Holiday Traditions

I really wanted to start some fun holiday traditions this year. The kids are at a super fun age for all of this now. Other than the typical Christmas traditions, I wanted to do a few things that maybe someday my kids would do for their kids.

We all love to read and I love to give books as gifts. This is actually kind of my signature gift. I know books will get used way more than a crummy toy, so I try to give books as gifts as often as possible. I bought 24 books and wrapped them up. I have let the kids open one book each morning and we read it about a hundred times that day. This has been really fun!

I also made a homemade avent calender and on each day I put an envelope with a different fun activity in it. For instance, get hot chocolate and look at Christmas lights, buy a gift for someone in need, color a Christmas picture, make Christmas cookies, make gingerbread houses, etc. I won't post a picture of the calendar because I'm really not that crafty, but this has also been tons of fun for them. Every morning they wake up and hunt for Starkly the Elf. Then they run to get the envelope and the book for the day. This starts our day out on a high note. And it forces me to do a fun activity with them every day even if I would otherwise think I was too pooped. Because trust me, they won't let me forget what was in the envelope!

We also went to the Christmas Parade in downtown Tulsa. It was just me and the kids because Scott was out of town so we were a little late because I get turned around downtown every time. All the one way streets get me! But we saw a bit of it and the finale and that was really all that mattered. Santa comes riding by on his sleigh and I hear Pax say, "Merry Christmas Santa!" Then he turns to me and says, "Do you think he saw how good I was being?!?!?" I told him that I saw him wink at him. This made his day.

And here are a few pictures of everyone putting up the Christmas tree. I say putting it up because that is as far as we have gotten. We won't be putting ornaments on it until about a week before Christmas. I don't have the energy to redirect Charlotte for 3 whole weeks!

So basically, Scott and I put the tree up and the kids played in the box. Remind me again why we are buying them Christmas presents?!?!?

Wait...Are you telling me everyone doesn't trim their Christmas tree in their underwear...

And a fireman hat and a Toy Story backpack????

That is just a few of the things we are doing this year to make the holidays a little festive. These are just the festive things. We are trying to teach them the real spirit of Christmas along with all of the fun things as well. Hopefully, we are planting seeds that will continue to grow with our children. This is such a wonderful time of year, and I am so happy I have such amazing people to share it with.

Birthdays

We have had a lot of birthdays around here lately. New friends and old friends and even our little 3 year old boy have been celebrated in full force the past month. And no one loves it more than this kid...

We kicked off the month of November with a new buddy from schools super fun carnival themed backyard birthday bash. One of Paxton's sweet sweet buddies from school, Nick, turned 5! Nick's mom has become a friend of mine too, and she ever so graciously told me to bring the whole fam so Porter and Charlotte got to join in the carnival fun! This was a blast! Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos at this party because I was too busy trying to keep Charlotte out of the bouncy house full of 4/5 year olds!

Then we had best buddy Corbin's 4th birthday party at the gymnastics place in OKC. This was of course a ball for everyone too. We love Corbs and we love the gymnastics place so it doesn't get much better than that!

This is the best pic I got of the birthday boy! Action shot!

Then we had Porter's birthday party at an indoor swimming park at a local hotel. It was awesome! Other than the part where Porter slipped and fell into the hot tub, and I cried for an hour and a half of the party because it freaked me out so bad. You know how they say that you forget the pain of childbirth shortly after the baby is born?!?! Well let's hope this memory slips my mind easily too. Anyway, we really did have fun though. There was tons of water fun (slides, lillipads, etc.), pizza, cookie monster cupcakes, friends and family! And our favorite little 3 year old loved every minute of it, so all together it was a success!

Then to round out the month of November, another one of Paxton's buddys had a party at Bounce U. I took Porter with us and paid for him separately because Paxton wanted him to go, and I knew he would love it. This is a an indoor place with tons of huge bouncy houses. Paxton has informed me (and pretty much everyone else he has encountered since) that he wants to have his party at Bounce U! I have never seen so many sweaty kids at a birthday party in my life. It was super fun!

