i never knew...

...how much fun a 2.5 year old could be.

sure, i've done my two's before with finn, calvin and ollie.

and they were a blast. truly, they were.

but.

i always had a nursing baby to contend with and was not always able to appreciate the *finer points* of a 2.5 year old. not that i would have wanted it any other way.

raising the youngest of the family{twain} has been a gift that I never saw coming.

i always thought i'd be so so sad without another baby in the house.

but it has not been that way at all. it's just been a complete joy that keeps getting better and better. and my little sister Lindsay is pregnant with twins(!!!!!!!) and so I am completely and totally giddy with joy upon passing the torch and snuggling her little angels to pieces. and then giving them back when they cry all night, heh.

here is my sauntering 2.5 year old that I want to scoop up and squeeze to pieces every time he walks on by.

yes, he can be a bit sassy at times and knows WAY too much for his age. {i blame this entirely on his older brothers}

but that little baby charm is still hanging on. his cheeks are still so round and squishy.

doing the "kid sit"

he is as silly as they come and is always giggling about something.

even when he is just standing there doing nothing, my heart skips a beat and I turn into a puddle of mush.

out of all 4 of my boys, he's definitely the most babyish. he cries whenever he has to go potty and makes one of us assist him the entire time. fussing and whining, "i tan't" whenever we ask him to pull up his chonies or flush.

and when he actually does go by himself, he comes out naked and i find his underwear all over the house. sometimes he just kicks them off and i find them on a random window sill.

he's crazy wild at home and whenever ollie is by his side. the two are thick as thieves and up to mischief if i look away for even a second. but when he's out in public by himself, he turns all bashful.

my favorite thing about him these days is the way he talks and pronounces things.

he can't say his k's(k=t)

he can't' say his g's(g=d)

and at night before bed he wants to read with me and always squeaks to me "let's det all snuddled up" and he puts a blanket over our legs and hands me a book. i cannot resist.

twain, you are such an unexpected joy and blessing and i thank the Lord for you every single day. xxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxoo

p.s. my other favorite thing he does is call me "darling". when i am doing something he will say to me, "thanks darling".

finn's first book

When Finn gets home from school, he likes to take over my computer and write little stories. He is currently typing a book called "The School Alligator", which I'm following with great interest. I must admit, the book is a bit shocking to me. It's always interesting to get a peek into the window of your child's soul. Maybe when it's finished I will show you some of it.

Finn also wrote his rendition of Star Wars, which he gave to our parents as a present. John helped get this book printed. Shown here are the front and back covers.

Hey Finn, care to show us your book?

"Sure", chomp, chomp. Gotta love the apple in the background.

The book is composed of Episodes I, II and III, in Finn's own words.

Not quite sure where he gets his love of writing. When I was his age, I just liked to play with smurfs and talk about poop.

I kid you not.

presents of the year.

Last month(December) while most of you were getting into the Christmas spirit, I was kind of dragging. I was just too overwhelmed with all the hoopla to participate much.

But this has all changed, people.

Now that it's January and the rest of you are posting about New Year's resolutions, I'm getting all pumped up about Christmas for this coming year. Christmas 2012. No lie. I'm Christmas shopping. I bought wrapping paper at Target for $.25 a roll(90% off) and am stocked up for the next THREE Christmases, at least.

Today I bought a lovely tablecloth at my favorite antique store.

And I even stocked up on Christmas straws.

They can also be used for valentines day and 4th of july, ya know.

John usually does most of the Christmas shopping but I helped quite a bit this year. He actually shoved me out the door with a wad of money at gun point. I was like "Ok already! I'll go shopping, if you insist!"

Here are some of the presents we bought...or got...this year, listed in no particular order.

1. A little girl I work with requested "dentist play dough". I was so amused that an 8-year old girl would request such a thing. I had to find it! They do not carry such a commodity at target or walmart...or anywhere else in town for that matter, but check out what I found on amazon.com:

Isn't it fab? I know you all want to play.

2. Little fake uggs(actually called Zodiacs) for Twain and Ollie. So cute! I die!

These boots were 'kind of ' from my sister Jessica...we pull shenanigans...Instead of buying gifts for each others kids, we just buy gifts for our own kids and say they are from auntie...it's complicated. Anyway. Jess was concerned that my boys would be bummed getting shoes from her. She didn't want to be the lame auntie who bought loser presents. So while they were opening the boots, she told the boys they were Jedi boots. The boys went wild. My sister is so clever.

