Visit with Santa...

The kids really wanted to see Santa again this year, so we took them to Westshore where we had hoped there wouldn't be a line and there wasn't!  Not too surprising:).  Layla was a little quiet with telling Santa what she wanted (a hat she said--she had seen a girl in a cute hat that day I learned later from her, that is where that idea came from. She didn't get a hat for Christmas but seemed fine with that) and Gibs was quite apprenhensive about Santa which I didn't think he would be.  Greta started crying when we quick stuck her in the middle, but I think that was just out of confusion to what was going on, not based on the fact that Santa looks a little scary:).  Layla was watching a movie the other week and was talking about Santa and his reindeer flying in the sky and I asked her what the true meaning of Christmas was.  She knows all about celebrating Jesus' birthday and such so I figured it would be good to again remind her why we celebrate Christmas.  She said the truth about Christmas was that Santa really just drives in a car, he doesn't really fly:).  Guess we have some things to work on:). But I know what she means, she means that the Santas that we see really drive cars, which is true:).  Last year I remember that when we went to the mall to see Santa, when we were back in the parking lot after seeing him she asked where he parked his reindeer and sleigh:).

 This is very random, but Gibs has recently had some issues talking about underpants/underwear in inappropriate places.  Such as Russ'.  On the Dora DVD we keep in the car she sings a nursery rhyme and instead of singing it correctly she uses the word "underpants" and then says, "no, that silly..." and then sings what it really should be.  So the other night in Russ' "Jingle Bells" was playing and Gibs was singing (somewhat quietly) "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells" and then yells out "UNDERPANTS! Hahahaha."  People around us found it funny.  Anyway, so I told him now that he shouldn't talk about underpants unless he's talking about potty training and going in the potty. So now I've caught him talking silly about underpants and then when he sees me listening he quickly adds "potty on the potty!".  Silly kid:).  We definitely at times have a hard time keeping a straight face with disciplining because he does/says such odd things:).

4 Years

Saturday, December 22 marked the 4th anniversary of my mom's death.  With most things in life, time goes so fast that it hardly feels like "x" amount of years.  But for some reason, with my mom's death, it really does feel like she's been gone for at least 4 years.  So much has happened since she's been gone, such as our family growing (Layla was only 6 months old when my mom died) among other family dynamics changing (like my dad remarrying), which is probably why it feels like it's been awhile. 

It's still weird to think back to her final days on earth.  There was a blizzard here while she was in the hospital, so making the drive out to Spectrum to say good-bye was crazy because people were advised to stay home yet we couldn't because we obviously wanted to be there for that.  And then for her funeral, pretty much everyone in our family had been sick and my grandma (my mom's mom) was still stick at her funeral.  Things like that just really make me question God's timing.  Why would he make it so difficult for us to get to the hospital to say our final good-byes?  Why would my poor Grandma have to be suffering with the flu during her daughter's funeral?  And why only three days before Christmas?  Nobody wants to be planning a funeral when they had planned on enjoying Christmas parties and such just like everyone else.  But now, looking back, obviously we all made it through and those little details don't really matter anymore.  What matters to me now is teaching my kids about who Grammy was as a person and telling them how much she would have loved them and looking forward to the day when we can see her again.  She was a wonderful mom and I can see that even more now that I'm a mom myself.  I feel like I appreciate her more now realizing how much work goes into being a mom and I wish I could tell her that.  Some day I guess.

All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

Greta didn't quite get her wish for two teeth, but she did at least FINALLY get one!  Her first tooth popped through this weekend.  It is her bottom, um, left I think.  Layla got her first tooth at 10 months which would be 8 months adjusted and I got my first tooth and 8 months so I figured that Layla was just late because of being a preemie.  Then, Gibs didn't get his until he was almost one (he too wished for her two front teeth for Christmas that year and got his first one right before Christmas too) and I thought that that was really.  So I was really surprised that Greta didn't have any by a year and she doesn't have an "adjusted age" obviously because she wasn't a preemie:).  So it makes me think that teeth don't have anything to do with adjusted ages and that all my kids are just late tooth bloomers:).  So far, all my kids have walked around the same age too, so my other kids' late walking maybe really had nothing to do with being born early.  Layla started taking steps at 13 months and was fully walking by 13 1/2 months.  Gibs started taking steps around a year and was fully walking at 13 1/2 months.  And Greta started taking steps (like more than just a couple) right after her first birthday, but now at 13 months, doesn't take any more than she did a month ago.  She just wants to crawl:).  She's capable, she just needs to realize that walking can get her to the same destinations that crawling can:).  If she's like her big brother and sister, maybe she'll fully walk in a couple of weeks.  Oh, and she also just recently finally got enough hair (just barely!) to start wearing a pony tail. :)

School Christmas Party

Layla had her school Christmas party and I got to tag along!  It's always fun to see her in the classroom.  She loves school!

WILD Birthday Girlies!!

Greta and Harper both celebrated their first birthdays in November and since they are only one week apart (Harper is exactly a week older than Greta), we thought it'd be easiest to combine their party (especially since we don't even have our own house to host it at:D).

 Their cute cake and they even each got their own little smash cake! 

The big kids went on a zebra safari hunt around the house which I knew they would love.  Layla still talks about the hunt we did for her Dora party when she turned 3.

 Greta has been sick A LOT this fall.   Harper and Gibs and the rest of us too (except Gavin only a little bit and Layla hardly at all--she somehow always stays so healthy!).  So of course she was sick on her party day and wanted to just sleep.  Even when the kids went in to do their hunt in there, she kept sleeping.  Eventually I woke her up so she could join in on the fun:).  This is so typical Greta with her arem around her baby.  When we put her in bed, she typically always puts her thumb in her mouth and hugs her baby with her other arm.  So sweet how much she loves little babies.  Funny, but she also gets really excited about socks.  My other kids love to take their socks off and leave them around the house and Greta will find them carry them around--she doesn't care if their clean or dirty:).  The other day Joe handed her a sock and she grabbed and excitedly gave it a hug:).

 The kids table...

The guests... 

The daddies and their daughters..

 Attempt at a family pic...

 Present time!

 

 Slowly dipping her fingers in her cake...

 After a bit she realized how yummy it was:)...

Harper loved her cake too!

 Greta with her grandmas...

 We love our birthday girl!!

 The messy end result:)...

 Silly kiddos!

Excited about all the gifts she got:).

Happy Thanksgiving!

A quick photo before church...

 After church, I let them open one present each since the presents were Christmas movies (and we would therefore want to watch them before Christmas).  They have been so excited to open these DVDs since I wrapped them.  I think they liked the cute Mickey boxes that they came with:).

For lunch, we just had to go upstairs:).  Before dinner was ready, Layla politely sat waiting at the table.

The boys have way too much energy to just sit and wait for dinner, so they played until dinner was ready:).

Harper and Greta...

 At  night we got together with Joe's family in a church gym.  It's always great to see his cousins and the kids of course loved running around!

 Last year on Thanksgiving, cousin Paula and I were about ready to pop and sat there uncomfortably watching everyone else play games.  It makes me cringe to think of how swollen I was that week! I looked pretty terrible! Thankfully Greta arrived the next day:).  It's cute now to see these cuties together.  They've changed a lot in a year!  I'm a little sad that Greta is a year old already, but I'm very glad to not be at that pregnant stage anymore:).

 

Happy Birthday Harper!!

Our sweet little niece Harper turned 1 today!  She sure has grown a lot in the past year!

We love Harpityhoo and it has been so fun watching her and Greta interact more and more the bigger they get.  Harper started crawling now too so her and Greta can now get into trouble together:).