Texas trip

I am behind on posting about our October trip to Texas.  I forgot my camera so the pics are pretty sparse.

We went to celebrate the life of Jeanne Collins.  Jeanne is the mother of my best friend, Brennan, and a bright, witty, beautiful, amazing woman.  She is also one of my top mothering inspirations.  Jeanne will be dearly missed.  We were so happy to be there with the Collins/Cruser family. 

We flew to Houston, then drove to Austin.  Yep, I typed that correctly. ;)  The kids were terrific travelers, I was a little shocked how well it went.  

Lunch stop.  

 

Noah with his NFL sticker book.  This was a godsend, keeping him entertained for hours.

M & C with Liam.  Extra time with our godsons was a perk of the trip.  The kids got along well.  We are already talking about family vacations together.

 

N & Collin.

 

My Uncle Luke and Aunt Marilyn graciously let us stay at their home.  They were away but having a house to stay in made adjusting to being away from home so much easier.  Grandpa Dennis & Grandma Jane happened to be in Texas at the same time visiting our new nephew, Samuel.  I did not get one photo of that sweet boy so he better be ready for the paparazzi at Christmas.

Grandpa Dennis went to a cave with us one morning.  Pretty cool.

 

At Luke & Marilyn's ranch.

Good Night Good Knight

This is how we found Micah sleeping last night.  

Micah says...

Man, I love this kid.  Amen to the first one, please to the second and hmmm to the third.

from preschool.

Dusting

We had our first real snow on Monday.  The kids were able to wake up and discover the snow out the window.  I don't like snow or cold but I do like happy smiles when it comes.  :)  In the afternoon, we got bundled up and played outside.  The sleds had their debut for the season.  

 A good brother.

See Micah's grey and purple boots?  A friend (with 3 girls) gave them to us and they are the perfect size.  I've been calling them Viking boots.  Can I get away with this for the entire snow season?!

A.M.

Three kids in my bed...a sweet start to the morning.

Hmmm

I am finally ordering photos from our shoot in May and came across this.  I'm so curious what they were looking at.  Celia and Micah's same pose is killing me but Noah's expression is over the top.

 

School pictures

The boys school photos.  I wasn't crazy about either one but thought about having retakes done for Micah.  He is looking at something to the side and I think his eyes are a little crossed.  So they sat on my counter for a few weeks.  It was time to decide what we were going to order so I got out the package and inside was a letter from the photographer saying they liked Micah's photo so much that they want to use it in their advertising.  I laughed out loud and decided it was probably good enough then. :)

His hands absolutely crack me up.  This is the most unnatural pose for him possible, but he is pretty adorable.

Littles

Most mornings I take Noah to the bus stop a few houses down while the littles sit at the door and wait.  This is how I found them today.  Sunggled in their blankets.  

 It is still impossible to get two kids to look at me at the same time.

Celia enjoying some solo time with the playmobil guys.

Girl clothes

In case we ever wonder if we dressed Celia girly enough.

Battle!

We've been hearing about bey blades for a while now, but recently it has reached a fever pitch as Noah's buddies on the school bus talk about them.  When Grandma Jane, Grandpa Dennis and Aunt Judy sent money for Halloween only one thing was on the want list for Noah.  Friday night the kids and I made the trip to Target and their excitement was through the roof about being able to choose a toy.

Noah choose Bey Blades.  Here he is in battle with Micah.

Micah choose a Hotwheels ramp and Celia got a bottle and sippy cup for her babies.  All are pleased. :)  Noah even went to a friend's house today for a battle.  Cracking me up. :)

Good morning

This is how Micah greeted Shawn and I yesterday morning.  He is such a future class clown...eek!  Anything for a laugh.  Check out big bro copying him in the background.  Ha!

Sleeping

I snapped this recently of Celia sleeping.  It struck me when I looked in on her how much she has grown.  Wow!  I also adore that her comfort item is a blanket my Grandma Deanna made before Noah was born.  Oh how I love that.

Homework

Noah had to decorate this turkey for homework.  I think it turned out just about right since his career aspiration is to be a Vikings football player.  Thank goodness for mom that his genes make that a near impossibility.  The kid is completely obsessed with football.