Christmas Time is Here

Christmas time around here has been non-stop fun. And non stop busy! And Frankie and Joey have been terrible nappers this week!

On Monday we went to my friend Ana's family tree farm for a Christmas party/gift exchange for the kids. It was SO much fun. I. Love. My. Friends. We've formed such an awesome community!  I've known most of the 3 year old's you'll see in the pictures from the time they were 2 months old. :) And I mean, know them know them. Since almost none of us have family here, we get together. A lot. Me and the other moms know things about each others families, know each others parenting woes, and intimate details about each others marriages (Thank you, wine) hahaha

Anyway - yup! Love these ladies. Love their kids. I'm so freaking lucky to have this amazing group of women in my life for so many reasons. And a lot of them weren't even there! This is just a few!

I know I've said this before, but the one thing that I would change would be that there would be some BOYS around for my sweet Joey.  He needs some boys in his life.  Girls are so.... girl. They're so different even at three years old from the little boys and Joey gravitates toward boys. And the girls gravitate toward other girls! Sigh. At least we have Julian! <3

Joey after he found his present hidden in the Christmas trees.

Diggin' in the dirt (he could have done this all the live long day)

Original Frankster and her dinosaur puzzles (She LOVES T-Rex's)

The gang! 

The rest of the week was so lovely with the kids. We went to the YMCA for Next Step two mornings this week, one class of 123 Grow, and one class of Ready, Set, Read. I didn't take any pictures one of the days. It's really hard to take pictures at classes like these because you're not supposed to get any other kids in the picture (YMCA Policy) and I'm just so busy playing with the kids and talking to other moms. Anyway - I got a couple of pics! 

One thing that I have zero photos of, and will have some once Petra puts pictures up on facebook is our annual (and CHAOTIC) Christmas Cookie Exchange.  It was a lot of fun and craziness. My friend Sandie hosts it each year because she's got a super nice house that's wide open and we can be in the kitchen the entire time and still see the kids no matter where they are.  Wait! I do have one picture of the egg nog fudge I made:

I don't really like it. It was a new recipe. It smelled good, though! haha oh well. It was easy to make. And the weirdest thing ever was that half the people there had never heard of fudge. Who's never heard of fudge?!?!!? Weirdos. So, when you have no idea what fudge is and you're expecting a cookie and take a giant bite, obviously it's gonna be WAY too rich and sweet. You're only supposed to take a tiny bite at a time, freaks. Haha. 

The afternoon after leaving the cookie exchange was a nap time disaster and the kids barely slept at all. BUT it was worth it because the exchange was super fun and nice and everyone had a great time. Joey never wanted to leave. He told me we could set up a bed and he could nap at Sandie's so we wouldn't have to go. hahaha! 

Here are a couple random pics from the other days this week:

The kids LOVE these foam stickers! They've had so many cute crafts at the Y lately and I've been so impressed with their new teacher, Brittany. 

What we do at home. In the morning we keep all the lights off except for one. Then Joey excitedly runs to the couch, lays down and turns his head away. I make a trumpeting sound and plug in the Christmas tree and he turns around and freaks out excitedly about the lights. Every. Morning. It's so stinkin' cute. I have 7 big candles up on the ledge beside the Christmas tree in our front entry way (just for Christmas time) and I light all the candles in the morning and Joey and Frankie both LOVE it so much and it smells soooo good and so Christmas-y! 

I kind of wish we weren't going back home for Christmas, and surprisingly so does Stuart! As our family grows and gets older, it sure is nice to be at our own place at Christmas time.  We're our own independent entity now. hard to believe that day has already arrived! 

Joey painting at Ready, Set, Read

Frankie only painting in the tray at Ready, Set, Read. Haha! What a mess!

hahaha <3 Frankie and Natalie outside the YMCA hangin' out.

Frankie has been so clingy at nap time lately and wanting to be held and swayed to sleep - something I haven't done for her since she was a little baby.  I LOVE doing it, but I can't do it when I have to get Joey down for a nap next because they go to bed pretty much at the same time.

