Christmas and catching up

Christmas 2011 was wonderful! Each year it gets better and better as the kids get older and we're able to add to our traditions and they start to understand what Christmas is all about. This year James was very in tune to whose birthday we were celebrating and we had many sweet conversations about Jesus. In fact, he asked both Jeremy and I to pray with him to have Jesus in his heart and then turned little evangelist on us and was trying to get John-Mark to pray as well :) I know that he truly doesn't understand his need for a Savior at this point but he has such a sweet spirit towards Jesus. One night we had a conversation about how he wished he could see Jesus and we talked about how He was going to return for us one day. He got so excited and asked if he was coming tomorrow and how he couldn't wait and he was going to show Him the painting we have of him on our wall :) The next day he woke up asking if Jesus was coming today! Since I didn't grow up in a Christian home I'm not always sure what conversations they are "ready" for but it's amazing how I don't really have to "try" to have conversations with them - they are the ones starting them with me!
These are the pictures we used on our Christmas card this year. We did another Christmas Card/Birth Announcement for Benjamin.



Here are some of the pics my sweet friend Anne-Michelle took of our crew trying to get a good Christmas card picture. Some of them turned out super cute but we didn't have any where EVERYONE looked good but I still love them :)
The "big kids"

Our little looker - this boy is so handsome!Our little princess

An attempt at a family shot - several people told me they prefer to have a Christmas card picture with mom and dad included - well, this is why we don't do them right now - We had he hardest time trying to get Gracie to look at the camera unless we were the ones taking the pictures and this is the smile James is making 85% of the time right now. You kind of have to catch him off guard to get a more natural smile :)

We had a lot of fun this Christmas season doing fun crafts and making Christmas cookies. I was a little hesitant to do the Christmas cookie thing by myself but with Jeremy's busy work schedule if I wanted to do it I had to do it solo. It actually went well. I've found I just have to sit the kids down and lay the game plan out before we get started with the "rules" - no eating or licking the cookie dough etc. :)

One of my dear friend from college "Aunt Stephie" sent the kids the Little People Nativity - they LOVED it. I loved hearing them ask each other "Where is baby Jesus?"
As part of our Christmas countdown some days I would give the kids little presents - one day they each got a costume - this was on a particularly cold day where we were stuck in the house and it helped keep them busy for hours! They were soooo excited! John-Mark was Buzz, James - spider man, and Gracie our little Cinderella (it was too cold to take her pjs off:)This past year the Allen kids were introduced to The Toy Story! John-Mark in particular LOVES the whole gang but especially Buzz. My dad came down Christmas Eve and brought Buzz, Woody, and Jessie! They all loved them but John-Mark was most in heaven. He would tell everyone how much he loved Buzz. That night we went to chuch and then dinner and he was not happy about it at all becuase he wanted to stay home and play with Buzz. Then Christmas morning the first thing he did was get up and start playing with him - it took him 30 minutes before he realized there were more presents under the tree!

As per our tradition for the past 8 years we went to our church's Christmas Eve service then dinner at a Japanese Steak House. This year we let James come to "big" church for the service and he did such a good job! He loved all the singing and watching everyone on the big screens. I may have a hard time getting him to go back to children's church!

Dinner was a success as well. Everyone did great and enjoyed the "show". I wish Jeremy and I had taken a picture every year. Hard to remember what it was like those first couple of years when it was just the two of us!! Sweet memories :)
Once again Gracie isn't looking at the camera and James is "cheesing!"

We got home from dinner around 9pm and Jeremy was unaware the he had a 3 hour kitchen assembly ahead of him - he was super excited :) So we quickly put the kids to bed and got working wrapping presents and putting the kitchen together. Christmas morning we got up and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus with our Christmas brownies (I ran out of time to get cupcakes made)!

Gracie opening her kitchen


James opening one of his presents - in his spider man costume ofcourse - funny story about James - for several reasons we have decided not to do the whole Santa/Elf thing. We've told him about St. Nicholas and how he helped families that couldn't afford to buy presents for thier children but that mommy and daddy would be buying thier gifts. But ofcourse everything around him focuses on Santa so he kind of didn't believe us! We stopped to look at Christmas lights one night and Mr and Mrs Clause happened to be at one of the houses giving out candy - James promptly told them that his mommy says Santa isn't real (Total Miracle on 34th Street moment!) But he said it like - she obviously doesn't know what she's talking about. Then Christmas morning he was so excited that there were presents under the tree and started telling everyone "Santa came!!!" Too funny! Here we are not wanting to lie to him with the whole Santa thing and he thinks we're lying to him! We didn't make a big deal about it either way. Just in light of all our sweet conversations about Jesus this year I wanted to keep the focus on Him and not the man in the red suit - but he enjoyed them both :)


John-Mark finally got his own "bideo" game! He was super excited!


This year my mom and Papa Steve spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with us again. So nice to have them with us on Christmas! Notice the gloves James is wearing - these were probably his most favorite Christmas present - football gloves! The smallest ones we could find still were too long so my mom had to cut the fingertips and sew them to make them fit him. He is a total gear kid! He loves all sports gear! Jerseys, baseball/football pants, basketball shorts, shin guards, gloves, helmets, tee's - He wants it all!

