package!

Auntie Robin sent out a package fro Hawken's birthday, and he was SO excited! He got presents for the different seasons! The Bumblebee umbrella and the melting snowman were a hit right away. He'll have to wait to try out the water balloons, but is excited for that too! Thanks Robin, you know you're the best gifter!

2!!!

Solace FINALLY figured out how to answer this question… "How old are you?" He is our slowest talker, but is making gradual progress. :)

Christmas tree

Since our family tradition is to get a LIVE (with roots) tree, we have a limited number of places to find our trees each year. Paul spotted a few good ones at the grocery store near his work, so we went there. It took a LONG time to get our tree this year, because of the crazy work and school schedules we were working around.

A nice lady who was talking to us while the kids were picking out our tree, ended up buying it for us, just because. It was a small gesture, but SO nice. She had asked Paul why he was wearing scrubs, and he told her that he was in residency. She said something like "Oh, I remember THOSE days!". Money is always a little tight, and it was a great surprise!

After Paul got the lights on, the kids went to town with the ornaments. It's always fun watching them decorate the tree.  It makes our house feel like Christmas!

Paul was whistling Christmas songs while we went, which was lovely at the time, but looks a little off in pictures. :)

Star Wars at the Children's Museum

We got an email saying that Star Wars was taking over the Children's Museum! So much fun! There were tons of characters and people to meet. 

There were 2 of these little R2D2 robots, and they were remote controlled so they really walked around and made all the little noises, very cool!

Our friend "Jedi Holly" (as she is now called in our house) was there and we got to hang out with her for a little while. She is so much fun!

This is a new character from the most recent Star Wars.

Old favorites.

The boys were super tough and pointed their light sabers at Darth Vader.  They were brave until he noticed them and turned toward them, which is when both Matix and Solace ran behind my back. Hawken leaned away and lowered his saber… :)

They got to make these light sabers at a booth and everyone picked out their own color.

Then, of course, they battled.

The masks topped everything off and it was a SUPER fun (and busy) day.

Ha ha ha… Do you see Hawken posing behind Lullaby? So funny.

Lullaby and Paul

I think these pictures perfectly show their love for each other. When Lullaby wakes up from a nap and sees that Daddy has come home from a night shift, she is SO happy to see him. Sometimes she gets choked up when we say goodnight prayers together and he isn't there… They have a special bond that I love to see. 

friends

I have MORE pictures of Hawken with Stella that him with anyone else right now… hey love each other. Here they are on Pajama Day. So cute!

Here they are after school at the playground. I love them together.

Solace

Sully is such a character! Here he is as a Storm Trooper. He's currently obsessed with Star Wars, and recognizes the characters. He can only say "Yoda" but he gets excited about all of them.  He often can't part from this mask when we leave the house to run some errands...

He really thinks he's a big kid and will try and do almost everything that they do. Here he is running from the mailbox to the house, because that's what the big kids like to do after they check the mail. And since I am driving the car, I get to RACE them.

sweet

While I was downstairs cleaning a giant spill of milk all over the floor (thank you Sully), Matix made me a Play-Doh gift to make me happy again. He doesn't like for people to feel sad, and he loves even more if he can be the solution. He even took the pictures on the phone so that I wouldn't have to run right up and see the creation. Sweet boy.

preschool

Preschool has just FLOWN by this year. I can't believe it's already winter break. The preschoolers made these salt dough handprints that I think turned out SO cute. I love them.

Here's a picture of the whole class on the last day before break, just being silly while we sang Christmas songs and waited for the parents to pick them up.

friends

Sometimes we get to steal Summy, and the kids love it. She is such a sweet little thing. 

massage

After an intimidating event identifying my bad guy, I was stressed.  And then my hubby sent me to get a massage, and then again a week later… Just because he's that type of husband. I really needed it and felt a LOT better afterward.  A funny thing I saw there though, which I have never seen at any other massage therapy business, were these signs...

I didn't know that anyone ever really thought those "happy endings" things at massage places were a real thing anyway! Weird!

schedule

Hawken's school had a book fair and he was THRILLED to go to it before school one morning. They were trying to promote getting the fathers involved so they had a "Dads And Doughnuts" morning. Hawken felt left out because his dad was busy working the night shift, and wasn't off yet. So I went in with him instead, and there were plenty of other moms there, so he felt okay with it. He picked out a new book and loves it! 

I cannot emphasize how much we are READY for Paul to be finished with residency. He wants to be such an active participant in the kids' lives, but really can't with his work schedule.  I am so happy that he has less than 6 months left in residency! Woohoo!