End of 2012

I'm going to end 2012 with a photo bomb. Enjoy.

We had our first measurable snow storm on December 19 and 20.  Mina, Charlotte, and Bubba all played out in the freezing temperatures and had a grand time.

Simon and I stayed inside. He has a snow suit, but it was way too cold even with that. Plus, I don't like snow.  I'd live where it never snowed if I could.  Snow is scary to drive in and cold. Yuck.

The girls even made it down to the playground. If you look closely, you can see Charlotte attempting to climb the wall, but she kept falling down into the snow. It's a good thing it's soft and she had cushion.

 Simon was so happy to have me all to himself.  I love that he smiles every day now.

The girls were very rosy cheeked when they came in.  We had hot chocolate. They ended up going out three times that day and twice the next day.

Jon got home and they "helped" him with the snow.  They actually made it take longer because they got in the way, but he only complained a little.

 Jon has this daddy thing figured out. He can hold a sleeping baby and still use the computer.

 Mina got my attention outside on the deck, then laid down. I'm not really sure what she was going for.

Simon has started to enjoy his play gym, but he was fussing in there the other day. I came into the room only after he had stopped fussing to see this.  Charlotte had helped him out by giving him some attention.

 This is a common thing in our house. Charlotte loves to lay down by Simon and she calls him bruh-thah.

 Simon cooperated really well one day and took a long nap in the front play room.

 We took that opportunity to do a Christmas craft. Mina loves arts and crafts. Charlotte loves to do anything to help me.  She usually specializes in cooking, but she loved gluing on the circles.

 Mina decided that the Christmas tree pictures were a present for Santa so we only got to hang them up until Christmas Eve. We set them out for Santa to get along with his cookie and carrot.

 Charlotte is so beautiful. <3

We celebrated Christmas with Nana and Papa and this is pretty much what went on the whole time.  Simon hadn't slept much the night before so Papa took care of him while we were at their house.  It was great!

 Nana was a very good girl this year.

 The girls taught Nana how to play Fruit Ninja on her new iPad.

 I just love that Simon enjoys his play gym. He was talking to his musical star here.

 Christmas morning came and the girls received exactly what they asked for from Santa.  Charlotte wanted a Lalaloopsy car and Mina wanted a tolly tot doll.

 Simon got a musical animal of some sort or another. Is it a cow? Is it a giraffe with a short neck? Hmmm...

 Mina drew Simon a picture, wrapped it up, then put it under the tree. Here she is presenting it to him.

Mina was excited to get the Disney princess barbies.  Her first comment was that one of the princesses was missing. At least she was only commenting about it and not complaining!

 I was even more exhausted than I looked here.  This picture is representative of the day. The girls had an awesome time. Jon and I were miserable. Simon had been up every hour after 12:30. We were grumpy and stressed out.  Yes, we're extremely lucky to have three beautiful kids, but they can be overwhelming. It's not all sunshine and rainbows. For instance, Simon cried pretty much the entire time while we decorated for Christmas.  There's nothing like hearing a baby scream loud while listening to Silent Night.  Next year should be less stressful, right?

 Simon was not impressed.

 Once Christmas was done, we quickly had to switch gears for Mina's birthday.  I even wrote out a schedule.  This was Mina's first friend drop off party and I didn't want to have a house full of kids without a plan. It went pretty close to my schedule until the presents. Not bad.

My parents came over to help.Charlotte wanted attention while my mom tried to help with making pigs in a blanket.

 We ended up having 10 kids total, including Mina and Charlotte.

Mina was so happy the whole time, didn't complain about anything, and was gracious to her guests. Win!

My favorite games were Scary Bear (like hot potato) and Musical Bears.  The party had a Brave theme so that's why we did games involving bears.  This is the kids playing Musical Bears.

Simon Says was a hilarious flop.  The older girls were really good at it, but the younger kids didn't understand what they were supposed to do at all.  In this picture, everyone should have looked sad, but as you can see, only one girl kept looking sad when I said, "Look excited!"

We had a castle photo booth set up and I took pictures of almost all of the kids in there. I plan to print them out and give them to their parents. Anyway, here are my two dressed as Merida.

And my strange husband dressed as Batman.

Notice that all five kids in this picture are sitting with their arms the same way. They were adorable.  If I remember correctly, they were singing Happy Birthday when I snapped this picture.

Charlotte obviously enjoyed the cake.

Cute party boys Leif and Ethan.

