November 2016

I have been watching my neighbor's little girl three days a week. It has been fun for all of us to have a baby around. Tessa especially is smitten with her.

Yes, Sarah, these glasses still surface every once in a while.

Every time Tessa has her shirt off she has to do a belly dance. It makes me happy.

Bennett taking a turn holding baby A.

Cooper with baby A

The boys are done holding the baby after a few minutes. Tessa could hold her all day long if I let her. This day we were watching a show so she held her for a good 15 minutes and every time I asked if I could take her she would tell me "no!" She even stole a few kisses. She is the sweetest little momma.

Tessa was spraying her entire face in hopes that a little water would get into her mouth.

This is a normal way to eat an apple, right? Just let it sit in your mouth until it dissolves? haha.

The boys were invited to their first ever friend birthday party! Calvin lives down the street from us and is one of their favorite friends. I hear about Calvin every day so it made my heart happy when Calvin told his mom that his best friends were the twins.

Cooper was the one to break open the pinata!

Tessa is convinced she should be potty trained already so she is starting to potty train herself. Every time I change her diaper she insists on going potty in the toilet. And she has actually gone several times by herself. She has even gone #2 once! One of her favorite things to do these days is to read books on the toilet.

Bennett helping me rake the leaves.

Festival of Trees 2016

We went to the Festival of Trees again this year. It was beautiful. But it was also crowded and did not hold the attention of our three kids for too long. They kept wanting to play with the gifts under the trees and about their bedtime (8pm) they were DONE. I told Jason to remind me why taking three little kids is a bad idea next year when I tell him I want to go. He said, "that's what your blog is for!" Haha. So hopefully I reread this post before attempting it next year. BUT we did get a few fun pictures, so here you go...

Tessa can't resist a cheesy smile if she notices I am taking a picture.

This picture took some convincing, but we finally got all three of them to smile.

I love looking at all the creative gingerbread houses.

Check out this cool Star Wars one:

And can you believe this Finding Dory one?! Incredible details!

Since our kids were done, we had to get a picture of at least us.

Bennett's favorite part was this dancing Santa. We had to go back on our way out so he could see him again.

And then one of the boys (can't remember which) wanted to take a picture.

Getting ready to leave Bennett was dragging Jason along to hurry up and Tessa was dragging her feet giggling the whole way.

First Snow 2016

Today we had the first snow of the season! Cooper gasped as he looked out the window for the first time and Bennett announced "It's Kick-kiss [Christmas]!" They wanted to go outside immediately. I made them eat breakfast and get dressed first. But then we were outside.

Tessa

Cooper

Bennett

Just a sample of the fun they had.

They came in for a few hours then decided to go back out. While getting him suited up, Bennett exclaimed "I just like Corduroy!" It took me a minute then realized he is indeed wearing overalls just like Corduroy. He was even wearing a bear hat! So cute.

Throwing snowballs must be an instinct in little boys.

Tessa was really interested in the melting ice.

She just HAD to sample it.

Birthday Festivities

Jason was gone most of the day for his birthday riding at the sand dunes with his dad and brother. Meanwhile the boys helped me make birthday cupcakes.

Cooper left, Bennett right

After they were done riding, the big boys came back to our house for a mini-party. Per Jason's request, Marie made a lemon-lime Jello cake.

Tessa enjoys baked goods way more than the boys do. She sat contently eating her cake while everyone else moved on to presents.

The next day we headed to the Klippels house for a family dinner. We had a pasta bar. Aubrey and Jon came as well as Joel Wallin's family, and Cindy.

Cooper really wanted a green cake with sprinkles and Bennett wanted a chocolate cake. So we compromised with green frosting. They were both happy. ;)

Once again, Tessa really enjoyed the cupcake.

Susan was so sweet and had gotten each of the boys a book and coordinating stuffed animal. They now sleep with Curious George (Bennett) and Corduroy (Cooper) nightly and we read each of the books at least daily. 

A few days later we received the birthday package from my mom. She gave each boy $2 and Tessa a dollar to spend at the dollar store. They were pretty stoked. They each picked out a light-up sword and a hot-wheels car. Tessa chose some necklaces.

She also had sent them vehicle building kits. Bennett got an airplane and Cooper a race car.

So Tessa wouldn't be left out she sent her a boat.

Here is a fun video Jason put together of the building process: