Seeing Santa

The trio is just a few weeks shy of their third birthday.  And just the right age to be TERRIFIED of Santa.  I was hoping this would not be the case and they would actually enjoy the experience.  All week we talked about Santa and all three expressed how excited they were.  Sarah planned to ask for a new doll, Jake for trains, and Lucas a candy cane.  They were even still excited while we stood in line.  Then the moment was upon us... Sarah was cool with sitting on Santa's lap.  Lucas clung to the security of Mrs. Clause instead.  Jake wanted no part of any of it.  Thankfully after a few minutes and some bribing with jingle bells he came around.  He still wouldn't sit on Santa's lap but he would sit on the bench by him.  The pictures were pretty fun.  I almost like the "crying" one best.  lol

Some Belated Turkey Talk

The week of Thanksgiving was a blur.  Now here we are 2 weeks later and I'm still not sure what day it is.  Between the holiday, battling colds, and studying for a big exam (which I passed) there just wasn't a lot of time for blogging.  So this will be short and sweet.  We had most of the family (on both sides) over to our house for a delicious meal.  There were 20 of us including kids and thankfully our new bigger house could accommodate the extra guests.  We would never have been able to do that in our old house.  I was apprehensive that everyone would get along and enjoy the day but that's exactly what happened.  Overall, it could not have gone any better.  And for that, I am beyond thankful!

Nana snuggling baby Eli

One of the three tables we set up

Centerpieces the kids made at school

All the side-dishes.  Yummy!

Sarah in her Tom Turkey dress

New Van!

The title says it all.  We got a new van.  We didn't plan on getting a new van anytime soon but the old one died and we just didn't have any more money to sink into it.  The old van was a 2000 Dodge Caravan with nearly 150,000 miles.  It was given to us for Christmas 3 years ago by my folks.  It was such an unbelievably generous gift at a time when we desperately needed it!  The trio was about 2 weeks away from being born and up to that point we had no way to even get them all home from the hospital unless we each drove a separate car! That van got us back and forth to a lot of places in the last 3 years.  And we were a little sad to see it go.

The van we brought our babies home in from the hospital

But as luck would have it we found a newer used Honda Odyssey for sale at a local dealership.  We got a good price and a fair trade-in on the old van.  Overall, we could not be happier with the new van.  It is fully loaded with leather seats, automatic sliding doors, sunroof, DVD player, and more.  It is sooooo easy to get the kids in and out of the van now.  It drives like a dream!  While not planned...a great surprise!