three (!)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas-ing, Part 1

The Christmas season is upon us and we had with a busy weekend last weekend beginning with our small group Christmas party. We enjoyed lots of laughs during our annual white elephant exchange. Our small group is so very important to us - these dear people are like family at this point and we have all been through so much together. We love being able to celebrate this time of year with them and we look forward to growing old and gray together as long as they will continue to have us.
Saturday night we went to the Jen extended family party at my parents' house. Here is my Grandma and her 14 great-grandchildren...the newest one is 4 days old in this picture and there is one more coming soon (my cousin and her husband are looking forward to picking up their daughter from China sometime early next year).
This is always a busy time of the year for us and we are trying to be intentional this year about slowing down and remembering what Christmas is really all about. We have been opening a different Christmas book with the kids for the 12 days of Christmas and it's been a great activity with the kids - it allows us to slow down at least for a few moments each day and talk about the Christmas story with Dylan and Ella. We will be delivering some Christmas gifts to a needy family later this week as well with our small group, and we tried to involve the kids in picking out gifts from the Samaritan's Purse gift catalog (Dylan picked baby chicks, Ella picked dairy animals and Mady picked feed a hungry baby for a week :) )

What ways is your family celebrating Jesus this Christmas season?

how's it going?

Everyone seems to want to know how it's going with three. The short answer is, "it's going!" I guess it's about how I expected it to be - a little busier of course but I do feel like things are somewhat under control...I have also realized lately that I have very low expectations so it's hard to be disappointed :) If we all survive the day in one piece, that's what I call a good day!

I know some people think going from one to two kids is the harder transition and others think it's when you go from two to three. At this point, I'm going to side with the one to two kids people. It's hard to go to the grocery store with three kids, but a lot of times it was hard to go with two...we stay in a lot with three, but we were staying in a lot with two...it's a little chaotic at times with three, but it was chaotic with two. Also, I think I feel more "seasoned" this time around. With your second child, you get thrown off at first because the second one doesn't behave the way the first one did. With the third, I feel like I already know that...I fully expect Mady to be different than the first two and if there are any similarities I just see that as a bonus because my parenting experience might actually come in handy :)

The kids are adjusting as well. We are trying to be intentional about giving them all individual attention throughout the day. Dylan is pretty laid back but he still needs that one-on-one time especially during the afternoon while Ella and Mady are sleeping. His sisters get a lot of attention for being little and cute and we want to make sure Dylan knows how special and loved he is and how much we enjoy his little "boy-ness".

Ella loves her baby sister but I know it's been a harder transition for her because she's no longer the baby or the only girl...and did I mention that she's THREE? She's been extra clingy and emotional and a bit of a mama's girl which is funny because she's usually very independent but I know it's her way of reaching out for extra love and attention.

Mady is a very sweet little baby. She's a cuddler and I keep telling Matt that I've never felt so loved by a baby before. The other kids weren't really cuddlers but Mady loves to snuggle and seems so appreciative when you pick her up and hold her in your arms. Matt and I are really enjoying her in the evenings after the other two are in bed and we can relax and wonder at our little one.

All in all, our hearts are bursting with love for these three kiddos. We feel complete now as a family (which is kind of a shame because we make really cute babies ;) ) and we look forward to continuing to watch them all grow.

first snow!