Mina was so tired and happy at the end of the night. She told me she wished she could have a party every night and that I was the best mom in the world. I kind of felt like the best mom in the world too. :)

Mina surprised us the next night by losing her first tooth. We weren't even aware it was loose!

Mind the gap.

What's a photo bomb without a strange family photo?

Mina loves to see what she can fit in the gap.

I spent a bunch of time putting away the laundry this evening and I came downstairs to see this.  Cute!

I'm a lucky lady.

I have a feeling that 2013 is going to be even better than 2012 - no morning sickness and no pushing a baby out (though that turned out to be strangely fun and exciting).  Simon will be running around the house spreading terror at this time next year. It's going to be awesome.

Two Months

It's been a fabulous two months. Time is definitely flying.  Simon has figured out how to smile and he smiles frequently.  This is one of the first ones I caught with the camera.  Oh, and his two months stats are: 11pounds, 4 oz (25th percentile), 24 or so inches long (95th percentile), and his head was 75th percentile.  In other words, he's growing very well and is long and skinny.

Simon's newborn photo shoot went great and the girls came the next week to get their pictures done.  I loved splurging on the little guy.  He's darn cute!

We have the top right picture as a huge print above his bed.  The diaper was made by a friend so that makes it extra special.

A bunch of friends came home for Thanksgiving and we had lots of visitors. Jon did the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning and dressed up all cute.  He borrowed my socks.

I redid the picture wall in Simon's room and needed new pictures of Mina and Leif.

Mina was a bit more cooperative.

My parents needed a picture with all eight grandchildren. Notice how well Charlotte cooperated!  They did get a better one to use for the Christmas cards.

 Charlotte takes her praying seriously.

 Jon has the magic touch with Simon. He can almost always calm him down. They're too cute together.

This picture made it onto our Christmas letters, but we printed them in such a small format that you couldn't tell what was going on.  The girls were excited about their new toothbrushes and getting ready for baths simultaneously. Of course.

Macy really wants to babysit the kids sometime. She told me that Jon and I need to go on a date.  Her and Hailey did an excellent job of taking care of all three kids one morning so Jon and I could go do a cardio kettlebell class together.

Mina was literally the star at her school Christmas program this year.  She sang the loudest without being shouty. It was beautiful. I'm so proud of her!

 Mina was very proud of the star she got to hold.

 I could just melt from her cuteness.

 We're so lucky to have our sweet big girl!  It's hard to believe that she's going to turn 5 in a few days.

Charlotte continues to excel as a big sister also.  She loves to give Simon attention and hold him.  Both girls love that he "talks" and smiles at them now.  They just want to squish him they love him so much.

Here's an example of little Si's smiles.  He's happy, happy, happy most of the time, except when he's tired or having tummy troubles.

We've already celebrated Christmas with my side of the family. The kids enjoyed the traditional fishing for toys.  Charlotte is really into everything this year. She's fun to watch!

 Simon dressed up for the occasion and I even wore some makeup!

 Jon wore the vest I made him six years ago.  Isn't he beautiful?

 Simon showed off his smiling abilities.

 He also showed off his neck and head control. He's a strong guy!

 Cousin Anya held Simon for about an hour. He nuzzled her neck and fell asleep.

Mina was so excited for hot chocolate.  I don't know what's better - playing outside in the cold or the hot chocolate afterwards. She sure doesn't take after me. I could do without both of those things.

 Great Grandma Wubben had a turn with the little guy too.

 It's great fun living close to both of my sisters and their families.

 Charlotte helped with bingo for the bigger cousins.

This looks like a terrible idea.  Jon doesn't have a great track record with sharp instruments outside of the workplace.  You'd think a surgeon wouldn't cut himself when doing home improvement, wouldn't you?

 Hot chocolate head!

 Yet another one of Simon being happy. <3

Mina has been extreme lately. She's mostly extremely good so I'll focus on that for a second here.  She helped Jon pack a bunch of meals for Meals from the Heartland (pictured below). She loves to lead the family prayer song (which makes me tear up every time). She received a hand knit hat at school the other day and insisted on donating it immediately to the hat and mitten tree at our church since she already had a hat and someone else could use it.  Her teacher fell down the other day and Mina was the first one to rush to her to ask if she was okay.  I really think about what a blessing she is at this time of year.  Six years ago, I was in the darkest time of my life and thinking we might never have kids. The next Christmas, I was huge with child.  She was the start of a wonderful thing.  Now we're blessed to have both Charlotte and Simon.

I'm sure I won't get around to blogging again until after Christmas so MERRY CHRISTMAS!