The Holidays

Can I just say I'm glad that the holiday season is over? I love Christmas and all that, but the havoc it wreaks on small children may not be worth it. We simplified the holidays this year by cutting out some of our traditions involving going out for an evening, but somehow we were still incredibly busy.

Of note, I made homemade English toffee and peanut brittle for the first time this year. Both turned out really well--which made me feel like some kind of culinary wunderkind. No wonder I still have six baby pounds left to lose. I think they're going to be tough ones.

Here are a whole bunch of pictures. I think they're in chronological order.  :)

Patrick narrating a book. He loves books more than any other thing right now. 

We got the kids cheap little advent calendars this year. They liked them but I don't know if I'd get that kind again. They were a little weird.

The kids decorating our homemade gingerbread men cookies. 

Braden has grown some sweet, sweet cheeks in the last couple months. He's so luscious.

Aubrey still frequently dons various items from her toy box and runs around fighting crime and household injustice.

Aubrey and Great-Grandma Sorensen on Christmas Eve.

The great grandparents on Christmas Eve. 

Aubrey up and decided to make presents for her grandmas for Christmas. She wrote (dictating as I transcribed) and illustrated three short stories for them. They're pretty hilarious. It was all her own idea and she worked  really hard on them (for a four-year-old). 

This is Patrick insisting on having his breakfast before he would even look at presents under the tree on Christmas morning. He's such a goofy kid.

Aubrey delivering her present to Grandma Kenison. Super sweet. 

This is mainly what Braden did during all of the Christmas craziness. It was great.

The kids got new snowpants for Christmas. I'm pretty sure at least two Aubreys can fit in her pants. 

Braden was blessed on 12/29. I think it was this event that really made the holidays crazy for us. 

I thought it would be fun to do a quick 2013 year in review for each family member:

Aubrey
Turned four in March. She is an amazing big sister and can be quite helpful. She's learned a lot and was even reading a little over the summer, but alas, I've stopped working with her on that lately. She wasn't very motivated to read and I don't feel the need to push her--she's already way beyond what they're doing in preschool. She has a very active imagination and can weave a story out of most anything. Also earlier this year I started (informally) teaching her the piano. She picked it up quickly and can play a few very simple songs. Again, we haven't been doing much piano around here lately. We're all starting to settle in to this whole baby thing--maybe we'll start being more ambitious again. She is smart, responsible, sweet, and very mature for her age.

Patrick
Turned two in April. He learned to identify his letters and their short sounds toward the end of the summer. I feel pretty good about that. He is a good singer and remembers songs very well for his age, I think. One of my favorite things he sings is the "Do Re Mi" song from The Sound of Music. He is now a big brother and is very cute about it. Sometimes he'll quiet Aubrey down (usually unnecessarily) saying "You'll wake the baby!" He makes up his own songs and stories and pours over books for an hour at a time. He'll point to the letters on the page, make up a story about the pictures, or recite snatches of the book from memory. He is smart, quirky, and very high-strung.

Braden
Was born in September. Although he was relatively small and scrawny at birth (compared to my other two babies), he is now a girthy little three-month-old. He's in the 75th percentile for weight while only being in the 25th percentile for height. Like my other babies, he loves being snuggled and talked to. He is my most talky baby. He will gaze up at me with his big blue eyes and chubby cheeks and coo contentedly for several minutes. In fact, we had quite the conversation tonight before I put him to bed. He kept laughing every time I repeated the exact sounds he was making. It was adorable. He has started to swat at hanging toys and lies motionlessly when I put him down for tummy time. (My other kids hated tummy time--maybe this is just his form of protest.) Also, he sleeps for 9-11 hours every night but isn't a great napper (also like my other babies). He really, really loves his mommy and won't take a bottle for anything.

Dave
Started a new career and job in February as a web developer. He's picked up computer programming very quickly because he's super smart and works hard. It's kind of amazing that he is as far as he is in a field he just started "picking up" 18 months ago.

Chelle
Got the job offer of a lifetime (with the amazing money and all that) in the early spring and turned it down to be a stay-at-home mom. I still feel good about it even though little Braden has very ironically turned out to be my most expensive baby by a lot. However, I was able to be there when he was very sick and I've been there for each of my kids' achievements listed above. I can't think of a non-cliche way to say it--being with the kids is priceless.