Merry Christmas Eve!

The boys & I spent the morning baking cookies for Santa. We haven't ventured into the world of icing yet...maybe this afternoon. ;-)

Happy Birthday!

Jacob & Cole turned 2 on Dec. 13th. I can't believe how quickly the past 2 years have gone by...it seems like just a few days ago that we brought our little peanuts home from the hospital. Here are a few snapshots from the party.

Jacob with Uncle Lee
Diego cake
Daddy helping Jacob & Cole open a gift

Christmas Spirit

Christmas spirit is in full force around our house. We went to the mall to see Santa yesterday. All 3 kids told him what they want: Jacob & Cole both want choo-choo trains; Owen wants a death star that transforms into Darth Vader. Santa said they are all on the nice list this year so I suspect they'll get what they want. Owen & Cole both took a photo with Santa, but Jacob preferred to just talk to him from a few feet away. ;-)

More snow fun

Here are a few more shots from a little later in the morning.

Snow!!

Marshall woke us up bright & early this morning to see the snow. This was the view out our front door at around 6:30am. Owen is beyond excited to *finally* see snow. Jacob & Cole like it but don't like feeling cold & wet. They still threw a few snow balls, though. :-)

Sleep

Every night before bed I go check on the kids. While they're all very cute & peaceful when they're asleep, I never quite know what to expect when I check on Owen. That little guy sleeps in some strange positions!

Fun at the Rural Life Museum

We went to the Rural Life museum last week. Juliet was with us since she was out of school for the week. Our boys LOVE having her around...they like pretending she's their sister. :-) Don't you just love Owen's poses??

Oh, and you can click on the photos to see them a little bigger.

Pirates!!

Marshall played hooky Tuesday (a well-deserved and much-needed day off) and we took the kids to see the Tall Ship Bounty which is docked in Baton Rouge near the USS Kidd. All the boys loved exploring the pirate ship & we even got to walk the plank!

Bowling

Marshall & Owen went bowling today. It was O's first time & he did great!! Marshall said he was a bit confused about why he couldn't bowl on the lane with 100 pins or around obstacles like he does on the Wii, but for the most part he was impressed with real-life bowling. Here are a couple of pics Marshall took with his phone.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow...this blog has been seriously neglected! I promise to get better about updating it now that things are starting to slow down for us. Marshall is working today & the kids have been helping me prepare our Thanksgiving dinner (or "Thanksgiver Feast" as Owen calls it). Yes, Owen is really using the mixer to whip the sweet potatoes. And yes, the little guys are wearing my tank tops as aprons.

Helping others & having fun

Owen participated in his school's Trike-a-thon benefitting St. Jude's this morning. One of his classmate's younger brother is a patient at St. Jude's right now so it was held in his honor. Owen did great & had lots of fun while the rest of us enjoyed watching them ride. Here are a couple of pictures of him riding. The others are just some random fun things from the past couple of days.

This is how I found them at snacktime this morning...sitting on the window sill watching tv.

Cole playing peek-a-boo under the easel.

Cole's "cheese" face...LOVE it!!!

A classic Jacob expression.

Just because

Jacob happily eating orange slices...

Moments later when a certain brother ate the orange slice he'd planned to eat next...
I don't remember Batman being this cute...
Running to greet Daddy after work. The sound of his motorcycle always brings lots of excitement.

A couple of milestones...

Owen got his first pair of boxer shorts today. Notice the rocket launcher & Power Ranger's toy in his hand...those aren't baby toys. He's a real big boy now I guess. :-)

He spent a good portion of the day trying to convince me that we need to purchase space bags. For those who don't know, space bags allow you to store things like out of season clothes, comforters, etc. in much smaller spaces because you suction the air out of the bag to shrink it down. In Owen's words we need them because "You won't even have to use the washing machine. Everything comes out just as clean & fresh as when you put it in." This evening he moved on to convincing me to buy an album of love songs that is advertised on TV about 12 times per hour. The songs are actually pretty good. Owen says "You need them because they're lu-uv songs, you know - like you lu-uv daddy. It's hard to keep up because the songs go by really fast. There's a lot of them...they're a collection. You need to save up a whole lotta money because it's six ninety-nine." If you've been around Owen recently you know he's developed these hilarious and exaggerated facial expressions and gestures...they're hard to say no to. That's why we have 2 packages of space bags and a love song CD on order. Just kidding Marsh...

Also, Jacob has learned how to do his own laundry which will give me a much-needed break on occasion. Seriously, he & Cole love to help me put the clothes into the washer & switch them to the dryer...if only they could fold them!

Feel free to post a comment telling me how stinking cute the kids are or just to say Hi! :-)

What we've been up to

We made it through hurricane Gustav with minimal damage. I hope all of you did, too. The kids & I evacuated to Marla's since Marshall was working nearly 20-hours a day & the thought of being alone with 3 kids and no electricity wasn't very appealing. We enjoyed spending time with everyone but it was great to come home. Thanks for having us guys!

These pictures pretty much sum up how we've been spending the summer. Enjoy!