Christmas time

*For some reason, the pictures uploaded in the opposite order.  So, it goes Christmas night, Christmas day, Christmas Eve, and December 22.*

 What Christmas wouldn't be complete without a tantrum?

So excited!  

Yeah, Addy just doesn't stay still anymore.  Makes it hard to get a photo of all four of them.

I think she had that face in every picture I took of her opening a present.  :)

Needing a little help opening up her gifts.  She just didn't have any interest in opening them.

 The only full length picture I got of Addy all dressed up.  (And don't worry, an adult was right there.)

 Grahm wearing Daddy's old Broncos sweatshirt.  Belle used to wear it, and Grahm will have to give it up soon for Casey.  I'm hoping it will hold up long enough for Addy to wear it too.

Despite being sick, he sure enjoyed opening presents.

For their Christmas concert, the younger grades all had an individual speaking part and a few songs.  Personally, I enjoy Christmas concerts with all songs, but it was still cute.

Belle was upset that he was shooting and not standing still.

Grahm was not happy being told what to do.

 Deep down, they do love each other.  :)

Thank You, God, For Blessing Me By Max Lucado

Thanks to BookSneeze, I was given the opportunity to review the e-book Thank You, God, For Blessing Me by Max Lucado (which you can purchase from Amazon here).  Here is a little description from the BookSneeze website:

"Meet Little Hermie—the cutest baby caterpillar in the garden! Little Hermie’s thankful heart shows toddlers how to be thankful for God’s blessings.

Little Hermie is thankful for everything God has given him. He goes through his day thanking God for his many blessings in this adorable board book with flocking on the cover!

With over 5.5 million brands units sold, the new Little Hermie books open the wonderful world of the Hermie & Friends garden to an entirely new audience."

The pictures were colorful and cute, and the message was simple...being thankful for the big and little things that are provided in life.  The only con to the book is how incredibly short it is!  I wouldn't want to spend more than $1.99 for an e-book version of it.  But despite being really short, it has been read quite often at our house.  The upside to it being short is that my 18 month old will actually stay still long enough to finish it.  And my 6 year old even enjoyed it, which surprised me because I thought she would find it boring.  It made for a good discussion after reading it though.  I hope that they continue on with the Little Hermie series because it is quite cute.

Wordless Wednesday

Because really, I think the finger up the nose is worth a thousand words.  :)

Casey's turn :)

 *Staying busy while I was making lunch  :)

*He wasn't very happy that I woke him up...

Mabel's Labels Review

Thanks to Global Influence and Mabel's Labels, I was given the Back to School Combo to review for my preschooler.  I ordered the pirate skull icon, and Grahm loves them!  It was just a little something extra to make school fun for him to see that everyday (he loves pirates right now).

I put the shoe labels on his gym shoes, which stay at school, so I know if he ever misplaced them they would get returned to him.  The labels are waterproof and extra tough, so I feel confident that they won't wear off.

I also put the tag mates on his extra pair of clothes that stay at school.  I love how quick and easy they are to peel off and stick.  They do make an iron on label, but it's so much less time consuming using the stickers.  They are washer and dryer safe, so I won't have to keep replacing the labels.

I have more ease of mind with his things having a label on them.  Also, it helps him know which item is his if another child has the same thing, especially when winter comes around and it seems like kids wear either pink or black snowsuits and gloves.  I haven't had a chance to label everything I would like (September 1st snuck up on me!), but I'm looking forward to labeling more of his clothes and shoes, as well as his water bottle and food containers for lunch.

Mabel's Labels also sell labels for grown ups too.  They have household labels and stationery products.  My favorites are their big labels for trashcans and recycle bins, their cord control labels (this would be so handy in our home!), and their fully customizable labels for totes.

Their customer service is really friendly and helpful.  When I had a problem with my order, they fixed it right away.  They definitely stand by their satisfaction guarantee!



*I was given this product from Mabel's Labels (which I heard about through an email from Global Influence) free of charge in exchange for an honest review.  All images courtesy of Mabel's Labels.

Day at the Beach

The kids were invited to a birthday party at the local beach on Friday.  We had never been there before, but will hopefully get the chance to go again a couple more times this year.  It was a lot nicer than I was expecting, and the playground was wonderful!  It was fenced in and it had a nice soft ground (no wood chips!) so I wasn't worried about Casey tripping and getting scratched up.  Addy didn't seem to mind the sand, but the water was not the highlight of the day for her.  She likes to take baths, so I don't know why she didn't like sitting in the water.  Belle loved collecting all the empty shells and burying her feet in sand.  Our sandbox only has about an inch or so of sand left in it, but that's only because the kids keep taking it out and putting it in various spots in the yard and on our deck.  Grahm was right there next to Addy when she cried and tried to comfort her.  He is always looking out for her.  Casey spent equal amounts of time in and out of the water.  At first he was a little scared to go in, but by the end he was getting a little too brave.  They all behaved really well while we were there (except for Casey trying to blow the candles out), and it was almost relaxing with the four of them!

still here...

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost two months since my last blog post!  Yikes!

I love how Addy always wakes up with a smile, even when I'm the one waking her from a heavy sleep during naptime.  The only time she really cries is if Casey takes one of her toys away.  (He doesn't share very well.  Definitely have to work on that more!)

We went to a model train open house over the weekend.  The kids really enjoyed it, as did I.  They had quite an elaborate setup and the guys were all very friendly and happy to answer any question and tell you all about their trains and why they chose a certain one.

Seeing Henry was definitely the highlight for Casey.  The kid who owned it even ran it just for him.  He loved watching it go through the tunnels.

Chris took the older two fishing after the open house, and while Addy was napping I spent some one on one time with Casey.  He loves the sprinkler more than any of the other kids, that's for sure.

Grahm, while he still loves Transformers and Star Wars, he's getting into Pirates of the Caribbean now too.  He now runs through the house pretending he's Jack Sparrow and loves to "draw" pirate ships.

Belle loves to put clips on her hairbands.  The most I have ever counted at one time is twelve.  

Grahm loves his Star Wars Legos.

Belle getting to sleep on her top bunk for the first time.

Enjoying the nice weather before it rained.

Addy in the crawling stance.

After thinking about it, she changed her mind.

And then decided to roll around instead.

And chew on her toes.

I don't know why Casey is chewing on his toes.  :)