A Ukulele Liam, Frosty, and the Penguin

Luke, Liam, and Aiden sang in church on Sunday along with all the other 3 year olds to 6th grade church school friends.

You can vaguely see Luke (Green sweater) waving at us.  Liam is on the far left trying to find us.  

Aiden and, ironically, our neighbor Josie

This was Aiden's first time to sing in church and he did great!

Liam and Luke getting ready to sing at their school holiday program

This cracks me up.  Luke dressed up as Frosty and here he is leaning on the risers with his feet crossed.  

Liam (far left) and Frosty singing at the holiday program.

Luke and Liam's class program

Liam played the ukulele in the program

Luke had a special "solo" part as Frosty.  He was too funny and so proud.  No surprise to John and I that Luke would volunteer for a part where he can be front and center!

Enjoying cookies and treats after the program

Liam with cookies and treats

Aiden

The boys got to see Santa after the program

Aiden was a penguin in his program.  I guess penguins don't wear their shirts tucked in.  

Aiden and the other penguins

Picture of Aiden's class taken by Liam.  Luke and Liam operated the video camera and the regular camera for Aiden's program.  We ended up with a few extra pictures.

Another funny pic from Liam!


We stayed busy this weekend with three Christmas programs all on the same day.  Luke, Liam, and Aiden sang two songs in church on Sunday.  This was Aiden's first time to sing in church.

Following church, we changed clothes, ate lunch, and prepared for our next holiday programs.  Luke and Liam's class performed first followed by Aiden's class.  After each performance, the boys enjoyed cookies and visits with Santa who "always comes to our school program" according to Liam.

Each of the boys had a small part in their school program.  John and I were not surprised at all to see Luke had volunteered to be Frosty and was dressed in a costume.  He was right up front when they sang, "Frosty the Snowman" and even did a little dance while holding a broom.  It was hilarious.  Liam was a ukulele player while they sang, "Christmas in Hawaii" and he held the ukulele as if he was actually playing it.  Aiden was a penguin while his class sang "Three Little Penguins" and he waddled just like a penguin and even wore the hat throughout the program.  Luke and Liam took some 78 pictures during Aiden's program, but I narrowed it down to a handful for this post.  Good thing it is only a digital camera!

It was a long day of programs and the boys were tired, but Finn survived and we enjoyed watching them sing the songs they have been practicing for several months. 

Thursday, December 12th marked the end of a long process of healing, rehabilitation, strengthening, etc...with Aiden.  He broke his femur on July 10th and had two rods placed in his leg.  Five months later, you cannot even tell that he was injured.  Thankfully, he has made a full recovery and the rods were removed on Thursday.  As crazy as it sounds, he was up and walking (trying to run!?) several hours after the surgery.  We are so thankful for the prayers and help we received from so many friends and family members.  

Its Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas....

Watching us put up the Christmas Tree and trying to figure out what the big deal is

Daddy and Luke hanging the lights

Time for a break

I just want to eat that big white ball!

Aiden playing UNO with Finn

What did you just put in my mouth?  Finn tried his first bit of solid food this week.  He had a few bites of sweet potatoes and some oatmeal baby cereal.  Overall, it was a success and the interest was definitely there.  He opened his mouth just like he knew what he was doing.  

I am not so sure about that stuff

Hey, wait...I Like it!!!

Santa Baby

Decorating the tree

More Decorating

Working on the rink

Liam and Daddy shoveling the rink

As with many parts of the United States, winter arrived the week after Thanksgiving.  It has been COLD, very COLD here.  With highs barely reaching zero, we have been trying to get ready for winter.  We don't usually have temps this cold until at least mid January and it usually only lasts for a few weeks.  Not this year.....

We worked on getting the Christmas tree up this week.  I say "we worked on it" because we assembled one day, hung lights another day, and did ornaments the next.  It takes awhile when you have so many "helpers."  To be fair, we also hung stockings and other decorations so it wasn't just the tree we were working on.

For the first time ever, we are putting the tree up in the play room.  There really isn't a great space for the tree downstairs and the play room is really the biggest room in the house so opening gifts on Christmas Day will be much easier with more space.  We have never had the tree upstairs in the bonus room for obvious reasons, but the boys have been warned about leaving the tree alone so we will see how it goes.  We also happened to keep all the valuable and highly breakable ornaments in the box this year (just in case, of course).  As we were hanging ornaments this year, the boys were competing with each other over who had the most breakable ornament to hang.  Seems like they are always competing about something, but that one was kind of odd to John and I.

The ice rink and I have a love/hate relationship right now.  At the busiest time of our year, it is taking a lot of time on the weekends to manage.  Overall, I am hopeful it will pay back by spending some of the boy's energy and giving us a fun outdoor activity to do.  For now, we have had a few small setbacks and we are waiting until the ice is ready.  Despite the extreme cold, we still had more water to fill the rink and then make sure it was level and somewhat smooth.  

Thanksgiving 2013

This was my FIRST Thanksgiving!

And I am already 4 months old, can you believe it?

Grandpa, Finn, and Daddy watching some Football

He is pretty cute, I think!

The boys are introducing Grandpa and Grandma to Elf on the Shelf movie because guess who is at our house now??  Our Elf, Cowboy, made the trek from the North Pole To our house on Dec. 1 (more to come on that later)

Getting ready to make cookies

Making cookies with Grandma

Aiden and his cookies

Luke and Grandma working on cookies

Aiden at "Llama, llama Holiday Drama"

Getting ready to watch the show!

The boys with one of the Llamas

Outside the Children's Theater

We had a very nice Thanksgiving weekend and enjoyed several days with Grandma and Grandpa Carrithers.  Although I don't have a lot of pictures, we did several fun things and the boys had a great time.  Luke, particularly, enjoyed several (maybe several hundred?) games of UNO with Grandpa.  While I organized and shopped for Thanksgiving, John did the cooking this year.  Although it was quite cold, the weather cooperated for Minnesota in that there wasn't any snow, ice, etc.  We were able to get outside a little on Thanksgiving Day and John spent several hours over the weekend working on the ice rink which is almost ready.  Grandma brought the supplies to make cookies with the boys as well as several other fun activities.  Luke, Liam, and Aiden enjoyed their first live performance based on the book "Llama, Llama Holiday Drama" by Anna Dewdney at a local children's theater.

It was a nice extended weekend and a memorable first Thanksgiving for Finn as well as the rest of us.  We are thankful for many blessings this year especially the safe arrival of Finn in July.   We hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving as well.   

Lots of Finn (at almost 4 months)

Finn tried out the "johnny jumper" for the first time this week and, like his three big brothers, loved it!

Note the sticker on his shirt from Aiden

Big smile after rolling over on the floor (with assistance from AJ and Mom)

Hmm, I like this.  Rolling over a little more....

Its very hard to see Luke and Liam, but all the kindergarteners sang in church on Sunday and they did really well.   

Donuts after singing in church!

Happy Finn!

Laughing

Talking

Checking things out

Finn will be 4 months old in a few days.  It really is crazy how fast they change.  He is a big boy and may surpass his brothers in size (at least right now, he is slightly ahead of all of them at the same age).  He had his first ear infection recently and his weight was 16.5 pounds.  He is quickly moving into 9 month clothing.  His favorite activities include:  watching his brothers, taking a bath, eating, sleeping, playing in his exersaucer, and laying in his bouncy seat.

In other news, Luke and Liam (along with the rest of the kindergarten class) sang in church on Sunday.  We practiced "Come Thou Almighty King" or as the boys said "Come Down Mighty King"  a lot in car so they knew all the words.  And, our practice worked because honestly I could hear Luke singing!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with Family and Friends!