Operation Christmas Child

We participated in Operation Christmas Child with our church last night. I love doing activities like this with our boys. It's so important to us that we instill the true Christmas story into their growing little hearts. Instead of focusing on themselves and the presents on Christmas morning, we want to show them how much fun it can be to give.

Admittedly, Gavin was a little too young to understand it all. As we were shopping, he grabbed all of the toys and hoarded as many as he could inside of his arms. When we were packing the boxes, he packed his box with everything he could find on the table (including the scissors and tape that were laid out to wrap the boxes ;). I loved watching him participate though, even if he doesn't really get it yet.

At first, Jacob really wanted one of everything we had chosen for himself too. However, it wasn't long before he would catch himself and say, "I know. I know. We aren't here to buy things for me." At the end of the night, they showed a video of the kids in Africa as they were receiving boxes like we had made. The pure joy that lit up in their faces was indescribable. For many of them, this was the only Christmas gift they had ever gotten. They were dancing and singing praises to God with their boxes held high. So I think Jacob gets it now... that the toothbrushes, play dough, band aids, cards, flashlights, and candy that he carefully picked out will be treasured more than he will ever know.

There was a little activity sheet to share all about themselves and where they live...
The boys loved that their Daddy was there to help.
Packing the boxes...
and carefully carrying them to be delivered.
Casey joined in the fun as well.

Oh how many happy kids there will be!
Matthew 25:40 ~ The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did for me."

Thank you.

To our Daddy and everyone else who has sacrificed to make this world a better place. Thank you.

Random Thoughts

*On Saturday, I felt like the Christmas season officially started for our family. We played our first Christmas CD in the car, bought our first eggnog latte poured into that snowflake red Christmas cup, and even did a little Christmas shopping for our boys. (This was pretty entertaining as I would distract the boys in another aisle while Adam hid presents in our cart. ;)

*I watched Casey and Gavin playing together for the first time yesterday. They were quietly sitting side by side in our room full of toys. Casey's big eyes were watching Gavin to see how he would interact with the animals. It was really sweet to watch, especially when I usually feel more like a referee in this house.

*I was holding Casey the other day and Adam leaned over to kiss me. At the exact moment that we kissed, we heard little Casey say, "Mmmmwaah." We both looked at each other, starting cracking up, and of course did it again. To which Casey happily said, "Mmmwaah." Every time.

*I have been asking Adam to burn our home videos onto DVDs so our family can watch them together. He was working on it today and we watched a video from Gavin's first birthday. I haven't ever gone back to watch the videos I've taken, so it was really fun to see Jacob at Gavin's age and Gavin at Casey's age. There were a few friends at this party that have moved away and I really miss them.

*We were able to fit our boat into the garage for the winter. Barely. We tried to maneuver it in when we first got it last June, but it was about two inches too tall. Seriously. So we let some air out of the tires and just barely squeezed it under the garage door. It was then that we noticed not only was it tight in the height, but the width and length were inches away from the wall and Adam's motorcycles. We made it though. Phew. Now Adam thinks we need a storage shed. ;)

*Adam is flying the C-17 for the Air Force for the next few months. This changes his (and our) life from being constantly on-call to ten day trips, followed by two to three weeks at home. Although we never look forward to the time Adam is away from our family, we appreciate the time when he is home that much more. It looks like he is going to be home for Thanksgiving as well, which I am super excited about.

*Everyone seems to ask how it is going and if I miss teaching. I do like teaching, but I feel blessed to be staying at home. There are different days of the week when I get to spend individual time with each of my boys, which I really love. Volunteering in Jacob's class has been so much fun and makes it easier to be away from my own classroom. It's also nice that I don't have to stress when one of my kids is sick... because I won't miss getting up in the middle of the night to call in a sub and write out lesson plans for sure. As of now, I don't see myself going back to work until Casey is in school.

*Even though staying at home with three boys is definitely busy, I have recently made spending time with God a priority again. Adam and I have always made going to church on Sunday and attending our small group a priority... but are discovering that if we desire a relationship with God, we need to spend more time praying and studying the Bible. A huge part of this realization is due to our small group reading a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. This book teaches the importance of passionately loving God and for Adam and I... our life is changing because of it.

