Tis the Season to be...

Sweet Sassy Molassy, what a BUSY time of year!  Does it ever get to a point where you don't feel a bit stressed before Christmas?  It seems backwards right?  It shouldn't be a time of year to feel that way, but rather joyful, simple, reflecting on the goodness in life, and just loving on one another.  We have squeezed in loads of parties(Birthday, Christmas), shopping, baking, running errands galore, and I sit here typing so exhausted, dreaming of a solid nights sleep(which I WILL NOT get)!  I do enjoy this time of year so much, I know that it feels a little heavier because I have 3 little one's who need me all of the time still.  Especially Leo, so clingy, stuck to me like glue these days, if he's not in my arms 24/7 these last few weeks he thinks I've abandoned him, little stinker.  I broke out the old moby wrap yesterday and he was covered in sugar and flour while I held him in that and tried to bake~lol!  Already hit round 2 of separation anxiety.  Love him to bits, he's just wearing his mama out these last few weeks...wait I mean this last 17 months ;) Here's what's been going on, and what you will so in the pictures. 
~We decorated GIANT gingerbread cookies, it was so much fun, they turned out really cute.
~Liv had her Christmas program, which was Veeeery interested because it started out with a Kindergartner vomiting on stage, and it doesn't stop there...but I won't go into detail.  So that was a super fun night, not!  I just wanted to get the heck out of there, there were sick people everywhere!  We didn't get any family pictures because as soon as Olivia was finished singing, Shane took the boys and got the heck out of there ;)
~Olivia has had a gift cert to get her ears pierced for a year now.  I really wish she'd wanted to wait til she was a teenager but she's begged for a long time.  So she and her best babe, Ella Bean, went together last Friday.  Laura and I laughed so hard, it was such a scene.  You have to know that the girls have talked about this for over a year, and at the last minute they chickened out, and were so worked up.  OK we are good moms, we weren't laughing at them, it was just funny because they would ask us things like "pinch our ears so we now how it will feel", and Liv asked about 100 times so her little ears were all red before they even got poked.  So when you see that I took pictures of them right before while they were crying, it was only so that I could show them afterwords because I knew the minute they were pierced, they'd be smiling...and they were!  Wish we'd recorded it, it was priceless.  They are so darn cute, yin/yang.  Ella went first, and she's Olivia's rock so if she breaks down, Liv assumes she needs to RUN FOR THE HILLS!  And bless her little heart because after Ella went through it, she wanted to run.  Ella got scared and cried(can't blame her) so Olivia decided she "wasn't ready, can't do this."   Was crying and wanted to walk around the mall and think about it.  Uh, almost an hour later ;)  she decided she'd go through with the ear piercing.  There is so much more to the story, and like I said, Laura and I will laugh about this day for years & years.  So, my girl has her first piercing, and hopefully the only piercing she will ever have.  I love these girls so much, glad they got to share this moment.  We will have lots of stories to share in their later years.

I have been beyond ready for Christmas break, and it's here, thank you Lord!  Can't wait for our party of 5 to just hang out, enjoy each other, stay in comfy cozies all day if we want to, not rush out the door for anything...and to keep everything simple!  This is probably the last time I will be on here for awhile, so wishing you a Merry Christmas, Happy EVERYTHING, and that 2013 brings you much love, peace, happiness, & health!

Ginger boy & girl decorating=fun, Fun!

With Gam, Yaya, and her Papas

At Liv's Christmas program

Pre-earrings, she is so excited, well for the time being ;)

Liv has already started to cry, notice her eyes

Ella getting ready!  Lol!

Oh Noodle, so worked up!

She is bracing herself ;)

Seconds later, happy HAPPY, which I knew she would be!

They did it!

This is SO TRUE!

A friend of mine posted this. It speaks volumes to busy Mamas!  It reminds me to let these things go~ the dust, windows with baby & kid fingerprints on them, and the list goes on ;) 

The Lion is 16 months!

