Decorating the Tree

This has been my dream ever since we had kids, decorating the tree together. We didn't really do it together, I just set the balls out and let them have at it, they loved it.

As you will see in the last picture ALL of the ornaments ended up in one cluster and I haven't had the heart to rearrange them yet. I'm sure my anal tendancies will take over soon and I will put them on the "right" way but for now it puts a smile on my face every time I look at it.

They have several of their own ornaments that people have given them over the years. Next year I hope to get them their own tree and they can put all of their special ornaments on it. I know if I let them have their own ornaments this year they will just want to take them off all the time and play with them, so we'll just wait until they're a little bit older to do that.



The "cluster"

Weeds

My children are growing like...WEEDS! It's like I can literally almost watch them growing. They go to bed and their clothes fit and they wake up and they don't fit anymore. (A little bit of an exaggeration but not much).

My little mama's boy is getting so much more independent everyday. On one hand it's a relief, but on the other it's kind of sad. I realized the other day he isn't going to be my baby for much longer. He's almost FOUR, that doesn't even seem possible. Pretty soon he's not even going to want me at all. AND his hair is starting to get darker, I've always thought he would end up with dark hair like his dad but I'm just not ready for it to happen quite yet. The thought of not having a blonde baby boy almost makes me want to cry.

I'm not as concerned about Lydia growing up, girls tend to stick a little closer to there mommies. But she is growing up so fast too. She has a bit of an attitude which I'm told is fairly typical for a girl. Kirby thinks it's because she gets told how wonderful she is all the time! Maybe so, but I just can't look at that face without telling her how beautiful she is multiple times a day, forgive me!

So, this is all just hitting me all of a sudden, and I'm a little sad that my babies aren't babies anymore. I guess maybe that means it's time for another!?

House

Our house is...DONE! Well...for the most part, there are still a few little things Kirby needs to do and I have TONS of organizing to do, but we are 99% complete.

We moved the laundry down to the basement and now we will used the laundry room as an office. I did not take a picture of the office because it is still a DISASTER, it's where most of the mess has accumulated and where I have to do most of the organizing.

The staircase is the biggest change, we have had no railing the entire time we've lived here which was a major safety hazard especially with little kids. We are thankful that no one ever got hurt over the years.
This has always been a straight drop off, so we never really went upstairs at all, but we really didn't have a reason to since it wasn't finished anyway.

The mantle is finished, ready for stockings to be hung in a few short weeks!

The ceiling used to be a "natural" color but we painted it white.

The loft, an area that NEVER got used before because it wasn't finished. Now it's the toy/play room. Eventually we will get some funiture and it will also be a TV room. And it's the only room in the house with carpet. We have wood or tile in the rest of the house and it is much easier to keep clean, but it's nice to have one area with carpet, it's so much cozier.

I was going take a picture sometime when all of the toys were picked up, then I realized that would be never, so I went ahead and took a picture of it in it's natural state. (the daycare kids also nap up here)

So, this is it! Feel free to stop by anytime to see it. (Kirby is allowing me to have visitors now!)

Trick or Treat 2011

These are the best pictures I could come up with because as usual Lydia wanted nothing to do with her costume, so it was a little tricky to get a good picture of her or one of them together.

Lydia was an Owl and Clae was obviously a cowboy. He was supposed to be a UPS man but he refused to wear that costume, so he came up with his costume almost all by himself.

We thought he was watching out the door for trick or treaters but then we figured out that he was really checking out his reflection in the window!

The only picture I managed to get of her with her hood up

Consoling his sister because it's just SO rough having to dress up in a costume!