Random

It's been a little cold, especially for North Carolina. We're spending lots of time indoors.

Christmas

The kids loved Christmas morning, of course. Although Madeline was a little confused and groggy since we dragged her out of bed.

Trees

We go to the same lot every year to pick out our Christmas tree. One of these days, I want to drive up to the mountains and pick up a frasier fir, but this works for now.

The kids were so great helping us decorate.

We also had fun with our new tree sugar cookie cutters.

All I Want for Christmas

Ethan lost his second front tooth tonight, just in time to add it to his Christmas list.

Gingerbread

We hosted FHE here in early December, and decided to make gingerbread houses. So fun!

Snow

It snowed the day we painted. Not enough to really play in, but Colin wanted to make the most of it.

Painting

We decided to finally get around to painting our living room after over 2 years in our home. We were so lucky to have such good helpers in our kids.

Jason was determined to paint the two-story wall himself. I was not convinced it was a good idea.

The ladder was one thing...this is just too much for me. But the room looks great!

New York

We had a great time in New York. We made LOTS of turtles (well, really, Papa made them).

And made LOTS of lego creations (actually Ethan).

The boys slept in Grammy and Papa's exercise room.

And played in the basement.

Jason escaped to Indianapolis for a Chargers/Colts game with Ryan and Rob.

Jason's grandparents were there. We loved visiting with them.

And the kids really loved celebrating Christmas a little early.

And my birthday.

We were sad to leave, but the kids loved flying.

Random

The boys are so cute when they hang out together.

Ethan lost his front tooth!

And Colin is always a ham.

Pictures from our day

We have an amazing nanny, Melissa, who has been with us for over a year. She takes great care of our kids while I work part time. This morning she put Maddie's hair in pigtails. A few weeks ago, I put my baby girl to bed, and in the morning she woke up a toddler. This morning, I left my toddler at home to take the boys to school, and came home to a little girl. If time could pause just long enough for me to catch my breath, I'd appreciate it.

This is how Maddie usually looks:

And here she is all grown up, checking out the groceries.

After Colin got home from preschool, he and Melissa had the following conversation:

Colin: Lissa, what's on Maddie's head??

Melissa: They're pig tails.

Colin: PIG TAILS!!! Maddie say oink oink now???

Along with time, I'd love to pause the weather exactly where it's been this week. Gorgeous days that smell like fall...not chilly, not hot, bright yellow leaves snowing down all day. I love it. The boys wanted me to bury them in a leaf pile this afternoon. They had a ball. I loved hearing the belly laughter as I raked more and more piles of leaves on them. I have hundreds of pictures to blog about, including one documenting that big gap in Ethan's smile, but again, that issue with time. I'll include one of my favorites here, which Melissa took of Maddie last month when she took Colin and Maddie on a nature walk. We are off to New York to eat too much and sit in front of the fire. Happy Thanksgiving!