A Beary Merry Christmas

Will's Christmas musical was last weekend. God bless his music teacher! What dedication!
Will was a polar bear :)

And the following picture just cracked me up. So indicative of their relationships - EK with Patrick in a headlock. Thankfully you can't see his bruised nose too much in this one. EK tripped over him, fell onto him, and smashed his face into the hardwood floor the day before this pic was taken. He was a bleeding mess. Not fun. He's a tough kid, though.

'Tis the season

Christmas has totally snuck up on me this year. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's 3 kids, a full-time job, and the fact that we were gone for a week in November. Ready or not - it's coming, so here are some festive photos.

Blogger and I aren't getting along. So, these are not exactly in order, but oh well.

At breakfast with Santa

Love! I came in and saw them snuggled like this.

Gingerbread houses with Aunt Casie - an annual tradition

It's one of my favorite things to see the tree right after the kids have decorated. We did a bit of rearranging after they went to bed :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related?

Patrick at 10 months

William at 14 months

I thought putting them in the same outfit might help me see the resemblance a little more. No such luck. They just look very different. I think the eye color is a big part of it.

Christmas according to Ellie Kate

Singing to herself: "And a partridge in the pantry"

Telling me about what Santa will do after he leaves presents: "He will gather up all his things and then zoom up the chimney and go outside and get in his sleigh or in his mom's car."

Will brought home "reindeer food" - fruit loops, marshmallows, sprinkles, rice - to throw on the lawn on Christmas Eve. Ellie was eating it (except the rice, of course). I didn't know if she had asked her brother's permission before doing this, so I asked, "Ellie, are you eating William's reindeer food?"
EK: "Yes, mom, but don't worry - it doesn't turn me into Rudolph."

Love seeing holidays through the eyes of children!

Hello, stranger

And here I am back to blogging. I'm making no promises with my frequency of posts, though. Lately, I've been more into a phase of living rather than documenting. Does that make sense? I'll probably regret that at some point. But, for the last several weeks I've just been taking things in, spending time with family, and trying to keep my head above water. This means fewer pictures and even less blogging. But, I know I'll want to remember these days, so here are some highlights of what we've been up to since I last posted.

• Will's first parent-teacher conferences. His teacher said he was quiet. J & I both said, "he is?!"
• Will's 6th birthday
• Halloween - Will was a KU football player, Ellie Kate was Cinderella, Patrick was a monkey. We are still eating the candy.
• Justin made partner at work.
• J & I enjoyed an amazing 10 year anniversary trip to Hawaii. 
• Patrick turned 9 months old (nearly 24 lbs - 87% in height, weight and head circumference). He's mobile and into EVERYTHING! He has 6 teeth and is a very good eater.
• Thanksgiving with family

And I'm sure there is more I'm forgetting, but this is a start. Perhaps at some point I'll get around to posting pictures of these things. I'm just getting my pics from July - November up on Shutterfly. And that is really only because I need them for Christmas presents! I swear I'm not lazy, though my ridiculously messy house would beg otherwise. I just have been working on other things, I guess. Cuddles with Patrick, coloring with Ellie Kate, shooting hoops with Will, daydreaming about going "back to the island" with Justin. I'm sure at some point I'll have more free time, right? I know...18 years... :)

W & EK have both written Santa letters. Will's was for school and it was like pulling teeth to get him to sit down and write it. Handwriting is not his strong suit and I think it frustrates him. Here is his letter:
Dear Santa,
I would like
1. table football
2. DS
3. Xbox
What kind of cookies do you like? See you soon.
Your friend, Will N.
(For the uninformed, 2 of those 3 items are video games. ugh.)

Ellie Kate's letter (which I transcribed so she was much less frustrated by writing and, therefore, a bit wordier).
Dear Santa,
I am going to have breakfast with you soon! I would like baby food for Patrick, a car for my dollies, a Barbie dolly, Barbie bubbles, and I would like a bike for my birthday. Love, Ellie Kate.
(She drew snowmen, hearts, and flowers for Santa, too. Breakfast with Santa is an event coming up at our church. I have no idea why Patrick needs more baby food. Santa has currently not purchased any of the items she has requested, and Santa is nearly done shopping. And I love that she is throwing in birthday requests. I'm sure Santa will be all over that!)

