Too many pictures???

I can't help myself from taking their pictures this week. They are crazy little kids that keep my days so interesting, especially now on Christmas break!


Jacob can never just smile for the camera. When the camera is out, he is doing some silly kind of pose or face. I RARELY capture his sweet smile.

Steve took this yesterday afternoon from in front of our house.

Pretty blanket of snow. The kids can't resist throwing themselves into it.

This just sums them up. I don't tell them to pose crazy. I just get out the camera and their personalities emerge. Steph, do you see why I love buying Charlie's clothes from you??? The boys are still wearing them and LOVE them!

A rare still moment captured. There is something so fitting about Zachary's very mismatched clothes that just fits his personality.

Andrew is dying to get more involved with his brothers. You can just see it in his eyes! It won't be long before my older 2 have converted my sweet baby.

But for now, he remains my sweet, sweet baby.

Video of snow play

Well, now that I figured out this little trick to getting my videos on here, here is some snow play from Saturday.

Jacob is the first to sled followed by Zachary then Steve. Andrew never made it out. I figure the snow will be here long enough for him to get his chance. I doubt he will love it anyway. Although, he does like to look at it from the window.

Wii Reaction

Turn your volume up as loud as you can in order to hear this....

Well, I can't convert my dvd file type to a compatible type. Soooo, I played the dvd on my computer and recorded the playback from my computer onto my still shot camera in record mode. This is the best I could do, but you will get the picture...

Zachary and Jacob were beside themselves over receiving a Wii from Grandma and Grandpa. Since I recorded off my computer, it is hard to hear. So you will probably need to turn the volume up pretty high to hear.

We had a great visit with Grandma and Grandpa. However, it was too short. As I mentioned earlier, they were here to enjoy our giant snowfall. Saturday was a snowed in day filled with lots of eating, opening presents, and finally playing the Wii.

4 more days until Christmas!!!

Playing in the snow

After shoveling the driveway twice, Steve got to play in the snow. I'm not sure who had more fun, Steve or the boys.

Finally the snow ended last night. Today the sun is out. However, it will barely get above freezing today. It was actually 0 degrees when we woke up this morning!!

Grandma and Grandpa are on their way home. We prayed for a safe trip home and hated to see them go. I'll post later about our visit with them. I so badly wanted to post the video of Zachary's reaction to receiving a Wii, but I can't get the format right to upload the video. Sorry I'm just not that technically savvy! So I will try to do my best to describe it.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

I can't even believe how much snow we have here! Aside from the ski slopes out west, I've never seen this much snow before. Definitely not from my own home. It is soooo incredibly beautiful to watch the snow falling. It started yesterday around 3:00 pm and hasn't stopped yet. It is now 4:00 on Saturday afternoon. I'm not kidding when I say the snow hasn't stopped. It is still falling so heavy.

Thankfully, Grandma and Grandpa were just ahead of the snow. They arrived right as the snow started. I don't know how much we have, but it is well over a foot. I have seen reports for some of the local areas and they are showing 16 inches. The snow is up to my knees in some places. The pictures don't even do the snow justice. You can't really get a feel for how deep it is.

What a beautiful way to celebrate Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa. We woke up to the most beautiful scenery. There is something some mesmerizing about watching the snow fall. From inside, it looks so peaceful. When you walk outside, it is so still and quiet.

More to come on Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa. I just wanted to post about our snow. Grandma and Grandpa might be staying longer than they wanted to!

Christmas preparation and anticipation

Jacob is the shepard on the far left. His line was "We were watching our flocks last night and an angel appeared."
An angel with a devilish smile. He was so cute in his play.

The boys are giddy over Christmas this year. Each year with them gets more and more exciting. We have spent the last week watching school plays and performances, attending Christmas parties, and doing all of our Christmas preparations at home.

Jacob loves to help with all of the preparation. He loves to help wrap presents, make cookies, shop for gifts, etc. Zachary loves to eat the cookies and unwrap the presents. Last weekend we took the kids out to shop for each other as well as for them to buy us gifts. Jacob is very, very decisive. He is a fast and efficient shopper. He went right in and knew what he planned to buy everyone. Zachary is distracted in the store and is more interested in buying gifts for others that he would enjoy. He wants to get everyone a train. Zachary also likes to go under the tree to find which gifts have his name on them. I have even found some tape lifted on some gifts. Jacob, on the other hand, loves the anticipation. He loves the surprise and the waiting.

