Transformation

It's always so fun transforming the house from "regular" decoration to Christmas decorations!!!  

Today we braved the snow (which wasn't bad at all) and went up near Leavenworth to cut down a tree.  It was a little crazy with three young kiddos, but after (what seemed like) hours of searching we found one!

Where's Josh?  Can you see him?  This is the view from the road:

 Here he is dragging the tree up to the truck.  Crazy guy!  

 But we got a big one!  We had some fun times of laughter, but after Josh got it all trimmed down...

and the ornaments and lights on it ~ we love it!  It's the best "wild" tree we have ever had.

The girls watched a "What's In The Bible" DVD called "Why Do We Call It Christmas?" and we all really enjoyed it.  Highly recommend that one.  :)

We are enjoying the start of this Christmas season.  We had a good day with lots of ups and down.  We are reminding each other and our kiddos why we celebrate Christmas ~ we are SO VERY THANKFUL for our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord!

Vivian is 3!!!

We had a great time celebrating Vivian's 3rd Birthday today!
Pancakes and chocolate milk for breakfast.  Mac N Cheese for lunch.  Brats for dinner.  We had a birthday party this afternoon with cake, ice cream, playing and presents.  She had a great day!
Vivian very much fits her name: Full of life!  She is also a great companion (meaning of her middle name, Ruth).  We are so blessed to be her parents.  Although sometimes challenging, she is a joy and so much fun!!!  She can now chew gum for a long period of time without swallowing it.  :)  She tries to do just about everything Shelby does; and she can do just about all of it!  She looks up to her big sister and it is precious to watch their relationship grow.  She is proud to be a big sister to Jared.  She wants to learn to ski this winter ~ she requested a snowboard for her birthday, along with a real horse and a loofah.  :)  We LOVE this girl!!!!

Jared was tired, but we wanted to get this picture anyway.  Cade is two months longer than Jared, but just as long as Jared!

Shelby had fun giving Chloe a piggy-back ride!  Chloe is two and lighter than Vivian, so Shelby had fun toting her around.  

Happy 3rd Birthday, Vivian!!!  We love you so very much!!!

Thanksgiving Blessings

 We really enjoyed our Thanksgiving Day celebrations with yummy food and family fun.  Shelby, Vivian and Jared are such great blessings in our lives.

And Jared is 7 months old!!!  

He is a super sweet boy.  He loves his sisters and enjoys watching them play.  He can sit up very well and that gives him a little bit of freedom.  He isn't rolling over yet ... but hopefully soon.  He may be getting some more teeth soon (slight fever, biting as usual and some fussiness).  

We all love him so much!!!  

A baby's giggles

Nothing like a baby's giggle to put a smile on your face!  Makes my heart happy!  Enjoy ~

Free!!!

Vivian was the most excited I have ever seen her when Daddy came home to take her on a date Monday night.  She knew about the date and was anticipating him coming home.  When he came home with the flowers she was so super excited!!!  Absolutely precious.  

They had a good time eating dinner, dessert and shopping for a shirt.  It was fun to see her excitement when she got home, too.  This sweet girl - I tell you what - LOVE her!

It has been fun slowly unpacking our toys.  We got out puzzles and the kiddos love it!  Fun to watch them by occupied for a long amount of time and get along so well and enjoy something they haven't seen in a while. (Vivian is wearing her new shirt in this picture, above.)

We love free things, I mean, who doesn't!?!?  We have been looking for a dresser for Jared's room and got a tip that our Holiday Inn Express was giving away their old room furniture for free!  They are getting all new furniture in their rooms and so we got: two night stands, two headboards, a table/desk and a dresser.  The dresser is pretty long, so it will fit in the girls' closet and Vivian's dresser is now Jared's.  The "new" dresser is in our living room right now, as we picked it up just before Josh was to leave (driving to Seattle to catch a flight to MN) for a week.  The drawers are in the girls' closet with clothes in them.  The empty dresser makes for a very fun play place!  

First it was puzzles.  Then...

This is the limousine, as they call it.  Our girls play mother/daughter all the time and now they have a limo to drive around in.  ;) 

They have also been climbing up on it, jumping off onto the couch or the floor.  Jared loves watching all this action!