I think Paxton is like Rain Man when it comes to birthdays. He is obsessed with them, and he remembers EVERYONE'S. The other day he said to me "Mom I am really upset because I have to miss Braxton's birthday." I asked him why and he said, "Because his birthday is on a Monday and I have to go to school on Monday's. I can't go to McAlester if I have to go to school." So I look at a calendar and sure enough Braxton's birthday is on a Monday. He tells everyone we meet that he is 4 but will be 5 on March 8th. He also likes to tell every stranger on the street that I am 30. Good thing I am not modest about my age. He remembers the dates of all the above mentioned parties and the person's actual birthday and how old they are. Rain Man, I tell you. Rain Man. I think it is really sweet that he is just as excited about other people's birthdays as he is his own. He never complained one time about not getting presents on Porter's birthday. He was happy for him that he got some presents, however, he is keeping a running list of things he wants for his own birthday. One day he said "Mom, what do you think people are going to bring me for my birthday presents?" I replied, "Paxton, the important part of a birthday party isn't the presents, but the people that you love coming to celebrate with you. Would you rather have all your friends and family celebrating with you at your party or lots of presents?" He so sweetly replies, "Well I would rather have BOTH!" Lesson fail! I guess he is only 4. I forget sometimes.

My grandma once said to me, "Go to every birthday party, wedding, baby shower, and other special event your friends want to celebrate when you are young. Some day you'll get old like me and you'll be getting invited to funerals instead!" She was super funny for 85! But it did put it into perspective for me. It's fun to celebrate with people the fun things in life! I am glad that Paxton really has an excellent grasp on this at such a young age. He is so full of happiness it rubs off on the rest of us.

And look at sweet Charlotte. Doesn't she just look like a living angel?!?!? She really wanted to eat that cake with her hands. You know I finally caved in and just took off her shirt and let her. It was easier than making everyone listen to her melt down! I'm hard core. What can I say!

No need to call Super Nanny! I've go this under control....Clearly!

Pumpkin cookies

I am going to start posting a few recipes on my blog. Mainly as a way to keep track of some of my favorites, but also if anyone wants any allergan friendly recipes I would love to share! In my next life I will open a vegan/peanut free bakery and keep all of my recipes a deep dark secret. In this life I am too busy to take a shower some days so opening a bakery is way out of the picture, therefore I will be sharing away!

I have come to find out if you can make something in cookie or muffin form it is much more popular with kids. My kids are great fruit eaters. They will eat almost any fruit and tons of it. They are decent vegetable eaters, it's just that the variety isn't really there. They will eat tons of carrots, green beans, potatoes, peas, and that's about it. So I try and make cookies and muffins that incorporate other vegetables.

Today I made pumpkin "cookies" for an after school snack. These are SUPER easy and a huge hit with everyone. The are almost cake-like and very moist.

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup pumpkin

1/2 cup oil (I use canola)

1 -2 tsp. vanilla (I like a little more vanilla in my baked goods.)

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Beat together sugar, pumpkin, oil and vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients. Mix until smooth. Bake on greased baking sheet at 35o for 12-15 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar.

Easy as that. A little disclaimer on my recipes: They are not fancy. They are easy. I only use ingredients that just about everyone keeps in their pantry. Other than egg replacer. I use that a lot when baking and most normal people don't. I make quick and easy stuff that hopefully tastes good too.

Paxton ate 3 cookies, Porter ate 3 cookies, Scott ate 3 cookies, Charlotte ate 1 cookie, and I might have eaten 2! Basically we killed a dozen cookies in about 5 minutes. We're like a family of cookie monsters! Sad but true!

Why is it... The old picture edition

Why is it that kids look so much more adorable when they are sleeping?

Is it because they are so peaceful?

Or because you know they are having sweet dreams?

Or because you know they have had such a great hard play that they are so worn out?

Or is it just because they are QUIET for a few minutes!!??

Breaking the Rules

I kept Paxton home from school for two days last week. He was coughing and I didn't know if he was coming down with something. His teacher is going through chemo and I didn't want to send him if he was getting sick. He is still coughing so I guess he isn't sick.

Anyway, we took this opportunity to break lots of rules these two days. We ate chips and cookies and junk food all day long. We got dressed and fixed our hair. Then we took off our clothes and put on pjs and messed up our hair. We jumped on our beds, wrapped each other in wrapping paper and ribbon, and moved all the furniture and rode our bikes in the house. We watched tv when we felt like it and we snuggled and loved on each other all day long. One of those nights when Scott and I were laying down with the boys telling stories and tickling backs, we thought they were just about asleep when Paxton rolls over and in the sleepiest, sweetest little four year old voice says, "This is livin'!" Porter then chimes in, "I love this world. I love this life. I love you guys."