Nannie bought them an advent house which she filled with little goodies each day. They run downstairs every morning to open the door on the house and find where Jack has landed. But with all of the fun and excitement surrounding Christmas, we have tried our hardest to continue to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. It was heartwarming to see that at both of the boys' schools, their performances centralized on Christ's birth rather than Frosty and Rudolph. As fun as all of the Santa stuff is, Christmas is really about the birth of a Savior.

Although, the boys have never experienced a white Christmas, for some reason, Zachary has come to believe that snow signals Christmas. Not sure why that is, but nonetheless, he thinks Christmas won't come until there is snow. Ironically, they are forecasting snow to begin today bringing 10-18 inches. Then more snow starting Wednesday through Friday. We are so hoping for a white Christmas!

Grandma and Grandpa will be here in an hour! We've got lots of fun stuff planned. Hope Grandma and Grandpa are prepared to build snowmen :)

Jack is here and Visit with Santa

Our elf, Jack, has arrived in our home again this year. Last year we began doing the Elf on the Shelf with the kids. They named our elf Jack. If you have never heard of Elf on the Shelf, it is the cutest thing ever! You get a little elf and a book that tells the story of the Elf. Basically the elf is Santa's helper and is in your home during the day so he can report back to Santa if you have been good or bad. Every night he flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa. Then he flies back to our house by morning. When the boys wake up, they come flying down to see who can be the first to find Jack.

Jacob loves Jack dearly. He honestly does. He talks about Jack throughout the year and has so looked forward to his return. The first morning that Jack was discovered, Jacob almost teared up. It was really sweet. I have even caught Jacob over near Jack talking to him. The rules according to the book are that you cannot touch him or he will lose his magic. You can talk to him, but he can't talk back to you. So Jacob was telling Jack all the questions he wished Jack could answer. Here were his questions, "Why are your hands always in your lap? Why do your eyes always look in the same direction? Why are your ankles always crossed? Why does your face look like plastic?" Jacob cracks me up!

Now, Zachary doesn't have the same fondness of Jack that Jacob has. I believe this is because Zachary knows that Jack will do lots of bad reporting on Zachary, so Zachary is forced into better behavior.

After Jacob got home from school today and we had lunch, I took the boys to visit Santa at the mall. I forget that we live in a small town now! I was stressing trying to get them to the mall to beat the crowds, got there and was reminded that it isn't Atlanta anymore. It was nice, the boys got to take their time with Santa because there wasn't an hours line waiting behind us. Zachary was apprehensive at first. I had to walk him up there. Jacob went right up and began talking to Santa. I left Andrew in the stroller so the older boys could visit Santa before we took a picture with all of them. But Andrew was laughing from his stroller and trying to get up there. So I went ahead and put him up there. That is when his laughter quickly turned to wailing! Once he got his blanket and his thumb, he was fine.

Since we were already at the mall, I tried to sneak in a few quick stores and was reminded of what a great idea it would be if stores offered babysitting. They would make more money because I could have shopped a lot more if I weren't reigning in my kids the whole time. Watching me in stores with my kids must be humorous. They aren't bad and they NEVER fight. Instead, they are very silly with each other and playful and just downright crazy. I literally feel like I spend 75% of my time in the stores correcting them or getting on to them. I often notice older people smiling at the boys, which is sweet, but I often feel embarrassed because I'm sweating trying to corral them and get my shopping done. I have even overhead people say, "Oh, they are boys" as if that is why they are crazy! When I finally get them in the car, I always ask myself why I do it? It is much more peaceful when I go out in the evenings when Steve is home with the wild animals.

Off to rescue Jacob from rest time to help me begin wrapping presents. I offered up to both boys if they wanted to help me wrap presents. As was expected, Jacob was thrilled and excited to help and Zachary said, "No thank you."