3. Auntie Lindsay bought the boys Nerf guns(actually John bought them and Lindsay paid him back...See? Shenanigans). All day long they chase and shoot each other and I find bullets every where. Here is their target, that is currently hanging from the ceiling in the family room, getting blasted to pieces.

Whenever I turn around and see him hanging, I think it's a stranger in my house. Creeper. Poor lil nutcracker solider. Finn made him this year in school. May he rest in peace.

4. Paper from the days of yore. I bought it at a school supply store for Finn and Calvin.

Mmmm. The smell of old paper. I'm not sure who was more excited...me or the boys.

5. Snoopy Snow Cone machine for Calvin. Remember this? My sister Jess had one as a kid and we LOVED it.

I got it at Barnes & Noble. Seriously, they had the best stuff this year. I kept texting and calling my husband every 5 seconds until I thought he was going to kill me. He was trying to get work done and I was being super annoying. That oughta teach him for sending me shopping, ha.

Calvin was super excited to use it and all they boys were absolutely mesmerized by the whole ice shaving process.

6. Fisher Price record player for Twain, also from Barnes & Nobles.

He kept climbing all over my old record player that smokes...I figured one of us should have an operational record player.

7. Record player for me...John and I don't normally get each other gifts. But he surprised the snot out of me this year. He wrapped it in J. Biebs wrapping paper, LOL. I totally thought it was a crock pot.

I was shocked, SHOCKED that he got me the record player of my dreams. I still cannot believe it. Someone pinch me!

We have all been LOVING the sounds from this record player. I can't explain it...so peaceful yet chipper and just puts me in a good mood. However, John complains that the records I bought from Goodwill and antique stores were filthy and were gumming up the needle--he is super protective of my record player, so watch out. Uncle Peter said that he has some records from when they were boys--in pristine condition--that we can have...Star Wars read alongs and Disney too! We can hardly wait.

8. Media console table for my record player. From my 2 sisters. Kind of. More shanagins. We buy ourselves our own gift and claim it's from 'the sisters'...shameful, I know;)

I got the table a fews days after Christmas, from the Goodwill for $46. It was literally just sitting right there when I opened the front door. I thought it was hideous, but that I must have it. They said I had 7 days to return it. When John saw it, he kept saying, "wow, Davi, wow", and not in a good way. I was scared. But once we put it in the house, it was love at first sight. So it's a keeper.

This wall needs some major accessorizing for sure. I have a few ideas I'm kicking around. But don't rush me.

9. A white {toy} cat to Ollie, from my mom. Except that Ollie was an unnatural mother and so my mom gave it to Twain instead. Who LOVES it.

The boys have named it Marshmallow. I'm convinced it's a real cat. It meows and moves and even sheds. Finn, Calvin and Twain all take care of it. Finn fed it a carrot the other day and the boys all went wild. It was found playing Stratego the other day.

10.Playmobil Nativity Set for Twain.

I saw this at Barnes at Noble and knew I had to have it. It's officially for Twain, but kind of for me too, shhhh.

It just reminds me of my childhood. It looks SO familiar.

This is a terrible picture, but here is the nativity scene, sitting on my piano. Except a few key people are missing...see if you can figure it out.

Not too worry. Mary and Jesus were soon located. Twain finched them and took them for a ride on the train, haha.

Honestly, this nativity scene was one of the biggest hits around here. We played with it for hours and hours. I am very protective of this set and get crazed whenever the pieces are missing. Which is all day long. Ollie and Twain are constantly getting their paws on it. They just find it irresistible. We finally put it away, and I can hardly wait to set it up, right after Thanksgiving.

And truly TRULY, the best gift of all is Jesus! I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again! The fact that he came to this earth as a real live baby is mind-boggling!!!

hosting my first Christmas

This year for Christmas, we were planning on celebrating with John's family at Hume Lake. But it ended up being very icy and cold at Hume...possibly dangerous with people slipping and falling....so at the last minute we decided that John's family were coming HERE for Christmas. At my house!