These days are what life is all about to me. We spend so much time trying to be perfect parents. Making sure our children are better versions of ourselves. Trying to follow all the rules and do everything just right. Some days taking time to just live is what it is all about. I am so happy that my children are ALIVE I don't care if they are "perfect." Our Christmas tree is up and the lights are on it but there are no ornaments on it yet. Who cares. My bathroom mirror has streaks on it and I don't cook a 4 course meal every night. Or hardly ever for that matter. One day Paxton went to school with his pants on backwards. Who cares. Not me. When you have a 4 year old, 3 year old, and 1.5 year old some things have to give. You hear the saying 'pick your battles.' I pick the battle of kindness. Of compassion and caring. I pick the battle of loving on my family and spending as much time with them as possible. I have given up on trying to be beautiful or being a great cook or having a spotless house. Maybe someday, but not today. And not tomorrow, either.

I love this world. I love this life. This is livin'.

Are you going to be nice Charlotte?

Charlotte is my little angel. She (and her brothers and daddy) is my best friend. We are attached at the hip. Literally. She has severe separation anxiety when it comes to being away from her momma...still at 18 months. Partially because she is my little mini me and partially because she is never away from me. EVER! So she doesn't know what to do with herself when I go for the occasional pedicure or trip to Target by myself.

She is sweet and loving and adorable and hilarious. She is also a mess! Charlotte hugs and kisses me probably 500 times a day. She also screams bloody murder when she doesn't get her way, pushes anyone who gets too close to me, and hits me when I make her angry.

Charlotte has a mind of her own! Scott and I always say that this will be a great thing in her teenage years if she wants to make good choices. If she wants to make bad choices, we are screwed! Part of this "I want what I want when I want it" attitude comes from being the baby girl. She is spoiled by her momma and daddy and for sure by her brothers. And she loves those brothers to pieces. Tonight at dinner the three of them were sitting on the bench at our dinner table, Charlotte on the outside, Paxton in the middle, and Porter on the other side. She just couldn't stand to not be sitting by BOTH of her brothers so she starts to push Paxton out of the way so she can get in the middle. Paxton looks at her and says "Stop pushing me Charlotte." She looks back at him and says in the sweetest voice, "Peeeeeaaaaasssse Bubba?!?!" Of course he moves out of her way and Charlotte takes the middle spot. Spoiled.

Today the boys had their final gymnastics class of the session. This means it was parent observation day. This is not my first rodeo with the parent observation thing, and let me just tell you the last one didn't go so well. This time I come prepared with Braum's biscuits and the wild woman in the stroller. The biscuit lasted about 1 minute. She wanted out immediately. Of course she can not stand that Bubba and PoBo (that's what she calls Paxton and Porter) are jumping in that huge pit without her, so she takes off running toward the group. I try and divert her to the area that the kids are not showing their awesome gymnastics skills, and she's not having it. I try and pick her up and she completely planks out so I almost drop her on her head. All the while she is screaming at the top of her lungs. I take her into the hallway and she is freaking out! Crying, hitting me, trying to open the huge door and sneak back into the gym. I pick her up and in my softest voice start trying to reason with the unreasonable. I told her that she was only allowed to go back into the gym if she was going to be nice:

Me: Charlotte you have to be nice.

CK: (sobbing hysterically) Oooookkkk

Me: No hitting. No screaming. Soft voices. Soft touches.

CK: (still sobbing hysterically) Ok momma

Me: Charlotte the only way you can go back in that room is if you are nice.

CK: (completely red in the face but now calming a bit) Oooookkkkk momma!

Me: Charlotte are you going to be nice?

CK: (catching her breath) I try momma.

At least she is honest! I know being the baby has it's perks, but it also has it's pitfalls too! She wants to play! When we left I said to Scott, "Charlotte is probably going to have bruises on her body." Scott says, "Why because you are about to beat her?!?!" "Um, no from me trying to keep her from bucking out of my arms and breaking her leg, but I bet the other parents trying to video tape their kids on the last day of gymnastics and have Charlotte screaming as the soundtrack probably want to beat her!"

She is seriously my Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde baby. She is the sweetest, sweetest, sweetest baby in the whole world. She is also the most fiesty, sassy, silly, crazy girl I know! She is my little sidekick and I love her to pieces!

Sweet Sweet Brothers

This is my happy place!

These two are so sweet to each other it is unbelievable!

I love that they are best friends! I could never want anything more for them to be able to spend the night with their best friend every night of their lives. Love them so much it makes me crazy!

