Christmas Day!

Christmas day started off with Santa leaving us some presents in our stockings! He did not disappoint! Marie got Hershey Kisses, suckers, and a fishing game.

Santa must have known that Claire LOVES cheese. She was so excited about her block of cheese, even more excited than she was for her candy!

Marie was concerned for poor Theodore. He only received coal in his stocking. The girls both received coal in their stocking for their first Christmas. Santa must know that he has been peeing all over the place and not letting his Ma and Pa get a full night's rest.

After we opened our stockings, we headed off to church. I think it is great to have church on Christmas. It really makes you think about the true meaning of Christmas!

Theodore received his blessing on Christmas Day! It added even more excitement to an already fun filled day. Pa had been asked to speak in church on Sunday also! It was a day full of events.

After church, we hurried home to open presents! We are very thankful to all of our family and friends for the great presents. The tree was littered with too many to count!

Apparently, our girls have been pretty good this year.

Pa got a hefty pan for cooking over the fire. It was made by his Pa and we used it to make our traditional Sunday meal of french toast. I also ordered a hardcover book of our blog for a family gift.

I got the coolest measuring spoons in the world. They are magnetic (so you don't lose them and they take up less space), stainless steel, have the same amount on both ends of the spoon (one for liquids and one for solids), and have one end with narrow scoops to get into smaller containers! I am very excited about them.

Marie made out like a bandit with dolls and all sorts of toys. She loves them all! She was so excited to open them all up... she didn't want to wait her turn, but she hung in there!

Claire's favorite was the stroller. Now we have two strollers, but they still manage to fight over the new one. After she opened up the stroller, it was hard to get her to sit down and open up the rest of her presents!

Theodore got some handsome clothes. He is going to be one stylish man!

 In case we didn't have enough fun going on during Christmas Day, it is also Teddy's birthday! He is now the big two nine. Although he had to give a talk on his birthday, I think he had a fantastic day! For his birthday, he had a pumpkin pie! We had all sorts of goodies--cookies, cheese ball, brownies, ice cream, and muddy buddies already on the list for Christmas Day snacks.

 Teddy received even more presents in the evening for his birthday. He got some kanji cards, an angle grinder, and some spending cash at an outdoor recreation store.

Throughout the night, we watched hilarious YouTube videos online.

We also played board games and ate lots of snacks! It was a very merry Christmas indeed!

Christmas Eve Events

For Christmas this year, Teddy's family came to join our party.

To start off the Christmas Eve festivities, we broke out the eggnog.

Claire wanted to give it a taste as well. Her and Marie thought it was alright, but they weren't all that excited about it.

It happened to be glorious weather for the end of December, so there was some great climbing that needed to be done. Did I mention that it is only 15 minutes from home? It doesn't get any better than that!

Marie tagged along for some of the fun, but quickly decided that she was too cold. She warmed up after wearing Grandpa's coat for a bit.

Once the sun started going down and their fingers were too cold to climb, they decided it was time to hurry home for a big Christmas Eve dinner! 

We made turkey, gravy, sweet potatoes, rolls, mashed potatoes, jello, stuffing, and topped it all off with some sparkling grape juice! Delicious!

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We sure had a great one with lots of family!

Three Theodores!

I finally got a picture of the three Theodores together! Aren't they handsome? I am sure lucky to be related to such a good lookin' bunch.

Look Who Got a New Bed!

 Marie got a new bed! She has upgraded to the real deal. She now has her own twin bed. Since Claire has been able to get out of the crib on her own for quite awhile, it has been difficult to put them to sleep in the same room. Theodore will upgrade to the crib from his bassinet in a couple months, so Claire gets the toddler bed now! For the time being, they each have their own room! I haven't decided if it would be best to give Theodore his own room with the crib (meaning the girls would be together again), or if he should sleep in the same room as Claire... Claire hasn't figured out how to get IN the crib yet.



Marie sure gave her room the look over. She jumped on the bed, looked behind the bed, and looked under the bed before she checked it off. She loves it!

