Me and My Boys: December 2012

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Christmas 2012

My favorite thing about holidays is spending time with family! Christmas Eve is the night my mom likes to have all the family together if possible. This year it involved a yummy ham dinner, acting out the Nativity story, chimes, present exchange, and a white elephant game.

Carter was a shepherd

Caleb was a sheep. When choosing parts, my mom asked him what part he wanted to be. She asked if he wanted to be a king (as in a wise man). He said he didn't want to be a king because then he'd have to kill baby Jesus. He's such a sweet boy.

Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus

The shepherds and sheep joined the scene.

Jared and Kari were able to leave their home in The Netherlands to join us for Christmas. Kari holding baby Bryson.

Lindsey and Derrick made the lengthy drive to join us for Christmas. We missed Clayton, Kara and Ellery this year!

Christmas morning:

Carter and Caleb opening their stockings

My stocking was filled with my favorite chocolates! Yum!

Matt's stocking had a new toothbrush, M&Ms and Gushers.

Carter with his presents:

Caleb with his presents:

We've had a lot of fun with his bowling set.

My presents:

Matt opened very few presents compared to the rest of us, but he got most of his presents before Christmas: new work shirts and some new ties (he helped me pick them out so I didn't bother wrapping them up).

And one more present for the boys! Some tennis rackets. It's time the boys learned one of Mommy and Daddy's favorite sports!

Matt's family came over to our house on Christmas day. Cousin Hunter holding baby Bryson.

MeeMaw with all the boys and their presents. Caleb and Carter love their Dream Lights, and Bryson's giraffe makes some soothing noises to help him sleep.

We're so grateful for family and love spending time with them!

Thursday, December 27, 2012

December Fun

The boys got to play in snow this year! Notice Caleb's attire: shorts, short sleeves. I believe it was in the upper 70s this day. This year, Matt's work did a lunch Christmas party and brought in snow and other fun things for the kids to do.

Carter saying cheese while jumping in a moonwalk

Our Elf on the Shelf came to visit us this year again. His name is "Elfie." Here are some of the more creative places he hid to watch the boys to make sure they were being good.

Elfie making his grand entrance on the first day.

Camping out

Ice fishing

He also parasailed behind a speed boat one night, but I forgot to take a picture.

Here are the boys with Santa at Caleb's Elementary school. Apparently I was one of the only parents who didn't know you're supposed to dress up your kids to see Santa! You can tell I don't have much experience.

Telling Santa what they want for Christmas.

(Carter has a nasty bruise on his head from falling off a chair and hitting his head on the tile floor!)

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Family Pictures 2012

Pictures taken by my sister-in-law, Kara

http://claytonandkara.blogspot.com/

Here are some of my favorites:

Favorite family shot

He's so handsome!

Love Carter in this one

She also took some newborn photos. I've never had newborn pictures taken of any of my boys!

Probably my favorite

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Caleb Lately

With having this third baby, I'm so grateful that Caleb is so dependable and such a good helper. He still washes his hands every time before he touches the baby. If I have to make dinner and the baby is cranky, Caleb will hold the baby and keep him happy. Caleb is actually really good at putting Bryson to sleep and is really patient if Bryson is super fussy. He's so excited to see Bryson when he gets home from school each day. Bryson successfully drank from a bottle for the first time on Sunday, and Caleb has been begging to feed Bryson himself ever since! He loves Bryson so much and remarks all the time how excited he is to have a baby in our family.

Two funny things that I wrote in Caleb's journal this past week:

I didn't realize just how much Caleb loves to sing Christmas songs until this year. We have to have Christmas music playing at all times in the car. If anyone is talking too loudly, he wants the music turned up. And no matter what song comes on, Caleb is singing along. Some songs he knows the words better than others, but I am really shocked at how quickly he has picked up on the words to most songs! He has a really good singing voice as well--hopefully he takes after his momma in this department rather than his daddy.

Caleb will not call Matt "Daddy" anymore for some reason; he will only call him Matt. We thought he was just being funny and that he would forget after a few days. But for over a week now, Caleb will only call Matt by his first name. It's really weird, but also quite funny. Every time he does it, Matt and I look at each other and laugh. We'll see how long this funny phase lasts.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Freddy Octopus

Yesterday we mourned the loss of our betta fish, Freddy Octopus. I bought him last March as our preschool fish. We discussed possible names for the fish and then the kids voted. The name that got the most votes was Octopus. I explained to the kids that this name might be kind of confusing and that their parents might think that we have an actual octopus as a class pet. (Apparently some still told their parents that this was the fish's name, and parents did think I had bought an octopus.) So we added a first name to our fish and he was dubbed Freddy Octopus.

