Levi feeds Blake

Levi informed me tonight that Blake had made a big mess in the kitchen.  I soon find Blake in the middle of an entire box of Rice Chex that he dumped on the floor, just munching away.  So I try to laugh instead of scream then proceed to get it all cleaned up.   As I'm almost done sweeping I look over to see Blake on all fours eating something off the floor like a dog.  A few feet in front of him Levi is dropping a trail of peanuts.  Blake crawls ahead and finds another peanut to lick off the floor, Levi in reverse drops another on the floor.

So when I first saw Blake I said, "Blake don't do that."  Then as I see Levi I said, "Levi why are you doing that?"

Levi says "Because he is hungary."

Next thing I know Levi has stopped leaving a trail and courteously has dumped a whole pile on the floor for him.

Family Pictures

the buckley bunch

Some of my favorite things about Bronson - he loves to work on projects with Jared, he loves to play, and play hard outside.  He is becoming more and more affectionate and works at being a gentleman, he often tells me to have a great day at home after I tell him to have a great day at school.  It is easy to see he is going to be a lot like Jared, he has a very curious mind and loves to figure things out and come up with ideas - like the marble track he built at Grandma's that went all the way down her stairs.  I was very impressed.  He is a great kid who loves to be silly and has lots and lots of energy.

Levi is my sweetie, it is a lot harder for me to punish him than Bronson, although many times he deserves it, he gets away with a lot more.  He loves to sing,  he always wants me to have music on and it only takes a couple of times listening before he starts singing a long.  This is something I need on video.  I hope he keeps singing his whole life.  Some of my favorite Levi words are

gwill - for girl

his L's are W's so when he says his name he is Wevi

I couldn't begin to count how many times a day he says - Is that a great idea? or I have a great idea

He often makes statements followed with a - Right mom?  even just for little silly things.  

I'm learning my boys need a lot more verbal praise and reassurance than I have given them.

He loves to build and play with Bronson but he also likes to take it easy and just be my buddy.

  He has the cutest smile and giggle.  I don't want him to ever grow up.

Blakey is getting so big so fast.  He loves trying to play with Bronson and Levi.  I love when I'm rocking him to sleep and he's laying on my shoulder, he likes to hum a long with me while I sing or hum.  It is rare for him to hear music and not start to dance.  I never would have believed the way he can move his hips, so cute.  He always wants to feed me a bite after I feed him, with the same hand of course that he just used to feed Simba.  He is very emotional for better and worse but when I remember who is mom is I can't blame the poor little guy.

Jared never stops working to help and bless his family.  He is so supportive and willing to help with whatever he can.  I know I must be such a pain to him sometimes but he never complains, well almost never ;).   Honestly I couldn't have asked for a better man.  I'm so lucky to have him as my best friend.

Christmas time is here

 With Thanksgiving being unusually late this year, I can't believe I'm saying this, but we had our tree up the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  The kids couldn't handle waiting any longer and I admit I wanted to get all of this stuff out of my room and onto a tree.  It did look pretty cute at one point but has since had lots of ornament rearranging and a section of our lights have burnt out.  Oh well.

 The tree went from looking like it belonged in a ski lodge to something a bit more bright and glittery.

 I still don't know how to decorate my porch but will definitely be doing some big planters in the spring.

 We decided to get some new lights and went with the wide angle leds, red, pure white, and green.  They  seem to add a fun atmosphere compared to the old c9 whites, but I do still love warm white Christmas lights.   Jared was a trooper, there are few things he more than get on our steep roof.

 I think going to the Festival of Trees is going to be a permanent part of our Christmas season.  I love it.  However I loved it a lot more when we went on a Wednesday morning not a Friday night, and boy was it freezy outside.  The gingerbreads are still my favorites.  If I was a little ginger girl looking at real estate - these were some of my picks.

 But we still feel pretty blessed to be able to pull up to such a beautiful home everyday.  

In fact we are way too blessed - it actually makes me nervous.

 Because the weather has been so cold and Bronson is a pure snow dog, we cheated and opened some winter gear a little early.  Super warm socks, base layer uh . . . I forget what they are called, warm hats, gloves and jackets that can actually be used in car seats.  I've decided snow clothes are something we need more then one set of.  Bronson would play all night and not even notice his face is purple with chill and his fingers and toes aren't working.  Hopefully those super freezy days are behind us, but  we would love some new fresh snow for the sledding hill out back.  It has become quite the neighborhood hill and got so icy they could sled past the property line, which is pretty good considering it is only about a 5 foot hill.  

After a fun RS dinner we decided to start a new tradition in our family this year, something we have been hoping to do for the past 10 years we just haven't quite hit the nail on the head yet.  We are doing the 12 days of Christmas!  My sisters, mom, and I each take a couple of days to plan an activity or special gift for each family to help us realize that Christmas isn't about presents but spending time together, serving others, and making memories.  So far it has been a great success and I expect will keep getting better with each year.  Merry Christmas.  I hope I get a huge helping of patience, or rather behavior from my kids that doesn't require huge doses of patience :)

Blake

 Blake has found his feet and has no problem roaming the house wherever he likes.  He is even starting to climb on stools and toilets getting in the tub on his own, all kinds of fun.  If he goes missing we can usually find him in a room he's locked himself in.  He is the master of destruction and although cute on the outside sometimes I really wonder about his tantrum issues.  He is the master of flipping his head back and arching his back.  I'm surprised he doesn't have brain damage because of all the hard hits  his head has taken, completely self inflicted.  From happy to sad here is the Blakey monster.

 The only tried and true never failing way to make this boy happy is with a bath.  You can barely get his clothes off before he's ready to catapult into the tub.  It is often where he eats his dinner if he doesn't seem interested (or basically is freaking out) in his high chair.

Blake and Levi also had the pleasure of getting hand foot mouth in November.  What a nightmare.  Blake had one of the worst nights I've ever had with any of my babies.  Completely unable to console and spent about 90 minutes on the floor rolling around and flipping back bonking his head from about 11:30- 1am.  He wouldn't let us hold him for more than a minute so we just tried surrounding him with pillows but somehow his head would hit the hard floor more than the pillows.  Then I would hold him then he would freak out more.  Honestly I can't remember being more frustrated that we couldn't help him at all.  The worst of it was for about 2 days with their mouths being the major source of pain.  When Levi got it after Blake and would cry about his mouth is helped me understand how bad Blake was really hurting.  Ibprofin just doesn't do much when it comes to mouth sores.  Anyway it was horrible for both of them, and I'm so glad Bronson never got it so he didn't have to miss school.

We try to remember to put the dog food up and the toilet paper off of the holder but when we forget . . . in the mean time we also have to remember if Simba has had the chance to eat since her food has been out of reach.  Poor dog.  I wish I had more time to take care of her.  She is a good girl for being so neglected.

 Bronson was having fun one morning giving Blake rides in the laundry basket.  He was very entertained.  Sometimes the happy moments seem very few and far between sometimes.  Things can get crazy to ugly way to fast.  But we are trying to keep our wits about us raising 3 boys.

 To sum it up - very cute trouble makers!   

 If Blake is in his high chair be sure that Simba is right underneath him, just waiting for treats. Blake eats better when he feeds himself, which at this point is just food all over everything.  No matter how ready he is to get out of his high chair, the moment I go to take off the tray it is a mad dash to try to grab any left overs off of his tray and shove in his mouth, it is the one of the funniest thing.  He even does it when there is nothing on his tray . . . I won't say who he gets this from.

 I don't really put my boys in pink bibs but Tessa left it here and we just keep washing it and using it

instead of returning it. . . sorry Tessa.