Where Do I Begin?

It seems like I've taken a month-long hiatus from blogging. The truth is, once you get behind, it's hard to know where to pick up again.

We had a wonderful Christmas here at the house. The kids loved their gifts, and us parents enjoyed watching them tear into things. I made a simple dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, veggies and rolls.

Brooke turned 18-months old on Christmas day. It's hard to believe that she's already been with us a year-and-a-half. Sometimes I can't remember life without her, and other times it seems we just got our precious, little girl.

Here's the aftermath of our Christmas celebration:

The Monday after Christmas we made a rather impromptu decision to drive all the way to Indiana to visit my husband's family! We didn't hit the road until 3 in the afternoon, but we got there before midnight. It was quite a trip. We stayed until Saturday morning. Thankfully our road trips were uneventful. Here are some scenes from our visit with David's family:

(Not really sure how David and Sandra ended up on the kitchen floor!)

My sister-in-law Kat mentioned having an early birthday celebration for Cole. That was so thoughtful of her.

I love this picture of Cole! He could barely contain his excitement!

Kit & Cole - cousins

While in Indiana I got to see one of my dear friends from college. Megan and I traveled together in a summer tour group.

Here are two of the "original" Farley boys:

All of the cousins are in this picture except for little Brienna.

Here's a picture of the girl cousins:

My Logan

Uncle David is a hit with the kids. (Probably because he can play like the best of them!)

Sleepy boys

On the way home we stopped in Ohio to visit with David's younger brother John and his family.

There's little Brienna, with Amber and John, of course!

Merry Christmas Editing!

I was editing some photos today and got to having too much fun! :)

Nodding Her Head

Brooke's latest cute stunt is to nod her head. You wouldn't think nodding your head up and down could be so cute, but if you're just 17 months old, it's adorable! Brooke nods her head so vigorously when you ask her questions. Here's a clip of her at the dinner table.

The boys like to ask Brooke silly questions. She'll nod her head up and down (because she doesn't know how to nod the other way) and the boys will giggle with glee. They'll say, "Do you want to pick your nose, Brookie?" And she'll nod her head up and down. Or they will say, "Do you like your stinky diaper, Brooke?" And she will nod her head up and down. The boys go into gales of laughter, and Brooke just smiles and smiles, because everyone around her is having such a good time. I'm enjoying these precious days.

Brooke

This past Sunday was the first official Sunday in December. I took advantage of that and had Brooke wear her Christmas dress this week. Isn't it beautiful? I went shopping after Christmas last year specifically to find a dress with white fur on it. (Don't worry. . . no animals were harmed in the making of this dress! Tee-hee!)

And here's a bonus picture of our little Brooke. She's so much fun these days. The other day the boys were all gathered around her trying to get her to nod her head at their silly nonsense. She was having the time of her life, like a princess with her royal subjects. David looked at me and said, "She is going to be SO SPOILED!" I just laughed! Every little princess needs some spoiling, don't you think?

Trimming The Tree

The Monday after Thanksgiving we decided to set up our Christmas tree. The boys had the day off of school, and were so excited about getting ready for Christmas. We were getting things back into shape after having company, so I told the boys they had to get their rooms cleaned first. They were so excited to set up the Christmas tree, that they cleaned their rooms quickly and without any fuss!

I know you should hang the stockings by the chimney with care, but at our house the chimney is in use! We hung the kid's stockings in the living room doorway.

Somebody was taking a break!
We each had jobs. Cole's job was to test the lights.

Logan used my $8 vacuum to clean up some of the tree needles for me.

Trevor helped me get the lights on the tree and plugged in.

FINALLY! They got to start hanging ornaments.

Here's our finished tree. Later we went to Wal-Mart and bought a star for the top. Growing up we always had angels on top of the tree, but this year I wanted to try something different.

When we were all done I said, "Hmmm. . . . something's missing. . . ." Then I went to my stash and put some presents under the tree. If I had thought the boys were excited before, they were doubly excited after they saw the presents!

Spirit Week

The week of Thanksgiving they had Spirit Week at the school. The first day was Crazy Day. You could include, backwards, crazy hair/hat day, inside-out day, etc. . . . Pretty much anything goes. This is what the boys came up with:

We got these wigs for 60 cents after Halloween. What a steal, huh?

Thanksgiving

We had a great time with David's brother Bill and his family last week. They got in Tuesday afternoon and left Saturday afternoon. We were able to spend Thanksgiving with them. It was really nice to have family around for the holiday.

We didn't really "do" a whole lot. Well, we ATE a lot! ;-) A lot of Super Mario was played on the wall with a projector. And when the kids went to bed the adults played games. Other than than, just being together was nice.

The Boy Cousins

For a while, Uncle Bill had the kids lined up against a wall in the living room. They played "Dodge Nerf." He would shoot Nerf bullets and the kids would try not to get shot. It was fun to watch. Finally the kids decided that Uncle Bill should be against the wall, and THEY should get to do the shooting! That was even more fun to watch! ;-)

Pretty soon we had a full-blown wrestling match with the dads and the kids. Are you surprised? I'm not. I was only surprised that they waited 4 whole days to start their wrestling match!

On the last day the kids played with the Legos in the living room, while David and Bill installed a new upstairs toilet! (Loud, 'Hooray!" from us on the new toilet!)

Brooke was on the phone.

This is Ethan, my newphew.

Cole and Kit - they are exactly two months apart in age.

Ethan and Logan are 3 weeks apart.

Good-bye Uncle Bill and Aunt Katharine

Sunday Pictures

My camera's been getting dusty lately. Sunday morning I determined to get some nice photos of the kids while they were all cleaned up and ready for church.

I like this picture because you can see Brooke's little pony tail. She wouldn't put that dog down all morning.

They are a handsome (and pretty) bunch, aren't they?

It's Been Awhile. . . .

It's been awhile since I've been on the blog. Things have been busy around here, but that is not my only excuse. A couple of weeks ago my computer got bit. . . . by a nasty bug! It was not pretty. We ended up having to take our computer to get fixed. That was a sad day. :)

So now I'm thinking about the blog posts I need to update you on. I will probably pick and choose, because a lot of things have happened since the last time I blogged. Let me think of a few for you to whet your appetite. . . .

*We got our first snow today - the day after Thanksgiving! Nothing stuck to the ground, but it was fun and SUPER exciting for the kids to watch those flakes coming down from the sky.

*My husband's brother and his family came to our home for Thanksgiving. We were so blessed to have them and we love them a lot. I'll definitely be posting some pictures of our days together. (Though I admit, we had so much fun the camera didn't even come out for a few days. We were too busy enjoying the company.)

* I went Black Friday shopping. . . .at midnight! I went with my brother and sister-in-law. It was perfect! It curbed my appetite for the busy shopping of Black Friday, I got some great deals, and didn't have to leave the house at 3 in the morning!

* The kids have been growing up. Brooke is developing more and more each day. She's expanding her vocabulary right now, and it's such fun to hear her try new words. The boys are enjoying their Thanksgiving vacation and keeping me busy, as usual.

Soon I'll fill you in on the details, but for now I trust that you had a blessed and happy Thanksgiving day. Now on to the next food-filled holiday! :)

Going' To Town!

I thought you might enjoy this little video of Brooke on her rocking giraffe. That girl goes to town on that thing!

(Jessica, can you hear Logan in the background saying, "Wica! Wica! Wica!" ???)