This is done with a great amount of love as I couldn't figure out how to copy and paste from a mac page so I am retyping this thing as I was pretty much required to complete this on my sister's page. You know the drill - copy and paste to your blog so I can read it :)
1. Wrapping paper or bags? Paper only for me - I love to wrap gifts because I love to give them.
2. Real or artificial tree? Artificial - I know this was one of those things that you come to in your first year of marriage and it was just a "given" to me that we would go out and buy an artificial tree (its all I have ever known) and it was a "given" to Mark that we would go buy a real tree. I think he has adjusted to unpacking and fluffing as opposed to a tree lot (I even converted his parents). No mess and no allergies . . yeah fake trees.
3. When do you put of the tree? It goes against Mark's Christmas code to have decor up before the day after Thanksgiving. The tree was technically assembled a little earlier this year but no lights or decorations till after.
4. When do you take the tree down? Weekend after New Year Day.
5. Do you like Eggnog? No, but also never tried it.
6 Favorite gift received as a child? Nothing stands out honestly - I did love opening our stocking together. That is a happy, fun memory to me that I want to be special for the boys too.
7. Hardest person to buy for? TROY JOHNSON - hands down. Even if you answer this question with a different person it is only because you have never had to buy for Troy before. I am so excited to say that this is the first time in four years that we did not draw Troy's name. HOORAY!!!
8. Easiest person to buy for? kids for sure, also my brother Matt - he loves just about anything
9. Do you have a nativity? I do and it is one of my favorite Christmas decorations.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail - I always have good intentions . . we'll see.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I honestly can't think of anything - but have to comment on my sister's answer - seriously - who picks a gift from their mother-in-law as worst gift ever and publishes that on the www.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? Nothing traditionally. I recorded Polar Express for Davis a week ago and he LOVES it - so I've seen a lot of that lately.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? After Thanksgiving.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? no
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Kuchen - I don't know why we only make it at Christmas - it is fabulous.
16. Lights on the tree? Yes and HAVE to be colored for me.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night (makes me think of my dad) and I like all of the traditional ones particularly an orchestra/no words version. I just like having it on this time of year in general.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We don't travel at of the metro-phoenix area but you would think so with the miles we put on our car going from house to house to house to house to house . . well you get the idea :)
19. Can you name all of Santa's Reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Donner, Vixen, Prancer . . and I'm spent ??
20. Angel on the tree top or star? Star - the more colorful the better
21. Open present on Christmas Eve or morning? Traditionally both. My favorite is the few moments where it is just "us" (mark, the boys and I) at home with our stockings in the morning. Love it. But I love the times of tradition with all of our family too.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Trying to keep the balance between fun traditions with the boys and full blown "love of stuff" that is being jammed down our throats . . . stop sending toy catalogs to my house!!
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love the ornaments we bought on trips (we started buying an ornament everywhere we went on our honeymoon - even small day trips) so those are good memories. I LOVE an ornament that my aunt found in my Grandma's house after she died last October - she had selected ornaments for each of us and had them labeled for us. I love her and miss her tremendously. It is a beautiful gold angel and it is my favorite.
24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? I don't care what the real food is as long as there is Kuchen. I guess the few times we have made my family's strudel recipe I also love that.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To be able to spend time with everyone and have everyone still have a good time. I just want it to be special and fun for the boys.
26. Who is most likely to respond to this? I'm gonna go with Amy W.
27. Who is least likely to respond? Mark's cousin Adriane - but I want her to put it on her blog - I love reading her blog. (http://wordofmymouth.blogspot.com)
Yesterday I put Grayson at the table with the other boys for lunch time. I put his little seat up on a chair so that he was "at the table". He kept smiling and laughing at the boys. He thought he was so big. It was a nice lunch. They were kind and playful with each other and no one was whining. (a change from the rest of the day)
We had a busy couple of days, but Christmas was a wonderful time of family/friends and the celebration of the birth of our Savior. Christmas Eve we spent time with the Kronwald side of my family. We had a baked goods gift exchange which was the best idea ever. I came home with some delicious cupcakes and super yummy zucchini bread. That night we also went to Jerry and Mary Woods' house. We had another delicious spread of food and got to spend time with Mark's family. Mary always puts together a great activity to help the kids learn real Truth of the holiday that we are celebrating. She had Scripture, paired with an ornament, for each kid to put on the tree. Davis really enjoyed it this year. He is able to understand so much more this year. He really enjoyed building our advent calendar in the mornings leading to Christmas. 
We had such a good time doing "Christmas-y" stuff with the boys with this year. We made gingerbread houses at Aunt Lissa's house and took the boys to Zoo Lights. Davis loved the talking giraffe - he is still asking to see it again. After he stood there watching the giraffe for a while, he then kept asking, "now let's go see the talking lions . . . zebras . . . hippos . . ect". He assumed that all the animals that we usually see at the zoo would have a talking version. Parker's favorite was tree display where the tree lights are set to music. Of course, this all came second to the LARGE amount of garbage he ate that night, including but probably not limited to: a churro, cheese crisp, cheetos, and popcorn - yuck! Davis really liked making his gingerbread house - Parker really liked eating what should have been on his house (huh - same story as zoo lights, maybe I should reign in this problem). You might notice that he is holding the side of his head in his picture. He got some marshmallow in his hair at the neck line and freaked out about it until I got him in the tub a couple hours later. He was still holding his neck when we got home. So dramatic!
