Happy Birthday Nana! We hope you have a wonderful day. On this day, we are thankful for you. We love you!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Randoms

Matt has brought one of these home for all of the boys when he goes on his Asia trip, so Lucas got one this time. He loves wearing it for pajamas.

The older brothers are so great with Lucas. He is into TV now (wanted nothing to do with it until about a few months ago) and loves watching

Team Umizoomi

and Bubble Guppies.

Cutest shows ever. He laughs out loud when his brothers do and repeats what they say. I ever need 20 minutes to do something uninterrupted by Lucas, I know what to do. The boys always want to turn one of them on for him. They love spoiling him.

What’s new around here…

Connor gave a Saint presentation in school. He chose St. Matthew after his middle name. He did a great job. Again, I am so fortunate that I am able to go see all of these things now. I absolutely love that.

We had conferences for the boys. Matt is gone for a work trip, so I went to them. I was so pleased with what I heard. All three boys are doing so great. Makes this mama relieved to know that they behave out in public. ;) Epsecially Jacob and Nolan who seem to always be up to soemthing at home.

We started Nolan in speech last week. He had an evaluation a couple of weeks ago and the therapist said he has what is called an articulation disorder (fancy way of saying he isn't pronouncing some sounds!). We had his first session (with a different therapist - both have been great) and he did awesome. She said he will probably only need about 6-10 sessions depending. He catches on quickly, works really hard, and works at correcting himself. It's so cute to see. I know I wouldn't mind going to speech...they get to play all sorts of games while he's working. It's wonderful. We get homework every week to work on with him. He actually loves it. When we get home from school Jacob and Connor get going on their homework right away and now Nolan loves that he has some too. Hopefully it will help. They are having a hard time understanding him in school and I can tell it makes him sad. We don't have a problem with it because we like to say we all speak "Nolan" and now know what he is saying. However, I would hate for him to have difficulties as he grows up.

Lucas is doing a lot of talking these days. He knows how to let us know when he is happy and not so happy. Some of his favorite and cutest words right now.... remote, ball, car, bus, connor, mama, dada, grandpa, grandma, Team Umizoomi (which is more like oomi), No, More, All done, apple (bopple), Bubble Guppies (bubba), thanks mama (ay mama). He is into repeating things. He also knows his animal sounds and is learning his colors.

He loves making animal sounds, doing anything and everything his brothers do (and they absolutely adore him), he loves and gets thrills out of being a stinker (he has this little gleam in his eye when he knows he's doing something that he shouldn't do or he's playing around), he LOVES music and loves to dance. It's the cutes when he sings parts of songs.

Hard to believe in 2 months we will have a 2 year old.

Halloween 2011 – Mario and Crew….

I have to say I am not a fan of Halloween being during the week, especially on Monday. However we had a fun night.

Nolan and Connor had parties in school. It was so cool that Nolan's class got to come Trick or Treating to my classroom. Daddy finally came home early afternoon and we were ready to go......

We are so lucky that our daycare provider, Mary, makes dinner for the kids before we come pick them up. Our first stop was Great Grandpa Skala's.

Then we made a few stops at some family friends.

We stopped at Natey and Diane's to say hi and walked around their neighborhood with Grandma, Mattey, and Kelsey. We then went around our neighborhood before heading home.

The boys wanted to sort candy yet that night before going to bed, but mean mom and dad said no. We have enough candy to last us for the year. Yippee....(sarcasm).