Happy holiday season! Who knows when I'll be back...

A few of my favorite things

This new iPad I'm typing on
Pencil skirts
Cardigans - particularly the J. Crew variety
Zappos.com
A glass of wine on a weeknight
Pumpkin ice cream
Coupons in your birthday month
Good friends
Chipotle
Jason Mraz songs

Just random musings on a Thursday night :)

Late September evening

We enjoyed a relaxing late September weekend with great weather and not much on the schedule - just what we needed!

Ignore the mismatched outfits and overgrown grass. Aren't these 3 awesome? Really loving our little family right now.

Patrick LOVED the swing!

You can almost see all 4 teeth in this one.

Doesn't everyone wear PJ's and a tutu to play outside?

What a big kid!

And these are purely from fancy-pants Ellie Kate. Someday she'll love me for posting these :) This ensemble was all her own: Cinderella gown, multiple bracelets, pink sequin headband and plastic cell phone.

This princess means business!

"No, Mommy, I will not smile."

Busy!

Clearly we've had a lot going on. I haven't blogged and have taken very few photos. Really, there haven't been a lot of big events, just life. Will is enjoying kindergarten. We hear about new friends, different classes and what he does in after-school care. Most recently that involved learning chess from "a third-grader, no wait, maybe a sixth-grader. I don't know his name." But, Will now very much enjoys chess. Go figure. Ellie Kate is doing quite well at pre-school. I'm amazed at how her language skills seem to have boomed since Will went to kindergarten. All of  a sudden she's speaking in fuller sentences, more detail, more thought. Fascinating to watch. She has become enamored with cheerleaders after being at the KU football games. She still loves Tinkerbell and would prefer to wear a dress and accessories every day. Often when we get home from work/school, I go change out of my work clothes into comfies, Will changes out of his uniform into play clothes, and Ellie Kate changes out of her play clothes into a Cinderella gown. Patrick is 7 months old now and so loveable. He's doing a really good job with baby foods now. He has 4 teeth in and about a week or so ago decided he could sleep at night. He's still a very loud sleeper - making noises several times every night - but he's proven he can go back to sleep most of the time. J & I are busy at work, but enjoying it. We're adjusting to life with a school-aged child and the expectations that come along with that. Our color-coded calendar hanging in the kitchen is just a bit overwhelming, but I find it necessary to know who is picking up whom and where we're going at any given moment.

We are still going to the KU football games. So far, the kids have done an amazing job. Fingers crossed that that continues!

3 little Jayhawks ready for the game

Elle & Grampy

Poor Patrick!

He's taken a good nap at every game so far

Watching Big Jay

These two have fun together!

Patrick at 6 months

Sweet Patrick is a little over 6 months old now. He has 2 bottom teeth, sits very well, loves playing with [chewing on] toys, rolls all over the place to get to where ever he wants to be, and has discovered spitting. He's transitioning to formula. He did well with the first foods we gave him - rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes. Then, one day, it's like he flipped a switch. He is no longer interested in any food coming via spoon. I can't even get him to eat fruit. He will close his little lips, spit, and if by chance a bit gets in his mouth, he'll make himself gag. It's truly delightful. He's not starving so I figure we'll just offer from time to time and some day he'll want to eat. He's still waking up several times at night. I've adjusted. Sure, it would be nice to sleep all night, but I honestly don't know what that even feels like. Some night we'll get tired of it and just let him yell himself back to sleep. For now, we'll get up and soothe or feed him and put him back to bed.

At his 6 month check-up:
weighed 20 lbs 2 oz (88%)
measured 27.75 in. (88%)
big head

Happy 1/2 year, baby boy!