While teaching our month on Ocean animals, I was praying that Freddy would live for the entire month-long unit. The kids enjoyed taking turns feeding him each day. Freddy survived the month and continued to live; I was very surprised. After preschool ended for the school year, I took over the job of feeding him each day because I was the only one who would remember to feed him; Matt had the fun job of cleaning out the fish tank every so often. I found that I started to get a little attached, especially as Freddy seemed to be waiting every morning for me to remember to feed him. He became a little annoying when he was still alive during the summer months when we did some vacationing, and I actually had to pay people to take care of our fish (I say this in jest--not a huge deal).

About a week ago, mischievous Carter climbed up and dumped a good amount of fish food in the fish tank. I thought this would for sure end Freddy's life even though I was able to fish out (excuse the pun) most of what he dumped in. As the days have gone on this past week, I noticed that the food I fed Freddy each morning sank to the bottom untouched. Freddy started spending more and more time in his cave and swam a lot less. The untouched food started disintegrating and leaving a little layer of film on top of the water. I thought this might be the cause of Freddy's inactivity--he needed his fish tank cleaned out. So Matt finally did it yesterday morning. We went to Chick Fil A as a family for lunch, and when we came home, Freddy had passed on.

We pondered the cause of death (was it the dirty tank, the clean tank, Carter's excessive feeding that one day?), but I think we settled on the fact that with the cold front we experienced, the water was too cold for Freddy. From what I read, this explains the reasons he didn't swim or eat as much.

While I was practicing the organ at the church last night, Matt had a little funeral service with the boys for Freddy Octopus. (I didn't want to have anything to do with it.) Apparently I wasn't the only one that got a little attached to the fish. Carter went into a crying frenzy for 20 minutes where Matt couldn't get him to calm down! Matt said that Carter finally calmed down when Matt suggested burying Freddy in one of the front flower beds so that Freddy could see all the pretty Christmas lights in our yard. Caleb was very matter-of-fact about it all and told us the reason we needed to bury the fish in our garden was so that we can be like the Pilgrims who planted fish to help fertilize the planting lands. I wanted to record this because this will probably be our first and last family pet, and Carter's reaction to it all was too funny.

All joking aside, the deaths I am really mourning are those who lost their life in the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. With a son in Kindergarten, I was definitely shaken up and have shed tears on multiple occasions as I imagine what those families who lost a loved one must be feeling right now. I debated whether to talk to Caleb about it, but in the end I decided to. It was a good teaching opportunity to discuss how bad things happen in the world and people make bad choices at times. But the hope that comes through our Savior, Jesus Christ helps us know that we will see our loved ones again someday.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

I'm a New Aunt

My older sister and I have always been close...we shared a room together growing up and were best friends one minute and fighting like cats and dogs the next. But if my mom threatened to split us up, we were quick to protest! I've enjoyed living close to her these past 5 years. We've been able to run/exercise together, teach preschool together, and watch our boys grow together. I have loved having her around for advice as we embarked into parenthood at the same time. Our eldest boys are 6 months apart, our next two boys are 3 months apart, and Bryson and Liliane are exactly 4 weeks apart. I don't know if this could be planned any better!!

We can't wait to meet you, Liliane! Hurry home! We hope you make it home in time for Christmas.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Camping--Sort of

We were looking forward to a camping trip in November, but circumstances didn't work out for us this year. With a newborn, I didn't want to stay the night, so Matt was planning on camping with the boys. But Carter was recovering from being sick (a fever that would spike every night and a really bad cough), so we didn't want him spending the night in the cold either. We still wanted to participate in some of the fun though, so we came up and joined my family the day after Thanksgiving for dinner and dessert.

One of the first things if not THE first thing Carter does when he sees my mom or dad is to ask for a ride on their "head." He loves to ride on their shoulders, and my parents are both good sports. Carter's other obsession that I don't think I've recorded is ears. When riding my parents' shoulders, he often will rub their earlobes. If I'm cuddling with Carter on the couch, he will often absentmindedly start rubbing my ears. Weird!