Christmas, etc!

On the way to Grandma's!

Takin' a break at Hardees

At Grandmas--Playin' outside!

Brayan on the sled


Tiernan in the snow!

What a little marshmallow!

Brayan

Christmas at the Legatts

Handsome boy!

Another handsome boy!

Tiernan with his puzzle book!

Caedmon with his Thomas book!

Brayan & his book

Brayan & cousin Ryan (19 mos)....you think they are related??

At the Bounce Depot!

Caedmon jumpin'!

Tiernan climbing

The "Maze"

The three little ones! (caed, bray, & eliana)

Tiernan on the big slide

Bray Bray's turn!

Christmas at the McKeevers'

Tiernan with his gift from the Sobiechs'!

Silly Brayan!

Caedmon and his car holder that Grandpa Ron made him!!

Darren bowling with the Wii

Mom and Dad playing a fun game of tennis on the Wii :) That was funny!

At my parents

Our Life in Numbers

59 ---Number of months Nathan and I have been married.



80 ---Number of toenails and fingernails that are my responsibility to keep clipped (soon to be 100!)



2 ---Number of days my husband actually worked this week....dang this cold-blizzardy weather!



18 ---Number of times I will take a child in or out of a carseat when we go to church with one quick stop on the way home! (soon to be 24 times!)



145.5 ---Number of weeks I have been pregnant in my life so far!



0 ---Number of times I get bored seeing Nathan reading to the kids.



3 --- Number of children who are eating a cookie for their snack as I type this.



5007 ---Number of hits on this blog as of this post!



220 ---Number of miles we need to drive next week to go to my parents house.



3.5 ---Number of hours in the car to get to my parents house.



3 ---Number of hours Caedmon will be whinning/crying in the car on the way to my parents house.



25 ---Number of Christmas cards/letters we've received so far!



5 ---Days until Christmas.



5 --- Number of places we've lived since we've been married.



12 ---Number of eggs my kids will eat in the morning.



18 ---Number of different states we've been to combined.



5 ---Number of countries I've visited.



4 ---Heads of hair I am responsible for keeping trimmed



4 ---Inches of snow we've got in the last 12 hours.



25 ---Miles per hour the wind is blowing.



7.5 ---Hours of sleep on average I get at night.



28 ---Number of nieces and nephews we have.



22 ---Number of brother-in-laws and sister-in-laws we have total.



2 ---Number of kids we have in diapers. (soon to be 3!)



4 ---Number of siblings we have that live out of state (GA, TX, VA, AR)



13 ---Number of siblings we have total.


79 ---Pounds our kids weigh combined.


14 ---Average number of pounds of bananas we buy each week.


3.5 --- Years between Nathan and me.


57 ---Our ages combined.


0 ---Amount of other number things I can think of right now

Getting Ready for Christmas!

Actually, if you were to come to my place right now, you'd wouldn't think it was any more closer to Christmas than it was last April (except for maybe the apple cinnamon candle I have that makes it smell a little Christmasy in here--does Christmas have a smell??) Anyway, but in our minds were are counting down the days until we go back home and celebrate with our families!

That's one thing that I'm really starting to miss about not having a house, or at least a place where we stay for more than a handful of months.....decorating!! Not just for Christmas, but just having wall decor, PAINT colors, mirrors, stuff that matches.... I don't like nick-nacks but I like things that cooridate and have a purpose. I know it may be a 'girl thing' since Nathan couldn't care less about the stark white walls with nothing on them, but I am longing to make and create stuff to decorate with!! I was recently visiting this blog http://aliedwards.typepad.com and man, does she have a skill for crafts!..along with a gianormous room with all her crafty-stuff! But it was fun to look at her projects and get some ideas. I love making something from nothing, although I don't do it very often since I have no where to put it!

So, for the time being, I will continue to scroll through the pages of hgtv.com and collect all my ideas :) It makes going to our families houses for Christmas that much more enjoyable since both our parents are 'festive' in that sense, especially my mother in law.

And how abosultely FUN is it to get Christmas cards, letters, and pictures in the mail?!? I enjoy every second of looking at all your cards and letters and you can be sure that if/when we get your Christmas card, your picture/card will be plastered up on our cupboards in our kitchen for all to see! The kids get a kick out of this too as they spend many minutes a day up on our counters looking at everyone in the pictures :)

Hopefully you have all your Christmas shopping done so you can relax this weekend before Christmas and remember the real reason for the season!