Pumpkin carving and Halloween night

We carved pumpkins the night before Halloween this year, because the boys were waiting for their Daddy to come home. Since we knew Jacob and Gavin would need help carving their faces, we had them draw a picture of what they wanted their jack o' lantern to look like... so we could help them get it just right. ;)

They thought it would be fun to try out the pumpkin stems for a hat
After Gavin was done with his jack o' lantern, he decided to feed back the pumpkin seeds he had just scooped out.
The finished products... (in case you can't tell, Casey's pumpkin has a binky ;)


On Halloween night, we went over to my friend's house so our kids could all trick-or-treat together. Here they are getting ready! How impressed are you that a Daddy is curling hair?!

My handsome prince with his beautiful princess.
Our little monkey!
My friend has a really decked out, fun neighborhood for trick-or-treating.
The boys had a great night running from house to house with their buddies.
Casey spent most of the night on Daddy's shoulders...
... but he made it to a few doors to trick-or-treat.

"Practice" Halloween

Here is a little preview of the Halloween costumes this year...

Jacob's friend Kailey is going to be a princess for Halloween, so it was pretty much a given that Jacob wanted to be her prince. ;)

Gavin ended up being excited about wearing Jacob's pirate costume when I showed him the cool glow-in-the-dark sword that goes with it. I have to admit, the outfit does go well with his missing teeth. ;)
And Casey... well his outfit fits his little personality perfectly.

We went to the YMCA again this year for "practice" trick-or-treating, as Jacob calls it. He was already off to save the day as soon as we got there.


Casey is at the absolute cutest age to trick-or-treat and I was soaking up every second of it. First of all, he was barely able to toddle in his pudgy little monkey costume. He also wasn't understanding the purpose of holding his bucket... but he figured it out fast. So he was toddling around as fast as he could, swinging his basket, not looking back for a second. He didn't really know where to go to get the candy, but he was going. Finally, the people passing out the candy starting chasing him down. It was adorable.



Here is a picture of the friends we went trick-or-treating with. Jacob and Katie are six days apart, Gavin and Olivia are one day apart, and Casey and Avery are three weeks apart. What are the chances of that? It definitely makes for fun playdates!

Trick-or-treat!

Jacob, Gavin, and Casey-isms

One of the main reasons I have a blog is so I can always remember the things my boys did and said when they were little. So here are some great examples. :)

Jacob...
We had the best cuddles and conversation before bed the other night.
M: I love you so so much.
J: I love YOU so so much mommy.
M: Will you love me even when you're 35?
J: Even when I'm 99. All the time. I'll always love you.
M: That makes me sooo happy. Good night buddy.
J: You have a good good night too!

*I have been trying to figure out forever why Jacob's nails never grow. I've never seen him bite them, but somehow they always stay short. I even asked his pediatrician about it because I thought it was so strange. Finally, today I noticed that they had grown a little bit. I exclaimed, "Jakey! Your fingernails are growing!" He said, "Ohhh... I forgot to pick them off" and proceeded to show me how he picks his fingernails off. Yes, I think he doesn't like me to cut them that much.

*Jacob goes to school every other Wednesday so today he asked, "Is Kindergarten open this Wednesday mommy?"

*He brought me a new pencil and said, "Twist it into a pencil please." Which, I guess, is basically what you are doing with a pencil sharpener.

*When he and Gavin were having lunch, Jacob profoundly said, "I am having peanut butter and jelly. Gavin is just having peanut butter and." Because without the jelly, it's just peanut butter and. ;)


Gavin...
*I bought a berry smoothie at Costco to share with Gavin. When I handed it to him, he said, "You share to Gavin. Good girl mommy!"

*The other day, Gavin grabbed my hand, led me to the couch, and said, "Let's go for a sit."

*After gazing at our pumpkins on the porch, he said, "Mommy, I want to eat the pumpkin patch."

