We've been talking about it for a while now; whether we could afford it, how the boys would react, do we really want more poop to clean up? After all was said and done, we decided to go for it. It only took about a month for me to come around to the idea of adding another little one to our brood. And just like that we're 5 strong!
We got these suits as our Christmas pajamas this year because they are ridiculously cute. For example............
i wish they did it long enough to get video, but of course they didn't.
as i'm making lunch today, i had the music blasting and that beyonce song all the single ladies came on. imagine 2 little boys lipsyncing the wrong words to that song and dancing their hearts out. cute, yes. but it gets better. little man yells over the music to big brother..."SHAKE WHAT YOUR MAMA GAVE YA, JAX!!!"
jason decided he wanted to take the boys up to help him put up lights this year. my fearless little "superboomer" trusted daddy without any hesitation. jax, however kept his little feet planted firmly on the ground. some call him a scaredy cat, but i just call him smart! he's a lot like me in that regard. jason will jump into anything head first, i'm a better safe than sorry kinda girl.
we stocked up on lights last year at fred meyer the day after christmas and got them for a crazy small amount. we went with blue and was a bit worried about what it would look like, but i'm pretty pleased. the wreath over the garage was also from last year's sales and the lighted trees were free from grandma!
i'm such a freak when it comes to never paying full price for anything. so anywho... this is the outdoor decorations. a lot but not too much. we are most definitely NOT the jones' in our cul-de-sac. our neighbor to the leftis totally decked out and BLASTS christmas music you can literally hear from at least a block away! i don't mind it though, i'm just happy that he's so in the spirit! we drove through my mom's neighborhood last night, the one i grew up in, to see lights after we left her house and NOONE had any up. so depressing. i sure hope my neighborhood ever turns into that!
we've got some decor going on inside, other than our tree. we decided to decorate our tree this year with ornaments our kids can play with, and hang our important ones out of thier reach (not that they won't find a way to get to them... i know that all too well!) the pic is of our ornament exchange ornaments hanging from garland on the wall above the sofa. next year i will figure something a bit classier looking than plastic garland, but it'll do for now. the boys made a countdown to christmas chain, and me and my girlfriends made these so cute trees. i love my button one. tif made hers with looped ribbon and pompons in green gold and red, but didn't have enough material to finish. i hope she posts a blog with her final product(hint hint,tif!) and jessie made one with all colors of sequins, SO GIRLY, just like she is!!! i can't wait to see her's too. she didn't finish either, but for lack of time as she was gluing them on one by one!! anyway... i'm sure there will be a lot more christmas crafts around these parts, so december may be very blogworthy!!
we went out and got ourselves a christmas tree. this year was my year to choose the type, and i went with a noble. i've been excited for it just about all year! it's so cute.
anyway...here is a before pic with the neighbor boy. he really likes it, too. can't you tell?! j/k... his mom brought him over so jason could teach him how to tie a tie for his christmas piano recital, and that's what the thumbs are actually for.
before... 
during... (no judging inside-out-pants man. potty training is a tough job!)
after...
merry christmas!!
let me just start by saying how thankful i am for our best friends. we're blessed to have AMAZING friends. for their companionship, yes... but mostly because they are all just good people. we get to have tons of great role models for our children to look up to, and great kids for our boys to be best buddies with. ginna, justin, austin, scotty, lizzie, and brookie, tif, john, keira, scharae, jojo, jess, i love you guys. thank you for loving us unconditionally and being our friends. we are so grateful for you all!
the following pics are from our 6th annual ornament exchange tonight bear with me, i had to get one of each person with their ornament. this year we GAVE from youngest to oldest
some are obvious from the photos, but here's the breakdown for this year...
brookie to jess-nativity
boomer to mama-kitty gymnast(picked it out THOUGHTFULLY on his own!)
scharae to john-handcrafted complete with alphabet noodle to and from names
keira to scharae-same, but different names and of course keira made hers with green!
jax to daddy-"bot barker" (quarter sized clay robot dressed like bob barker-jason's idol)
lizzie to jax-letter to santa (love having the year on it)
jess to boomer- thomas and friends
scotty to keira-jack skellington (keira was SO in love with it!)
jojo to brookie-giraffe bank "second christmas"
me to tif-froggie in a pond
tif to lizzie-christmas tree globe (she flew all the way to holland just for it!)
jason to jojo-a globe for the globetrotter
john to scotty-a sock monkey
it was lots of fun this year. we went out to birch bay to the calder's amazing resort hotel condo for our party. we had lots of good food, conversation,giftgiving, wrestling matches, dessert,dances and giggles!! i'm really sad that we only have one more day with the calders, but i'm so glad we've had a jam-packed week of memory making times with them! it will probably be 5 more months until the next time we see them!
jax found his halloween costume from a few years ago and wore it for 2 weeks after halloween! and yes, i AM the type of mother that totally let him wear it in public.
we decorated our porch in all things autumn. pumpkins, gourds, and window-cling leaves. it was so cute.
we cheated and started decorating for christmas by calling our paper snowflakes "winter decorations". how could a daddy say no to a craft project?!
boomer turned 3!!! we had lots of friends and family come over to celebrate. he chose a fireman theme, we had pizza and cupcakes and this year we got him a big-boy scooter. the next day we went to ocean shores for some clam digging, a first for all of us but jason. all in all he had a really great birthday weekend.
this year we went to jason's sister's house in oregon for thanksgiving. it was lots of fun and there was only a tiny bit of family drama! i would say it was a great success. we got to play with our nieces and their kitties, and best of all, i got to rub a preggo belly all weekend!! yeah, i'm one of those peolple, too!!
we meant to go black friday shopping, but didn't sleep too well the night before and needed our rest for the long drive back home. we hit up a target but all we bought was some SANITY for $88. seriously... there were NO fights or fits on the way home!!
the morning after we got home from our trip we got to see our adopted parents roy and heidi alcorn. (they're a lot of people's "parents" because they're so great). visits with them have become few and far between but that makes it even better when we do. we really love those guys.
and speaking of other guys we love...forget santa claus, the calder crew is coming to town!! i'm so excited to see them all and have all of us friends reunited all together again. we are planning to have a girl's night one night and a boy's night another. we will also be getting together for our 5th? annual ornament exchange. i'm really excited for it this year WOOHOO!!
we are putting up christmas lights today, and we'll get our tree next weekend. i'm even excited for snow this year. which is way out of character for me. i'm so filled with christmas spirit already. HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!