Leo has been given several funny, random nicknames during these last 16 months. These are among the most common around here~Bug, Buggy, LJ, little owl, Shnooks(Shane, & Liv calling him this all of the time!) I think Shane likes the shnoo sounds, Liv started out as shnoodle in my belly and once she arrived he called her noodle.  Anyways, Leo James is 16 months old today, hard to believe!  Hard to believe that he hasn't given his Mommy a full night of uninterrupted sleep in 16 months either, little stinker!  He has yet to sleep through the night, which is probably why I am typing this as I fight a flu bug.  I am worn down, and so sleep deprived. I haven't had a full nights rest/slept through the night for 18 months and that is not stretching the truth!  This too shall pass right?!  He will sleep through the night one of these days...or years, haha!  He is talking so much now.  Kind of funny that when Shane helps me at night, he will point to his bedroom door and say "doow"  and then calls out saying "mama"  Because he wants Shane to bring him to me :") 
It's very cute to hear his munchkin voice.  Some of my favorite things to hear him say are mana (banana,) toast, wa wa, sta(star,) num num, bye bye, hello, hi, baby, uh oh, yaya, papa, tree.  He says quite a bit for his young age.  All three of my kids were super verbal so I'm not all that surprised.  He will look at himself in the mirror and say baby, and I am trying to teach him his name.  He is very good at baby sign language.  He uses sign language to tell us all done, more, please, thank you, i love you.  It's very sweet, and helpful when he gets frustrated!  He has lots of cuteness going on around here lately.  He is a L-O-V-E-R always giving us lots of hugs & kisses.  When he hugs us he pats our backs with his tiny hands, so sweet!  He also does this thing where he lifts our shirts up to look for our belly b's(belly button,) and then pokes them and giggles.  Leo is a character.  He is the typical 3rd child trying to keep up with his big sister and brother.  Wants to be a big boy already.  He doesn't really like to play with toys, if you hand him something from the kitchen, pots/pans and a wooden spoon, telephone, he's good to go.  He is still very fascinated by airplanes.
This little babe also LOVES to eat!!  He will eat 2 bowls of old fashioned oatmeal in the morning with a side or two of fruit, and whatever else we might be munching on.  Oatmeal is one of his favorite breakfast foods.  He's a true Hennessy and would eat tillamook cheese 24/7.  He can't get enough of baby goldfish, would eat them all day if I let him do so.  He pretty much loves any fresh fruit, but is very finicky about veggies, darn it.  We are still working on incorporating more vegetables.  Didn't have that problem with Liv or NJP so it's been different this time around.  He will drink water out of cups, but if you give him milk he will gag and look at you like you've just tried to poison him.  Probably because he still nurses, and won't like cows milk until he stops nursing, Liv was the same way.  I remember crying wondering what she'd drink when I was done nursing her.  Once she was fully weaned she transitioned just fine.  I think Leo has a few more months before he'll stop nursing.  Liv nursed for 18 months, Nolan 17.

I have always said Leo is one of the most happy, easy going babies, if he slept well, he'd be perfect!  I guess I have to remember that most of the time he's a chill little dude.  

He's still 100% a mama's boy! I'm in love with his honey colored curls that are so tightly wound, that he still has chubby little legs, hands, fingers, his dreamy long, dark eyelashes that curl up, beautiful blue eyes, buttermilk breath, his sweet smile & giggle. He is just sweet in so many ways. I can't get enough of him and wish he could stay little although that ship has sailed, he is growing up so fast in every way! 

We got our tree today. It's starting to smell like Christmas in our home!

This is the first year in many that we didn't go to a beautiful tree farm out North. We have been spoiled because the Wells & Ruffs have known the owner of that land for years and years and we always tagged along with them to get our tree. Ted's trees are the best, the look, the smell, they are also soft. Not to mention he's a sweet man, and always invited us to his little cabin next to his home. Although most of the Daddy's got way too stressed with our 9 kids(total) running through the vintage cabin~touching, and occasionally breaking things ;) We usually just went inside for a quick treat and group photo. However, not this year, sad! Ted planted a new crop of trees and they are still wee things so it will probably take a couple years for them to get bigger. This year was quite different, still very memorable, for reasons I probably shouldn't mention....hahaha. Nonetheless we all got our trees, and I even got a tiny tree for my front porch. No snow this year, it was actually sunny, and beautiful up on the bluff as always. The kids enjoyed running around the orchard and playing hide & seek. Looking forward to decorating this prickly thing tomorrow with the munchkins. It's a tad early, but we always go right after Thanksgiving, it's just that Thanksgiving came early this year, so I'm a bit discombobulated.

Our tree, to the left behind Shane.  Uh what is with my rather L-A-R-G-E looking hands?  Especially the one on the left, looks like a boxing glove~lol! Go go gadget hands, my goodness!   A funny illusion. 

My little bug, he was very curious about the trees.

I would like to nibble on his face!

Watching all the big kids play hide & seek.  I have lots to post about this sweet faced boy.  He is almost 16 months, yikes, and a small pain in my heart, it's going FAST.

My boy who is very good at entertaining himself!

I had a moment the other day, one of those moments as a mom when you feel horrible about misunderstanding something your child is saying/doing.  Was trying to tidy up as I was leaving the house, you know that scene.  Nolan grabbed a cheerios box that was on the counter that I was about to place in the recycling bin.  I asked him to please stop making more of a mess, and that we needed to get going.  I could hear him tinkering around in the front room.  Again, I was saying to him, please please don't be making more messes, and reminded him I was trying to clean up before we left the house. Well,  a few minutes later I walked around the corner to find him standing there with a cheerios box that he happened to turn into a little masterpiece(in under 5 minutes.)  I felt horrible, he said, "mom I was just making this airplane!"  He was so proud of himself and had a sweet/shy expression on his face.  On the table beside the airplane=scissors, some tape, and a plastic man/pilot.  I love him, he was just trying to stay out of my way so I could tidy up.  He is ALWAYS using his imagination, this is one of my favorite things he's come up with.  He's very resourceful & creative I might add!

Notice the pilot he taped to the top :")

*I found some more photos by NJP on my little camera, these are from June and he must have taken them when we were at Luna for my mom's birthday brunch, they are pretty funny! Found a few others from a couple weeks ago, sharks in a frying pan, lol!