Kids at Christmas 2017: Traditional tree pictures

Banx's Winter Dance Recital

Banx had her winter dance recital, and she did such an amazing job! I was so proud of her! She smiled the whole time, gave her attitude while dancing, and did a round off cartwheel! What a total rockstar :)  Piper enjoyed the show, or more-so taking selfies with Aunt Brookie :)

Beau December Update in Kindergarten

After a little playground and friend issues, Beau is doing better at school. He is almost always getting Blue or Purple at school everyday, purple being the best. He really takes it hard when he does something wrong or disappoints his teacher. I can always tell by Beau's attitude when he gets of the bus how his day was. And I am so happy to say most days he is in a great mood! I am so proud of Oskaloosa Schools and the opportunities we are providing our children/students. Beau is now being pulled for Math to work on "TAG" type math work. He is much smarter than I often give him credit for, and I don't want him to lose any motivation for keeping this up.

Santa came to visit Beau's class at school right before Christmas break. He gave all the kids a present with a book, which was so kind of Santa! :) Mrs. Anderson had the kids make presents too. It was a picture frame with Beau's footprint on it made into a snowman. The kids were allowed to wrap it for anyone they wanted, and Beau insisted on making his for Nana. So that's what he did. He made the picture and wrapped it for Nana so she would have a Christmas present. 

Date Night With Mommy

Joe has been busy with seed dinners the past couple of weeks, which meant the kids and I had a little extra one-on-one time. We made cookies and had a night of playing Bingo the other night. Although the night was short, I am trying to remind myself daily to not take these night for granted. Someday, they won't want to play games with me or spend every possible second cuddled up next to me. 

Baine's Hat Day at School

Piper Standing for the 1st Time and Crawling Stairs on Her Own: December 2017

Piper Collins: 10 Months

     Well, we are another month closer to having a 1 year old again. And I am not a fan of how much faster time seems to fly with 3 kids now. Piper, your personality is blooming more and more by the minute, and you are getting to be quite the character. You love to laugh, play peek-a-boo, and to chase (crawl) after your brothers throughout the house. You are trying so hard to walk. In fact, just a few nights ago on Christmas Eve, you took your very first step at Papa's! And mama actually was able to see it. Piper you are the light in my eye. You have been my saving grace this year. I am 100% convinced that Nana, God, a higher power, whoever you want to believe in, made me have a girl this year because they knew I was going to need a daughter to fulfill a huge void in my life and to continue mother/daughter traditions and relationships that I had with my mom. I had been so determined and adamant about wanting 3 boys all along, and I was so shell-shocked when you were born. But now, I can't be thankful enough that I have you. My very own daughter.

     Piper, you smile at anyone who will look at you. You are growing so much. You eat NON-STOP. However, I'm not sure where you store it because you are not overly chunky at all. You do have a nice size belly, though :). You weight over 20 pounds and are getting TALL.
-Wears size 3 diapers (barely)
-Size 5 shoe
-Size 12/18 month clothes
-Favorite foods: french fries, pancakes, bananas, cereal, chips, cookies, PIZZA, mashed potatoes
-FINALLY back to sleeping through the night. In fact, the last time I posted on here (about 3 weeks ago) that was the last night you woke up in the night. You are back to sleeping 12-13 hours at night.
-Still napping 2 big naps a day
-screaming loud to get anyone's attention
-walking behind a walker toy
-standing up on your own
-belly laughing when Daddy tickets your tummy :)