Merry Christmas

Christmas Wishes

The kids were very excited to see Rudoph again.   But he was prepared for us this year and the kids did not knock him over like last year.

 Waiting in line to meet Santa.

On Evan's wishlist:  a jet, a remote control car and chocolate cake with milk.

On Will's wish list: a submarine and rescue boat, hot vanilla (instead of chocolate) and a trip to Sea World.

 
on Lily Clare's wish list: a Unicorn book, makeup, babydolls and plenty of art paper and markers.

On Holden's wish list: a black duck (penguin that santa gave him), a bike and a candy cane.

Lily Clare gives Mrs. Claus a big hug.

More fun with Rudolph.

Breakfast with Grammy.

Candy and balloons for all.

Farewell.

Will asked for tape and paper to wrap a rocket for Baby Jesus.

Will rides without training wheels

Looks like we've got a natural biker in the family. We took off the training wheels for the first time just 5 minutes before making this video.

Trick or Treat



Evan, Holden, Will and Lily Clare as Pirates and Tiger Lily from Peter Pan.

Hope you had a great Halloween. The kids had a blast again this year.  I barely snapped these two photos before they were all running off down the street.  I had to carry that little pirate the last three blocks home, and he is heaaavy. Just like the triplets last year, Holden's favorite part was handing out candy once we returned home. 

Look at those smiles...so much fun.

The Toy Story gang joined us for the festivities.

Fall at Sweetberry Farm

Will was so excited to go to the farm that he woke me up at 5am, 'Mom! Can we go to the farm now!?'  'Not till the sun comes up.'  The kids were not dissapointed. There was plenty to see and do...

Barrel train rides for the little guys...

Complete with 'pig' haybales.

Flower picking.

and more flower picking.

The kids could not get enough of the goats.  Louise, our neighbor brought a big bucket of feed for the goats that the kids zoomed through. Then Will was hitting up every mom to give him some more.  We are putting Pure Luck goat farm on our must see list. They make the most awesome goat cheese too, yum.

Hay ride with our neighbors.  After our full day, the boys were asleep before we were even out of Marble Falls.

Plays and Preschool Days

Sarah, Devin Bush & Lily Clare as slaves in the story of Moses parting the Sea

Lily's was in her first play today at preschool. The kids go to chapel once a week and each class takes turns putting on the performance.  Here Lily is with two friends and fellow slave cast, dressed and ready for the show.

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Luckily Mrs Bush snapped a few photos to capture the moment.

The woman leading would tell each child their lines then hand them the microphone. That's Moses on the left, with Lily and Devin waiting for their turns.  The play turned out very cute, and the young actors were very proud of themselves.

Daily Life with Toddlers

Holden (2), Evan (4), Will (4) and Lily Clare (4)

No school Monday, the kids and I had a fun, full morning.  It is amazing how many things you can do by noon if you have a bunch of todders in tow...we had a big breakfast and got dressed for the day, played in the yard searching for bugs, fed our neighbor's chickens, played with the baby chicks, ran with Lenny the dog, practiced writing names and drawing bats, visited Central Market playground, had lunch alfresco, fed the ducks, fished for tadpoles and climbed trees.  I'm wiped just thinking about it.

Holden and Will

While I was not paying attention, emailing the top photo to my family, Will and Holden managed to climb to top of one of the highest branches ~12 feet high. 

I said to Holden 'Come down, honey', he gave the typical toddler response 'No!' followed by giggles.  I asked another mom for help and we spent the next 15 minutes coaxing him down. Once we finally convinced him to come down he would scoot back a few inches, then try to throw his leg over to jump down while we said 'No, no, no, stay on your bottom! We can't catch you!'.  He had to back himself around two tree limbs that go straight up, then finally be talked through laying onto his belly (Will demonstrated for him) and I was able to grab him while standing on a bench.  So, if the morning didn't wear me out, the adrenaline from the tree rescue did me in.  Spa day anyone?

You Know You've Got a Good One When...

He'll climb on the roof to put up your Halloween decorations... 

...and take extra care to make sure the legs are wrapped in a lifelike manner.  Meet Itsy, our spider. Will named him.

