Entertaining. . .

Kayte is reading to Will.

No, I mean she is reading, really, reading-the-words reading!
Isn't that just the greatest thing ever?

Ben turns 8 months old!

Is spaghetti ok at this age? He seemed to catch on quickly to the slurp technique.

Ben is still as sweet as ever, although we had a rough patch last week that had me worried. He stopped napping and was constantly heard whining - it was horrible, and it lasted all week long! Every naptime I would put him down and think, oh, he is sooo exhausted, he will definitely sleep this time, but no! In half an hour, I'd hear him kicking around in there! And he used to be such a good napper!
On Saturday he seemed back to his normal self, sleeping long periods and sitting quietly and playing with no whining! Lo and behold, I spied a new tooth all shiny and white up top! Phew! My little sweetie was back to his normal self!

I'm happy to report that I gave up on the rice cereal and went straight to the oatmeal and Ben no longer gags at the very sight of a spoon. In fact he laps it right up, along with Tropical Fruit Medley, Applesauce, and Bananas & Applesauce. I know - it is all the sugary stuff, but at least he's eating it! We will get to the Squash eventually, I'm sure!
Besides last week, his sleep schedule is much the same as before, 7 to 6:30 or 7, and then two two-hour naps during the day.
He is getting much better at getting some cheerios in his mouth these days so, instead of frustratingly impossible, he now sees it as a challenge.
We are working on lots of tummy time to see if crawling is in our near future, but for now he prefers to roll and roll to get where he wants. He must be doing some scooting as I often find him sitting about a foot away from where I placed him, but I haven't caught him in the act yet.
He absolutely loves the bath! He kicks and giggles the whole time - it is quite messy! But Sara gets a kick out of it.
He has learned to play peek-a-boo and once he gets started, he can definitely outlast you!
He needs a haircut desperately, but his ears are so precious, I just can't!
He is becoming quite the chatterer and says lots of different sounds.
I can tell, walking and talking are just around the corner. . .

In Training. . .

Sara is a thumb-sucker - big time! And I really think it is about time to try to wean her off it. She does it all the time, but can't live without it when she is veggin'. So today while she was watching "Frosty" I put on some mittens for her to remind her to keep her thumb out.
"Going to the parade?" she said.

It was also very helpful in keeping her awake during the commute to school this afternoon. No sleepin' without that thumb!

Sara loves Jemma Jane!

Sara loves to scroll down all your blogs and she is really good at pointing out her cousins, even the new ones like Anthony and Jemma Jane :)
Tonite she was holding little Jemma and singing Twinkle Twinkle quietly into her ear. She is very good with babies!

Little Elves

Joe really took advantage of the "October-like" weather today. The kids ate their lunch really really fast so they could help him hang the lights!

And climbing the ladder is, of course, the best part of helpin' out!

Hee hee!

The Nutcracker

Growing up, my mom would always take Kelly and I to see the Nutcracker the first thing in December. The Christmas season really didn't start until we got to go on that very special date with her! I remember one year, I even had the flu, but I went anyway, I couldn't stand to miss it!
So when my daughter turned 3, I couldn't wait to share that with her! This was Kayte's fourth trip to the Nutcracker and every year just gets better!

We started the evening at the Olive Garden for some spaghetti :)

The traditional shot, by the tree at the Opera House. Kayte could hardly contain her excitement - I love that about her!

Aren't they gorgeous?

At the intermission, we always share champagne and cookies, compliments of Grandma!
I have to say, every year the Nutcracker is so different than the year before, but this was by far the most gorgeous one I've ever seen. They did a great job!

A birthday party!

Kayte was invited to a birthday party today at McDonald's for little Sunny, who is in her class. Looks like a lot of fun! Everyone wore their uniform, which was good, because I totally forgot to pack something for her to change in to.

Will was quietly bummed out in the back of the car when I dropped Kayte off. (After all, she is heading to the Nutcracker today too, and he thinks that sounds pretty cool too! He doesn't know that the Mouse King gets killed off right at the beginning. In the movie, it is all swords and fighting and boy stuff all the way through to the end!)
So I let him sit in the front seat with me while he ate his nuggets. He was pretty impressed by this little gesture and chatted away about school and things, and seemed to forget all about everything else.
He sure is lovable!

Sword Fight!

Will is teaching Ben how to sword fight!

Ben holds the sword and waves it around with no purpose at all, and Will clashes it with his sword.
Ben squeals! He loves it!

Rudolph the Red-Nose!

Ben kissed our slate hearth today and ended up with a good burn on his nose from it. It seems to me to be his first real "bleeding owie" as the kids call it, but I don't remember for sure.
But I thought it was an appropriate look for the season anyway :)

In other news, I cleaned my house today and yes, I do report that everytime I actually get it done. So you can scroll on back several weeks to find out when that happened last. . . .keep scrolling. . .

Also, I found Will outside today, stringing up a rope between hammock hooks on the two trees in our backyard. He was then seen dangling from a branch as he attempted to set his booted limb up there and walk that tightrope!
I would have been a little freaked out by this idea, as the rope was several feet off the ground, but I really didn't see any way that he could actually get up onto it anyway. But it was fun to watch - he was very determined!