*I asked Gavin if he wanted to be a pirate for Halloween and he said, "No. The pirates will get me in the water. (I'm pretty sure he was referring to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland. ;) I just go to Daddy's boat."

*I have to admit, I use the word 'super' a lot and it seems to be rubbing off on Gavin. For example, he will say, "Mommy, I super need a drink of apple juice."

*I was cuddling with Gavin on the couch when he looked up at me with his big, toothless grin. I said, "Buddy, I'm so sorry you lost your teeth. To which he responded, "It OK mommy. You didn't knock out my teeth. I did it all by myself."


Casey...
*Within a few weeks, Casey has gone from taking his first steps to walking all over our house. I love his cute, stubby little steps... I could watch him toddle all day. The funniest part is that he actually pivots (like you would in basketball) when he wants to turn. It cracks me up!

*My mom was feeding Casey oatmeal the other day, blowing each bite for him so it wasn't too hot. After observing her carefully, he began to pant along with her before every bite. Huuuh, huuuh, huuuh. It was so adorable.

*We can already tell that Casey is going to be a little on the sensitive side. Whenever we say NO in a firm voice, his little lip sticks out, his face melts, and tears stream from his eyes. This should make discipline easy, right? ;)

*Casey watches his brothers on our steps putting their shoes on each morning. So he toddles to the steps and sticks out his foot for me to put shoes on him too. He already wants to be such a big boy!

*At almost fourteen months, he can say: mama, dada, gama(grammy), Ja-cuh(Jacob), ah-in(Gavin), uv oo(love you), uh-oh, na na(banana or food), coo-kie, ple(please), du-doo(thank you), chee(when he sees the camera)

Some pumpkin pics

It was a beautiful day at the pumpkin patch. Actually, I think it was the warmest pumpkin patch day Washington has ever seen! My good friend in California always talks about how weird it is to go to the pumpkin patch on a hot day... now I know what she is talking about! It ended up being perfect though because Casey has just recently been taking his first steps. So he was able to toddle all around the pumpkin patch without tumbling into a mud puddle! Another great thing was that it was a weekday... so we had the entire pumpkin patch and corn maze to ourselves.
Casey loved toddling around the pumpkin patch, although he was just as happy playing in the dirt. ;)

Gavin's favorite part was trying to stand on all of the pumpkins


Jacob was doing great, until he accidentally fell on a sharp pumpkin stem. He immediately pulled down his pants to see if it was bleeding! Thankfully, we were the only ones around. ;)




The boys took turns playing follow the leader in the corn maze and peeking into the scary caves...

What child doesn't love to make a racket banging on things?!The boys were excited to have a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins and some warm caramel corn to bring home... ;)

Our last first haircut

I decided to get Casey's first haircut on the same day that Adam had a vasectomy scheduled. I guess I figured I would get two emotional things out of the way on the same day. ;) After three boys, Adam was more than ready to be done making babies. I was shedding some tears about it at first, because I have loved going through all of those exciting milestones that come with a baby. That's when I came to the conclusion that it wasn't that I wanted four kids... it was just a little sad watching these milestones with Casey for the last time.

There are several things that helped give me peace about the situation. One is the fact that my husband is a pilot. So there will be times when I have to take all three boys grocery shopping or to the emergency room. There will be several consecutive days when I am taking care of them by myself from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed. There will be times when they will all get sick. There are seasons when we will want to travel without losing our minds. Most importantly, we want to be able to give each of our boys enough love and individual attention. I came to the realization that at some point we all have to say goodbye to that "baby" stage of our life... as precious as it is.

I am really glad we decided to have three kids though. I have come to love the fact that they are all boys and dream about them being the best of buddies as they go through life together. I love watching them interact, I love experiencing the joys of childhood with them, and I love being their mommy. I just need to soak in the cute stages they are currently in and focus on the most important goal... raising them to be Godly men.

On that note, here are some pictures of Casey's haircut.

Before...


He was such a good boy and was more than happy to hold still while he played with the fun toys.
Here is an "after" picture from later on that day.