Btw, I'm enamored with this gorgeous garden roses Lily found at CM.  We were negotiating on which flowers to buy, she wanted roses, I wanted lilies. So we were looking around for something we both liked, when she found these. They are peony-esque and very fragrant and only six dollars.

And other news, our new king bed frame has arrived.  We love it, the shape and color are perfect in our room, it is so soft and comfy. Holden is thoroughly enjoying it too. 

 (If you are looking for a new bed, check out our brother in law's store, Caffrey's Furniture here in Austin.  Our bed is from their store and is made by one of my most favorite furniture companies, Lee Furniture.)

One Last Beach Post

A few final favorite photos from our beach trip.  I read a book recently on happiness (I think it is literally named Happiness).  Anyway, it recommended spending your disposable income on vacations rather than 'things'.  The idea is that beyond your basic needs you get more enjoyment from vacations and the memories you build than from buying stuff.  When you purchase something you get immediate gratification but the good feelings or 'happiness quotient' diminishes rapidly.  The author found that no surprise, people gain pleasure and good memories from vacations, but that also people tend to quickly forget the inconveniences or parts of the vacation that didn't go so well but remember the good parts so basically the vacation keeps on giving or building your happiness.

Hanging with dad in the beautiful blue sea.

Surfer girl, Lily Clare.

Catching some waves with a little help from dad.

Treasure hunting with GG.

Grammy Clare. You can see where Evan got those long legs.

The gang enjoying the view.

Dog Bite

Lily Clare got bit by a dog yesterday afternoon as we were leaving the Central Market playground.  A yellow lab was tied in front of the store and Lily went to give him a hug, he got scared and bit at her face.  It happened so quickly and it was loud and very frightening.  All I could see immediately was a lot of blood all over her face. 

We immediately took Lily to the small Heart Hospital ER next door to CM, they saw her right away, no wait, and thoroughly cleaned her wounds and gave her an antibotic.  We were lucky that there is only two small punctures on her eyebrows and no injury to her eyes.  Animal control had to be called to ensure that the dog was up on his shots, which thankfully are all ok.   The owner will have to do a home quarantine for 10 days to ensure that he doesn't show any signs of rabies, just as an extra precaution.

Lily is her normal happy self and seems to have fully recovered emotionally, I'm not sure if I have.  It's scary how one moment you can be walking along, enjoying a beautiful day, and the next moment find yourself confronted with an emergency. 

Here is a snapshot from today, she has that serious look only because I had her sit still and let me take a photo of the bite.  The puncture marks themselves look pretty good but the bridge of her nose and eyelids ae a bit swollen and her right side is slightly pink.  We are going to keep a close eye on it.

St Matt's farm day

The kids seem to be getting a lot of inspiration from St. Matt's school. Here Will shares his favorite beverage with a calf.

Family

Happy 4th Birthday Trio (and Holden)

The scene is set for a birthday party at the beach.  Robot and Princess theme, as requested.  Will has been asking for a 'Candy Robot' aka Robot pinata for his birthday party for months.

Four years today we met our three babies, each with a loud kitten cry as they were born.  The most beautiful sound.  The first year was a blur...soon they were mobile and crawling and climbing everywhere...we survived the terrible twos or threes with all their mischeif and mess. 

So far four years old is looking pretty good. The triplets have been great on this trip.  They play together well, are getting much better at communicating, less whining, more conversation and imagination.  They are quite adorable. Meanwhile we haven't completely escaped toddler terror as Holden cruises around looking for trouble.  Holden the destroyer knocks sandcastles and building blocks down as swiftly as we can build them yet he will be the first to erupt in giggles or get cozy in our embrace for a nap given the chance.  It is hard to believe we had three of those sweet but terrorizing tots just a year ago.

Cupcakes are ready. Robot and princess cake toppers  from Etsy say 'Happy Birthday Lily...Evan...Will' and so we don't leave out Holden there are some that say 'We Love you Holden!' 

The kids find their cupcakes.

Lily is pleased that GG brought a Princess pinta too. 

The guests of honor preparing to open their gifts.  Holden gets gifts too.  He is too young to understand that it is not his birthday too. Besides, it is a bit of make up for getting left out and picked on the rest of the year.  Now he thinks he is three.

Candy robot. Delivered.

And another lovely sunset to end the day.