this one's a keeper

after many painful (for me) photos the other day, I got the boys to sit in front of the tree tonight. this was the only shot that I took and thank goodness that Ewan sat still for it because he had been moving and turning and I thought I was going to get the back of his head....so, I cancelled my other Christmas card order (it was backed up anyway-ooo not happy about that) and will replace it with this one. hopefully I can still get these out before Christmas!

Christmas card photo takes 1-5

Ewan's favorite snack

Ewan has a new fav for a snack. He's really into grape tomatoes! Notice the bulge in his cheek? He would rather eat these than crackers or cheese! What can I say, the boy loves his veggies :-)

Guilty!

Ooo-I slept through Marcus's bus drop-off again yesterday! My cell phone alarm went off and I promptly shut off the alarm so I wouldn't wake up Cale. Then, I shut my eyes and thought "one more minute..." The next thing I know, Marcus is standing next to me. Thank goodness he knows how to use the key to get in the front door, because both the front and back doors were locked. I guess I win the bad mommy award for Wednesday. Luckily, today is a new day.

The Rules of Naming

Thinking about names for baby #4 is a bit of a challenge. I wanted to put out our list (really-my list) of requirements that this name has to include...
1. The first name cannot start with M, C, or E (for Marcus, Cale, or Ewan).
2. The first name cannot end in S, E, or N (again, for Marcus, Cale, or Ewan).
3. The name cannot rhyme with any of the other boys' names (ie Marcus and Lucas).
4. The name has to "flow" with the other names. Meaning: when you say all the names together, one name doesn't stand out.
5. We would prefer the name to have some link to the word "warrior". All our other boys' names do, although, this is the "rule" that I would ignore if needed.
6. The middle name is a family name. I don't know whose yet. And, it has to go with whatever first name we pick out.

Not too complicated, right?

Jingle Bells-Cale style

This is Cale's version of Jingle Bells. I'm pretty sure he is using what we call his "bad guy voice". Enjoy!

the tree is up!

We went out Saturday and got our Christmas tree. It's our first not-fake one that we've ever had. Last year, we decided to get rid of our fake tree which probably could have qualified as an antique since it was older than I was. We had to get some new lights too, since I apparently went on a cleaning spree after the holidays last year. The boys helped decorate it and like touching all the ornaments. And, so far, the cats have left the tree alone. One of my ornaments is MIA. I'm hoping it's stuck in the tree somewhere and not hidden in some cat hidy-hole.