another year older . . .

So this past week I had a birthday - my biggest roundest number yet. And I still haven't decided if I feel that old or when I look at my four kids, how it's possible that I'm still that young. Three of my close girlfriends are all reaching the same milestone within two months of me, so the grilling hasn't been too bad, since they're next :) Last night we hosted a houseful of friends and family to celebrate and I was thoroughly spoiled. Here's also some beautiful flowers that showed up at my door on my big day.

some cute pics of the kiddies . . .

loves her apples!There's just something about this pic that I love.

bed headsuch a cutieSO proud! the things that girls do for beauty . . .

having a snuggleI love this shirt!

enjoying the holidays . . .

We've been enjoying the Christmas break at home this year, and have been spending lots of time with the kids (can't say girls anymore, weird!). We spent three evenings checking out the light displays around our town, had a nice Christmas Eve at home where the kids opened their gifts, and had a busy and fun Christmas Day going to church and visiting with my family (but we all had a nice nap inbetween). Brad's had extra days off which has been great and we've managed to get a couple things done around the house too. And now we're looking forward to bringing in our fourteenth New Year's together this week!

a *little* bit of creating . . .

So I have spent very little time in the sewing room lately, it's definitely not going to be a homemade Christmas around here. But I'm not complaining, one day the kids won't want me coordinating everything in their lives and I'll have lots of time to sew and quilt. But I did manage to squeeze out a mini-sleepsack for Justin. The girls helped pick out the buttons and fabric to make it fun, and Justin even sat on my lap for part of the sewing because he loves to be held as soon as the machine goes on. I made it with buttons to close up the armholes with the intention of keeping his arms from getting out (he startles himself awake and is getting too strong for swaddling) but my design flaw was using fleece - too stretchy. I think I'll add some bias tape to the neck and see if that works. It was fun to make anyways, especially since the girls helped out.

We also made some teacher gifts for the girls teachers. We used this website for the recipe and printable gift tags and made M&M Christmas cookies (complete with red & green M&M's). A quick and fun idea. Today's plans include making our own batch :)

life revolving around the little guy . . .

So the title pretty much says it - my life has been mostly revolving around Justin lately. He's growing up so fast and right in front of us, that we're trying not to miss too much of it. We just had his three month pictures done the other day already! He's definitely a healthy little guy, tipping the scales around 15 pounds and not even giving me nights off from feeding yet. I tried a bit of rice cereal for the first time last night (after an exhausting day of feeding almost every hour), and he just gobbled it up and wanted more. I want to make sure his tummy handles it okay before I try again, he was a little bit extra gassy this morning. He still gets cuddled lots by his sisters, is starting to grab for toys, and loves to smile and laugh. Cloth diapering him has been going really well and it seems he has the same sensitive skin issues his big sister Alyssa had, so I'm glad that we're trying them out (and it is SO nice not buying diapers on top of every grocery bill for him).

Someone lost something . . .

Elayna lost her first tooth! It's been wiggly since she bit into an apple 3 weeks ago at Niagara Falls and today I noticed the new tooth was growing in behind it. So when we suggested tying it with a string and slamming a door, she thought this was the best idea ever. It gave it a good start and her Daddy pulled it out after that. So hopefully the new tooth will move into the gap now.

Butterfly Conservatory . . .

Another "fieldtrip" we went on was to the Butterfly Conservatory. Pretty exciting for the girls, especially Chantel who is the least timid with flying or crawling creatures.