first week of December

The first week of December feels like a lifetime ago at this point. 

To start us off we have some pictures of Tatum's curly hair. We got some foam rod rollers for her and she loves having curly hair. I get a little better at it each time, I think. These pictures are of one of the first times and she ended up with a bit of a Shirley Temple look. :)

 We, of course, went to Magical Night in Mt. Vernon to kick off our Christmas festivities. We waited far too long to ride the trolley.

And got this glorious picture during the ride. My dad's face. Hahahaha.

Cookie decorating.

Visiting Santa.

 Live nativity.

Annnnd a reindeer.

 The next day I took the youngest two to the mall for playgroup. Declan thought he was pretty cool pushing the stroller. And then Emry had a diaper explosion.

 The Christmas fun continued with another town Christmas festival. This time we waited so stinkin' long for a lame-o ride in a horse drawn carriage. And it was freezing. The kids made cinnamon ornaments. And now I suddenly realize I have no idea where those ended up...hmmm....

And please notice Declan's face in the next picture. That face has been seen with increasing frequency every day since this photo was taken. Even when doing something that should be totally fun for a three year old. Oh boy.

 Tatum's usually pretty happy though! :)

 Brennan and Emry got to listen to this lovely little band in the warmth of the library while the rest of us froze to death for that darn ride.

 After the festival we headed to the store to pick out our Christmas tree. Not nearly as picturesque as a tree farm, but it will have to do.

 Saturday the Christmas fun continued. This weekend was jam packed! We started out with the nativity display at our Church which had hundreds of nativities from around the world, a performance by my mom's harp group, and crafts and dress ups for the kids.

A pretty cute Mary, Joseph and Jesus if you ask me.

One more Christmas festival at a local rec center. It wasn't real thrilling but there was no line for Santa! And the kids got to decorate cookies. If you can, take a closer look at Santa's face in the first picture. He pretty much looks like a total creep.

 For Family Home Evening we finally got to decorate our Christmas tree.

 Emry hit the two month mark.

 There's always lots of help when I try to take these pictures:

 Those eyes.

 This last one looks a lot like baby pictures of me. I usually can't see those sorts of things but I can definitely see it in this photo.

We got one big snowfall at the beginning of December and the kids were super excited about it.

 They built a snowman at Grandma and Papa's.

Tatum working hard.

 Brennan tossed the kids on the snow covered bushes outside my parents' house.

 And then Dad and Emry crashed.

 The kids got to help Grandma decorate her tree too.

 This picture. Oh dear. Quite a face and quite a blow out.

 Tatum loved helping me wrap presents. And I really loved wrapping with her.

 I posted this picture on social media and loved the feedback I got. I vented a little about this "playing pretend" that my kids play almost daily. It involves them getting out bags and backpacks and loading them with miscellaneous toys and crap from all over the house. I love how it occupies them so well for so long. But I absolutely hate cleaning it up at the end of the day. Until I posted it I had no idea how universal this type of game is. I had so many other mom's commenting describing their own children's version of this game and their own annoyance with it. It was great!

 Another Santa sighting at our church's Christmas party. He was very authentic looking.

 We were "elf-ed" by someone in our neighborhood. They left a bag full of goodies and coloring books, window clings, etc with instructions to pass it on. There go my elves to pass on the Christmas cheer.

 Headed up to bed with dad. Everything is more fun with this guy.

 After they made their elf delivery (above) they all played out in the snow for awhile. This was my glorious view while they did so: cute baby, Christmas tree, cozy fire does it get any better than that?

 Declan came in a little sooner than Tatum and Brennan because his hands were cold. I was happy to cuddle with a happy boy.

 Here are some pictures of their fun in the snow.

 They started out building a giant snowman (what I really love about the next picture is Declan's man-on-a-mission face).

 But they changed plans and made an igloo instead.

Man, the beginning of December was a lot of fun! It's making these January days feel extra blah.