How It Feels...

...to be the mother of three boys most days.

Christmas Morning 2009

Christmas Morning (Before)

Opening presents made Jonah and Wyatt really hot, so they had to take off their fleece pajama shirts.

The Aftermath

Jonah and Wyatt each got a Buzz Lightyear. Max was excited to get "Zurg Spray" to attack both of them and their Buzzes

The boys started out eating these giant suckers in the living room, but I soon realized that these were going to be tub treats.

New Family Photo

We had to take about 100 photos over two days to get this one--which to be honest was somewhat exhausting since I had to keep pushing the timer button and running back to get in the photo--but amazingly everyone is looking and, besides Emmett, has fairly natural smiles. Success!!

For a good laugh about family photos, check this out: Awkward Family Photos

Some Stuff

My mom has told me she's tired of looking at the photos of our annual Christmas tree hunt. :) So here is something new...don't get me wrong, this isn't something really recent. I'm still trying to catch up.

First, near the end of November we purchased a minivan. I love it. I love that it allows me to carpool, which means I don't have to pick up or drop off every time. I love that the doors close on their own (although the passenger door is being a little temperamental lately). I love that it is quieter in the car because Jonah and Wyatt are a good 4-5 feet back rather than only 2-3. Yes, love it.

I took the boys ice-skating for the first time. Jonah had been asking to try it and so we finally went. Max claims God did not intend for him to ice-skate, roller-skate/blade or dance, so these activities are all up to me.
Wyatt didn't love it. He couldn't ever get himself on top of his skates, but I think he's willing to try again some day.
Jonah loved it. He needed my help at first, then he went around the side of the whole rink one and a half times by himself, and then suddenly he let go and went across the rink. It was nice and empty when we went so it was good for learning.

On the same day we went ice skating, we also went to visit Santa in the mall. It was almost Christmas and I started feeling like I hadn't made the holidays very magical for my kids. (I have pretty conflicted feelings about playing up Santa, but I remember going to visit Santa and I'm a pretty well-adjusted adult, right?, so we made the visit.) Jonah did the classic Christmas Story thing where he was all prepared with what he wanted to say but when he actually met Santa he froze up and didn't really say much at all. Wyatt told Santa he wanted a teddy bear (which was news to us) and Santa did pull through on Christmas morning.

And finally, here are the boys in their Christmas jammies which they receive every year from Grandma and Grandpa Nelson. Too bad this picture couldn't be with all the cousins in the same jammies, but hopefully next year.

Cold Day Fun

Iowa is cold! I know my last posts show a lovely warm spell in late November, but besides that the winter here is cold, cold, cold. It really messes with your senses because when it gets up to 30 degrees you think, wow, it's really warm out! We do venture out as much as we can, like last night when Jonah really wanted me to go out and look at stars with him at 7:00 at night. Wyatt ended up wanting to come too, so the three of us bundled up and went into the backyard. We never took our tree swings down, so after finding Orion's belt and Mars (I think) they wanted to swing on the swings. Children must not be as sensitive to cold because it couldn't have been any warmer than the 8 degrees it is as I type this at 3 in the afternoon, and they kept wanting to be pushed higher, which to me just meant having freezing cold air blow in their faces. I was happy to be the pusher.

So we spend a lot of time inside.

Here's proof we sometimes do bundle up and brave the snow.

Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

This year's hunt was very different. It was so warm we didn't even need jackets. If the deciduous trees weren't bare I swear you'd think it was just late summer in these photos.

The winner! Who knows how tall of a ceiling we'll have next year, so we have to live it up while we can. This one came within centimeters of the ceiling. It was beautiful!

This is just me playing with our new wide-angle lens for fun.

And here are the men toting the tree. Just think, with 3 sons I may never have to carry a sappy tree again. My mom and dad flew in the day after Thanksgiving so they got to come along. It was fun having them here for all the Christmas decorating.

November Camp Out

We had a really nice warm spell in November and so Max took the boys camping. Emmett and I stayed at home, but went out for a visit early in the morning. The boys love camping with Dad. This time, Wyatt was especially excited about getting to drink hot chocolate for breakfast! When Emmett and I arrived they were all at a pond fishing. Jonah and Wyatt each caught a small fish and Jonah even gave his a kiss before throwing it back in the pond.