Merry Christmas!!

Christmas this year was a lot of fun! There is something special about seeing Christmas through the eyes of kids ... so precious! The kids were really in to Santa this year. We had a 3-day Christmas celebration. On Christmas Eve Eve, we went to church and then out to pizza. Afterwards, we went to look at Christmas lights (a holiday favorite for the kids!). Many nights in December, I packed the kids up in the car and drove around looking at lights and listened to Christmas music. Then we spent Christmas Eve with my parents - our traditional Sugo dinner.

Ready for Christmas Eve service at church

I love Christmas dresses - so pretty!

Homemade apple pie - YUM!

Mom and me

We woke up early on Christmas morning to get everything ready for the kids and to get breakfast started - Monkey Bread and hot chocolate (another family favorite!). Jacob woke up first and we let him open his stocking stuff. It was full of lots of goodies - play money, Wall-E, coloring books, candy, Buzz Lightyear flashlight (which is all he wanted this year!) and a puzzle. The little kids finally woke up and Christmas morning officially began! Everyone was super excited and ready to rip in to all the goodies Santa had brought. We opened stockings, had breakfast and dove into the presents.

I made the kids tie blankets this year. Megan loved her's, calling it her "new cozy blankie"

Dylan with his Buzz camera

Megan and her new baby

Jacob playing with Ryan's new talking bbq. Ryan was scarred of this at first (which was funny!), but warmed up to it quickly

Ryan playing with Jacob's Super Why Computer he got from Grandma and Grandpa A. (it was nice to see everyone sharing so well!)

After our gifts were opened, the kids played for hours with everything. I love getting new toys! We snacked all morning on junk food - gummy worms, beef jerky, Whoppers, Almonds and more Monkey Bread. Then the kids took a nap while we got ready to head over to my parents house. Once we got there, it was another round of presents with my sister and her family. With eight kids, ages 8 and under, things got crazy!!

Our family

The Kids - Megan, Ryan, Nathan, Jacob, Olivia, Matty, Derek and Dylan

We had a wonderful day, surrounded by family and good food. On New Year's Day, we're getting together with Jon's side of the family to celebrate Christmas together. Then it's time to organize all these wonderful and fun new toys!

December ... where did the month go??

Whew! It's almost Christmas, how is that possible!? December has flown by! It's been a busy, but fun month.

Here are the kids at my parents house while Jon and I got out for some Christmas shopping.

Hanging up our stockings!

Ho, Ho, Ho! Starting to decorate our tree!

NONE of the lights worked! Arrggg! Jon was a trooper trying to fix them for me. He finally got a few strands working, but we'll need to replace lots of lights for next year.

Daddy and Jakey

Mommy and one my favorite presents!

Jacob putting the angel on the top of the tree!

Dylan - so cute!

We went out to dinner to Red Robin with Grandma and Grandpa A. after Jacob's preschool Christmas program. It was SO much fun! The kids did great and it was wonderful to spend another fun day with Jon's parents.

Ryan diggin' the onion rings - no surprise!

Grandma A. and Ryan. I love this photo!

Santa Baby Megan!

Megan and Ryan - these two have been little buddies lately. The other day Megan asked me to go get her night-night (her blanket) upstairs, but I was right in the middle of making dinner. I told her to ask Ryan if he'd go with her. She did, but he said no. I said, "Ryan, help Megan get her night-night," and he said ok. So off the two of them go upstairs and come running back with her blanket. Megan was so excited and then she turned to Ryan and said, "thank you Ry-Ry" and gave him a hug and a kiss! So adorable!! I almost started to cry, it was so sweet!

Megan has also taken a huge interest in being a "little mommy". She started changing her baby's diaper the other day and she's also feeding her baby everything she eats. It's been really cute! Good thing she's getting a new baby for Christmas! (a doll that is, not an actual baby!)

Lots of fun memories this month and lots still to come! We've got a busy few days coming up... cookie baking and decorating, Christmas Eve service at church, dinner, looking at lights and of course Christmas day! I can't wait!

Merry Christmas!!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year... filled with lots of family and fun! We first went to my grandparents house for a visit. It was great to see so much of my family and all the kids that we don't normally get to see. Then we headed to Jon's parents house for dinner and more family time. The kids didn't nap a wink all day, but they did great. They love playing with all their cousins, especially Megan and Kaitlin! They became fast buddies on Thanksgiving! So cute! Here are a few photos from the great day...

Aunt Amy and cousin Kaitlin

Grandma A. and Megan singing Christmas carols

Halloween!!

We had a terrific Halloween this year! Our week started off with a special delivery from Mama Sam (Lisa's Grandma). She sent a yummy tin of treats from the Popcorn Factory. The kids were so excited to open it up and see what treats were inside.

Then Friday, Jacob had a fun Halloween party at school. They played games, colored pumpkin pictures, ate treats and trick-or-treated. He wore this adorable pumpkin shirt and I had to snap a photo after the party!

Saturday finally came and we invited Grandma Lynnie and Papa Tommy over for pumpkin carving and lunch. Megan loved the pumpkins! She wanted to help scoop out the guts and everything! The boys weren't really in to it, so they just enjoyed watching and eating their snack.

Now, the best part ... THE KIDS!!!

Mr. Incredible

Ballerina

Pirate

Buzz Lightyear

Trick-or-Treat!

Jacob's first homework assignment was to create a family tree. Their theme for that week was -It's "all about me". Here were Jacob's fill-in-the-blanks:

All About Jacob A.
My favorite color is orange.
My favorite book is Thomas the Train.
My favorite food is hot dogs.
My favorite place is beach at Tahoe.
What I like about school is the toys.

Potty training the triplets!

Four days ago, the triplets decided they were done wearing diapers and wanted to use the potty! For the past several months, we have a daily battle with them to keep their diapers on. We've resorted to duct tape, but now they are getting too smart and know how to get the diaper off even with the tape - little stinkers!! Every time Jon or I went into the bathroom, they'd all follow and say "Ry-Ry go potty" or "Meh-Meh go potty". After fighting it for a few weeks, we finally gave in and decided to try potty training. I still can't believe we are potty training triplets who are not even 2 1/2 yet! What the heck!? We decided to go straight to undies and skip the pull-ups. They are too expensive and they are basically a diaper. The first 2 days, all the kids did pretty good. A few accidents, but overall it was going smoothly. Then Dylan had a slight change of heart and he's now back in a diaper full-time. He wasn't catching on quite as well as Megan and Ryan, so that was it for him for now, which is fine. If we can get one or even two potty trained now - shoot, I'll take it! Megan and Ryan are really starting to do great! Today, both of them came up to me and told me the needed to go potty. Undies were dry still, we went into the potty and they both went! For day 4, I'm really happy! Megan has only had 1 accident in the last 4 days! I'm thinking she'll definitely be potty trained by the time we're done. Yeah! One less kiddo to change their diaper!

Pumpkin Patch

This year we went to Fog Willow Pumpkin Farm. Lots of fun things for the kids to do - hay ride, play ground, petting zoo, pony rides, farm animals, hay stack climbing and of course a pumpkin patch! Here are some photos from the fun afternoon!

"Too bright, mommy!"

"We're the king of the world!" (my favorite photo of the day!!)

(Yes, that's Jacob's head sticking out of the rear-end of a donkey!)

Hay ride

Boys, being boys!