Joys in January

Honestly, I usually dread January.  It's cold, and I'm not fond of the cold.  It's dark and dreary, and I like bright sunny days.  But this January has actually flown by.  We've had a few cold spells but also some warmer weather to break things up, and for that I'm really thankful.  Even on the cold days though, we've either found something new and fun to do inside or brave it and go outside for a while to get some fresh air.  

Here are some January happenings:

If you ask Maddie, her favorite subject is art.  So this week for our art class in school we drew upside down.  I saw this on a website last week with a list of cold weather activities and the kids thought it was the funnest, silliest thing.  

We've played lots of dress up, usually spurred on by Maddie.  Their new favorite dress up theme to play is Western.  Rivers loves dressing up as a cowboy, and Maddie calls this her princess cowgirl dress.

If it's not just frigid we bundle up and take our snack outside in the afternoon to get some fresh air and get some energy out.

The kids favorite outdoor game right now is freeze tag.
I love this picture of Maddie right after she was tagged

Gloria has been having some sleeping issues, with waking up during the night since Christmas.  In order to try and sort them out without waking everyone up our 2 biggest have been "camping" out together in Rivers' room on the floor.  They actually ask to do it every night now.  Here's a pic of how we found them sleeping when we went to tuck them in the other night.

I think we've finally found a way to allow Gloria to participate in family devotion time at night... Giving her dessert.  It might be messy but she's still, content, and quiet!  We've found even a bit of chocolate milk will do.  

Last but not least, here is a recent picture of our Baby Boy that we got to see last week.  

He's definitely growing, as evidenced by my tummy, and getting more and more active.  It's fun and sweet to feel (and often see) him moving around in there. I'm still so amazed at the miracle of pregnancy and birth.  It reminded me of this verse: "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." Psalm 139:13-14.  I praise God that he forming and knitting this little boy within me and can't wait to meet him in May!

Our Growing Girl

I took Gloria to her 18 month check up this week... Yes she just turned 20 months, but since it wasn't a shots visit I thought it easier to wait then go during the busy season of Christmas.  Man, is our girl continuing to grow like a weed.  She is 33 inches tall (75-90% what?) and 26 lbs (75%).  She's wearing clothes Maddie wore when she was 2 almost 3 :)  After having 2 little munchkins the Docs were always a little concerned with were eating/gaining enough, it's nice to have a very healthy baby girl with no worries.  I laughed at all the questions they asked me, like is she running? Can she say 10 words? I think having 2 older siblings to keep up with has made her grow up quite fast.  She seems even to be moving out of the toddler phase and on to a little girl too fast for me.  

She is definitely our quirky girl with so much personality and is quite a mess (in a good way)!  She's super silly and already has her own way of wanting things done and even style.  She can be so serious when trying to tell you about something, or when someone is upset.  She has quite the temper, though I'm hopeful she's being trained early to control it.  She is sweet and loving too, loving to give hugs and kisses out, only on her terms though.  Her favorite thing is playing with babies.  You can almost always catch her with one in her arms.  She treats them just like a little mommy and its sweet to watch her feeding them, changing their diapers, rocking them, reading and singing to them, putting them down for naps.  

What a joy this third child  has brought to our family, and we are thankful to God for her life.  We love her so much. 

Here's a video of her singing her favorite song as of now... (pardon my singing voice)

The Rest of Christmas

Here are a bunch of pictures from our Christmas week. It all started with us celebrating Christmas as our little family on the morning of the 22nd...

Twas the Night before Christmas

Waking up to stockings and new rocking chairs that
 Mike refinished for them

Of all the presents Maddie got this was her favorite she said.
Yes, its a $5 jewelry kit from Hobby Lobby! 

Rivers and the gigantic Teddy

Opening Bullseye

Gloria was enthralled by her first very own Baby

She's been asking for this for 2 years now, and
with the help of Mawmaw we got an awesome deal.
We saved it for last after all the presents were opened.

That afternoon we went to celebrate Christmas
with Mike's side of the family.

Cousins!

Mike made Will and James marshmallow guns
that were the hit of the day... even among the adults :)

Showing Mawmaw the cinnamon ornaments
she made and put on her gift

Bright and early the next morning we headed to Mississippi and got there just in time to celebrate with my Mom's side of the family.

Glad to be out of the car and at Papa and Marmie's!

Crafty Aunt Susan made EVERYONE in the family
matching toboggans

The whole gang with our M&M toboggans 

Making Christmas crafts with Aunt E is always such fun :)

Attempting to get a pic of all 4 Cousins on Christmas Eve wasn't successful

This pretty much sums up how Christmas is with 3 kids 4 years old and under :)

But we laugh and have lots of fun!

Helping pass out presents Christmas morning was a favorite thing this year

Watch out... he's armed and dangerous!

Trying out her cash register

Playing a new favorite game (I think we've
played it 100 times since opening it!)

Making Christmas treats

Last, but not least we celebrated Christmas at Mamps and Grannes

Our littlest Princess

Playing trucks with Max and Collin was the highlight of Rivers day!

So we are back, and finally back in our routine.  Mike got me a fancy smancy new camera for Christmas that I've had fun playing with, and hopefully it will give me more motivation to blog all the pics I take this next year!

Happy (late) New Year!!!!!