Kindergarten quotes of the day

Whispered to Justin as they enter the classroom: "Dad, why are all these kids crying?"

Clearly Will is adjusting just fine!

When I asked about what he did in math class today: "Just patterns and sorting shapes and stuff. We didn't do real math."

His poor teacher...the expectations are so high!

All in all, a great day. His after school care teacher said he was great and very talkative - a good sign that he's feeling comfortable, I think. He's pretty tired tonight, but that is to be expected.

Kindergarten

Today was Will's 1st day of kindergarten. He was, by all accounts, absolutely ready. He was happy, confident, and excited as we went in today. J & I both took him to school, walked in and got him settled (along with virtually every other parent at the school - those poor teachers!). He immediately started working on the activities set out for him. They had a short day today - 11 a.m. dismissal. J & I picked him up. Will immediately says "It was good. I'll tell you everything we did when we get in the car." I'm sure he could tell we were anxious to hear. He then proceeded to give us nearly a moment by moment account (including bathroom breaks, what he did at recess, the birthday treat from a classmate, etc.). Tomorrow will be his first full day, so that will be more telling, but I have no reason to think he won't love it. And, he gets to take his lunch, which he is totally excited about.

I must admit that I've had some anxiety over all this. Mostly coming from my own anxiety about new places and new experiences (this seems to have heightened as I've gotten older - weird). His calmness made my anxiety subside substantially today. He was happy. I was happy. Of course, I still worry about little things - what if he can't open the containers in his lunch box? Can he unbuckle and buckle his own belt at bathroom breaks? (Answer: No, the skinny kid just pulls his shorts down, still buttoned and belt still buckled. Whatever - I guess it worked.) Until he becomes worried or anxious, I'll just enjoy his happiness and love of this new adventure. I told J last night that I did look around and think about who might be a life-long friend that he might meet for the first time today. Both J & I have friends from our kindergarten days. It's fun to think about Will starting some relationships like that.

Will's teacher seems great. She enjoys teaching kindergarten - how can she not be great? We went to school supply drop off last week and Will got to meet her then. He put his supplies away, checked out his locker and the classroom. We paid fees, signed up for who knows what, and then were on our way. W was telling J about it when we got home and J asked how many kids were in his class. "Well, there were 3 groups of 6 desks and 1 group of 5." He was right. I saw the class list and knew there were 23 kids. Will's mathematical little mind noticed the groupings of desks. We hadn't discussed this while we were there and I wouldn't have come up with that at all after spending the exact same amount of time in there. His little brain is so fascinating to me.

The obligatory 1st day photos follow. He was a good sport about taking so many pictures. I also asked him a couple questions that I'll hopefully remember to ask at the start of each school year.

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?
W: A football player. For Kansas. [hey! he might be good enough :)] But I'm not sure after that. Maybe I'll play for the Chiefs. [He's a homer, no doubt.]

Me: What do you hope to learn this year?
W: How to read super long chapter books. [Hmm...this doesn't seem like something on the kindergarten docket....but who knows, maybe it will happen!]

Notice little sister in the background. She desperately wants to go to kindergarten, too!

"silly pose"

Yay! They're all looking at the camera! P promptly began tumbling down the stairs after this photo. Luckily J was within arms reach and caught him.

Walking into school

Lockers for kindergarteners - this kills me!

At his desk

Listening carefully to Mrs. Tripp

Christmas in July

We have our extended family Christmas in the summer now because we have better success in getting everyone together at the same time. This year, everyone came to our neck of the woods which was fun.
The weekend started (on our 10th wedding anniversary) with some family whiffle ball.

Grandma with the great-grandkids

Grandma with the grandkids - all grown up! Last one starts college this year!

Grandma and the "kids"

Immediate family (minus a few missing folks)

Not sure who was having more fun - Patrick or Aunt Janet

Family volleyball game

and cards, of course

Patrick snoozing with GoGo

It was a great weekend with some of my very favorite people in the world. Counting down til the cousins trip to Vegas -- how long til Cari turns 21???