Grayson had his four month check-up yesterday. How has it been four months already? The stats: almost 17 lbs and 27 inches = a big boy. He is still 97% for height and dropped to 70% for weight. (with the exception of his weight - he is almost just like Parker.) I got the go ahead for feeding him cereal so I wasted no time. I am convinced he will start sleeping better with some cereal in that tummy. As you can see from the first picture, he didn't love the cereal but he did love sitting in "parker's" high chair. Obviously Parker will probably have to promote to the table here shortly. I was telling Mark last night that when Davis was Parker's age we had just moved him to his big bed. I know Parker is supposed to be huge compared to Grayson but he is still kind of a baby to me (for the record - he will be sleeping in his crib until he is begging to get out of it). After a well-visit, I am always reminded to be grateful that God has given us healthy, strong, sweet little boys. I can forget that provision in the midst of the chaos three boys bring! Praise God for his goodness to us.
It was SO cold and gloomy yesterday (my car said 50 degrees at 1:00 in the afternoon) so I made a big pot of chili and cornbread and we watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with the boys. Very fun. I really was freezing yesterday and thought to myself several times . . it is probably a good 40 degrees colder than this everyday in Alaska where my sister-in-law and niece and nephew live. I CAN NOT imagine - I'm a desert rat for sure. (I just noticed the kids are half-naked which doesn't make it look very cold - the fire was on :)
I had this picture in my head last night that we would have a special family time putting the ornaments on the Christmas tree. I made chocolate cupcakes (my choice after choosing not to make hot chocolate) to make it extra special for the boys. I thought . . . I'll give them their bath, put them in their jammies and then we will have treats together. When Parker got done and I was using multiple wet paper towels to clean his hands, clothes, face and even digging frosting out of his nose I thought to myself . . really . . . why did I CLEAN my kids to give them chocolate frosting??? You would think I would have seen this coming. They didn't go to bed looking bathed but we had fun. (For the record, Davis ate his in a much cleaner fashion - no surprise there)
Grayson is getting so playful. He really enjoys his play gym - particularly the jingly elephant. He grabs the little animals with his hands and gets so excited when he makes them make noise. It is so fun to watch his little face light up and get more responsive to us. Sunday night he was even laughing at me when I was pulling him up with his fingers.
Last week Mark had to go to Duncan, AZ (where his family is from) for a funeral. Off the cuff, Mark said to Davis "I'm going to Duncan, you can come if you want". That was all Davis needed to hear. I don't know what was funnier - how fast Davis had a bag of tools packed and was standing in the garage - or how shocked Mark was that Davis was so willing to go. Despite Mark's concerns, they had a great time together. I am so grateful for the short, but sweet time they spent in Duncan. I asked Davis was the best part was and he said "my new tool box and sleeping with Daddy". They slept in the same bed which I'm sure was Davis' dream scenario. Mark said Davis was a great passenger in the car and I think they really had a special time together.
On the 13th of November, Grayson was three months old. I feel like time is passing by so fast and I am trying to slow it down as much as possible. I definitely can already tell how the "baby complexes" come into play when you know that your little one is the last baby. I just want to feel like I am actually experiencing and remembering this blessing as much as possible and sometimes the craziness of life doesn't allow it. I love this little baby even though he is not as little as I would like. He is already 15 pounds - which I know because he already had his first ear infection of the cold season. He is wearing 6-9 months clothing and so now you understand why I feel like my baby is getting big WAY to fast. About four nights ago he finally found his thumb - which I am not a fan of - so I came up with the idea putting socks on his hands which has forced him to give in and take his pacifier - Yeah! This has made car rides so much more pleasant. All in all, he is a very happy, sweet little boy. His brown eyes are huge and they follow the noise of his brothers around the room which is so cute. He smiles and talks to us all the time - Davis loves that. Both boys are big helpers and love their little brother.
Also, a couple of weeks ago, Aunt Amy took Davis out for a "special day" at the zoo. I'm sure he loved being by himself with his aunt. He got to pick out something from the gift shop so he brought home these masks for he and Parker. When Parker woke up from his nap, Davis ran in his room with the Tiger mask on and despite my efforts to beat him to the crib, Parker was about to climb the walls when he caught sight of Davis. After he realized the fun, he was eager to be a little Giraffe. . . . anything Davis thinks is cool, Parker is all over it.
First of all, I have not been able to log-in to my blog for weeks and had no idea why. I happened to mention this to my friend Jen yesterday and she said "you didn't try to open a Hallmark postcard did you?". Okay - so I tried to open and download that email like fifty times - literally. My mother-in-law sends those kinds of cards to my kids all the time so I was sure that that was what it was but it was in fact a VIRUS. I am retarded. Well, it is all deleted now so I appear to be back in business . . . thank goodness!
My sweet little baby slept through the night last night (7:30 pm to 6:45 am)!! This might not seem blog-worthy to some but for my boys this is a RECORD!! I cut off feeding Davis every 2 1/2 to 3 hours through the night when he was 9 months old and Parker was 6 months old. I'm not claiming this is forever or anything but a whole night at 2 1/2 months old . . . hooray.