Sparkly Starkly

Sparkly Starkly is our Elf on the Shelf. For those that don't know, the Elf on the Shelf is a book that comes with this little elf. The book says that Santa sends these little elves to the houses of little boys and girls to watch over them to see if they have been naughty or nice. He flies back to the North Pole at night when everyone is sleeping to report to Santa, but he is back by morning and always in a new spot. You can't touch him because that might make his magic dissapear and he can't talk to you, but you can talk to him and he will tell Santa what you say.

As you can imagine Paxton takes this very seriously. Porter just falls in line with Pax, as usual, so he acts excited (although I don't believe he gives a rip!) The morning after we got Starkly Paxton was very prompt to tell Porter to be on his best behavior for fear Starkly would tell Santa.

We try and get creative with Starkly since Paxton is so into it this year. We have hung him from the curtain rods and put him at the top of the stairs. One time he took all the stockings off of the hooks and put them on the tree, and he replaced the stockings with a pair of everyone's underwear. They thought this one was exceptionally funny. One night when they were sleeping Scott and I drew a mustache on the boys face and positioned Starkly on the bathroom mirror with the marker in hand. On the mirror read HA HA HA!!! I was exceptionally proud of this one and thought they would love it. Both of the boys were not too impressed and wanted the mustache washed off pronto!

Although Paxton has asked more than once if Starkly is really an elf or if he is just a toy, he really is into it this year. From time to time I catch him whispering to him or giving him a glance when he knows he isn't have the most respectable behavior possible. I love the excitement in his eyes every morning when he spots him. And then he looks at me and says, "Do you want to help me find Starkly?" Like he doesn't know where he is. I think he wants everyone to have the excitement of spotting him for the first time.

This marks year one of Sparkly Starkly England. I am anxious to see how long we can keep up the charade of Starkly. I'm not going to lie, I like the threat of, "Starkly is watching and listening!" What kind of threats will I be able to use when he flies back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve?!?!

3!

Dear Porter,

Today you turned 3 years old. I can still remember your sweet baby angel face the moment you were born. I had only caught a small glimpse of you when the nurses whisked you away to weigh and measure you, but I immediately fell in love with you. You had the roundest, baldest, hugest, head with this adorable bald widow's peak. Your face was so kissable and sweet I just wanted you back from the nurses so I could hold you and love on you. Then I hear, "Congratulations! You just had a 2 month old!" Weighing in at 8 lbs and 12 oz and 21+ inches you were a big boy, but it was the size of your head that really bumped you up into the big category!

Okay enough of the trip down memory lane. Fast forward to your 2nd year of life. Porter, you are one of the coolest, most easy going children I have ever known. You go with the flow. If I ask you and Paxton "who wants red and who wants blue" and Paxton says red you automatically say blue.

You love your brother more than anyone in the world. You look up to him. You use him as a crutch. He is your best friend. You love your baby sister too, but you look up to Paxton. Luckily, he is a good role model! And you guys get along so well. You have your sibling spats, but they are short lived and usually not over anything significant. Paxton loves you so much, too. He was invited to a birthday party for a kid in his class and he wanted you to come too. He wants you to meet his friends and loves to have you there.

You are are a great eater, a great sleeper, you know your numbers and your letters and you speak perfectly (other than your little lisp that I love!!). You are all around exactly what you would think a perfect little 3 year old boy would be.

You try to act tuff, but you are so sensitive. Thomas the Tank Engine makes scared and sad and angry faces sometimes. It makes you cry. When Charlotte is fussy or upset you try everything you can to make her laugh and happy. When you see or hear something that scares you, you cover your ears. It is precious.

You are kind. You are sweet and caring, however, you're not really a kisser. If I ask you for a kiss you say, "no I will give you a hug." But if I ask really sweetly you will give me kisses just to humor me.

You are strong and fast and really coordinated. You are really good at gymnastics, throwing and catching a ball, and are a great runner. You learned how to ride a bike with training wheels when you were 2 and a half. You are going to be an athlete.

Porter, you are the sweetest most amazing "medium boy" in the whole entire world. You are my little buddy. I cherish the time you and I spend while Pax is at school and Charlotte is taking a nap. We eat snacks play games and read books and watch tv and snuggle. I love this time we get to spend together and look forward to a whole year before you go to school yourself.