Keep in mind, my teeth were still troublesome and my wisdom teeth were not yet pulled. I was a little sketchy but overall I was ok. I was excited to host my very first Christmas at my house. I have never hosted a major holiday at my house. Um, this was going to be interesting. I'm seriously like a 12 year old boy when it comes to preparing food. There were going to be 18 of us total, so I wanted to keep it simple with paper plates and disposable goods.

I went to Party City and was very distraught at the pitiful Christmas selection. It was just 2 days before Christmas. And everything there was SO ridiculously expensive. After wandering the aisles for almost an hour, I was ready to curl up in the corner and cry.

I just wanted something{even just ONE THING} a little festive, for my first Christmas at home. I remembered my friend Becca's baby shower. I was smitten by the mason jars and straws that katygirl had put together. A few texts later and my dearest friend Katy had delivered me some special striped straws. Bless your heart forever Katy! And a trip or 2 to walmart and I had 24 {CHEAP} mason jars. My kind of deal. I felt just like Phoebe on Friends who was in charge of cups for Rachel's surprise party...GO CUPS!

I still had nothing for paper plates ect. I'm the worst party planner ever because I am paralyzed by pickiness. It's a problem.

My little sister Lindsay knocked some sense into me. "Nobody is going to care. Just go to Target and pick out some cheap paper plates. Pretend you are on a show where you have to 'make do' with whatever Target has. It does not even have to be cute. Buy something that is 'neither here nor there'...don't let the true meaning of Christmas get clouded", Lindsay instructed. For a younger sister, she is a bit wiser than I am at times.

I was so cheered. It was true. Nobody but nobody was going to care what I bought. I was on a mission to buy something 'neither here nor there'.

At Target I looked through their selection chanting 'buy something neither here nor there' and I finally settled on some Santa plates. I picked up the plates, frowning a little. I did not really grow up with Santa. When I was little, I remember my mom telling me that Santa was a "silly old man", LOL. So I'm holding these Santa plates in Target, telling Santa "you are a silly old man". But I bought them! And a few more items to make my house a little festive.

Some jingle bells for the mason jars.

I arranged the mason jars into a Christmas tree and tied up some napkins with fabric I had laying around.

Tying napkins is actually very therapeutic to me.

Here is all the stuff I bought.

My little place setting. It's simple but I had so much fun doing it.

We set up the table in my craft room...you know, the craft room that is NEVER going to be a craft room.

John's dad lent me the antique cream crochet table cloth. It meant the world to me to have something lovely on the table. I want one. I think I will try to purchase one at my antique store for my next special occasion.

I know that the wooden trees are kind of hokey and country but for $4 at Target I was not going to complain. And they ended up being great because they were small and did not block anyone's view.

It was time for everyone to get here! The 10 'little people' all sat in the kitchen area.

Brookie and Mikayla are at the other end of the table.

The 8 'big people' ate in the other area.

By the way. I must mention and confess. John's parents made most of the food and John made the rest. I only made ONE desert. I told you. I'm a 12 year old boy.

Each year we take a picture of the cousins from tallest to shortest.

Hannah, Becca, Alyssa and Mikalya.

Brooke and Emma

The grandkids loving Grandma Betty.

Uncle Mark made a game called hockey board that he used to play when he was a kid. My boys had a blast. Calvin was the ultimate champion.

Peter and Kristin and some of their girls.

Hannah and Becca.

Hannah was teaching me to do hair, using Becca as her model. It was so much fun.

John's family is so easy to host. They are not fussy at all and they were very thankful for my little efforts. They were so very supportive and told me they all had the best time. It was a very special sweet day and I had a wonderful first Christmas at my house. I never take for granted these simple moments and I am very thankful to Jesus for each and every member of the family. But mostly I am so thankful that Jesus decided to become a PERSON, just like one of us.

Really that is mind-boggling to me. I cannot believe he was willing to leave the splendor and comfort of his throne to become a human. I've been reading in Hebrews 2:14-15 "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too SHARED IN THEIR HUMANITY so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil-and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death".

Can you imagine if we did not have hope after death? I shudder to think of what would become of us.

And later in verse 17 it goes on to say how "he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, that he might make atonement for the people"... and in verse 4:15 "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses".

I don't know about you, but this means the world to me. We have Jesus in heaven who truly understands and cares what is happening to us. He was once here on earth. He gets it. No matter what we are going through...He is here for us and can sympathize.