Happy Valentine's Day...

...from our little sweeties!

Henry's First Day of School

Henry started Mother's Day Out on February 2 and he is really loving "big boy school". Now I drop off Alex and Henry together on Tuesdays and Thursdays for big boy school fun. They love it!

Mommy loves it too because I am so amazed at how productive I can be on those mornings. I think over the past year I have learned how to be extremely productive in short amounts of time. I hardly know what to do with two whole mornings a week without toddlers! Of course, Ben is here, but he sleeps for an hour in the morning and then we play. He is not as - shall we say...demanding...? - as the big boys so we have lots of fun. It's a win-win situation.

Henry did very well on his first day. He cried when I dropped him off at 8:30 a.m., but when I came back at 12:30 p.m., his teacher said he was happy all day. She also paid him a tremendous compliment by saying that he minds really well and played happily with others. Nice to feel like some of the work we are doing at home to teach him such things is producing fruit in his little life.

Happy First Day of School, Hubs! We love you so much, Big Boy!

Alex passed down his backpack for Henry...

Henry was happy to pose wearing it.

I asked the brothers to pose together, but Alex needed to help Henry with his hair first...so cute.

A supportive first day hug. So sweet, these brothers!

Play Time

My boys love to play together. He's little but many times they still try to include Ben, which I think is incredibly sweet. All three together can get a little rowdy, but usually when there's just two of them they play very well.

Henry and Ben playing...and chewing on the fake kitchen food. =)

Henry loves to get down on Ben's level and crawl around with him.

I love the way Ben looks at his big brother with pure delight.

Caught them in an impromptu hug! Sweet Big Brother.

Ben looks a little nervous that the Cowboys might attack, doesn't he?!

Work Zone

My boys are serious about vacuuming these days. Many times they go to the closet, get it out, and get to work all on their own. Such hard work even requires a hard hat it seems.

Henry says, "aw, come on, Mama. Enough pictures." I love this kid's facial expressions!

Goodbye, Miss Corrie... =(

January was quite an adjustment for us because our wonderful nanny, Miss Corrie, moved on from our family.

We hired Corrie at the beginning of 2011 and made a contract with her for her to stay the entire year. She was a gigantic blessing to our family during that time. 2011 was a crazy year for us...A new baby, a new house, and adjusting to three little children at home. Corrie helped us through the transitions and loved our family well. I have never met a more godly, mature, and responsible 20-year-old in my life! She was wonderful with our boys and a true gift to our family. Oh, how we will miss her.

But you know what? The past month of adjusting to NO help at home has been great. I have slowly figured out how to manage things on my own (of course, with the help of my amazingly supportive and helpful husband) and make things work. We have a new routine and are enjoying life at home. Henry started Mother's Day Out last week and Alex is still attending preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is fun to enjoy some one-on-one playtime with Ben on those days now.

I truly believe, though, that without the help of Miss Corrie last year, our life would not be near as functional as it is now. God sent her to us for that year and we are grateful. We will miss her, but are excited for her to continue walking in God's plan for her. She's getting married this summer, continuing her studies, and trusting God to lead her into the next season. We are happy to send her off with our blessing (and gratitude).

Much love to you, Miss Corrie!

Christmas

Wow, I really didn't blog about Christmas yet? Things are busy around here, so I guess it's better late than never...

We had a wonderful Christmas at home this year. As you can probably guess, traveling on holidays with three small children is not really feasible. Thankfully our families are gracious and do not expect it of us. We always extend an open invitation to our families to come to us for the holidays and love when they come. This year Papa Gene came for Christmas and we loved having him here. We had a grand time eating traditional Christmas food and watching the kids open presents. We attended church on Christmas Eve (although it was so packed we had to exit after the nativity presentation...for fear of ruining the entire service!) and opened gifts. The boys were excited to see gifts from Saint Nicholas on Christmas morning and we had fun playing with all the new loot.

Here are some photos for you to enjoy:

The boys posing in front of the tree.

Once the gift opening began, we decided this was the best spot for Ben. He was happy to jump and observe the Christmas craziness.

Daddy helping Alex open gifts.

Ben got more and more excited as the festivities continued. He was so happy to jump and watch!

Daddy, the boys, and Alex's new power tool - a power screwdriver.

Papa Gene helped the boys get things out of the box and insert the batteries...important jobs indeed!

Henry showing Ben a new rubber ducky. I think he's trying to share....?

Alex got a cowboy hat from St. Nick.

Henry enjoying the red velvet cupcakes.

Alex too. They were his idea because he insisted Jesus must have cupcakes for his birthday. Mommy was happy to comply with his request and thankful he remembered the real reason for our celebration.

Henry loved this new dozer he got. In fact, six weeks later he is still taking it to Night Night during nap. Cute to see him fast asleep with his dozer close by.
The big boys got new Aggie hats. Gig 'em!

Waiting for the Trash Truck

My neighbor snapped a cute picture of the boys in their normal Tuesday/Friday morning position...waiting for the trash truck! It's a big deal on our cul de sac. Here's my big boys, our neighbor, Joshy, and his cousin, Isaac. Exciting times for little boys!