Santa!

We weren't sure if we would get a pic of all three with Santa this year since Bennett was so sick the week before Christmas. Luckily, the night before Christmas Eve he rallied and we braved the line to get the traditional picture made. Bennett wasn't quite sure what to think, but at least he didn't cry!!

Cookies for Santa

Every year I am reminded why I only make cut out cookies made from scratch once per year....oh the mess! But oh the sweet memories! This year we baked one day and decorated the following morning. My kitchen was COVERED in icing and sprinkles before 7am on Christmas Eve.

 Totally precious!

 The picture above makes the picture below totally worth it :)

Vakakes Cousin Christmas

John has only two first cousins on the Vakakes side, but between them and John, there are 8 tiny cousins whom our boys absolutely adore. I wish we had nights like these more often. Every year life seems to get a bit more crazy. We hosted the Vakakes side of the family before Christmas so that all the cousins could hang out with no agenda! Sweet Bennett has just been diagnosed with RSV so he missed the affair. And since this picture, we've added one more sweet cousin-a girl, sweet Ella!

Alex (3.5), Will (almost 6), Anna Sophia (almost 5), Peter (1), James (6), Sam (2)

When you are the Caboose...

...you deserve $60 authentic Uggs just because! After all, most of your wardrobe consists of hand me downs! Thank you Kiki for such a precious accessory!

Rudy!

Rudy, the elf, came back for some fun on December 1st! He never comes empty handed-this year he brought the boys some matching pjs and snow covered donuts of course! We had all kinds of silly fun through the month of December!

 

 This is a more accurate picture of true everyday life. My dad jokes that Bennett should have been fitted with a helmet before he came home from the hospital!

This picture was totally unprompted. Will rolled over and let Bennett lay on him and it was like B discovered the Christmas tree for the first time. He was mesmorized by his view of all the lights.

The Polar Express 2014

We have been riding the Polar Express since the December before Will turned 1 in January. It has become quite the tradition. And this year we had three little elves with us instead of just two :) Loved their matching pjs this year. I will say that I'm sure Will is nearing the stage of looking ridiculous in matching pjs. But as long as he will go with it, I'll put it out there and try :)

 Look closely....you'll see ALL my boys below ;)

 This makes my heart explode!!

 Will's favorite part....

Interview with Will, age 6

Favorite Color: Blue and Orange
Favorite Toy: Marble Run
Favorite Fruit: Cantaloupe
Favorite TV Show: Looney Tunes
Favorite Movie: Home Alone
Favorite thing to eat for Lunch: PBJ
Favorite thing to wear: mesh shorts and a t-shirt
Favorite game: Wii
 Favorite snack: Pretzels
Favorite Animal: Tiger
Favorite Song: Call Me Maybe
Favorite Book: Sharks
Best Friend: Maverick
Favorite Thing to Do Outside: Play with hand trampolines that Easton gave me for my birthday
Favorite Drink: Milk
Favorite Holiday: Christmas
Favorite Thing to Take to Bed: My Ninja Turtle (Raphael)
Favorite thing to eat for breakfast: Doughnuts
Favorite thing to eat for dinner on your birthday: Cake and the cook in front of you place (Kobe)
Favorite place to go out to eat: cook in front of you place
What do you want to be when you grow up: A Fireman

Epic Fail at the Pumpkin Patch...

In my sad attempt to catch up, the next few blog posts will be a little all over the place. Halloween and the festivities that come along with it proved to be rather interesting this year now that we've added a third little pumpkin.

You know how you envision sweet, special activities for you to do all together as a family? And in your head its perfect….and then in reality, its a mess. Yeah….we had one of these experiences quite recently when we decided to spend one Saturday morning at the pumpkin patch. Will was going on a field trip with Kindergarten, but I felt bad that Alex would miss out on the pumpkin patch so we decided to take the whole gang. The previous week before, the temps had been "fall-like" - very cool and pleasant. The Saturday that we headed to Old Baker Farm the high was nearly 80.

We arrived at 11:15. About an hour and a half later than I had planned, but whatever. Since we were so late getting there, it was time for Bennett to eat. He had started eating baby food and cereal about 2 weeks prior to this trip, so I had brought along all of the necessary things to pull off feeding him like normal. John took the big boys to the corn maze while I sweated in the sun (no shade anywhere) and tried to feed Bennett his baby food in the stroller. He had not mastered the spoon just yet and anyone who has ever gone through the process of starting baby food, you know what this means. MESSY. By the end, I was burning up and Bennett had sweet potatoes all over his cute little longall. Luckily, it was orange gingham and so the sweet potatoes didn't stand out too bad :) I take Bennett and head over to get in line to ride the tractor to the pumpkin patch. Meanwhile, John takes big boys to a giant hay bale that they can climb and jump on over so they don't have to wait in the incredibly long line. After waiting what seemed like FOREVER, it was FINALLY our turn to load up onto the tractor. Bennett was asleep in the stroller, but I can't take the stroller, so I am trying to ever-so-carefully to pick B up and keep him asleep when I feel something wet on my arm. I didn't even have to look to know that it was poop…why not?? I tried to just act calm and get on the hay ride that we had waited an eternity for…I was not about to miss our ride to the pumpkin patch. The sooner we got out there and got pumpkins, the sooner we could leave! I knew John would FLIP out once he realized what happened…On the bumpy ride out to the patch, we confirmed that not only was it poop, but it was A LOT of poop. All out of his diaper, ALL over the back and side of his outfit, and now….all over my shirt. UGH. When we got to the patch, I headed to the very back towards the fence in the shade to try and figure out what I was going to do about this mess.

 I ended up stripping him down in the dirt, throwing the dirty diaper way over the fence…I know, I know….probably not the most responsible thing to do but it was a mess and I did not want to put that back in my diaper bag. We met up with John and the big boys and tried to enjoy the rest of the pumpkin patch.

About an hour later we were back in the car. I was sweaty and thankful that it was over. Luckily, as I recount this event now that it is the end of January, I can say that life with three has definitely gotten easier. Well, I don't know if easier is the right word, but definitely more manageable. I'm so glad. Because on that hot October day I wasn't sure if we would ever make it.