I have to say, making cookies for Santa is not my favorite Christmas activity. I never realized how much work was involved and how hard it would be with 3 little boys! I'm not so sure it will become a yearly tradition in our house! Maybe next year, if we try, Kenney will be home to help. I could not believe the incredible mess they made. There were even blue specs of Playdough mixed throughout the cookie dough because I didn't catch Kyler getting it out until it was too late. We'll just have to give those cookies to Santa!
We started out the morning by making Elf donuts. Those were actually really fun and not too messy. They had a lot of fun with those too!
These boys find the most interesting ways to entertain themselves, especially if Damon is involved. He is the most creative by far! One morning Damon decided to cover the entire living room with blankets. Not sure why, but he had a blast and continued to do it for the next few days.
Bentley always gets dragged into these things too!
Bentley has also started smiling! I love it. All of our kids started smiling right around 4 weeks. Kyler and Bentley both smiled the day they turned 4 weeks. I have been trying since then to get a picture, but have failed. I finally got a video.
Here is the living room covered, furniture and all. After it was all done, Damon wanted Bentley to join the party and asked if she could lay on the blanket he set out just for her.
They were very proud of themselves!
The potty training has begun with Radley, so he runs around like this most days!
This happens multiple times a day too! They smother her, and she takes it really well!
Then it gets carried away...
The poor girl has her brothers monitoring every move she makes.
They also love when any of her pants have decorations on her butt!
Closest smiling picture I've gotten so far. On Sunday Aunt Kerry got more smiles out of her than I have ever seen. I was quite jealous and disappointed it wasn't me making her smile, but I loved watching her. I was hoping she would do the same the next day when I had the camera, but she wasn't so generous. Eventually I will get a good one!
I didn't get the best smiles out of her, but this is better than anything else I have gotten so far. Hopefully I can get some better video soon.
This is one of several attempts to get some decent smiles out of her. She of course wouldn't cooperate, but she is still really cute!
The leaves on the other side of the yard started to come down quick this week. The boys helped Kenney to pile them up, and then started to jump out of the tree into the huge pile. They loved it and told me to come get the camera and get pictures of them flying from the tree. There are some random pictures of Bentley too since she didn't jump out of the tree!!
I'm not the only one to accessorize this girl. When I left the room she was sleeping on the bed without a bow in her hair. Someone, I think it was Damon, put this little bow in when I was out of the room.
Kenney and I have spent a lot of time shelling pecans lately. We have been borrowing an electric cracker from his parents. However, we have to share it now so we shelled as many as we could this week before we have to let someone else use it. Both of our hands are getting quite callused. If anyone needs pecans let us know! We still have tons left and ready to be shelled.
Look at that cute little butt!! I love when babies sleep like this.
Damon had no reservations jumping out of the tree! At one point after I went inside, he decided to belly flop (on purpose) out of the tree into the pile!! What was he thinking??? He is crazy!
Kyler flying through the air!
Radley was quite nervous the first time around, and I can't blame him. It's pretty high, especially for someone his size!!
Hanging out in the leaves
He did it and loved it!! He jumped several times too.
It's so fun to have a yard. Have I mentioned that before?!?
I am still shocked Radley jumped! It was a long way for him. These boys love the trees!
I realized two things after decorating for Christmas this year, first, I didn't take enough pictures, and second, our decorations are small and limited in number! Now that we are out of the apartment, our house is much bigger to fill. Our puny tree looks extra small and weak in our huge living room! A problem we are very grateful for this year! The video is nothing special or interesting, just for family memories.
They liked the one Santa hat we found.
Just too cute!
Our non-functional fireplace somehow looks even more awkward with stockings hanging from it.
We also had a lot of little helping hands. I don't think I ever realized how frustrating it can be to decorate!
Here's the video. I mostly put this on here because it is Bentley's first Christmas.
Our seasons got a little mixed up this year... ice storm before falling leavs, go figure! The boys had fun 'helping' Daddy rake and move the leaves. Surprisingly, Kyler was the best helper and Damon & Radley had the most fun playing in the leaves. Can I tell you how nice it is to have a yard with leaves? We have also been collecting a TON of pecans. We of course have native pecan trees which means our pecans have a harder shell, and the pecan itself is smaller than the paper-shell pecans. However, according to Kenney (and many others) our pecans taste better! We have spent a lot of time collecting and shelling pecans, while the boys just eat the pecans straight from the bowl once they are shelled! We do love our big trees!
Burying himself in leaves.
These two are good little buddies, most of the time!
Being able to use the wheelbarrow kept Kyler involved and motivated to work hard!
Running and jumping into the leaves.
He even loaded the wheelbarrow!
Waiting for Daddy to dump the leaves on top of them.
