Our Three Blessings

In the afternoon on Christmas Day we went to Eric's Parent's house for lunch and to exchange gifts. The babies had fun playing with their cousins and of course playing with the boxes from the gifts.

Christmas morning the babies woke up early excited that Santa came. Actually, they woke up at their normal early time 6:30am. They had fun playing with their new toys from Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Scott, and Aunt Sherry in the morning before getting even more toys from us and finishing opening the rest of the gifts from Grandma & Grandpa. They definitely have enough toys now. We had to reorganize the sitting room where we have them most of the time so all the new toys would fit. Missy was definitely excited for her new toy from Great Grandma. She was carrying it all over and Ethan was trying to get it.

Christmas eve we went to my parents and the babies had their first experience with opening presents. They had fun playing with the toys once they were out of the packages, but they didn't quite get pulling at the paper to open the packages.

Ethan, Leah, & Logan

We've been reading The Night Before Christmas for a while now, when is Santa going to get here? Missy, Leah, Ethan, & Logan

The babies have graduated from their infant carriers to backwards facing booster seats. Great timing, it's cold out now and I feel bad having to drag them outside. It was nice when we could bundle them all up in their seats in the house and just plunk them into the car. I like the seats we purchased. After a bit of looking around we went with the Radian 80 seats, gray for the boys and pink flowers for Leah. They work backward facing up to 40 lbs and forward facing up to 80 lbs. I'm not sure where a 40 lb kid's legs are supposed to go backward facing, but we'll see. They are narrower than most seats (they don't have armrests or cup holders) and fit three across. Lucky Eric is still able to fit the 3 babies in the back of the sable. He's been shopping for a new car (Mustang) for several years now but the Sable still runs great and has 94K miles on it (and it's paid off). So far there haven't been any complaints about the new seats and they fall asleep just...

Ethan has started pulling up on everything. I don't think pulling up quite describes it, if there is a toy on the floor he will try and use it to stand up. He isn't even limited to toys, if there is anything on the floor he will push up on it. The other day I was taking a few pictures (seeing if I could be lazy for their 10 month pictures) and Ethan was pushing up on Logan. Logan eventually did a face plant under Ethan's weight. So the other day Logan got him back. Ethan pulled up on the exersaucer Logan was in. Logan pushed Ethan's hands off the toy causing Ethan to go face first into the exersaucer. I'm sure these won't be the first scrapes Ethan gets because of Logan.

There's just something about a baby gate that makes a christmas tree more festive. The babies have been enjoying the lights on the christmas tree and the gate around the tree. Now that they are a bit more mobile, expecially Ethan, they are having fun standing around the gate.

It's so cold. For the last month we have had great weather and mild temperatures. It's been in the 40's for a while now. Then the temp dropped in the last 2 day. Yesterday the temp on my car said 14 degrees F. I don't know why they even bother to put a number and not just say COLD! Tooth Update Ethan - 4 teeth, he's asking for his 2 front teeth for Christmas . He now has the bottom two and the two teeth on top on either side of the middle. Leah - 6 teeth, She has all the middle top and bottom and the right side top and bottom. Logan - 4 teeth, he has both top and bottom middle teeth and is still drooling like more are on the way.

The babies had their first experience with Santa last weekend. Every year the booster club at my work has a children's Christmas party complete with Santa. When we arrived we got in line to see the big guy. The boys were a little nervous standing in line with all the people and unfamiliar surroundings. Leah was happily playing in her seat. Finally it was our turn. We handed the boys to Santa and I held Leah. Unfortunately the boys lost it and didn't really know what to make of Santa. So our picture didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. I had the girl taking the pictures take a few with my camera, but those were all blurry. We did get a few cute pictures while sitting in the cafeteria with the babies. We found a quiet table and broke out the toys and Cheerios. We only stayed an hour, but it was nice to get the babies out of the house and show them off to my co-workers. The few times we've taken the babies anywhere I always want to take my good camera...but it...

Sometimes a good deal really is too good to be true. Five years ago right after we moved into our house we bought a new faucet for the kitchen. The builder provided faucet wasn't fancy and we (I) really wanted one with a handle that pulled out. We were shopping with friends and found a faucet on clearance for $35. We thought we hit the jackpot that day. Five years later we now see why it was only $35. The plating around the base was chipping off and for a few days the joint between the handle and the extension hose would spray a bit when you changed between a solid stream and the broad spray of water. Then last Sunday it finally had enough. Eric was rinsing something off in the sink and the handle completely came off. The fun part was the fountain of water that shot across the kitchen towards the stove. You couldn't help but laugh. Eric discovered that the sink was still usable if you held the handle in place while running the water. So Sunday night we were still able to wash t...

I love Christmas Music. One of the local radio stations starts playing Christmas music just after Halloween, so needless to say I've already had a month of it. Now, Amazon.com has jumped on the Christmas music band waggon . Every day in December they are providing a new song to download for FREE.

Eric and I really enjoy sports. For the last 4 or 5 years we have played co-ed indoor soccer together. We really hope to get the babies into soccer as well. Logan loves to kick, I'm sure he'll be a natural. Leah will probably like beating up the boys just like mommy. Ethan never stops moving and is just like daddy, so sports are definitely in his future. Ethan might not be the soccer star we dreamed he'd be. I think he might just be our blossoming basketball star. He's our almost 10 month old slam dunk champ.

Daddy and Leah snoozing after a tough morning of playing.

I always love a challenge...taking a picture of 3 babies sitting together definitely falls into the challenge category. A few days ago I just happened to have my camera out (it's always out) and was taking pictures of the babies together. I was having a tough time getting them all to sit together. I had them all lined up and got the first picture and wasn't quite satisfied with the focus so I kept shooting. This is what I ended up with. This picture just made me laugh. They look like they are lined up, looking for trouble and Ethan is the ring leader.

Here is logan crawling across the room to me.

The boys are definitely mobile now. I was able to get them on video crawling towards me. They are so fun and happy now that they can get around by themselves. Ethan likes to crawl through the kitchen and make his way towards the vertical blinds. He really liked going after the dog's food and water bowls. They have a new location back by the laundry room and lucky for us Missy doesn't mind. Logan likes to crawl after Ethan, me, and he will crawl through two rooms to get to the tv room when he hears the beginning music of a Baby Einstein video.