and actually, it was raining

{go #11!}

on the way home from basketball this morning chase was crying.

like we were all covering our ears because nothing was going to calm him down.

and he was crying SOOO SOOOO SOOOO loud.

we still had to run by the pharmacy,

and my nerves were getting their fair share of frazzle.

brennan yelled at chase.

chase yelled that brennan "skEEEmed" at him and then screamed and cried even louder.

and max was yelling something over the top of both of them 

that i couldn't hear from the back bench of the van. 

so basically, things were going awesome. 

i was just wanting to be out of the car and home, and i was really wishing that i would have brought chase's binky in my bag to give to him.

finally there was a break in the screaming at the stop light in front of alta view hospital,

and i heard the brilliant idea of little miss max come 

like a little whisper of genius to my ears in the front: sing to chase.

the rest of the way home the kids and i sang christmas songs to chase.

after the second round of santa claus is coming to town, praise the heavens above, because chase wasn't crying anymore.

i put on my christmas mix over the car stereo, 

and from behind my seat i could hear the little 6 AND A HALF year old singing voice of brennan, singing every word to frosty the snowman, up on the rooftop, and rudolph the red nosed reindeer. 

it was so soft and innocent. so sweet so so so so so sweet.

and all of sudden i realized this was it!

the amazing christmas years.

of little kids, and babies, and believers filling my home.

and then in the background, i heard little max's voice filling in a line of two,

and in my rear view window i could see every one of my kids looking out of the window,

singing about santa claus and reindeer and dreaming of christmas morning and visions of candy canes in their brains.

and they didn't know i was looking at them.

and it was magic. 

i went a little under the speed limit the rest of the way home,

slowed down at the yellow lights so we had to wait at the red.

and soaked in this year of little singing voices to christmas songs.

i will never forget this day,

and the drive home that we all sang to chase to stop crying on the way home from basketball,

that day i didn't bring the binky.

and how magical it was.

even though there wasn't any snow.

{and actually, it was raining.}

he's making a list

there are about 20 more lists 

as long or longer than this 

that he's written this year.

and we've also had about 5 million talks about how you don't ever get everything on your list,

and that santa gets to decide which ones he chooses to bring,

with any changes and modifications he sees fit.

i think it's safe to say he finally gets the christmas list thing!

"skylanders. i want skylanders." -brennan

"frozen notebooks." -max

"you have sucker?!" -chase

first year nobody cried.

christmas miracle:)

"HO HO HO" might be my favorite thing chase says right now.

that, and "what you doin mom?"

he says that all day long and i love it.

in the car, in a boat, on a house, in the dark, in a tree,

he is so very very cute you see!

i wish i could keep their sweet little baby voices in my house forever.

{BIG thanks to our financial advisor Travis Bowden with Collier, Webb, Bowden, and Associates for hosting Santa

and Marcell 360 Production photography for the pics! the tradition lives on!}

the story of the candy earplugs

for two days i couldn't find my earplugs.

which pretty much means i haven't been sleeping.

i've been hooked since my freshmen year in college on them,

and it's basically my lifeline for a good night's rest.

all but one earplug on the side of my bed went missing somewhere after monday,

so i've been sleeping with one ear plugged,

and my other ear on the pillow side,

but every time i roll over, i wake up and have to switch my one earplug to the other ear 

that is now not on the pillow side anymore.

i was cursing my addiction to ear plugs this week.

so last night i was closing the shower curtain and cleaning up my bathroom from bedtime showers and such, while max brushed her hair and sean chased CHASE down with lotion and jammies,

and brennan sat entranced by the polar express or despicable me 2 or something,

and i leaned down to get a piece of garbage behind the toilet,

and that's when i spotted them!

my bright yellow pair of earplugs!

but the minute i grabbed them i noticed they were a little...

disfigured.

so i walked out and was all,

"who stole my ear plugs and took a bite?"

and max was all,

"i did!"

and i was like,

"ummmm, why did you eat my ear plug?"

and she was like,

"i thought they were candy."

{head hanging low and clearly a little disappointed and embarrassed.}

and that's when sean and i burst into crying laughter b/c well,

i just couldn't help imagining her thinking she was going to get a nice delicious sugary treat without anyone knowing,

and instead she bit off the end of my ear plug,

which i'm sure tasted like foam and earwax.

old built up earwax.

yep.

glutton for punishment max.

bet she'll never do that again.

have mercy, poor max!!!!!

btw, i slept SUPER great last night,

as i now had two wonderful earplugs to use again:)

except not the candy one.

i threw that one in the trash.

i need to buy more earplugs...

spaghetti, spaghetti, all over the place

he's a poet and he didn't know it.

FINALIST,

in the school poetry contest.

spaghetti by shel silverstine.

basically he got nervous and forgot all of his actions and left out a verse,

but man were we proud of him.

because i don't think i could have gotten up in front of 200 peers and another 100 parents like that.

the poor guy was very last.

he was such a CHAMP! 

winter,

where are you???????

it just works for my life

if it's not on amazon, it's probably not going to be under our tree.

reasons why i love online christmas shopping:
1. i don't have to go to the store.
2. i don't have to leave my house {see #1}
3. strong men carry everything from store to me, and leave it on my door. sometimes they even bring it inside.
4. my strong man carries it down into the basement.
5. all items are concealed in unmarked brown boxes and can be stored in the same room my kids play in without them knowing what's inside.

god bless amazon and online shopping.
it just works for my life.
amen.

i'm just really glad that this is what we're doing now.

never have i enjoyed a baby as much as this.

the baby man.

and a morning bath.

with no one home but us.

two year gaps are for the birds.

i'm all about this kind of space.

except i still wouldn't change a thing about the past.

i'm just really glad that this is what we're doing now.