December has arrived!

How quickly time passes, December has arrived once again and we've got 3 kids who are SO excited for Christmas!  Our house is decorated, our 4 trees are up, the lights outside are up (with surprisingly very little grumbling from Scrooge Brian), and we're working on 8 advent calendars...yes, I said 8.  Jacob, Gwyn and Annie each have their own little chocolate box, they each have a lego calender to open and build each day, we have one larger advent calendar, and this year we are reading a Christian advent calendar telling the Christmas story and lessons each night of the month.  I have sealed and stamped Christmas cards, which are  going out tomorrow, but here are some of the pictures from Purple Pear Photography who took pictures of the kids this year:

 Annie had this smile on her face for about 75% of the photos, nice:

 My little boy is so grown up!

 Sweetest. Thing. Ever.

 My little baby bumpkin, LOVE HER!

 Annie is such a little riot.  She HAD to wear this tiara to Smashburger when Brian was out of town and I was too worn out to cook:

 We had a fun day Sunday afternoon and took the kids to see Rise of the Guardians, such a cute little movie about how Santa, the Easter bunny and the Tooth Fairy work together to protect the kids...Annie chose to wear her Dora dress-up:

 This little stinker was on her 3rd, YES, 3rd book of Christmas stamps when I got out of the shower.  I managed to salvage 7 stamps...I'll have to remind her she owes me about $25 when she is 18!

 She is crazy about books, and I find her all the time "reading" out loud and making up stories that go with the pictures.  I'm going to have to try to get a better video, she usually stops or starts acting goofy when I catch her:





Gwyn is such a little sweet heart, here she is being goofy showing off her freshly painted nails...she got to go with a little friend to the nail salon and get her fingers and toes painted...yes, she is 4!

Jacob has a little friend at school who is from "Japanese."  His little friend is always making him these cool origami things and he came home from school one day and said he wanted to make a ninja star.  Well, I googled, "how to make a ninja star."  Surprisingly, there is this awesome 8 minute video that tells you step by step how to do it, and he and I both made several.  He was pretty proud of both of us, about day 3 of this he started being a pretty tough critic, telling me things like "this is bad Mommy, you need to watch the video again" and "this folding is awful" and "you are really not good at that."  I pretty much told him that I'm SURE that Daddy would be amazing at this and why doesn't he ask him as soon as he gets home from work.  We ended this 4 day origami craze with what he said was "this is your best one ever Mommy!"  Whew!  I'm proud to say that Brian didn't even attempt a ninja star, and I impressed Jacob on my own (with google's help!)

Kong Kong is back in the house!  He's swiped one of Jacob's ninja stars already!

He tried to sneak some m&m's inside the french press coffee maker!  I'm sure he'll be up to no good in the coming weeks and will probably get a post all to himself!!

We had a sitter one night for a party (oh yes, we were out until 10:30 pm, ha!) at Jason's house and came home to this.  Sweet Jacob asleep by the Christmas tree:

Jacob and I went on a Mommy/Son date to a small dance company's production of The Nutcracker.  Jacob had a great time.  They served punch and dessert at tables and the stage was right in front of our table.  At one point after the fight between the Nutcracker and the Rat Prince, the Nutcracker is laying on the floor (kind of like he is hurt but not moving), and Jacob says, "He's not dead!  I can see him breathing!"  He was pretty into it, but when Brian asked him what he liked best when he got home, he said the food.  Nice.

My mom showed the kids how to make snowflakes and paper dolls, this has become an obsession here and my house is constantly filled with these creations:

I had to put in a few of Jacob's book he did in school, he's studying America:

I love it, "The flag is speshull!"  It really is pronounced exactly like he spelled it!

I had to put Annie's angel from school in, she traced it all by herself!

 Gwyn's class was studying the Three Little Pigs, she loved retelling us the story:

Funny things the kids said this week:
Me to Annie after I could smell deodorant on her:  Did you eat it?
Annie:  No
Me:  I can smell it on your face.  Where did you put it?
Annie:  On my mustache.
Jacob to Brian when he came home from work (the kids had put a whoopie cushion under a blanket in a chair...nice party favor, that thing has been continuous entertainment for my kids):  Come on in Daddy, why don't you sit down and relax.  (Not obvious at all buddy)
Me to Gwyn:  Do you want me to fix your hair?
Gwyn:  No, I want it crazy.
Annie:  Where is my bible?  I need God's word.
Jacob when we drove by a house with lots of Christmas lights:  Those must have cost fifty bucks.  They must be rich to have all those lights.
Gwyn:  Do you know  why I'm so smart?
Me:  Because you pay attention in school?
Gwyn:  No, I eat lots of smarties!
Annie:  My beard itches.
Annie to Brian:  You look handsome today.
Annie to Brian when she was getting in trouble for hitting Gwyn with a sword...a play sword:  I want Mommy.
Brian:  Mommy would be spanking your bottom right now.
Annie:  I don't want Mommy anymore.