A Visit With Santa

At the end of November, we enjoyed an evening out to participate in Wahoo's Christmas tree lighting followed by visits with Santa. 

The boys well know that Santa is just pretend. So, when Santa asked them what they wanted for Christmas Jonah just started at him strangely. At other times that people have asked Jonah what he wants Santa to bring to him, he will say, "Santa doesn't bring presents. He is just pretend. Mommies and Daddies give presents to kids." Glad he knows the truth, hoping he doesn't hurt any feelings with his matter-of-factness!

10 Weeks Old

These pictures are from a few weeks ago when Lydia was 10 weeks old. It is SO fun to watch her grow! The weeks are going by too quickly!

Silas joined Lydia for a little tummy time

Taking a rest

Getting stronger!

Christmas Decorating

Decorating for Christmas was a family activity this year. We had a great time pulling things out of boxes and putting them where they would go best. The boys helped by decorating with some stuffed animals and other unbreakable decor. And, last year I was smart enough to put a lot of non-breakable ornaments in a ziploc gallon bag. So, when it came time to put ornaments on the tree, I was able to dump out the bag of ornaments for my two over-excited boys to start hanging on our tree!

 The boys received Peanuts Christmas t-shirts from Grandma. Their cousins have matching shirts to wear at Christmas for a cousin picture.

It is next to impossible to get a everyone-looking, everyone-smiling picture with a 4 year old, 2 year old, and 2 month old. 

Lydia is starting to look a little nervous about sitting with her brothers!

Thanksgiving

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year. This is the 3rd year that we have been in our home in Wahoo for Thanksgiving. Although we miss being with family, we have come to look forward to and enjoy our time as a little family. We watched some of the Thanksgiving Day Parade, hung out most of the day, and had a nice meal together in the evening. We continued the new tradition we started last year of writing on our Thanksgiving tablecloth. Even though this was only the second year of using it, it was fun to look back on what we wrote in thankfulness last year. A new tradition we started this year was our Thankfulness Tree on the wall in our dining room. It was a good activity for the boys to start this year as it began to get the wheels turning in their minds about giving thanks and praise to God for who He is and what He has done.

2012 Family Pictures

Lydia was 8 weeks old when these pictures were taken

Resemblance

Around Jonah's birthday, I never took the time to look back at the picture of me when I was young with the same cake my mom made for me (see the last blog post). It came to mind the other day, so I pulled it up and thought I'd share.

Jonah at 4 years old

Me at 5 years old (I think)

Hopefully, there are more blogs and pictures to come. Life gets busy with 3 kids. Wow!

Our 4 Year Old

This guy turned 4 years old on the 7th. We had a great time celebrating him! It seemed like Jonah got lots of parties this year - one with my parents, one with Mike's parents, and one with just our little family. 

I had a cake like this for my birthday when I was young. My mom made one for Jonah, too! 

My parents got Jonah a red-footed booby bird to go with Heezy, Jonah's blue-footed booby. Jonah often talks about Heezy's brothers and cousins. Their names all end in "eezy," of course! So, we were excited to see what Jonah would name Heezy's relative. As soon as Jonah pulled him out of the bag, he exclaimed, "CHEEZY!!!" In the picture above, Heezy and Cheezy were having a reunion.

We celebrated Jonah's birthday with a few gifts and a cake. We have decided to use the "something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read" rhyme as our birthday gift tradition. This year for Jonah: want - color-by-number book, need - a bigger bicycle, wear - winter boots, read - the set of 3 Frog and Toad books.

Jonah saw his doctor for his 4-year-old well visit on Friday. He weighed in at 41 pounds and was 42 inches tall. He is in the 85th %ile for height and 84th %ile for weight. At 4 years old, Jonah LOVES to color, draw and write on his magnadoodle, build legos, listen to music, sing, and read. And, he can read just about any kids book (crazy!). Jonah's mind is always going. He is constantly asking questions. He enjoys all of his activities (preschool, Bible Study Fellowship, and Awana), but Awana is definitely his favorite. Jonah is a great big brother to Silas and Lydia. He certainly has his moments of frustration with Silas, but I am daily amazed at the graciousness and self-control he has when Silas destroys his Legos, messes up his perfectly arranged cars, or erases his Magnadoodle that had wonderfully drawn pictures and writing on it. 

We love you, Jonah! God has richly blessed us through you!

Our 4-year-old riding off into the sunset!