Christmas 2014

Christmas morning at our house:

Perry (5), Mills (3), James (5 months)

 Perry and Mills were excited about their transformers and play castle

 Everyone got silly string in their stocking. Perry couldn't wait to go outside and attack Daddy!

Then it was on to my mom's house:

 Mae Mae and her boys

The next day, we went to Denton:

 hanging out around Cheetah's Christmas tree

I regret that I don't have pictures with most of our families. We did, however, get to see everyone (except the Walters) in the days surrounding Christmas. Perry, Mills and James were such troopers with our busy schedule. We participated in Christmas parties, church service, and several visits with family. It was a very sweet and pleasurable time!

Visit from Santa

Santa Claus visited our house again this year. Last time he came, Mills was only a couple months old, so that was in 2011. It was funny to see the boys interacting with Santa. Neither of them seemed to think it was weird or scary that Santa was sitting on our couch visiting. Perry was being very quiet and observant and probably wondering why we were talking about some of the things we were talking about. Mills was asleep when Santa arrived so I had to wake him up. I thought he might be a little timid, but he wasn't at all. Mills was interested and very playful with Santa. He kept finding ornaments or decorations with a Santa on them and bringing them to Santa saying "Look! It's you!" or "Look, it's your sleigh!" Santa drove a red convertible this year.

Christmas Fun

Perry made a Gingerbread House at school. He was dying to tear into it the second I picked him up from carpool.

 It was this baby's first Christmas! He is simply the cutest!

 We went to lunch at Rotolos one day and Santa just happened to be there! The kids loved him.

We went caroling on our street with our Bible study. It was such a fun time for us, and all the neighbors seemed to really enjoy it. The kids were a big hit!

While in Denton, we took the kids on their first visit to Chuck-E-Cheese. They thought it was so fun and special!

Perry loved all the games...especially the ones that involved shooting or other weaponry

Mills' favorite part was "riding" in this little car

School Christmas Programs

I was excited for both of the boy's Christmas programs this year! Alex went early (super early for Perry's K4 group) and got us great seats for each performance. He's a great Daddy like that!
Mills did just as I expected....froze, and hardly sang or moved. I think he enjoyed himself though, and we made sure to make him feel very proud of his performance.

Mrs. Blanchard and sweet Mills

Perry did just as I expected as well....he was VERY serious about doing a good job...and he absolutely did. He loves that we are always there to watch his performances. Mae Mae and Mills were there too! We wouldn't miss them for the world. He makes us so very proud!

James 5 Months

What's going on with James at 5 months old...
He is still exclusively breastfeeding--I'll probably introduce solids in about a month.
He just started rolling over both ways this week (5 months 2 weeks old).
He has the funniest giggle. It sounds kind of like Woody the Woodpecker with asthma.
He loves Daddy a lot, and loves Mommy a whole lot. I absolutely love knowing that I mean the world to him.
He really enjoys his big brothers, especially Perry. Sweet Mills gets so up close and personal with him that he sometimes doesn't know what to think.
He's not on as good of a schedule as I would like, but we are on the go so much that poor baby must adjust. He does great with what's thrown his way.
Loves being swaddled! I realized the reason he was waking up around 4am was because he had broken out of his swaddle (and was not waking due to hunger). We now double swaddle him at night and he sleeps great!
He gets so tickled when we look in the mirror at ourselves. And speaking of tickled, we have fun tickling his chest...only the top though...he gets scared if I tickle his sides.
I'm very thankful that he enjoys playing in his bouncy seat, jumperoo, and on the playmat. He and I both enjoy snuggling and hanging out together, so I make sure we do that a lot!
I'm loving every minute with my sweet baby James.

 looking in the mirror

 future Harvard grad??

Thanksgiving Festivities

Our Thanksgiving consisted of lots of feasting! Perry and Mills each had a feast at school...

Mills was a Pilgrim:

Mrs. Blanchard and Mills

Perry was an Indian:

Mrs. Harrington and Perry 

Outside of school, we also had a Thanksgiving dinner at our house with our small group and lunch at my Dad's on Thanksgiving Day. Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

Perry also had his Harvest Festival that week (this is the big Fall event for K4 classes). There were a lot of fun activities for the kids to do--various crafts, popcorn by the bonfire, making a clay pot, making a candle from hot wax, and making butter from cream.

All the kids had to come up with their Indian name, Perry chose "Blue Comet"

 painting totem poles

 morning chapel outside

 Everyone had a lot of fun and looked cute. The boys liked holding up the spears from their necklaces and growling at each other. Why must everything become a weapon?!?

Mills' Costume Carnival

St. Paul's likes to celebrate and I'm always glad to participate with my kids! Our little Army Man had a fun time at his first school carnival.

Mills with his precious little class

 Story and snack time in a tent

The kids performed some of their Fall/Halloween songs. This was the first time for Mills to "perform" and I was surprised to see that he was VERY shy about it. He basically just stood still the entire time. I, of course, thought it was really sweet and funny though. In one of their songs they are supposed to slowly "melt" to the ground like a candle, but Mills' candle didn't melt :-) He was standing tall among all the little melted candles.