stuff

-  yesterday, corey & i dropped the kids off with lee and fam (thanks!), and headed out to get the shopping done.  it was a very productive evening.  i'd say we're about 90% done, just a few odds and ends left to get.  now it's on to the wrapping!

-  did a whole lot of nothing today.  needed to clean, but didn't.  played with kids and napped throughout the day.  the boys and i watched how the grinch stole christmas  (old school cartoon version that was a christmas present from my brother matt & fam last year).

-  got some good mail today.  a christmas card from chester's new family (with picture!) and a package of goodies from jessica.  thank you, thank you!  good stuff :)

-  feeling the need to create something, so pulled out the scarf i had started last year when i pregnant with the twins.  trying to remember how to crochet and making lots of mistakes, but enjoying the process.

-  miss magen is back in town (just for the weekend).  yay!  she came over for dinner and is staying the night.  tomorrow is our christmas service and banquet at the church and she is here to celebrate with us.  i've missed her!

- watching anne of green gables tonight.  magen has never seen it before and i can't in good conscience let her go on living without experiencing the wonderfulness of anne shirley.  wish jessica could be here watching it too.

-  and here is some random pictures from our day:

this hanger kept all three kids entertained for hours!  

why do we even buy presents?

watching how the grinch stole christmas

attacking me with his crusty face

cash is obsessed with the keyboard on the computer.

he has an amazing knack for just punching buttons and changing

all our settings.

messes, neanderthal boy, & another christmas miracle

1.  jagger loves to make messes.  lot of messes.  if something squirts, sprays, or pumps, he will get it everywhere.  lotions, air fresheners, cleaning supplies, toothpastes, soaps, paints, shampoos & conditioners, none are safe when jagger is around.  i know this from experience.  the allure of these magical containers is just too much for him to resist.  and though he is banned from all areas that contain these items, he has recently found ways to break through the barriers and wreak havoc (this usually involves him ramming a baby on a little car into the gate and then crawling around it).  just this week, he got into my paints (red!) and squirted the table down.  thank goodness i caught him early.  then today, he got into the hall closet and grabbed the (green) dog shampoo (red & green, hmmm...).  into the babies' room he went and proceeded to squirt it all over the floor and chair before we caught him.  not sure what to do to keep him out and punishment doesn't seem to be stopping him.  little punk.
2.  cash.  what a fun little guy.  he puts up with all the stuff we do to him to amuse ourselves.  today it was neanderthal boy.  you wouldn't know it to look at him, but the kid has excess skin above his eyebrows.  when you push it down over his eyes, he looks like a caveman, and maybe a little bit mad.  here for your viewing pleasure, i introduce neanderthal boy.

ok, ok, that's enough!

3.  'tis the season for christmas miracles and we have had another one in the blair household.  over a year ago, corey lost his brand new ipod.  we thought he had left it at the doctors office during one of my twin checkups and that it was lost forever.  well,  today it was found!  i was dusting the top shelf in our living room and there it was, sitting against the wall, just safe and sound all along (and the fact that it's been missing for over a year tells you how often i dust the top shelf.  shame on me!).  to say corey was overjoyed is putting it lightly.  another christmas miracle!  don't good things come in threes?  what miracle will be next?!

a list

1.  feeling overwhelming love for these kids today.  they may be crazy, wild, crackheads, and i am sometimes convinced they were switched with the someone else's babies at the hospital 'cause my kids would never act this badly, but lordy sakes, i love them to death.

2.  received a christmas package (you all know how much i love getting mail!) this week from my brother Matt & fam, and i want to give a thank you shout out.  love everything, but especially the red polka dot socks and the boys' pajamas.
3.  feeling bad that i didn't get christmas cards out (again) this year.  every year i say i'm going to make them, then when it gets close to christmas and there's no way i can accomplish that, i buy some,  but they never get addressed and sent out.  i have like 3 or 4 different boxes of christmas cards just sitting here, yet i know they'll sit for another year.  i'm so bad at that stuff.  plus, i wanted to get a picture of all three boys to put in it, but it's near impossible to get the 3 of them to hold still for more than 15 seconds and looking in the same direction (without little screaming faces).

4.  corey and jagger watched the polar express completely through today (it was on tv).  corey said jagger enjoyed it and i'm impressed that it held his attention.  maybe i'll buy a copy and we'll make watching it a christmas tradition. 

5.  finding it difficult to get this post done 'cause the boys keep coming over and unplugging the computer.  

6.  wondering why cash and slade seem to have no interest in walking yet.  jagger was walking at 10 months, what are these guys waiting for?  slade does like walking while pushing stuff, but wants nothing to do with trying on his own.  cash could care less altogether (although he does like to "cruise" along the furniture).  

7.  starting to stress that we have no christmas shopping done yet.  none.  plan to go out friday and do it all in one fell swoop, but need to find someone willing to watch the kids.  need to get cracking on that. 

scenes from today

potato salad is good

fresh from the tub

christmas bedtime stories

a few of the 13 dozen cookies i made tonight

(for the cookie exchange at work).

odds and ends

1.  on friday, lee and her family (friends from church), watched the kids for us while we went shopping and watched a movie (the day the earth stood still).  i planned our time out badly and we did not get much shopping done at all.  thank you lee & fam!  we really, really appreciated it.

2.  we hung our stockings friday.
3.  when slade is mad, he slams his head on the floor (sometimes repeatedly).  he has a permanent bump and black & blue mark on his forehead.  i don't know what to do to get him to stop.  you'd think the pain would be enough, but apparently not.

(ignore the fact that his face is horribly filthy)

4.  we also got the kids a bunch of christmas books on friday.  we read them tonight before bed and they were a big hit.  i really like the version of the night before christmas we bought.  the illustrations are only in black, white, red, green, and gold. 
5.  i'm looking forward to when jagger understands the idea of santa a little bit better.  i'm so ready to use the threat of no presents for bad behavior already.  he's been difficult the past couple of days, to say the least.

6.  i know i talked about it in the last post, but i am really & truly loving the kids sleeping through the night.  it's a christmas miracle!

bleh

sick.  sick, sick, sick.  bleh.  so tired of it.  cash, slade, and i are still under the weather.  corey and jagger are sick as well, but seem to be on the mend at least.  desperately needing some sun to dry us up.  i do have some good news to share, although, i'm nervous to share it for fear i will jinx it.  o.k., here it is.  all three kids have slept completely through the night, every night, since saturday.  and when i say all three kids, i really mean slade, because he is the main culprit for waking several times through the night.  cash and jagger have been sleeping through the night for ages now.  but anyways, whoo!  it's freaking glorious (now, he better sleep through the night tonight!).

and here's your picture of the day.  cash likes to climb up on to the couch all the time :)

getting comfy

the way he sits

i love it.  9 times out of 10, he has his little feet crossed like this. 

look at those little piggies.  so cute.  (don't mind the cheerios on the floor)
he likes the way he sits too.  in fact he's pretty stinkin' thrilled about it.  

he and i, we get a kick out of the little things in life :)