Happy New Year!

We celebrated New Year's Eve in traditional fashion - at home with the kiddos and lots and lots of party poppers, confetti, shrieks and giggles! The boys were already sleepy after dinnertime, so they shot off their party poppers around 7:30 right before they headed off to bed.

These guys couldn't wait to get their hands on the noisemakers!

Bang! Pop! Confetti, yay!

Simon has been fighting the stomach flu and an ear infection, so he hasn't been very happy for the past few days. He just started a course of antibiotics last night, and he's still pretty crabby and discontent, but at least his fever has finally broken. At first we weren't sure about taking him outside with the loud bangs + an ear infection, but he was so thrilled to be outdoors that we decided to go for it. He started off with a few small claps and cheers as his brothers shot off the party poppers...

...and his claps and cheers soon turned into gigantic grins and shrieks of joy!

(Yes, he has confetti streamers in his hair, haha!)

This is the first time we've seen this happy smile in about four days!

I had to drag him back into the house after we were all done! He would have happily stayed outside with those noisemakers all night long! :)

Christmas Pics 1: Christmas Eve

Thank you so much to Uncle Kevin for taking all of these pictures! My camera is shot, so it was really nice to know that someone else was getting great pictures of our whole family that evening! :)

Austyn, Kearsten, Kari & Me

Kari & Zane

Stella

(back l-r) Austyn, Kearsten, Kari, Me, Jessica, Ginnymae (front l-r) Chelsie, Krista & Jamie

Simon, overtired and sooooo ready for bed, clinging to Daddy's legs

My parents (aka Gigi & Granddad)

Sutton, Simon & Me

We finally kept sleepy Simon entertained with Grandma Carol's phone. If you don't have the "Toddler Lock" app, I highly recommed it! I think everyone there that night downloaded it ;)

Sawyer tossing his new light up frisbee - super cool! (Thanks Auntie Deb!)

Everyone gathering in the kitchen for the traditional holiday dinner of...pizza? Not exactly our standard fare, but it was way easier and totally appreciated since I managed to overextend myself this holiday season once again! It was SO nice not to have to cook anything on Christmas Eve!

Me & Grandma Ardy

Sutton & Sawyer showing off their favorite gifts - cash and a shooting star projector for their bedroom! The star projector is awesome - I want one for my bedroom now!

Grandpa Bruce, Simon & the popular light-up frisbee

Carol, Rhonda, Krista & Ardy

Dovewood Court

Tonight we took the boys to one of the most popular holiday light displays in the area. We had to wait awhile for Kari & Joe to meet up with us, so we took some pictures outside of the first houses to try to distract the impatient kiddos and take their minds off the fact that it was a chilly 43 degrees out. 

Yes, one has his eyes closed and the other is still sporting the remnants of a bloody nose. Boys. Gotta love 'em!

Snuggly fleece jammies and a hoodie...that's how I roll.

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These next photos were all taken by Sawyer, who would like to share his pictures of Dovewood Court with you all. He has gotten so much better with the camera lately, and he really seems to pride himself in framing out a good shot instead of just randomly snapping away!

 

He thought it was the funniest thing that he accidentally cut off Mitch's head in this family shot.

Candy...It's What's for Dinner ;)

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Thanksgiving Performance

Today was Sawyer's last day at LCE, and it was also the day of their Thanksgiving performance and feast. All four of the kindergarten classes got together to sing a few holiday songs for the families, and then everyone munched on fruit, veggies, muffins, cheese & crackers. Sawyer was so excited for the show, and he had been busy practicing his songs all week long. He was bummed that Mitch had to work, so he was thrilled when his dad announced this morning that he was going to be able to join us after all.

(Yes, I realize that his pants are way too short. Yes, I tried to convince him of this fact this morning, but no, he could not be pursuaded to change them no matter how hard I persisted! Oh well, it's his last day!)

"Hi, Mom!"

SO proud of this guy!

Sutton was excited to see all the yummy breakfast fruits and muffins, naturally! This guy LOVES breakfast!

Sutton snapped this picture of Simon before the show as they were running around the MP room together. He's gotten pretty good at framing out his camera shots! Simon loved to clap and cheer with the crowd after each song, but otherwise he was pretty irritated that he had to sit in his stroller for the duration of the (totally short) performance. He just wants to be on the move all the time!