Decking the halls

We were totally not intending to put up our Christmas stuff until after Thanksgiving. Millie and I were at Walmart last Saturday and found a tree star we liked! We haven't had one ever since I haven't been able to find one I like before, so we took this one and ran (and paid for it, of course). We decided it was a sign and put up the tree. Just the tree, until after Thanksgiving.

But that was just too much for the kids. Millie begged and begged and we gave in and put it all up the next day. The kids and I were home sick from church and it was fun to do that together. 

Max immediately attached to this cute little ceramic train set. He would scream and cry so much if I put it out of his reach. I thought he would get over it but he just stood there by the shelf, crying. I let him hold the trains. He carried them around like a security blanket for two days, dropping them periodically and breaking off little pieces until 2 days later, when they finally gave out. 

Aaaand they're both in the trash now. Thus ends the tale of the Christmas trains. Hopefully Santa will bring him his own unbreakable set. (Update: it was Santa's first Black Friday purchase.)

Millie has been begging to put lights outside our house. We never have because we are lazy and it costs money! But I saw this cool star shower lazor light in a Bed Bath and Beyond ad and thought it was so cool. The picture doesn't do it justice. Anyway, we went to the store to find one and the cashier told us they sold out so fast and you couldn't even find them online anymore. They were gone. So we were disappointed and turned to leave. The lady yelled to us not to move - the person behind us was returning that same light!! So we bought it right after. Little big tender mercy for the day. It sounds silly, but Millie was so excited about that light. We went home and set it up immediately.

 Now our whole house is ready for Christmas!!

Lots of little things

This is basically a glorified photo dump. Here we go.

Celebrating my dad's birthday. The kids were so funny that night! They loved helping Ampa blow out the candles and then re-lighting and blowing them out again and again. We love Ampa!

A beautiful sunset after a long hard day.

We had our Young Women in Excellence program on the 18th. The theme was "Let Your Light So Shine." 2 YW in our Ward planned it for a project and did tons of work. I was so glad, because making those plans is really overwhelming to me! So thankful to serve with these great women (below, missing Brenna)!

This is actually before YWIE, but oh well. My friend Polly serves in YW too and YWIE has fallen on her birthday 2 years in a row!! Poor thing. We made sure we celebrated before all the YW work began. Millie had fun here with her little friends (below). 

Max is in a wonderful, frustrating, and adorable stage right now. The kid is a huge flight risk when we're out in public. He runs so quickly, literally laughing out loud as I chase him. Heaven help me.

Millie named this room "the dancing room" at this dance party. I'm so glad we bought that silly keyboard years ago.

Millie's latest portrait of Heidi and James. They look like the pigs on Angry Birds to me. I love watching her draw!

I've been listening to lots of Handel's Messiah lately to help me prep for our stake's performance of it. The other day Millie decided she wanted to watch the whole thing, so we found a version on YouTube. She sat down and watched it for a solid half hour!... And then fell asleep. I'm sure she will love the concert haha

I went to the baptism of 5 awesome siblings! They have been investigating the Church for a few months, 4 of them are YW. They're so sweet and we are so excited to have them be officially pet of our ward. This puts us at 40 active YW. Eek!

Max insisted on using his brute strength and holding Daddy's new shoes.

Heidi and James are having a BOY!! Millie and I were both wrong! We are so excited to meet that little man. Millie will eventually get over the fact that his name won't be Sofia the First.

The Woodlands Children's Festival

Grammy invited us to the Children's Festival a weekish ago. It was supposed to rain but we got lucky and the weather was perfect! We watched a Bob the Builder show (which the kids had never seen but unfortunately now they love it), built Lego creations, made and flew kites, met Barbie and Olaf and Kung-Fu Panda, got faces painted, went in a petting zoo, and so much more! It was a fun day with Grammy!

Okay can we just talk about Max for a minute? This little shy, stick-to-Mom-at-all-times boy went in the petting zoo with Tyler and waltzed right up to those animals without hesitation. He touched them all and followed them around and talked to them. It was the cutest thing ever. Move that boy to a farm ASAP!

There's a security company in the Woodlands that rides around town on horseback. We see them from time to time but on our way out of the festival Millie was so excited to meet Rita and her rider!

Thanks Grammy for a great day!!

Sweet moments

We have had a few busy and stressful weeks lately. Tyler has been busy at work and I have felt stretched trying to do my calling and keep up with everything else. It has been important for me to take time to appreciate peaceful, sweet moments so I don't get overwhelmed.

We frequently ride bikes in the late afternoon to catch the last bit of sun.

The kids still (barely) fit into the Christmas jammies Gigi got them last year! 

I love seeing them love each other. Sweet kiddos.

Medical Max

On Sunday the 8th, Max fell off the arm of the couch while trying to dunk a ball into his hoop. He caught himself with his left hand as he fell. I wasn't home when it happened so I didn't think too much of it, but Tyler was really worried. After a day I could tell it was hurting him. Not crazy, he wasn't crying all the time, but he was definitely favoring that arm and wouldn't really use it.

Tuesday night we asked Poppy to come take a look. He said it was probably fractured and recommended a doctor. I took him in on Wednesday morning and sure enough, it was fractured! Both bones. Poor boy.  

He was jazzed about those fish.

Yes there's the crack but LOOK at that adorable chubby wrist!! Kills me!

The doctor said it would heal on its own - I could give him a band-aid or a full body cast haha. We settled somewhere in the middle on a brace he will wear for 3 weeks. Cutest, smallest brace I've ever seen!

Max was so brave and sweet. He definitely doesn't like doctor visits or people touching him. They laid him down for an x-ray and he was screaming like crazy, but after a minute he calmed down. The radiologist kept saying he was doing a good job, to hang in there, only one more, etc. Max would respond to each comment with a "Thank you!" or an "Otay!" or a "Yeah." It was the cutest thing ever.

That same day I noticed that his ear was swollen and I figured it was just a bug bite. After the doctor visit Max took a super long nap. When he woke up, his ear was HUGE! See below. 

It was so scary. I couldn't find a bite and I figured it wouldn't keep getting bigger if it was just a bug bite! I called the pediatrician's office and they were pretty sure it was just a bite since he had no other symptoms. The next morning it was much better.

Max is giving us a run for our money! Love that boy.