Our FANCY Dinner

I love Christmas traditons. This is one that I have brought from my parents. We have a fancy Christmas dinner, talk about the things we are thankful for, and enjoy one anothers company. It was a lot of fun!

The longer we ate the crazier it got!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

One of my favorite Christmas songs is Baby It's Cold Outside-right now my favorite version is Lady A's. I find myself singing it all season long. This picture reminded me of the song.

Mea's Dance

I thought I would include a picture of super cute Mea getting ready for her 1st dance recital. She did a great job!

The Magic Tree

One of our traditions is to go driving, looking for Christmas lights. This year we were smarter and packed them in the car with jammies and hot cocoa and milk. It was a great night. Our favorite stop was the Magic Tree...it truely was magical! I even made the kids brave the cold for pictures.

One of the best parts of the evening is that ended like this...

We even got them out and into bed with out waking them!

Bubby- You're CRAZY!!

MOM

Jensen is a BIG boy!

Look at how big he is getting. 16 lbs to be exact. He is starting to roll a lot, "talks" a ton, and loves smiling at his siblings.

Champ

We got a dog...not quite sure how I feel about it. It's cute, the kids like it, Jared loves it.

Halloween

This year I made the costumes for Halloween (Impressive, I know.) The kids were cute and we had a blast trick or treating down town. Here they are Thing 1, Thing 2 and the Mea the Librarian.

Little Man

I was going to be finished blogging today, but had to include this one of Jensen!

Field Trip

A couple pictures of Mea's field trip. She had a bast at Peachtree farms, and I felt lucky to get to go! We came around the corner and found the whole class rolling down the hill (Mea's not the best roller). It was so cute!

Leaves are Falling

Fall is not one of my favorite seasons. Yes the cooler weather is nice and the colors are pretty, but it means winter is coming...booooooo! I have been trying to enjoy the fall a little more this year by getting they kids outside. Monday we decided to rake some leaves and jump. It took Jaden a while to get into it (longer than my camera battery lasted). We had laughed a lot.

Nothing much going on...

Life around here has been pretty boring. The boys have already gotten their first fall cold (which they passed on to me). Mea is doing great in school. I'm trying to be crafty and have started on Christmas presents. Jared is completely busy with school and church. I have a video of Jaden: When Mea was little she used to steal shoes from the daycare kids. I would laugh and say "chip of the ole block (referring to my love of shoes). Now Jaden has decided that he loves shoes as well and is constantly stealing someone's shoes to wear around. I must say he has mastered extra large tennis shoes, high heel, and some boots. Pretty impressive!

My Dresser Redo...

Before After (the yellow is much brighter in real life). This is one of the many projects that I am working on that took waaaaay to long to finish. But now that it's done I love it. Looks good and the amount of storage is AMAZING!

I manage my blog like I manage my life!

I have come up with the realization that I manage my blog like I manage my life. I'm working on it because it drives me crazy, but it goes something like this...Run like crazy, do lots of fun stuff, let things pile up, finally decide to do something about it. Here's the what we've been up to- I'm finally dealing with all the pictures on my camera:

Mea and Grammy worked on learning how to ride a bike- no training wheels. She had it for a couple of feet.

We went to the Cardinals game- tons of fun!

...and to the Arch the next morning.

Enjoyed the fall weather with a picnic...

Jaden and Mea are chasing a squirrel up a tree!

They are getting so big!

One more of the chunky monkey...he is chubbing out, smiling, cooing and laughing. The hair has not fallen out, and Jensen has beautiful eyes that already melt me!

What's new with the kiddos??

MEA STARTED KINDERGARTEN!!

Holy Mackerel can you believe that Mea is now officially a kindergartner? When I dropped her off this morning it was a bit of a blur. As a former (weird to say that) I know how the school day runs, how exciting and nervous it can be, and how special the first day is...but I had never been on this side of the desk! It was strange, for me and exciting for the school girl. She was a little nervous to start, but put on a brave face and marched right into the classroom. She quickly found a spot, a girl with the same lunch box, and I could tell within 5 minutes she no longer needed her mom to stand there. I left (and stood outside the door just to make sure), but walking away was a little difficult. A part of me wanted to stay in the school with her, but I had to start my first official day as a stay at home mom. I'll let you know how the first day went after Miss Mea gets home.

Jaden or JADEN EMERY as he often hears because of the war path he leave behind him, is ornery! His latest mess was 3 bottles of finger nail polish all over himself and the bathroom floor. He still has purple feet because it was impossible to get off, the rug looks like modern art, and the bathroom reeks of polish remover. Good thing he's cute- otherwise I might craigslist him (just kidding)!

Jensen smiled at me today...I think...and I'm going to say it was a true smile, not just gas, because he is just that brilliant already!

Jaden Loves his Grandpas

Nothing is better than a nap with a grandpa. Jaden sleeping with Grandpa Decker. Jared's parents visited last week. We enjoyed seeing them. Jaden especially enjoyed having some one else in the house to tease! Jaden sleeping with Papa England. This is how Papa was able to play hooky from a wedding. Looks like a good excuse, huh??

Jensen Elliot Decker

He's here! Jensen Elliot Decker was born on 7/20/10 at 9:20 pm. He weighed 7lbs 15oz and was 20 inches long. He has awesome hair, eats like a champ and is sleeping well already at night. Mea loves him "he is sooooooooo cute!" and Jaden gets super excited to see him (a little too excited really, but he's learning to be gentle). Jensen looks a lot like Jaden's baby pictures only with a lot of dark hair and a lot smaller. I have already been asked if he has a different dad than the other children. I had to laugh that comment off :-)! He's definately Jared's.

Swim Lessons

Mea finished swimming lessons today and passed Level 2! Whooohoooo! She has always loved the water but learned a lot this sessions. Her teacher was great, she loved the girls in her class, and she made me a proud mom everyday.

Summer as a Stay at home Mom

Every summer I take a break from school. This summer is different, however, because I realized that it is the beginning of my new life as a stay at home mom. There will be no going back to the classroom in a couple of months, no dropping the kids off at the babysitters when I need a break to "work on my classroom", and no end in sight. This is it. While I really excited for the adventure and am loving the days of making my own schedule, I have to say it is weird. Good weird, but weird.

With my new found life is some new found time. This is the reason I decided to say at home. When I work I stress. I want to be the best mom, cook, wife, teacher.... (list goes on and on). For me, there is just not enough time to do everything well. My house was a pit, my meals were out of a box, several of my student's papers found there way to the trash can because I just didn't have time to look at them. (I'm sure many of you can relate.) I realize now there will never be enough time, however, now I get to make some more decisions on when I do with my time. I can do the dishes or I can play outside with the kids, or even better if I manage it right I have time to do both! On some days I have even managed to find time for myself (shocking!). I have gotten to sit and read, start some projects and watch tv by myself. I still find myself feeling a tad guilty on these occasions- but the guilt is lessening as I realize how much happier everyone is in my home.

While I'm still figuring this mom thing out, and I'm realizing that I will never be the best, life is good. I am so thankful that I have wonderful husband that is willing to work hard to let me try out this role, and for children that are resilient!

Here's what we're up to...

Mea and Jaden side walk chalk painting

Jared relaxing

Trying to stay cool in the backyard.