Joey had SUCH a hard time listening before nap time yesterday, which is unusual for him. I think I've just gotten used to him listening to me all the time and when he doesn't it makes me sooooo upset.  He went into Frankie's room right after she fell asleep and started being so noisy and woke her up! I was SO mad.  When she finally had calmed herself down, Joey was in the bathroom.  I went in and reminded him to be quiet and he SLAMMED THE TOILET SEAT DOWN. and it woke her up again and she was screaming.  Omg. I was so, so, SO, SOOOOO mad. I said in a super angry, quiet, seething voice, "Mommmyyyyy isssss veryyyyy angrrrryyyy" and it scared Joey so  bad that he fell to the bathroom floor bawling and saying "Mommy, you're scaring me." Wow. Disaster. Frankie's screaming in one room and my three year old is naked on the bathroom floor scared of me. Siiigh. I hugged him for like 15 minutes after that and told him that even though I feel angry at him, I still love him and blah blah blah. I don't think I've ever been quite so mad at him, though. 

After that long episode, Joey finally went down for a nap. And then I went into the room Frankie was sleeping in and calmed her down for a good 20 minutes.  She was SO precious, though. Like, the most precious in the world. She had her little head nuzzled into my neck and her whole body just sunk into me as I swayed her around. Omg. Most precious moments ever.

When I got out of there... s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g, I heard Joey. He never fell asleep and he was yelling that he had to go wee wee.  He went to the bathroom, went back in our bed (he sleeps on our bed for nap) and I went to go relax.  He started yelling and talking, but I thought 'Hey, at least he's in the bedroom' and that maybe he'd tire himself out. About half an hour later, Frankie starts making noise (I don't know if she ever fell asleep) and Joey yelled at the top of his lungs, "MOMMY!! CAN YOU WASH MY HANDS??? SAY YES, OR NO!" I wondered why on earth he needed me to wash his hands.

What I walked into, I could not have expected. It was the funniest scene imaginable.  A very serious, remorseful Joey was positively glistening, covered head to toe (he sleeps only in a diaper) in Vick's Vapor Rub.  It took everything I had not to laugh.  I said in a quiet voice, "Joey. What did you do?" and his lip started quivering as he tried to talk and he burst into tears. OMG it was so cute, sad, and funny.  I hugged him on the bed for SO LONG while he calmed down. Probably a good 20 minutes of calmly explaining to him (while his head was buried in my chest) that Vick's is medicine, not lotion and we only put it on our chest and only when mommy is there to help. He, of course, knew all this, hence the crying when I found out what had transpired.  I went on and on about how much I love him and how we all make mistakes and blah blah blah and he was loving every delicious morsel of my affection.  Suddenly, I felt his body start to become heavy.  He was getting super sleepy while I was talking to him and rubbing his back. I lay him down and told him that I needed to give him a special bath before he went back to sleep and to wait quietly. I came back with a warm, wet towel and washed the Vick's off his little body, sang a million Christmas ballads, and told him it was time to sleep. And he did.  Of course, Frankie was still awake and had started to cry, so I went back to her room and swayed her around for another 20 minutes.  By the time I was out of there and sat down, it was only 15 minutes before Joey started crying because I forgot to turn on the fan before I left our bedroom. Annnnd then Frankie started crying. I just got them both up because it was a lost cause.
Anyway, here's me, ultra tired:

Annnnd I have to go now cuz my kids just started screaming for me. BUT first, here's my 18 week bump!

I've gained 8 pounds so far, which feels like a thousand and looks on the scale like... well, like a number that I only see when I'm pregnant and hate more than anything. BUT, I love how huge i'm getting. I actually am loving my pregnant body this time around, which is something unexpected and awesome. I just wish I never had to see the number. womp. BUT! It's all good. In 5 more days, we get to find out the sex and see our little one in the womb! Soooo excited.