Christmas Parade

This is the second year that Kayte and Ava have gotten to march in the parade with their Festival of Dance Ballet class. They were the only two that were actually from their class, but it was fun all the same.

They didn't know anyone else so they stuck very close together.

We happened to be marching behind the hula hoop guy.

Kayte saved candy canes to give to Will and Sara as she came by them. They were pretty excited about the whole thing too!

We were the second feature in the parade, so we got to hurry back and watch the rest of it with Joe and the kids. Ben was pretty zoned out in his stroller the whole time since it was past his bedtime. But then the fire engines kind of freaked him out!
It was cold but short, and lots of fun!

My Sweet Helper!

Sara is so fun! Today, after we dropped the kids off at school, she said, "Run errands?"
"Yes" says I. "We have to go to the store."
"Yay!" she hollers.
How is that for putting a fun spin on your day?
And she is so cheerful the whole time, chattering away and naming every grocery she sees.
She just makes my trip to yucky WinCo so much better, and we try to spread our cheer to all the other hapless shoppers :)

A Mouse!

See the two (plate) ears and the little blue nose?
"That's a mouse!" says Will.
He finds entertainment in the most unusual places. . .

The Advent Calendar

This is Sara's first year for the Advent Calendar, so she got to go first.
All day long I kept finding her trying to put the ornament back in it's cupboard! Not quite the idea!

Trimmin' the Tree

Yay! We did it! Joe and I wait until the kids go to bed for this project. And then when we are done, we wake the kids up so they can see the tree in the dark, and we give them their new ornament for the year.

Our traditional topping-the-tree picture.
Joe is in charge of getting the tree in the house and standing up straight. Then he helps me a bit with the lights. We break out the champagne and I add the ornaments. The star is always my job too ;)

Will was so excited! He kept staring at the tree and pointing out all the ornaments that he knew. These ornaments on the table are their new personalized snow globe ornaments.

Sara was a willing student on all things ornamental.

But Kayte was so tuckered she barely opened her eyes for a peek. Strange since she is our most traditionally-bound child.
But it has been a busy couple of days and she is the only one who has missed a nap all week.
I was tempted to let her stay up with us and help with the whole tree because early in the evening she was very psyched about it, but I was glad I didn't because the whole project took about two hours (you know how that kind of thing goes. . .)

Hunting for Christmas Trees in the Black Forest

Will is actually hacking this down with his plastic ax (Joe got a good start on it first :)

He was thrilled to get to whack at something as hard as he could!

Grandpa is helping out with Sara while pulling the tree down - I was afraid if we put her down, she would get stuck in the mud!

Looking for Bambi!

Today we headed out to find a Christmas Tree. I have to admit, I was dragging my feet a bit. It was mucky and threatened rain all morning, but we had a plan and really it was our only free day for a long time!
And it turned out to be quite an adventure after all! The kids talked excitedly all the way out about "finding the perfect tree in the Black Forest" and "I wonder if there will be wolves!"
When we got there, we bundled up and headed up the very muddy hill to the trees. I couldn't find my boots today, so I was wearing old tennis shoes with my pants rolled up. But all the kids were well-shod and Will even lost a boot in the sticky mud twice!
Kayte insisted that she was the one who picked out the tree and found one early on that she liked best. I'm not terribly particular about my tree, but Joe pointed out that it was a bit scraggly on top so we found a better one and chopped it down. After Kayte spent quite some time picking out other favorites, she became very very sad that we had chosen one without her seal of approval.
So Joe had her pick out a tree and then sent her on her way down the hill while he and the grandparents finished cutting the last two trees.
We didn't get her tree but we are hoping she doesn't notice, once it is all lit up and beautified.
(We tried this little trick last year, but the girl is six! We are only going to be able to pull that off for another year or two. . .)

Family Pic!

Look! We did it again! Coordinated clothing and everything! I'm really proud that we were able to pull this off one more time. We could all use a little more practice smiling and looking at the camera simultaneously, but practice makes perfect!
Don't worry, I'm still keeping our Christmas pic a surprise :)

Happy December!!! (Almost!)

It did not feel like Christmastime yet. Maybe it is the lack of snowfall or maybe it is just that I'm getting older so time goes so much faster. But in spite of myself, I packed up all my fall decor and dug out the big red boxes of Christmas stuff.
The very first thing I did was get out the stockings. I love these stockings and I've been collecting them since Kayte's second Christmas. I couldn't wait until we named our fourth and final child and I could order that last stocking.
Here it is, our whole family! Six little stockings all in a row! I love it!
And suddenly, I was ready! I was ready for peppermint schnapps in hot chocolate, Christmas trees, advent calendars, snow angels, Christmas carols, and surprises! I'm so ready to make more memories with my whole family of six playing out old traditions and making new ones!
And most of all, I am eagerly anticipating that pink snowfall outside my new bedroom windows in the middle of the night!
Merry Christmastime!

Christmas Village

Grandpa John bought this ceramic Christmas Village for Kayte last year. She loves it and spent the entire naptime making up a little story with the people. I heard them caroling. . .

She is so excited about Christmastime. When I got the boxes of decorations out today she bustled around, showing me where everything was supposed to go. She has an excellent memory.