Merry Christmas!

May His love surround you, protect you, and be with you on Christmas and always!

My baby girl at 4 months!

Here in her Thanksgiving outfit and her Christmas outfit. Love the turkey dress...it was a have to have dress the moment I saw it at the craft fair. And she looked oh so cute in it too. She's sleeping through the night now 12+ hours and here in there she'll get up at 4 to nurse. She's still a dream baby. Perfectly happy 99.9 % of the time. She drools ALL the time and EVERYWHERE. Bibs are a must with her (however, I don't like them.) She is a finger sucker. Normally it's 2 fingers at a time. Doesn't care for the pacifier but will take it on occasion. She is absolutely in LOVE with Parker...they are buddies. She thinks he's the funniest thing ever. She only laughs the belly laughs with him. Cole likes to jump on and hurt the little girl...I don't see them being too good of buddies at all. He LOVES to scare her and see her jump out of her skin. Not nice at all. She's getting so big and already it seems like I was never pregnant. We are holding off on cereal til closer to 6 months, but not certain we will make it that long. She's been eying our food already and salivates even more at it's sight. Oh how I just love this little girl more than you know! ;)

It's been awhile...

and I have been BUSY! So busy and stressed to the point I had a migraine Friday. I've only had 2 others and they were almost exactly 4 years ago. Not fun, but thank goodness Bill was home and able to take off work to be with the kids while I slept it off.

Anyway, back to BUSY! It's been non stop around here since oh about my last post. I've been busy with photography and getting all that wrapped up in time for Christmas. I designed 4 sets of Christmas cards this year as well...ours included. Between editing, taking pictures, and editing some more I've decided to "take a break" from photography for awhile. Having 3 kids takes a lot out of a mom and I need to give more of me to my kids right now...to ENJOY them. I still have my peeps that will ALWAYS be on my picture taking list and they know who they are. I want it to remain fun and by stepping back I'm hoping that my love for it will come back as well. The last thing I want is it to feel like a job and right now that is how I feel. While my break isn't a total break from photography...Lord knows how much stuff I have on the back burner right now waiting til after the holidays. It's merely, not taking any new clients I suppose. ;)

So the other night I took some pics of our Christmas tree (the big one!) Yes, we have more than one. Actually, we have 6. The kids each have a little table top tree in their rooms decorated to the theme in their room. Chloe's is pink and all girly. Cole's is done is sports balls. Parker's is transportation themed. In the bonus room we have our "sentimental tree." Those ornaments haven't been up for a couple years because of Cole and most likely will not be up next year either because of Chloe. In the dining room, I put up a little 4 ft tree...not much to it. ;) The "big tree" for those that are wondering is all SHATTERPROOF! I learned this was the only way to go since Parker's second Christmas. I'm sure it will remain for the next several years as well! lol

I have taken pics...lots of pictures of the kiddos, but I have yet to edit any of them. I hope to do a couple at least in the next few days and get them posted. I'm not even sure what else to say after all this mumbo jumbo....lol!

From last week!

Parker was out of school last Tuesday for teacher in-service so I took advantage and did a photo shoot of all of them. It seems to work better for the boys when I don't get them all dressed up and take them somewhere...all they had here was their undies!

Chloe's 3 month pics

Dressing up in some of the cheap costumes I picked up for dress up!

Our weekend!

Friday was Cole's 3rd birthday and we took a trip to get pumpkins. We wanted to wait for Parker but decided to go without as rain was coming. Good thing we did! It started pouring right as P stepped off the bus. It was super windy and took Chloe's breath away so she wasn't out of the van but for a couple minutes...long enough for a few pics.
Celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese with pizza and games Friday night. Followed by a trip to Toys R Us. It was a late night for all of us! Cake was put off til Saturday. Cole picked out his own cake...decided on a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake! Good stuff!

The best reaction to opening any of his presents...Nerf gun.
Chloe bug sporting her new brown headband. She looks so cute in brown.
Parker carving his pumpkin...aka destroying. He said he made a noodle and a spoon...he made holes on each side of his pumpkin.
Daddy doing some serious pumpkin carving. He's using the Dremel.
The end result...quite fitting...wouldn't you agree?
The boys really had a number of choices this year of what to dress up as. I've been buying super cheap costumes at a local store for them to dress up in. So they had numerous choices and Parker ended up being a race car driver, Cole a fireman, and Chloe was a pink cat or panther. It was cute and warm on her. We were the only trick or treaters in our neighborhood. There were about 12 houses or so that we went to. Let me tell you they made out like bandits. I've discovered that if I leave the candy in a bowl on the table Cole doesn't eat it. If I put it in the pantry or cabinet he sniffs it out and eats it all. Funny huh?

Happy Birthday Coley!

My Coley monster is 3 years old today! So hard to believe! I cannot imagine our family without this sweet boy in it. He knows how to make us all laugh and is quite the lover at times. He can also throw a fit like no other and is the master whiner! lol Such a joy he is! Coley we are
very blessed that God chose us to be your parents.

All our love,
Mommy, Daddy, Parker, and Chloe

The boys and girl!

I managed to take a picture of each of my kiddos today! Go me! lol I had only intended to get a pic of Chloe because she is 13 weeks today. The boys' pics were a bonus. For Cole's birthday party I found goggles on the clearance rack at Walmart and P had to give them a try in the tub tonight. Perfect for washing hair. ;) Cole didn't like them but I got a pic of him with his toys nonetheless.