December Fun!

For a week or so, every time I tried to snap a picture of my two girls together, Olivia would hide. She is a VERY caring big sister, but didn't want to be in the pictures. Every time Kenzie isn't with me, Olivia runs in every few minutes to check on her, then loudly yell whether she is awake or asleep. This is fairly effective at ensuring she will wake up soon :). O is also totally interested in all the 'mommy' aspects of having a new addition. She has started asking if she can help me do things 'so I know how when I am a mommy'. This is one of my favorite things to hear, and always ensures that I let her watch and/or help. She is just so curious, and has always insisted she wants to be a mommy when she grows up, so I love seeing her interest in learning new things.

On December 10th, at less than a month old, Makenzie had her first acting gig! Amber's ward at church was in need of a baby Jesus look-a-like, and Kenzie fit the bill :). I was very glad to listen from another room and let my friends Chrissy and Doug be Mary and Joseph, It was very sweet, and Kenzie played the role perfectly *insert overly-proud-of-a-small-accomplishment mom look here*

We got our tree all finished the next day, a big improvement on last year's tree (see the last picture on this post). We did have a broken bulb - which may have been from a responsible adult - but the decorations stayed on their branches for the most part. I'm just glad that we have so many more ornaments this year, we are trying to do one or two major decoration costs per year, so we have had a sad tree every year until this one.

Call me crazy, but I always have very grand ideas about what we will accomplish during the month of december, There are so many fun crafts, opportunities for service, and family activities that we can't ever fit everything in. We did pick a few that were important, one of which was decorating Christmas trees with the kids. It was a super simple Pinterest activity, and the trees worked out wonderfully. You can tell how much fun the kids had!

On December 14th, Makenzie turned one month old!  These pictures look a little funny, but are the start to a fun collage I will be doing of every month her first year. As most picture times do, our solo shot turned into a sibling picture, but I never mind when the kids ask to hold her and play with her.

Probably my favorite picture of these three..so perfect for their personalities!

These next few pictures are totally random, but most of our days feel random and uncoordinated, so it's a more accurate look at our lives. The kids LOVED having presents under the tree this year. We have left them all up high until Christmas Eve in the past, but I love  the look of presents under the tree, so we decided to do that this year. We had ZERO instances of intentional unwrapping, and only a couple tape repairs needed.

This is how I know Carter has been holding her hand in the car. He was totally covered in chocolate before this time, but K licked it off and was quite pleased with the taste of chocolate.

We also have been slowly making changes to the decorations in the kids' rooms.

Falling asleep at the wheel tonight...see you tomorrow!

Ice Skating!

When we went to see Santa, we waited outside in line for about 45 minutes. December in Boise is pretty cold (I think around 20 that day), but we didn't mind very much because Amber and I chatted in line while the dads watched all the kids at the playground. We had the opportunity to let a family with a terminally ill child who couldn't wait outside go in to Santa before us, which we were all too happy to do. The security at the Village was grateful to us, and gave us vouchers for free Ice Skating! So a couple days later we met again (in just as cold weather) to go ice skating. Carter was too little, and Kenzie was just 3 weeks old, so Alex and I actually watched while Olivia went with her cousins. That left 2 adults skating with 5 kids that had never ice skated before, including a 3 and a 4 year old. It was a blast to watch, and everyone skating had a great time as well. I was a little concerned about the kid-to-adult ratio, but the kids did very well, all of them took a turn skating by themselves before the time was up.

I love Dan's strategy for getting kids around the ice :)

Kade always has great excited faces...and falls!

Elli, Olivia, and Teagen took turns skating with Dan and Amber. This was one of Olivia's times waiting, and she decided she could get around by herself...a totally independent girl.

Oh look! I was here too! My appearance in pictures is very rare, so I'll put it up here despite the 'lovely' face I am making. Actually here I am feeding Kenzie. In retrospect, it was WAY too cold to be feeding a newborn outside, but I had her bundled up in 2 blankets and 2 layers of clothing. She slept almost the whole time, just waking up to be fed before she went back to sleep. I guess that's the difference between your first and third child.

A sweet fall by Maely,

And Kade trying to prevent himself from falling on his face :). Both of the older kids got very daring by the end of our time, racing and trying to skate backwards and/or spin. They also had plenty of falls between them.

This picture was harder than it looks to get. All 7 people upright and skating at the same time, and Maely helping Amber keep Olivia upright. It was a fun adventure!

After ice skating, we benefitted from the older kids good grades with some free donuts from Krispy Kreme! We definitely spoiled our dinner, but it was the perfect end to a fun evening.

Seeing Santa!

The first week in December was full of pre-Christmas activities, from decorating to writing Christmas lists. We topped it off with a trip to see Santa at the Village Mall. But of course we started the week (and every day) with story-time. Honestly we read with the kids all the time, but seeing all the kids sitting around Alex listening to a story is a sight I will never tire of.

Decorating the Christmas tree turned into 'What if Kenzie is the Christmas tree?' Based on her face, I'm not sure she was thrilled, but she will get used to her siblings tormenting her, as I'm sure it won't end any time soon.

One thing I have learned with having three kids is that often the perfect picture opportunities come when one or more kid isn't dressed. I've always gotten my kids dressed daily with hair done, and tried to take cute pictures of them together whenever I had a chance. Now I just watch for the cute moments to unfold, and embrace the fact that they are almost always in some sort of disarray. This particular day was putting Christmas lights on, and Carter started playing with Kenzie. This was a HUGE moment, as he was afraid to get near her for a long time.

After a while of watching, I encouraged Olivia to lay down so I could try to get some cute smiles...this is what happened.

My favorite picture. From the kids' sweet faces as they kiss Kenzie's hands to her crazy eyes as she gets up close and personal with her brother. I love these kids more than anything :).

Sitting on the chair together only lasted about three seconds. Carter still wasn't interested in holding Kenzie or taking a picture with her.

The kids kept asking to take more pictures, so they could see the results. Eventually they came up with their own plan. Olivia sitting on the piano bench, and Carter and Kenzie sharing a chair. Kenzie was just 2 weeks old at this point, and nowhere near holding her own weight, but I didn't want to disappoint the kids, so we tried it. I was wishing that Alex was there, but instead I improvised, holding Kenzie up with my food while she leaned against Carter. Olivia and Carter were thrilled with the results, and I like them too.

The next day we went to see Santa. Knowing that this can be a scary experience for kids (and after last year's disastrous results), we tried to prep the kids by talking about how nice Santa is, and that he looks like a Grandpa with a big beard but we sit on his lap and talk to him. We also went with Amber's family, to try to distract them from this strange experience. Before going, we asked the kids what they were going to ask for. Olivia was certain that she wanted 'sick doll' and a hula hoop. Carter wanted Cereal. Obviously Olivia had a better idea of what Santa was all about :).

Notice one kid missing? Carter had an off year, and refused the experience. I tried to have Alex help him up to Santa's lap, but he was very stealth-like in his evasion techniques, and I didn't get a good picture.

Later that afternoon I got this cute picture of Kenzie supervising the construction of her stocking (which was bigger than she was).