Christmas Approaches

Christmas Sunday means cute outfits and a washed-out picture by the tree.

Christmas Eve Eve means gingerbread houses:

(mine, made mostly just to use up some of the too-much icing I made)

Catherine's bare gingerbread house.

Most of the decorations ended up in her tummy instead.

Seth didn't make a gingerbread house.

He made a Ninja Bread House.

And so shall all gingerbread houses be called in the Blood Home from now on.

(He was actually excited to decorate his this year. 

In the past he just wanted to build it so he could destroy it.)

Christmas Eve means delicious dinner, treats, and Christmas program with friends:

[insert pictures from Melissa's camera here]

I did get one picture from the evening, which I think really sums up the spirit of the night: 

Catherine, running in circles on the rug without a shirt on.

Merry Christmas, one and all.

And just before snuggling into their warm beds, the kids opened their Christmas jammies from Grandma Cathy. Then we left Santa some (not so good generic brand) Oreos and sent them to bed. 

Haircuts All Around

One nice Saturday, we decided it was time for family haircuts.

Megan didn't get one since no one in the family is capable of cutting Mommy hair.

Jon & Seth got haircuts, but no pictures. It's standard procedure for those two.

But, tragically, it was time for the curl mullet to leave us:

And it was also time for the greasy mohawk to leave us: 

And so the two babies had their gorgeous locks removed by a sad mommy.

And then the littlest baby was bathed and dressed by his daddy, who thinks he is SO FUNNY: 

Baby Aaron is not amused by his Liederhosen.

Three Months

We are FINALLY out of the newborn stage! I wish I were one of those mommas who just adore tiny little newborns, but I'm not. I love my babies when they're sleeping like (mostly) decent human beings and when they can give you full-body smiles. Basically, three months is the beginning of the awesome baby stage for me!

Aaron went through a miraculous transformation about a week before he hit three months old. Suddenly he decided that naps were desirable (mostly), his crib was a lovely place to sleep, and that nursing is a great way to fall asleep instead of a time to squirm and arch his back (I felt like I was nursing a giant flopping fish. Not exactly relaxing at 3 am). Did I mention that I love three-month-olds?

Other Aaron skills:

*trying really, REALLY hard to get his hands to grab the things he wants. Like my black pearl necklace. Or his feet.

*DROOLING. Aaron is our first drooler--he will be receiving a pack of bibs for Christmas to reduce the number of outfit changes we go through every day.

(not sure how obvious it is, but there is definitely a drool bomb happening here)

*smiling, laughing, cooing, shrieking, singing...this boy LOVES to talk. But he loves being talked to even more! Nothing makes Aaron smile like a face-to-face conversation.

*gnawing on his fists. All. The. Time. He's also started chewing on his pacifier. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was teething...

Delicious fists! And, also, a bib for drool protection

*sleeping in his own room. I thought I would be happy to have our bedroom back, but I was surprised to find myself a little bit sad to have my baby leaving. I kind of miss his tiny little snores and being woken up by a flailing baby punch to the face...  But he seems to prefer the consistency of sleeping in his crib and will usually go down without too much fuss (he likes Jon to put him to bed--I can put him down for naps, but Daddy is necessary for bed).

*Still won't go to bed until around 9:30, and still has no consistent schedule at night. Some nights I get a nice long chunk. Some nights he's still eating every 2 hours. It's such a thrill to go to bed every night with no idea how long I'll get to sleep before being woken up by a hungry (or gassy) baby.

Poor third child, being "adored" by his siblings

*chubby, chubby, chubby! He's definitely packing on the pounds (although still not quite Seth-size yet). We'll have to see the official weight at his appointment next month.

*will generally go to bed without screaming when Jon puts him down in his crib. Pretty much never works out like that for me.

*loves to stand. All. The. Time.

"How YOU doin'?"

*sometimes after he's done nursing, I'll look down and see him just grinning at me. Then he'll chirp and sing happily for several minutes. Possibly my favorite thing in the entire world.

*sweet, happy baby. All this kid wants is food, the occasional nap, and someone to talk to him. If he's got those three, he is just the sweetest, most content baby. I think I'm in love.

Christmas Pictures

My awesome friend Tara decided to do some Christmas mini-shoots this year, and I figured it would be the perfect gift for the Grandmas. My kids aren't exactly cooperative for photo shoots, so I wasn't expecting too much, but Tara is obviously some kind of miracle worker. I am in love with these pictures.

My handsome man, who has absolutely not received permission to get this old.

Stop it.

My beautiful little girl.

And my sweet, sweet little baby boy.

Some other favorites: 

(If you were paying very close attention, you'll notice that Lightning McQueen and Mater are also featured in our family pictures. It wasn't worth the battle to extract them). 

Christmas Means...

...Jon & the kids surprising me with a beautiful Christmas tree:

Our house smelled like heaven when Jon brought this in.

...making Christmas ornaments, and then making a huge mess with the leftovers: 

...sitting on Santa's lap at the ward Christmas party: 

"Seth, can you stop talking so we can take a picture?": 

Absolutely not. 

Seth had to make sure Santa got the full list, and he did.

Catherine could have cared less if Santa got her list: 

She wasn't going anywhere near him.

And Aaron...well, Aaron is just happy with whatever: 

...awkward family pictures in the foyer: 

Version 1: Catherine flipping everyone off

Version 2: Seth flipping everyone off

Merry Christmas, the Blood way!

Co-op Christmas Party

As part of our co-op Christmas party, we did our own little Nativity play. Seth got to pick first, and he picked Joseph:

Obviously he was VERY excited about his role.

Now, for the most adorable Mary & Joseph picture you've ever seen: 

(please ignore the part where Baby Jesus is a skein of yarn.

We were at a house full of boys--not a doll to be found).

 And my favorite part of the Nativity:

"Catherine, do you want to be in the Nativity?"

"No."

"Do you want to be a sheep?"

"NO."

"Do you want to be an angel?"

"NO!"

"Aren't you going to be in our play?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

And she stuck to her guns, despite all adult pressure to the contrary: 

Did I mention how much I fear for the teenage years?

The full cast: 

Seth is LOVING co-op with these kids.

Snow Day

Our first Christmas present came early: a lovely snowstorm! 

We dug out the snow clothes, bundled the kids up...

...and realized we needed bigger snow clothes for Seth.

Those 2T snow pants just aren't cutting it anymore.

But 2T snow pants or not, out we headed into the snow: 

There were some snow angels: 

And some sliding: 

Catherine was not pleased with the landing: 

Then it was off to the hill for some sledding! This was PERFECT sledding snow: 

I didn't get a picture of Catherine's very short trip on the sled.

It was very memorable. 

So memorable that she'll never get on the sled the rest of the winter.

Seth had a great time, though: 

Now let's hope for some more snow this winter, cause this snow was completely unacceptable for snowman making (which was all Catherine wanted to do).