Keeping Busy

One morning, I happened to glance out my window and saw the weirdest thing! I have never seen an albino squirrel before... if someone would have told me they had, I don't know if I would have believed them.

I ran to take some pictures for Teddy to see when he got home from school. I didn't want him to think I was telling crazy stories.

Teddy has been working hard fixing up this dresser. We got this six drawer horizontal dresser, a five drawer vertical dresser, a two drawer night stand, and a head board for $50! Great deal, but the only down side was that they were all black.

He was able to make them into the furniture I had been wanting by spray painting them all white with his air compressor! They look gorgeous! He did such a great job!

After having our third kid, and never needing large amounts of winter clothes before, we found ourselves in need of some more drawer space. We had a couple of piles of clothes on the floor. It worked out fantastic!

Thanksgiving Party

Happy Thanksgiving! We traveled to VA to spend the holiday with more family before the snow came.

The food was delicious and we had a fantastic time. Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of pictures because I spent most of my time playing with/learning how to use Tyler's camera--a Canon T2i which is very awesome!

Marie had a great time, but she didn't like to be bothered with taking pictures when there were too many fun uncles to play with. The girls loved the chickens and riding on the tractor. They stayed behind to play with their Grandma and Grandpa while Teddy and I got a week with just us and Theodore. We went on a fun date to the Melting Pot which was absolutely delicious! It was also a slight form of entertainment since we were at the restaurant for 2.5 hours!

There isn't a much better site than all these pies, except when they are still there the next day and you get to eat them some more for left overs!

One of Claire's highlights was that the Freeman's brought Henry over to play. Claire loves animals and she gave Henry lots of loving.

We didn't do as much Black Friday shopping this year. We only set out to make one purchase... a huge fireproof gun safe--it weighs 500 lbs (30in x 22in x 59in)! We actually only own a few guns, but it is more for sentimental items... scrapbooks! Does that seem a bit ridiculous to buy a safe for scrapbooks? Oh well,  they are a great form of journals--plus there will be some room left over for guns and other items!

Playdough and Play Time!

 The girls love to play with Playdough!

 They will make cupcakes by cutting out circles with the can and stacking them on top of each other.

 Marie likes to make snakes and have them hiss at Claire. This usually results in Claire ripping off part of the snake and stealing Marie's Playdough.

Sometimes we find hilarious scenes like this in the middle of the night. The girls have been having a hard time going to sleep when they are in the same room. Since Claire can get out of the crib and Marie can climb in/out of the crib, there are frequent parties until wee hours of the night. They were talking quietly in their room while laying in the toddler bed, so we didn't make them split into separate beds. Two hours later, they were getting a bit rowdy so we split them up. Then we hear little pattering feet running down the hallway. Teddy got up to put them back to bed and then Claire jumps for cover. Claire is in the 'I can't see you, you can't see me stage'. She is laying on the floor on top of a pile of crayons... plus, she had found the toilet brush and was playing with that. Not to mention that there are no windows in the bathroom and it is the middle of the night... I don't know how she wasn't bumping into everything!

Sibling Love

These girlies don't give Theodore a break. They love when he gets tummy time because then they can play with him a little bit. Normally they are being told to leave him alone (because he is usually sleeping), so they frequently cheer for him to get some tummy time. Claire has already introduced him to the headbutt.

Marie is a very good supporter. She will clap and shout encouragements for him when he is trying to roll over. When he sometimes gets stuck or can't get over, she will softly nudge him over. What a nice sister!

We're pretty sure that this little man was allergic to my milk. He is chunking up even faster now that he is started on formula. He also sleeps like a champ now. We have had three nights in a row with 5 hr. stretches even when he is sleeping by himself! Before, Teddy would have to sleep with him and practically hold his binkie in Theodore's mouth to get a 3 hr. stretch.

He is also a LOT less gassy now which makes for a LOT happier baby. His bum is also seeing good side affects from the formula because it is no longer burning off. I was bummed that I couldn't feed him like I did my other girls, but I am very excited to have a normal, happy baby again.