Pumpkin muffins & Christmas Carols

I often wonder if other people's lives are like mine. I'm sure all mommies suffer/enjoy the same things. Adelle enjoys a good poop around midnight these days. (I must be doing something wrong). So after I've been asleep for two hours, I'm up to get her changed and back to bed. She's happy as a lark while she's up and she goes right back to sleep - I can't complain too much. Every mommy suffers a little interrupted sleep. I secretly enjoy the time alone with her. Last night I changed her diaper in the glowing light of the Christmas tree while she babbled and clapped. It should be a commercial for something.

6 am rolls around and Alayna comes in with her morning greeting, "Mom, I waked up!!!" I would love to tell you I've already been up for an hour by then and had a great run on the treadmill and done my quiet time and showered. Someday. This morning that was not the case. I rolled out of bed and let her drag me by the hand to the couch. Soon enough Hudson came in to snuggle. Pierce is usually the straggler. This morning we made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins while the Christmas carols played. I went a little crazy buying cans of pumpkin this year. Glad we like it. The kids, especially Hudson, are way into decorating and Christmas carols this year. They think they're going to get Hot Chocolate and pop corn during every little Christmas special that comes on TV and they want to take all the decorations off of the tree and do it again. Yesterday I had some orchestral Christmas music playing in the kitchen. Hudson grabbed his pillow and blanket and laid down in the kitchen floor to listen to it.

Hudson keeps pretending to evaporate Alayna and she's having none of it. Refereeing is not so sweet, but it can be humorous. Alayna came in yesterday morning sobbing, "Mom, Hudson keeps zaporating me!" They have their moments of provoking/reacting. But there are also moments like this morning where the muffins are baking and they're all dancing around and laughing to the Christmas music and I wish I could freeze them right there. Tis the season to soak it all in and make some memories.

Try this link for a little Sufjan Stevens Christmas Love :)

Crawling

She's CRAWLING!!! Check out this video if you want to see cuteness in action.

My baby is 6 months old. Incredible.

Fall Photo Shoot

While most of our all-together shots turned out like this ...

Katie did manage to get a few good shots that really capture the kids and their personalities.

ADELLE

THE BOYS

ALAYNA

They were all looking, sort of, and all smiling, almost :)

I like this one. I don't know why.

I can almost see what they're going to look like when they're older. I love their expressions, wind-blown hair and chubby little hands.

(I probably should have put Alayna in jeans - the concept of modesty is a little lost on two-year-olds).

A picture takin' adventure

Got the kids pictures taken today by one of my friends. You can see some of her handiwork here. I'll post our picture soon.

It was a super-windy, great adventure through a lovely little-bitty old downtown. So much for combed hair. The old buildings made a perfect backdrop for some cute shots. The kids did great for the most part. On her mission to find pretty rocks, Alayna picked up dog poop. The boys freaked out. Later, she needed to go potty and there were no accessible potty-chairs. Thankfully we were off the beaten path and she has brothers so she was not afraid to mark some territory in the grass. We got to see and climb around on an old boxcar that the boys would like to live in just like the Boxcar Children stories.

On the way home I remembered that I was out of bread and all of the sudden felt very tired. This time change has my children waking up at the crack of dawn and CRANKY way before bedtime. I know, we'll adjust. We always do. Anyway, we drove through Chick-fil-a for lunch. What a treat!

We're going to get the rest of our school work done and clean the house. We're planning on enjoying the last of this 70 degree weather. Our FAVORITE days are the days that we can play outside! I am so NOT ready for the cold, dark days of winter.

Smiling Kids

The battery in my van was dead yesterday morning when I tried to start it (I needed to go get some fancy, expensive coffee). Devastated and "trapped" I made a pot of coffee and rearranged the living room. Once I did that I had to do the playroom and got rid of a big bag of toys (you wouldn't even know by looking into the play room though!). Anyway, David bought a new battery for the van, I didn't spend $5 on a cup of coffee, my house looks all fresh and wonderful and I snapped some super cute pictures of my kiddos. Enjoy :)

Adelle jumping

Alana posing

Oh my goodness! Did I mention we've been practicing his smile?! Love those eyes.

HUGE smile to show off the missing tooth and two more loose ones!

Everyday for part of our spelling/handwriting, Hudson has to finish the sentence. Todays' was: I can keep from quarreling by ...

First he said, "Isn't quarrel something in the ocean?" Once he understood what "quarrel" meant he wrote, ... overcoming evil with good. A soft answer turns away wrath.

I love that my kids are hiding God's Word in their hearts and know how to apply it. I can't even tell you how rewarding it was for me to see his answer.

Halloween

We went trick-or-treating last year and the boys got scared at a couple of houses. The houses looked fine but the adults came to the door in scary costumes and my 3 & 4 year-old boys were not into scary...and still aren't. So, they didn't want to trick-or-treat this year. We did dress up and went to visit Gigi and a few of her neighbors, then we went to Wendy's to use our free frosty coupons. Now that was a treat!

The fairy princess, a couple of cowboys and a pretty little flower - I just love it!

Close up - I put a little bit of makeup on her and she definitely felt beautiful! She twirled and flitted everywhere she went.

My mighty men were cowboys. At the three houses we went to (my Grandma's neighbors who are all about her age) the boy took off their hats and said, "yippee-ky-a" instead of trick-or-treat, and gave hugs after they got their candy. It was pretty sweet.

My happy little flower chewed on her petals and showed off her pretty smile all night.

Three big kids practicing their smiles.

Enjoying a sucker and Veggie Tales after a fun night. When we left Wendy's we decided to go for a drive. Once we got out about 10 minutes from town (or bathrooms) Alayna said, "My belly hurts." A few seconds later Hudson said, "I don't think my frosty is digesting very well." We all made it home in time to get everyone taken care of. Those drive will have to be reserved for date night. :)

My living room this morning. Alayna and Pierce are under the other blanket.

My sweet girl.