A girl and her tu tu. She wears this thing with EVERYTHING!!! I cut her bangs myself - not too badI finally tried my home made play dough recipe and it was so easy! The kids have been having fun making play dough cookies :)

In addition to all the fun Christmas festivities this little cutie was 3 months on Christmas Eve!!Seriously?!? To think this time last year I wasn't even pregnant yet and this year I have a 3 month old at Christmas!He truly is the easiest, sweetest little baby of all four - and my others were pretty sweet babies :)

He continues to be a great sleeper! He's on a 3 1/2 hour feeding/sleeping schedule during the day and takes his last 5 oz bottle between 7 and 8 and sleeps until 7:30 in the morning. Most mornings he barely makes a peep but when we go to get him up he's wide awake and all smiles!
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At his 3 month check up he weighed 13 pounds and was 22 1/2 inches long. He's wearing 3 months clothes. He still loves his activity mat and has started grabbing at the toys. He also loves his hands and sucking on them. He doesn't take a paci and it looks like I have another possible thumb sucker on my hands. Or maybe he'll be like the brother he looks the most like (John-Mark) and not do either :) He loves to get and give kisses. James loves to kiss him but he doesn't like it when Ben kisses him back because it's basically just a big slobbery open mouth kiss! He recently started sitting in the exersaucer and he seems to really like that because he likes to be able to see everyone and everything. I sometimes still can't believe we have another baby in the house but also can't imagine life without him!

Christmas Countdown

This year I am adding to our Christmas traditions by doing a Christmas Countdown starting on December 1st. I have searched and searched the web for ideas of what I want to do and this year since the kids are so little I'm kind of doing a hodge-podge of things. First we made our little 25 days chain and hung it on the mantle (pause for a moment - I have SIX stockings hanging on my mantle!!! How fun/crazy is that?!?) Each day until Christmas I let a different child tear one of the links of the chain off and then we do something Christmas-ie. Some of the things we are doing include - making cookies and giving them to our mail and garbage men, reading the Christmas story and putting out our nativity together, going to the live nativity, going out to look at Christmas lights, getting new Christmas coloring books, etc. As you see some things are more "spiritual" than others. This is just our first year. I've got lots of great ideas of things I want to do as they get older. A friend on facebook posted that each day they are talking about a different name of God - that sounds really cool to do! I'm also trying to pull together a trip to a local nursing home to sing carols and take cookies. I think my kids would LOVE it and its another way to teach them about reaching out and loving others.

Check out this happy baby! He gives me this big grinner all the time!! He is such a joy and we are so lucky God added him to our family.My little Christmas monster :) She found her brothers play teeth and thought she was soo funny!

My little mimi-mommy :)

This is hard now...

I guess it's always been hard, having babies so close together but at first it was more physically hard - when James was one and John-Mark was a newborn the difficulty was trying to make sure they were both fed, bathed, and dressed and everyone was getting some rest. Ofcourse there are different seasons we go through but today this thought kept running through my head, "this is really hard now!" I think now it's no longer just physically hard but mentally even more so. Really, Benjamin is the easiest in the crew right now. But now I have three very smart, verbal, questioning, repeating, challenging, squabbling, affectionate, needy toddlers/pre-schoolers. I am aware more than ever that what I do and say really matters - for the good and bad. I cringe when I hear one of my babies yell at the other in frustration or talk to me with a tone of irritation because I know they have learned this from me :( Many nights when Jeremy gets home (usually around 7:45 - long day for both of us) I am so mentally and physically drained that we practically high five in the hall as I am heading to bed to do some mindless reading and collapse for the day. In any five minutes of the day I can be refilling water cups, grabbing snacks, cleaning up, breaking up a squabble, helping someone potty, holding someone that needs a little extra mommy time, picking up clothes, changing some ones clothes, grabbing the laundry, playing a game, answering a question, disciplining one or all of them, saying no then yelling no - and on and on. I'm not writing this to complain - it's more about my abilities than any issue with my family. I am thankful beyond words for each one of them. The "doing" of all these things isn't the hard part - it's doing them in a way that pleases the Lord. In a way that is showing my precious babies what true love really looks like, leading them to Him. I am officially at the end of me and my abilities to do all of this. More than ever I am praying minute by minute for help. Help to be patient, speak kindly, not loose it, not miss opportunities with my children before I blink and they are teenagers and I'm in a whole other kind of hard work :) It's always been so hard for me to relinquish control of anything in my life but I am finally in a place where I no longer have a choice and I honestly am so thankful. It's really an answer to years of prayer. So, while it is still really hard, I know I am right where He would have me be. He has blessed with 4 beautifully perfect children and He loves them so much more than even I do (which is AMAZING) and He has plans for them and He is going to help me, equip me, love me, and direct me in everything I need.

On a lighter note... We have been trying to get a family picture for our Christmas cards - I think it might be easier to solve the financial crisis than get 4 (well, really 3) kids to look at the camera and smile naturally! I had a friend come and take some and she called yesterday and said we need a re-shoot because James is making this crazy scrunched up "smile" face in every picture so I decided to try a quick little photo shoot at home - here is what I got. (The picture in our header was taken one night after they all got their new Christmas pj's my mom made them - which has become a tradition- and I wanted a quick pic by the tree - it has turned out to be the best one I've taken so far and may be the one to make it on the Christmas card if things keep going like the pictures below - enjoy :)