when left to our own devices

Cookies!

A friend needed us to bring home her son after school a few weeks ago and so I decided to make a quick batch of sugar cookies and frosting and let them decorate.  Things are a lot busier with baby B (though this particular day he was a good napper), but I want the big guys to have their same old traditions, and this is one of them.  

B Gardens lights

We met some friends at the gardens last week for their annual holiday lights.  I am clearly not a good photographer, but this was the best one I got.

Good Fences

Until yesterday we'd only used our fireplace once this season and Blane burned his finger being his usual curious self. So I asked for this gate for him for Christmas but it was really for the whole family so we could use the fireplace safely. Landon has always loved the fireplace so I wasn't surprised (but still smiled to myself) when I found him reading by the fire on the inside of the gate. And then later that day both big guys read together by the fire while their little brother was locked safely away on the outside.

Christmas

This was Blane's second Christmas but first one where he was more than just a little baby lump. He sort of got the idea but really I think he mostly liked having a lot of his favorite people around and a whole new array of stuff to get into. As the last kid, the family either showed restraint or burnout, and Blane didn't get nearly as much stuff as his his brothers did at his age. He did get some new toys though, like this cars and ramps thing that Kari picked out for him. Immediately after opening it (with some help) his brother volunteered to assemble it for him, which for me anyway was one of the highlights of the holidays. 

Amazing hair

I'm on a boat!

Baby Blane on the cruse ship.

Piano

 The big guys are starting piano after the holidays and so we got out our keyboard yesterday and they all had so much fun together.

One more from the cruise

On our last day on the cruise, we stopped at Castaway Cay, Disneys private island in the Bahamas.  I saw on the Disney Cruise app that one of the activities that day was a 5K, so I signed up.  It was HOT and a mile walk to and from the start, but I did it. 

Snow fun!

 We got quite a bit of snow last weekend, but it was too cold to play in until yesterday, and by then a lot of it had melted.  Adler was very proud to be able to make a small snowman.

 Grandma bought Baby B some snow boots for Christmas and so we let him open them early to enjoy the snow fun.  

 He thinks he's a big guy like his brothers.

Brothers

Tried to get a pic of the boys kinda dressed up to go to a holiday party. 

B on the move

Baby B is on the move with his recently acquired walking skills.  He's able to get into even more stuff faster and is harder to pin down for the old DIY photo shoot. We did make an attempt at the latter and here he is showing off his new skills.

Friday afternoon chaos

 After LT and his friend did their bake sale a few weeks ago, we brought his friend home to play for a bit.  This is a glimpse into what our afternoon/evening looked like (though its not abnormal).

Holiday Performance

Adler is in the 2nd row from the bottom 5 in from the left.


Landon is 3rd row from the bottom 2 in from the left.

Clay Dough!

 Our nephew turned 3 a few weeks ago (while we were on our cruise) and so the boys and I took over a gift of play dough one afternoon.  He was so cute and kept calling it "Clay Dough".

Love

Bath Time!

 Our hot water heater went out last weekend.  I realize this is very much a first world problem, but we realized how lucky we are to have hot water and how much we rely on it!  Luckily we were able to get a new heater Monday and so we've been slowly getting caught up on dishes, laundry and bathing!  These three are too funny together in the bath.

These three

Our big guys are very independent in many ways (as they should be!), but sometimes they just play baby games with their little brother.  I love this picture of them "cooking" baby B style.

Cruse Pics