Oh, and also remember to cast your vote on baby #4 if you haven't....so interesting to me to see how the votes are leaning towards a boy! And sign the guest book too! It's a way for me to see who stops by our blog for a visit!

'Til next time!....

Just in case you were wondering.....

Yes, I do have a baby bump! This picture was taken yesterday and I am 25 weeks (around 6 months). I'm notoriously known to take forever to 'show' but as you can see, my baby is now starting to make itself known to more people than just me!! (Although if I wear anything but a maternity shirt or form-fitting top (like the pic) than you can't tell I'm pregnant :)



And yes, I had to take the pic in the mirror because Tiernan still isn't the best photographer yet...and Nathan wasn't home :)

Didn't make the cut!!

Well the Christmas cards got mailed out today (most of them anyway!) Let me know if we normally send you one but you haven't received one this year (my memory isn't that great....I blame it on the pregnancy!)


We wanted to take a nice family picture and mail it out with our letters this year like we did last year, but that didn't exactly happen! Nathan and I both enjoy receiving pictures of whole families and not necessarily just the kids (although the kids are still cute!) so we like to do the same. Well, we just couldn't get one where everyone was looking, all eyes were open, the pic wasn't blurry, etc. So we ended up sending just a pic of the boys. This is the picture that got closest but DID NOT go out with our letters. Can you figure out why??? It isn't too noticeable on here since the picture isn't very big, but I'll give you a hint......it has to do with our goofball of a son wonderful 2 yr old Caedmon.....







I figured it wouldn't be too appropriate to send out that pic out as our 'formal' Christmas picture, although it is very cute and, now that I think about it, maybe it would be appropriate seeing how people know that we have a 3 yr old, 2 yr old and 1 yr old and getting them all to sit still, look, and NOT to have their fingers in their nose isn't exactly an easy task!!...plus, it shows more of the great chaos dynamic of our zoo family! :)


Oh well, now you all see it anyway!! If you so desperately want a copy of the gorgeous family with the 2 yr old and his finger up his nose, just let me know and I will mail you a copy :)

Have a great day!

Bonjour!!

Here are some pictures of the wonderful French family we met a couple weeks ago! The son, Alban, (we call him Al) lives in our building and his parents were here visiting him for a couple weeks. Because they had his apartment key and were leaving and needed someone to keep it for him until he returned from work, they knocked on my door b/c they heard a crying baby (imagine that!!) and knew someone was home! And the rest is history!! :)

They were such a nice couple and we spent the next few days conversing and cooking for each other (more her cooking for us!). She taught me how to make leek fondue (leeks are a staple in France and they were very amused that neither Nathan nor I had ever eaten a leek!...that's like us meeting someone who hadn't ever had a potato!), vegetable soup with NO stock, and a garden dish with lots of veggies and spices. Then she made us a half leek, half zucchini quiche (which was awesome!!) and the last time we got together they made us crepes or "American pancakes, the French way!" Which looked and tasted EXACTLY like lefse! They even made it round, spread butter on it and sprinkled sugared, rolled it up and ate it...just like lefse!

Alban is in America learning more about the wind power technology to bring back to France. He's been here about a year and a half and plans to return to France in March. Anne Marie is a retired English teacher and Francis is a retired engineer who worked on the railway that was built UNDERNEATH the English channel! Cool huh??

It was SO fun getting to know them before they left and learning SO much about France and their culture. We learned more about geography and France in those few days than either of us did in our whole schooling years! We also enjoyed learning and hearing the French language. Francis doesn't speak English, although he understands a lot, so it was super fun listening to them converse and translate for us.

Now that we know Al lives upstairs, we continue to see and talk to him often. Al talks to my kids in French and Tiernan and Caedmon are actually catching on! Tiernan will say goodbye and hello in French and caedmon will repeat anything you say to him in French, which is more than he will do in English! Brayan just loves him and runs up to him to have Al pick him up whenever he stops by :) It's so cute!

Nathan and I now have a small desire (I say small only b/c the only way to get to France is to fly which most of you know I'm not fond of!) to go to Paris and visit them!

Enjoy the Pictures!

Oh, and since i've posted now for two days IN A ROW (amazing!) make sure you read about Tiernan in the previous post if you haven't! :)

Alban, Anne Marie, and Francis

Since Francis is an engineer, he really liked the kids' train set!

Again, Francis playing with the train

Al and Tiernan

Caedmon, Anne Marie, and Tiernan

Francis and Brayan

What the crepes looked like when they were done. This one was Nathan's which he put maple syrup on instead of sugar

Francis making the crepes

Anne Marie teaching me how to cook the "French way"....which is LOTS and LOTS of veggies!!

