How On Earth?

How on earth did my sweet baby Kayla get so big?  I took a picture of her, all decked out in her sweatshirt, barbie shoes, and sunglasses, while eating her string cheese, and it just really hit me how much she has grown.  She is my big girl now.  I also realized how we have quit calling her "Baby Kayla", as though that phrase was actually her name.  She is now just, "Kayla".
And then there is Jaxton.  Oh my, there's Jaxton.  I can't believe that he's going to be 5 years old in April.  FIVE, people... FIVE.  How can this be????  He's full of his own ideas and has this attitude like you wouldn't believe.  I have to constantly remind him that I'm the Mommy and he's not that big yet.  Maybe I just don't want him to be that big yet.  He's officially a kid now... not a baby, not a toddler, but a kid... SO BIG!!! (Sigh).  He's still cute, though.  And even though he has this newfound independence and an attitude to go with it, he's still my sweet boy.  He's not as tough as he thinks, thank goodness. 
Watching my kids grow is very bittersweet.  I couldn't ask for anything more.

Creating Bonds

It is so funny how it seems like my kids do nothing but fight all day long, and then suddenly at any given moment I can just see their love for each other.  Whether it be wearing their cowboy hats and they think it's soooo amazing that they match... so amazing, that for a moment they stop fighting over the toy to giggle over the hats, or how they'll slow down with each other just enough to realize how much they love Jenna and take the time to read her a book.  I don't think anything beats the bonds of siblings.  It's just so amazing to me to watch them grow with each other.  I love it.

 

Buying more Jennas

Kayla was in an extremely loving mood tonight, which I loved!  I was sitting in the rocking chair with Jenna and Kayla came up to me.  She was so excited and said, "Mommy! We should by more Jennas, sometime!!!"  and then she gave Jenna the biggest hug and kiss.  It was the cutest thing.

Christmas 2011

Well I haven't updated this in so long, so I'll start with Christmas.  Christmas was so fun this year.  The kids were so excited to see Santa, and I thought for sure that one of them would end up in tears on his lap, but no.  They all did so good and looked so adorable.

  

The next big event... Christmas Eve Mass.  I did it by myself this year because Mitch had to work, and let me just say what a process it was.  I do it on Sundays by myself with the three kids, but Christmas Eve is always so much more packed and much more to deal with.  The kids were so good though, and Jaxton was as cute as ever with his words.  He saw Father in the lobby before Church started and was amazed by his white robes.  He wouldn't quit turning his head back and looking in the lobby and I asked him what was happening that he couldn't quit staring.  He looked up and said to me, "Mommy, why is God here?"  I told him that God is always here because this is His house.  He just looked at me really confused and said, "No Mommy.  That man back there is dressed like God.  Why is God here?"  It was so cute that he thought our priest was God.  After Church was over, I told Father what Jaxton said, and he got a good chuckle out of it.
Now moving on to Christmas.  The kids were so cute this year!  I love to watch their excitement!  Jaxton's big thing is guns.  It makes me crazy because I absolutely hate them and he's obssessed.  I caved, though, and got him guns as long as we got him a whole cowboy get-up with it. So between that and his NERF gun, Jaxton couldn't have been happier.  Our big family gift this year was a Wii, and we love it!
Then it was off to Mom's house.  We had such a great night, and the kids had so much fun being spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa.  My favorite part, of course, were the canoles that Grandpa John made.  Me and the kids got to spend a few days there, which was so nice.  And that was our Christmas.  It was wonderful!

I love that he still gets excited about opening underwear.

All tuckered out after her first Christmas

During our stay at Mom's house over the next few days, I realized that she absolutely loves her Uncle Mark!

I Love You Because

So this is my newest project and it turned out so cute!  There is this website that I just found out about and I love it.  You should all visit it...  http://www.pinterest.com/
It has all things interesting and so many wonderful craft ideas!
Anyway, I saw this on pinterest and had to do it.
I just took an old wood frame and spray painted it.  I chose to use purple.  Then I used letter stickers and stuck them on a piece of poster board to put on the inside of the frame.  I used sparkly green ones because I thought the sparkles would give it a little bit of pop.  You can write on the glass of the frame with a dry erase marker, and every day write a new reason why you love them.
This is such a cute idea and so simple!  I don't know why I can't think of things like this myself.

Caramel Corn Night

When Mitch's kids were little, he would always do a caramel corn night with them, where they would all make caramel corn, and of course eat it in front of a movie.  This tradition has carried on to our kids.  The kids had so much fun!

Back to the Basics

This is something that I haven't done since I was in elementary school.  I thought the kids would have so much fun doing it and I was right... they looooved it!  We did it for two days and I finally had to say that there are other things we could do that would be just as much fun.

Introducing the kids' first homemade egg carton Christmas ornaments...

I was so proud of Jaxton because he wrote the J all by himself.