{2009 Funnies}

10.15.09 - Dean: "Mom, help. My nose is walking." Mom: "Don't you mean running?" Dean: "No. It's not going that fast."

10.1.09 - (As Dad caught Dean pestering a bug.) Dean: "Don't worry, Dad. This bug will be dead in twenty minutes."

9.19.09 - Mom: "Sometimes people get cranky when they feel sick." Dean: "Oh, then I think Daddy gets sick a lot."

7.17.09 - (When Mom had the flu.) Dad: "Mommy is puking." Dean: "Cool! Can I see?"

4.3.09 - Dean: "I like spiders because they have 'ape' legs."

2.19.09 - Mom: "Are you being a cowboy?" Dean: "No, I'm being a horse. But only boys can be horses and girls can only be cows."

2.4.09 - (Dean with a Mr. potato head part stuck around his ankle.) Dean: "It's stuck! It's stuck! Please get it off me." Mom: "Oh no, Dean! I think it's stuck forever." Dean: (with a sob) "If you were a big boy you could do it."

1.29.2009 - Mom: "Dean, why are you naked?" Dean: "Because I just took all my clothes off."

{holly jolly trampoline}

Devin decided a photo shoot was in order for all the trampoline-bouncing fun we were having on Christmas day when we should have been starting Christmas dinner. We are CRAZY about this thing. The boys most of all, but why can't Mom get in on the action? Dean and Eli were giggling so hard because every time I would jump a big jump they would get catapulted.

{Christmas}

What a wonderful Christmas we had. Dev's family - a.k.a. Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Tiffany - joined us for the holiday and it was so fun to have them.

As for the kiddos, Dean was beyond overjoyed to receive all things Transformers and Superheroes this year, Eli was over the moon for his Lightening McQueen and Buzz Lightyear toys and paraphernalia, and Ava was just content to crawl to whatever was left unattended for more than a few minutes. Santa also delivered an awesome heaping mound of GeoTrax trains and tracks (found at a garage sale for $35, I might add!) that have kept the boys busy ever since. Actually, we could barely pull Eli away from it on Christmas morning long enough for him to open the rest of his gifts. He is addicted! And perhaps the most fun family-size gift of all was the trampoline that the boys discovered in the backyard Christmas morning. Santa and helpers really froze their fingers to the bone setting that up on Christmas eve in 30-degree weather so trust me when I say that we were more than elated and relieved that it was a big hit.

We continued our PJ tradition for Christmas eve; Eli got Buzz Lightyear PJs and Buzz & Woody slippers, Dean got Transformers PJs and Optimus Prime slippers. When Dean saw his slippers, he exclaimed, "Just what I wanted!!" Gosh, he's cute. Eli was so excited, too.

Another tradition we gave a whirl this year were gingerbread waffles with cinnamon cream syrup for breakfast on Christmas morning. They were SOOOOOOO good! The recipe is:

(waffles) ¼ cup sugar, 1 ½ cup flour, 1 tsp ginger, ½ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp cloves, ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 3 egg yolks, ½ cup, molasses, 1 cup buttermilk, 6 tablespoons melted butter. Combine all dry ingredients together (sugar, flour, spices, salt, baking soda and powder). Beat egg yolks. Add yolks, molasses, buttermilk and butter to dry ingredients. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into batter. *If you do not have buttermilk, sour milk may be substituted. To make sour milk place 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar in liquid measuring cup and fill the rest of the way with regular milk to make 1 cup. Let sit for 5 minutes. Stir before adding to your recipe.

(syrup) 1 cup sugar, ½ cup light corn syrup, ¼ cup water, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ½ cup whipping cream. In a small sauce pan, stir together sugar, corn syrup, water, and cinnamon. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over moderate heat; boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in cream. Cool at least 30 minutes. Syrup will thicken as it cools. Makes 1 1/3 cups. Syrup may be refrigerated for several months. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My favorite gift of the day, by far, was a hand-stamped necklace Devin bought me with each of the kids' names on it. It is perfect and I love it so much!

I hope everyone's Christmas was as Merry as ours! And we wish you a happy new year too!

{Ava 7 months}

Here's our little Miss Claus on Christmas day. We'll count these as her 7-month photos since those have not been taken this month (oops). She is such a little doll and we love her more and more each day. And we spoil her more and more each day too. She is such an easy-going baby and has Mommy, Daddy and her brothers all wrapped around her little finger already.

She just started crawling and is into EVERYTHING and she is now a near-pro at sitting up for short amounts of time. She is somewhere in the 14-lb range and is so tall. I just can't hardly find a thing to fit that tall, skinny body of hers. She adores following her brothers around wherever they go. She sings and squeals much of the day - I'm pretty sure she loves the sound of her own voice. That's alright though because we love it too.