I love you more than anything, Porter Pie.

xoxoxo,

Mommy

Favorite things right now: macaroni and cheese, "cracker sandwiches," Go Diego Go, Hats and Shoes, gymnastics, riding your bike, music, video games, action figures, playing "go to sleep"

Thankfulness

Today Charlotte stopped up the toilet when she tried to flush an entire box of Kleenex down it. Paxton let me know that this had happened after the fact. A day late and a dollar short, I guess.

I took the kids to Sam's to get my stuff to make my Thanksgiving contributions. Of course they didn't have sweet potatoes. So I took Charlotte and Porter home, and Pax and I went to Target. After getting all my stuff we loaded back up and went home. When we got home I realized that I had left my purse in the basket at Target. So I leave Pax and grab Charlotte and head back to Target. Thankfully, a good Samaritan turned in my purse and it was waiting for me at Customer Service. I say thankfully not because of my money or credit cards, but because all of Paxton's medicine was in the medicine bag I carry with me at all times in my purse. Hours later I finally had everything I needed to make mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and cookies.

I was putting the laundry from the washer to the dryer. You know what I pulled out of the washing machine that had been run through the cycle with the clothes??? An ab roller.

*Just in case you weren't sure what an ab roller was!*

We let the kids watch a movie in Scott's office tonight before bed. I cleaned and cleaned and got everything all spotless to put up our Christmas decorations this weekend. Then I took snacks up to the kids. Grapes and pretzels. It was dark in the room because they were finishing up watching their movie. When I turned the light on later, I noticed Charlotte had chewed up and spit out about 1oo pretzels all over the carpet.

These are just a few of the happenings at the England household today. I say all of these things not because I am complaining, but because I am THANKFUL! Thankful that I married Scott almost 8 years ago and we had these 3 perfectly amazing and rambunctious children. That my children are healthy and happy and able to make these beautiful messes. That we have a home to get dirty, and food to spit out all over the floor, and medicine to panic about being lost, and each other to laugh at all of these things with. I am thankful for these things and for all of God's gifts and blessings. I love that Thanksgiving is a day to celebrate all the things we are thankful for, however, I don't feel any more thankful this day than any other day of the year. I know everyday is a gift and try to count my blessings every day of my life.

Thanksgiving at the England's.

Thanksgiving at school.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at Thanksgiving with my family. Booooooo! I will have to get some pics from my sis.

Halloween!

Paxton was "Superhero Wolverine" and Porter was Flash for Halloween this year. Don't ask me why they picked these costumes because I don't believe either of them knows who these characters are, but this is what they wanted so this is what they got. They didn't have either of these costumes at Target and that was as far as I looked, so my awesome mother ran ALL OVER TOWN trying to find these two specific costumes.

Knowing good and well Charlotte was going to wear her costume for all of about 30 seconds my mom just picked her up some butterfly wings and a tiara and wand. After seeing the costumes I think Porter wanted to be the fairy princess more than Flash, but whatever.

*This was the best picture I could get of Charlotte in her costume which proves my mom's theory was right!*

We went to the Aquarium on Thursday night for a little trick or treating. The boys had a ton of fun. Charlotte ran around like a complete maniac, as usual. There was trick or treating, an enormous bouncy house slide, another bouncy house, games, etc. It was awesome.

Not sure Porter liked the mermaid!

And the best part was that meems went with us!!!

It was a good thing that we went and had some Halloween fun on Thursday night because by Friday morning Paxton was running a fever. This means that he had miss his big Halloween party at school. Total bummer. And he ran a fever all weekend and just felt overall crummy. On Monday at 530 he was asleep on the couch. Not cool. But he perked up and we went trick or treating!

Paxton was loving it. Porter was into it for the first few houses, but he started to go down hill fast. By the time we got home him and Charlotte were running a fever. We had Charlotte strapped in the wagon and were letting her eat candy after candy to keep her still and not sprinting down the street. She kept getting pieces of candy out of Porter's bucket and saying "stuck, stuck" because she couldn't get the wrapper off.

Porter jumped into the wagon at one point and wasn't doing any more trick or treating. I asked him if he wanted to go to the next house with Pax and he said, "no thanks, it's making me nervous." I'm not quite sure if he really knows what that word means exactly though since this morning when Pax was singing this song over and over Porter said, "Pax stop singing that song. It's getting on my nervous." But who knows. He didn't feel good, but he did feel good enough to down a couple pieces of candy before jumping in the bath!

All in all it was a successful night. Fever's past and present, everyone had a blast! And Scott and I scored on some candy!