Meet the babies

Clair got a baby at Christmas and the big kids have revived their babies. Today Max  also renamed his baby Colin to baby Jesus Colin Cummings. 

Lol

These two are Monkey see and Monkey do. 

Christmas break 2014

I am very grateful for the two weeks off I have with the kids this year at Christmas time. Ellie and Max are both very excited about the festivities and counting down to important days. It's week after Christmas and they are still counting which day of Christmas it is. Ellie is convinced we will celebrate all 12 days.

Ellie is enjoying the time off from school. Max I believe is mostly enjoying his time, though he does ask every day if Macera's coming tomorrow. He admitted he misses her. I think that Clair is enjoying the time with me. Perhaps the exception would be me letting her hit her head three times this one morning. She seems to be okay though. She is my girly.

Christmas break included a long visit from grandpa Bob as normal. We spent Christmas night at Katie and Danny's. And we had Saturday with mom and the cousins at the Mapleville farm. 

Present opening lasted all morning on Christmas morning. But we did get through them for the first time ever. They were good sports about it all. Max, was the most discontent and he really needed to open presents and play with them as we went. He wasn't very good at waiting and enjoying watching others open their gifts. Ellie was very good about enjoying others and giving out presents as well.  Clair just needed to be busy whether that was helping others or playing with her toys she needed to be busy. It was no different than any other day really except there was a lot of paper and commotion.

I think Ellie might about ground playing in the wrapping paper for the first time. She humored me for the traditional picture, but Max and Claire enjoyed playing in it much more.

The kids got so much stuff. Sometimes it all feels overwhelming. You're spending the week after trying to play with this much stuff as possible. Also, trying to keep the new electronics from breaking. That will be a constant struggle.

David is working for a few days but not many. It's like having us both home. It's good to have this time as a family.

Artful Christmas from Ellie

This Christmas Ellie provided the family many gifts. She did very creative things with her art skills. My favorite is the elf that she made in school which included an elf application. She made Max a race track out of paper for a car. She made lots of cards and drawings for us. She is very talented and sweet and loves to use her skills and truly loved giving her artwork. On Christmas morning she was more interested in giving out her artwork presents to others instead of opening her presents.

Love my Ellie bean!

Old fashion air popcorn popper

I asked for an old time air popcorn popper like Vonita had when I was growing up for Christmas. I was always fascinated watching the popcorn come up through the funnel and full the bowl waiting below. Today the kids and I opened mine and they were as summated as I was. It was great watching the excitement and the giggles from all four of us as we watched the popcorn first come to life.

I am off from work all week, and we do not have that much of an agenda. I am grateful for this time and hope to be able to relax and enjoy my children and allow them to enjoy me.

Another month of life full of changes

It's been nearly a month since my last blog. I am guilty of not recording. The precious and lovely conversations I have with my kiddos. They are fantastic!

Clair is starting to speak. She says single words often and still uses sounds and actions to get everything she wants and needs. She know how to work the situation. It's adorable really. 

Some words she said today which were very clear to me were: Snack, Katie, Jesus, and many more. 

She and I have enjoyed playing together a lot more since I recovered from my stomach bug last week. She's a girl who loves to play, giggle and laugh. 

She's starting to sit and try to concentrate on things sometimes- for example she really seems to enjoy the Lego duplex blocks. It's amazing to watch what she can do at 20 months!

My gorgeous girl is 20 months old today. I can't believe it. I got her to wear a hair clip most of the morning. I think it changed her look to more grown up. She's adorable. 

They love me so

Tonight we had Katie and kids over for dinner. After dinner we were downstairs watching the daily show. I was sitting next to Katie and she got a bit frisky and tried tickling me. I started to fear the tickle and nearly cry. Max and Ellie broke their show characters and yelled at Katie to leave their mommy alone. It was so cute  

When Katie proceeded to tickle, Ellie ran over and hugged me to protect me. 

Katie was awe struck. In not sure if this level of protection is healthy or not, but it is surely evident they love me and don't ever want to see me in any pain. 

Love my kiddos