cousins

the moment he saw her, he said 'she's my friend'.  and he never left her side.  holding hands and hugging they would go from place to place.

landon told me he will miss her every day.  his newest friend and even better... cousin.  there is nothing like a cousin to share good times with.

Merry Christmas

we started our holiday with a vacation up north to flagstaff and then through the porthole we entered the north pole to visit santa's workshop.

the littles assisted the elves in building toys that will be delivered to children around the world.  we all went to elf school, wrote letters, sat on santa's sleigh and got to personally tell santa what we wanted for christmas.

landon has been going to bed singing jingle bells to make santa come sooner.  he was a bit upset that he forgot to tell santa that he wanted a new blanket.  santa saved the day and delivered one anyway.

luke was the first one in bed and did not even want a cookie before brushing his teeth.  he was also the first one up in the morning (besides mama) and had already opened his presents before any of his brothers stirred.  he was a good mommy helper with passing out presents to everyone else.

logan has proven to be the best gift giver ever.  so much thought put into each and every gift.  luke a whoopie cushion, landon a stuffed horse to ride (so he will stop climbing on logan's back), lily a stuffed animal, even presents for mommy and daddy.

lily is one happy gal feeding and pushing her baby doll around.  girls know just what to do with a baby.

so much more to write, but no time. merry christmas to all!

snow bunnies

for not making it out to the snow very often, these little ones had a blast.

luke came down the hill only for hot chocolate and the occasional snow ball fight.

logan had fun sledding and building snowmen.

landon sledded down the hill and managed to carry his sleigh back up the hill with him.  his other favorite was making snow angels and eating the snow.

lily did not like the snow all that much.  she screamed the minute we set her in it to play.  we found that as long as we kept feeding her and let her sit on the haystack she was a happy gal.

i think we will have to make another trip up to the mountains soon.

a little time

the past week has been a rough one.  the flu made its way into our house, leaving me on the couch with the rest of the little ones.  in fact the only one who made it by without getting sick was lily.  she sat with us each day.  smiling, playing, just hanging out, not complaining one bit.

just being here, not rushing out the door by 7:30 in the morning arms full of backpacks, lunches, home work, permission slips, was simply wonderful.  we were miserably sick.  literally not moving an inch all day.  no one ate anything but toast and occasionally fruit.  but, it slowed us down and gave us the time together that we desperately needed.

we are now on the final days of our antibiotics and aside from a few coughs here and there. we are all well.  school is out for the holiday and we will be heading up north to visit the north pole, santas workshop, and hopefully play in some white snow.

the past few days have been challenging.  maybe because we were all home for a week, then had to go back to school, a big change in routine,  there has been a lot of fighting.  its mainly, luke, my oldest and most challenging.  he has not been all that nice to his siblings.  telling logan that he is not cool.  he calls landon a baby.  i have tried sitting with him and explaining that the things he says are hurtful, and he does not seem to get it.

so, we made a new list of house rules.  everyone participated.  there is a copy in each room to avoid any and all confusion.  follow the rules and you stay in freedom land, disobey the rules and its consequence land.  today was our first day on board and things went pretty smooth.  no one wants to be in consequence land.  there have been a few 'do overs' where they have acted out a better way to respond and act in the situation, but its working so far.   we will see how it goes over the next two weeks with us all home.

mrs claus

story time with mrs claus and playtime with friends.

perfect way to get into the spirit of the season.

holiday show

a peek at our evening before the annual holiday show...

we are not very formal people, so it was adorable to see them dressed up wearing ties for the first time ever.  both luke and logan performed.  i think they had more fun running around with their school friends then they did actually performing.  it was an exciting night that ended with hot chocolate and cookies at home before tucking them into their beds.
lily would not stand by her brothers, but happily sat herself down beside the tree with her legs out and smiled, picture ready.  i cant say i blame her...as you can see from the pictures, they are not an easy bunch to stand by.