Guess who is in a big-boy bed!

I know that a lot of parents move their kids out of cribs and into beds around age 2, so it may seem strange that Joshua is just now moving into a big-boy bed. David and I decided to wait until Joshua seemed ready to move over and able to handle the freedom that it entailed. We didn't want to have a lot of sleep interruptions and ups-and-downs that lots of younger kids often do when they move from their crib to a bed. He loved sleeping in his crib and only recently suggested sleeping in a bed like Mommy and Daddy. My mother had purchased a toddler bed from a yard sale a few years back (in anticipation) and purchased this really cute bedding as part of his Christmas gift this year. We set the bed up on Monday morning and starting with his nap that day, he has been doing GREAT! He has happily gotten in his bed for his nap each afternoon and for sleeping at night and snuggled right up with his lion to go to sleep. Since he's such an active little guy, I anticipated having some issues, so we've talked about how big boys stay in their beds and get their sleep--so far, he's doing great!

How did he get so big?!

He loves getting "snug," as he calls it :)

We are really proud of Joshua for making the transition so easily. We love our big boy! :)

Fun with Christmas presents!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas all this month! Joshua and I did lots of little service projects, we caroled with Grandma Martha and Granddaddy Bernie as we delivered yummy treats, and we spent time with friends and family numerous times over the past few weeks! Both David's parents and my parents, along with other sweet relatives, were very kind and generous to the kids with gifts that they are enjoying each day. Since you are reading this blog post, you obviously read this blog often enough to know I don't remember to take a lot of "in the moment" shots--I'd rather just be participating in the moment with the kids. So here are a few pictures I took a little later on.

The kids love their new table & chairs!

Love my smiley sweethearts!

Consider yourselves warned--this picture has

extremely high levels of cheesy smiling!

A rare in-between smile shot ;)

What a silly girl!

(You can also see the box of my new

vacuum behind her--I absolutely LOVE it!)

Leah's new puppy Violet

Joshua's big John Deere dump truck

Leah pushing her new baby doll

in her grocery-filled shopping cart...

now all she needs is her very own

coupon notebook and she'll be a

mini-Mommy :)

Joshua demonstrating his Cars racing track

and car carrier combo

Pictures!

We used some of the images our dear friend Katherine took to make gifts for our parents for Christmas:

And one for ourselves to hang up in our home:

Katherine also had a canvas made of one of our family shots for us to hang up as well--hooray for family pictures!

Snaggletooth

I was at church last night for a Relief Society Christmas Service Project and I got a phone call from David telling me that Leah chipped her tooth in the bathtub. She, like many children, seems to think the bathtub is an appropriate location for dancing and the like, and she finally bit the dust last night. She, of course, was in bed when I got home, so I had to wait until this morning to see the self-inflicted damage:

All I can say is that it is a good thing she is so darn cute, because she'll be rockin' that snaggletooth until sometime in elementary school. Oh, Leah-bug :)

All dressed up

The kids just looked so cute as we were heading out for church this morning that I took a minute to snap a few pictures.

Happy sister and brother :)

My handsome boy!

Smiley girl! This is her Christmas dress--

she wore it today since we'll be traveling

next Sunday for Christmas.

And then she was done :)

Christmas at our house

I love Christmas decorations and Joshua is really excited to have ours up in the house this month. We've had them up for a couple of weeks already, but I thought I'd take a couple of pictures.

We clear off most of the fireplace mantle for the nativity set each year. There are 4 different sets that make up this nativity, and my parents gave them to me for different holiday gifts over the course of a year or so. My absolute favorite thing to set out each year :) And the kids have their own Fisher Price Nativity Set that Grandma Martha gave them last year--they love to play with it! In fact, Joshua was just telling Leah today, "Leah, do not eat that wise man!"I think she was just giving him a kiss, but since kisses from Leah can be a bit messy, I can understand Joshua's concern for the wise man's safety!

Since Leah can't seem to keep her hands off ANYTHING these days, we decided to go with a small tree up on the buffet in the dining room. We weren't able to put up all the ornaments because there just wasn't room, but a lot of our favorites are up there. I am SO glad I did the smaller tree out of reach this year because we were at a friend's house last week and I spent the entire time replacing ornaments Leah was pulling off their tree...she was like a one-baby dismantling machine! Every morning when we come downstairs, Joshua says, "Mommy, let's turn on the Christmas tree lights!" and when I do, he says, "Oh, wow! It is so beautiful!" I love seeing the beauty of this season through his eyes! :)

A few pictures from Thanksgiving

I never seem to remember when David takes pictures, so I'll randomly find them on the camera the next time I go to take pictures (which obviously doesn't happen often enough!) I found a few he took outside at my mom and dad's house over Thanksgiving weekend, when we had such gorgeous weather down at the coast.

And I don't have a clear memory of what events led to this drama, but it was probably something really terrible, like somebody telling her "no" :)

Don't you just feel SO sorry for her?

Can't you just tell that her life is SO difficult?

Poor Leah-bug :)

Family Pictures

For family members or friends who don't have Facebook and haven't seen these pictures yet, I'm posting some of our 2011 family pictures. My wonderfully talented and sweet friend Katherine Peters met us at Lake Benson Park in Garner in November for a photo shoot and captured so many wonderful moments for us. Hope you like them as much as we do!

Happy Halloween!

I just realized that I forgot to put up a few pictures from Halloween! We attended our church's Chili Cook-off and Trunk-or-Treat, which is something we look forward to every year! We always have tons of great chilis brought in for competition (and eating for dinner!), along with lots of yummy fall desserts. Afterwards, families hand out candy from their decorated car trunks in the parking lot as the kids trick-or-treat. David and Leah handed out candy from our van trunk (decorated like a garden to go with our costumes) as I took Joshua from car to car. He had SO much fun and loved saying "Trick or treat!" and getting candy. He said "Thank you so much!" to each person without me even telling him to...I was so proud of him for being so courteous :)

David and I were gardeners, Joshua was

a bug catcher, and Leah was a butterfly

Does anyone else find it nearly impossible to get

a decent picture of multiple children? :)

If you can't tell, Leah's got on pink butterfly wings,

a silver tutu, and rainbow-striped leggings.

Joshua's got on overalls and work boots, a set of

binoculars hanging from a lanyard, a butterfly net,

and his favorite work hat of Daddy's :)

My pretty little butterfly!

Just doing a little reading before dinner ;)