Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving already seems like a while ago now. But I haven't had a chance to post pictures... until today. We had a lovely time at my parents with my brothers, sis-in-law and niece Macy. Macy is so cute! She's 7 months older than the triplets and very into dresses. She'll put on a new dress, then walk into a room and wave her hands in the air in a "Ta DA! Look at me!" motion. My boys just stare, confused and slightly unimpressed. Men.

Here's the crew around the Thanksgiving table:

Of all my children, Carter was most into Thanksgiving. He ate and ate and ate and ate! He LOVED the turkey.

Seriously loved it. His vegetarian mama doesn't cook much, if any meat at our house so I guess he was taking advantage of the opportunity. :)

The next night Kyle, Madeline, Chris and I took Colin and Macy to Crossroads Village to ride the Christmas train (as Colin calls it). They also got to meet one of Santa's actual reindeer!

Colin and Macy waiting for their turn to meet the reindeer

Here comes the train! I can't even explain how cold it was on this night! FREEZING! After waiting a half hour outdoors to see the reindeer, we couldn't wait to get on the warm train. I was so thankful that we hadn't attempted to bring the trips too. They would have been so cold and I think they are still just a little too young to fully enjoy it. Plus I learned my lesson from last year's trip! 

While we were at my parents, it snowed just enough for Colin and my mom to build the first snowman of the year. 

Now we're back in Holland and the only thing that stands between me and fully Christmasing is a 20 page research paper. UGH!!! Don't. Want. To. Write It! I'm going to force myself to try and get it done soon so that I can have it behind me and enjoy my most favorite time of year! This would be huge because usually I procrastinate until the last minute. We shall see how this unfolds.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thankful

When I look in the rear view mirror at a red light and catch moments like this:

"Look Mommy, we're holding hands!"

We made it to my parents house and are looking forward to a great Thanksgiving tomorrow. Last Thanksgiving, my Dad was in a hospital in Utah, his body fighting to recover from a bone marrow transplant. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even remember the mini thanksgiving dinner my brother Gavin brought into the hospital for he and my mom. That was a tough Thanksgiving because we were so worried. (I wrote about it here.)

But this year, we'll all be around the table together. 

Healthy.

Colin is hoping there will be apple pie. 

I'm here.

This fall has been.... well.... interesting..... and challenging, on many levels for our family.

I've also had what I suppose some call, "writer's block". Some days I'm not sure what I have to say. 

Parenting our four precious darlings has felt very challenging as of late. The triplets haven't slept through the night in months, meaning that they are up two to three times per night, sometimes for hours at a time. 

Our four sons are each so wonderful, so curious, so playful and so fun to be around. Collectively they are like a tornado of energy and some days every day, it takes all of my energy just to keep things manageable. Some days I feel like I'm failing them for not having more energy, for not being more patient, for letting my mommy guilt about what they're not getting consume me rather than focusing on what I am able to give them.

In an effort to break through my writer's block and get back to keeping up with this blog which I enjoy writing for my boys, I'm going to return to writing in the way that I originally did. Back when the only person that read it was my husband. In the beginning, my posts were sometimes just a few sentences and I never worried about grammar, spelling or content (because nobody was reading them anyway!). I usually wrote about something that Colin did during the day that had warmed my heart, something I was thankful for, something random on my mind, something I wanted to be sure to remember through the years, or something that was driving me nuts. Often they were just short little posts to "little c", reminding him of how much I love him. 

Focusing on those little moments will help me, I know it. It will help me see the beauty within the chaos and the challenge of raising four little boys..... three of which are not sleeping. 

So for today......

Dear Colin,

When I dropped you off for pre-school on the playground, you gave me a big hug and kiss and said, "I'm going to miss you mommy". I said that I'd be back shortly and to "have lots of fun." 

Then as I was walking away, half way across the playground, almost to the parking lot, I turned around and saw that you were watching me.

When you saw me turn, you smiled and blew me a big kiss. Then you ran off to join your friends popping bubbles with Mrs. Sauer.

Little do you know that kiss is carrying me through a busy morning of schoolwork, housework and packing for our trip tomorrow.

I love you little c. 

This picture of Colin always brings a smile to my face. It's from late summer when he was super into wearing his "working boots", "working shorts" (just like Chris wears when doing renovation work) and his "working hat", to do "dangerous work" (which apparently there was a lot of). If any of you moms out there think this hat looks suspiciously similar to a certain Medela breast milk portable cooler, well, you would be wrong. It's a working hat. :-)

It's a zoo at our house!

This year Colin dressed up as a zookeeper and the trips were animals. Carter was a monkey, Finley was a lion and Everett was a tiger. They were so cute.

I tried so hard to get a picture of them all! The zookeeper was very cooperative; the animals, not so much. 

Then they escaped off the couch.

Last year, it was much easier to take pictures!

Carter

Finley

Everett

Colin

Here they are heading out for trick- or- treating. 

We didn't last too long though as it was soooo cold this year! 

I must say, the best part this year was watching Colin. He loved every minute. He was SO excited about his costume, his pumpkin to gather candy in and going door to door for candy. Later on he put the ottoman by the front window so he could sit there and spy when trick- or- treaters were approaching. Then he'd yell for Chris and race to the front door with the bowl of candy. Life seen through the eyes of a three and a half year old is just so darn exciting.

Happy Halloween!!