Again, Anne Marie cooking.....I told her that I'd be taking pictures because it's not every day that I get to cook and learn from a French lady!

Francis cutting us a pomegranate and showing us how to eat it. Now that is one of our favorite fruits!

Tiernan snuck out of bed to say hi and to take a picture with Anne Marie and Francis

Tiernan

(I'm very frustrated with Blogger b/c it won't let me space between each of my bullet points even after I've tried everything to get it to stay that way...it has a mind of it's own!! So sorry, you'll just have to read it the way it is and put up with it :)

Whew! I'm finally getting back to writing about each of my kids! A few of you have asked if I was going to continue that ever, so I'm sorry for the long delay :) Next up: Tiernan!

Some of his 'school work'

More 'school' :)

Again....


And Again :)




Tiernan and Julia (the little girl, who's now 8!, who I used to nanny when she was just an infant!).....(Mary, I have a copy for you :)




Tiernan wrote his name by himself here, except a tiny bit of help with his 'e'

Posing for a pic at G & G McKeevers'

He's nickname is still Biggie and probably will be for the rest of his life. That was something that started when he was just a baby, by Nathan by accident, and it's just stuck. Nathan said before 'he'll grow out of it' but as of yet, he hasn't.

He will turn 4 on Feb. 23rd.

He is 31 pounds and 3 ft 2 inches tall.

He is still in a 5 point harness carseat. I know

I could technically put him now in a big boy booster seat but since he's still so close to the cut-off weight, we've just kept him in his carseat. Plus the booster seat I have is really low so he can't see anything out the windows either.

**side note** All 3 of my kids are in 5 point harness car seats and pretty soon I will have FOUR kids in 5 point harnesses.....do you understand just a little why going places with them, especially by myself, is just not necessarily desireable?? :)

He has been completely potty trained, including nights, since last April. (2 mos after turning 3)

He's our kid who wouldn't sleep if we didn't make him. He's been like that since birth. I remember saying when he was about 2 weeks old..."I thought newborns were supposed to sleep!" He sleeps through the night, only getting up to go potty or to ask if he can sleep on our floor.

He can count to 20 without help and to 30 with some correction if he skips a number.

He is a VERY slow eater (mostly b/c he's talking so much) but is starting to eat alot and understands that if he eats all his food, he is eligible for a snack later.

**side note** My kids ate the most eggs the other morning than they have ever before. Between the 3 of them (reminding you that they are 3, 2, and 1) I scrambled 12 eggs!! Yikes! That garden and those chickens hopefully are coming soon!! :)

He sleeps with a fish pillow that I made in high school swimming and his teddy bear from my parents house as his security things.

Loves to go to church.

Is starting to get obsessed with coloring in the lines. It takes him about an hour to color a picture (not kidding!) b/c he is VERY careful about staying in the lines. Then he wants to hang the picture on the frig to "show my daddy when he gets home"

Is very much a daddy's boy and loves to hang out with Nathan. He absolutely loves when Nathan reads with him and watches/dances to the wow christian music videos.

His favorite song is Daylight by Remedy Drive, which he would watch on the wow dvd all day long if I let him.

**side note** Nathan and I are going to go see Remedy Drive in concert in Jan but you'll never guess where???????? LUVERNE!! Yes, that is right...they will be performing at the Palace Theater downtown Luverne about, oh, 2 BLOCKS FROM OUR HOME!! We will WALK to their concert!! How crazy is that?!?! We will definitely video tape them singing Daylight from our cell phones for Biggie :)

Favorite new thing to do is to play the drums on the couch with wooden spoons....or spatulas, or wire whisks, or anything he can find in the utensil drawer! He also likes playing his 'air' guitar.

He can almost write his name by himself.

He is the MASTER of puzzles! Give him a puzzle and he'll figure it out fast! He also memorizes where the pieces go after just a few times putting one together so he can just grab a random piece and lay it in the middle of the puzzle without any other pieces by it b/c he knows that's where it will be going.

He loves to play baseball and will hit the ball when he's pitched to.

He likes to play hide and seek with Brayan and jump on mom and dad's bed with Caedmon.

He can say Hello and Goodbye in French without prompting. Also count to 3 in French, which he does in the elevator when he sees the 1 2 3 buttons.

He's transitioning to size 4T clothes and wears size 8 to 8-1/2 shoe.

He LOVES LOVES LOVES to "do school" and work on his letters etc. He often asks me if we can 'do school'. I hope to keep him interested in learning.