Christmas Eve

 

Cookies for Santa and Charlotte enjoying her cookie!

The whole family dressed up for the Nativity and reading of Luke 2.

Charlotte opening new pajamas.

Everyone dressed in their new pjs!

Santa

The kids were able to see Santa this year!  It was the first time for Westley and Charlotte and years since Jenna has seen Santa. Jenna told me she would stand by him but would not talk to him.  Which, as you can see, she did just as she said.  Westley was screaming his head off, but I am not sure if that has to do with Santa or with the fact that he was mad I picked him up from crawling across the stage. Charlotte, on the other hand, was totally cute.  I love that kid; she is sooooo different from the other two!  She was checking him out like “who is this man with all this fluffy white stuff and something on his hands?”  Really, they all acted just about how I thought they would.

A Trip to the Zoo

A little while back we took a trip down to the Zoo with my friend Donna and her son Jon Jon.  The kids had a great time.  They had their maps out and RAN through the zoo, only stopping at each exhibit long enough to check it off the list. We had a really good time and am glad that we were able to share the day with friends.

Jenna’s Birthday Party

Okay, so Jenna is 5! Crazy I know!  Anyway, we decided this year she could have her first official birthday party with friends and everything.  Jenna was great, she helped with a lot of the preparations.  She made the invitations all by herself.  I just typed up the info and printed it for her and then she cut and pasted and wrote her friends names, etc. 

We also made our own piñata.  She wanted Belle, but we thought for a first try something easier would be better.  So we made Mercy Watson, a pig.  She is a funny pig from a series of books Jenna likes to read. 

Here is Mercy Watson, I think she turned out pretty well.

Ben and I both worked together to make the Belle cake, I did the background and Ben made Belle

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We played a bunch of games like Pin the Tale on the Donkey, Duck, Duck, Goose, and Red Light, Green Light.  And yes I was fully participating in Red Light, Green Light.  

 

 

 

 

Next came the piñata.  We must have made it strong because each kid was able to have 3 turns with 3 swings each time.  We also learned that my kids have NO idea how to properly swing a bat!  Come on Ben, that’s your job!

 

 

 

 

 

Present opening was great, every kid was very excited to show Jenna what they brought for her. Finally the cake, yum.

After the party was over Westley decided to finish eating the leftover cake pieces. 

And I let Charlotte have a piece of her own.  As you can see she was ALL over it.  But she does like to eat.

Thanksgiving Dinner

So here we are having our Thanksgiving dinner. It was our first Thanksgiving dinner without any extra friends or family; just us (and my brother Kevin). Note that someone is missing (not me I’m taking the picture).

That’s right, Westley! He took about 2 bites of Jello and then left; never to return.

At least someone enjoyed the food! Although Charlotte does seem to enjoy all food (unless it is too bland) lately. Especially if she gets to feed herself.

There is my cute happy to be full of mashed potatoes and raspberry jello girl!

By the way this was my first time using Windows Live Writer to make a blog post and I love it. Way easier. Thank you Kara!

The Cast if Off!

Well, actually the cast has been off for a few weeks now, but I have not had a change to blog about it because of some computer problems. She completely freaked out when the nurse started sawing her cast off. You would have thought that someone was sawing her leg instead of her cast. The rest of the time Charlotte would not let that nurse near her or she would start screaming. It was actually kind of funny.

Her leg was REALLY clean, I guess often there is dirt and food in there, and the bone is healed. Charlotte seems to be fine except that she crawls with a limp because she learned to crawl while the cast was on! It is really cute; I will try to get a video of it. before, she still crawls like that sometimes

after

Charlotte learning to crawl with her cast!

Charlotte's Growl

Enjoy this video of Charlotte growling.

My kids keep breaking!

Warning this is gross! Sunday night Jenna came running at full speed down the hall and tripped hitting her face on a brick. Okay so it was not a brick but considering the damage done to her mouth you would think Westley's head was made of brick. Her mouth immediately began gushing blood, and she was freaking out. Westley on the other hand cried for maybe a minute and was fine. No damage or bump or anything for him! Jenna, however, has a big gash in her gums about half an inch long, a major fat lip, and her a couple of teeth are pushed back and majorly out of line. The pictures were taking the day after showing her fat lip and out of line teeth. Before this she had perfectly lined up teeth. We will spare everyone pictures of her bloody gums.

Halloween

For Halloween we went to our church's Fall Festival and Trunk or Treat. The kids had a great time. Charlotte was a pumpkin, Westley was Tiger, and Jenna was Minnie Mouse. The kids loved playing all the games that were going on like fishing, and cake walk. There was a costume contest and somehow Tiger and Minnie Mouse both won. Maybe Westley stood out because he was not "parading" but running in fast circles around the gym. Of course my favorite part was the Trunk or Treat where the kids got a load of candy, yum.

Broken Leg

Yes, that's right our 8 month old has a broken leg! She is fine, just a hairline fracture and will only have to wear her cast for 3 weeks. Really she is just mad at the cast more than anything. For those wondering what happened, she fell off the bed and yes I was standing right there. (I do not know if that makes it better or worse!)

Painters Smock?

Why would anyone ever use a painters smock when you can just paint in your underwear with a backpack as an accessory? Those little smocks are cute and all but a waste of money because my kids do not want to wear them. Plus it would be really hard for Westley to paint himself if he had a smock on.

I Spy!

This game is a childhood favorite of Ben's where you hide a small object and everyone else finds it. His family played it all the time and loves that his kids finally can play!