Christmasing...............

We enjoyed our time with Andrew's family over Christmas! Fun to see Andrew's brother & his wife who have never had a chance to meet Graham and also see how big the triplets are getting!

the grandkiddos stockings...even Eden was lucky enough to have one. :)

 a very special guest showed up! Graham was not going any closer. :)

 Mama & Papa with their brood. the family balance is a little off in 5-1, but we're ok with that. :)

 taking a little time to read.............very intently.

 ready for Christmas morning!

 nothing says Christmas like a talking parrot of course!

 or a little munching on the wrapping paper..............

 apple break!



the tool man

For Grandma & (especially) Grandpa................
We had found this little tool bench on Craig's List and so we had suggested to my parents that filling it with tools would be a great gift. Well, they definitely took the hint if you count a 42 piece tool set. :)
And Graham is loving it!

 working up his very cheesiest smile.............

 the tool belt is the best!

Also have to say a special thank you to my parents for the best gift of all - peace of mind. What is that? Well, it's also pronounced GPS. :) Yay! We have wanted one for so long and are loving it! Worked great on our Christmas trip.

the car saga............................

So we are on week #3 without our own vehicle. yep, it s.t.i.n.k.s. How much we take for granted being able to hop in the car and run an errand here, hit a sale there, or whatever. oh, and grocery shop. that's a nice thing to be able to do. :)
Well, here's the story. We recently bought a vehicle, [new to us], Ford Escape. We love it. For the few brief weeks we were able to have it anyways! It worked wonderfully for us. Now when we bought it, we knew there was a cracked exhaust pipe, for which they bumped $1000 off the purchase price. We also knew this was a BIG job to complete, but felt because of the deal we were able to find, it was worth it.
Shortly after we bought it, Andrew found out that there is a local Technical Institute at which you can get repair work done for FREE if you provide the parts and work with their schedule, etc....So he was in contact with the instuctor and they finally were able to work our job in. Now this was 2 weeks before Christmas. The instructor was clear about it being a big job, which we knew, but he absolutely refused to give us ANY sort of time frame. That was probably the most frustrating piece of the entire process. Like at least tell us, it's a five day job or it's a 3 week job (the latter was not supposed to happen). :)
The weekend before Christmas we finally are able to get in touch with him again and he let us know that the students were doing a really great job on it and it was really close to being done and oh yes, they all just left for their 2 week Christmas break. Commence: frustration beginning. :-0
We were supposed to head across the state to be with Andrew's family for Christmas. Well, long story, short, we ended up having to rent a car for that trip and now we're back home carless again. The students come back next Monday and the instructor is promising the car will be ready next week.
We have had several very kind friends loan us a vehicle for times that we really needed one and for that we are very, very thankful. Andrew is also able to take the bus to and from work which is another blessing. So Graham and I may be going a little stir-crazy :) (tonight he was asking to go bye-bye!!), but all in all, it's working out. Not the most convenient month of our lives, but hey, if we end up getting this $1000 job for almost free (besides parts), what a huge, huge blessing that is!! Just hoping to have our vehicle home very, very soon. :)

a few favorites.........

I haven't posted many updates about the Gman lately, but here's a few things that I most certainly don't want to forget!

• I love that when he's doing something fun (like sliding a car down a banister or something), that he tells himself "again" and then does it again!
• I love that he loves letters and love to hear him at the fridge with his letter magnets saying m, t, p, l, o....and then see that he's saying the right letters!
• I love that he loves to read and we frequently hear around here - "I read, I read........"
• I love that he is very into the "K" sound right now and loves to emphasize milk, (s)nack, book......
• I love that he identifies a "mess" when he sees one! Even though he is often the instigator of the mess, he always takes me to show me the "mess". He also doesn't like to have messy fingers and insists on having them cleaned off then they are a "mess". 
• I love that instead of the whining & grunting of previously, he has finally gotten the concept of saying "hep" (help) when he is stuck on something.
• I love hearing him play with his mountain of stuffed animals on his bed after he wakes up.
• I love that he has started "pretending"! He makes a small whimpering sound and then points to himself and says "baby" (his impression apparently!). He also like to pretend he's a kitty or a bear!
• I love that he asks for an "orange" at every meal. We're currently eating grapefruit every morning for breakfast! I am so glad his cravings are in sync with his preggo momma's. :)

• I love that he LOVES doing the Advent Calendar and never lets us forget to do it!   

A few of my non-faves  - lest you think we live in a perfect world - let me assure you, we don't. :)

• When riding in the car, his current practice is disrobing of his hat, gloves, boots & socks. grrrrrrr....after all the work of putting them all on.
• After getting the nasty flu, I could barely get him to eat anything for several days! Thankfully, we're getting back on track finally! 

our favorite stocking stuffer.....

Less than 2 months till you're 2 years old!!

last few pics of 3............

Some of you will be receiving this one in your Christmas card! I was excited to take part in a blogger Shutterfly promo where I received 50 free Christmas cards. I thought that would be plenty........and I ran out with too many left to send. :( But we're still sending our Christmas greetings to all our friends and family!

.................and in 10 weeks a new little face will be added to the picture!

cookie decorating!

We were having some of our neighbors over for cookies and coffee, so the 3 of us had fun with graham's first cookie decorating experience!

 evidence of a little sampling.....

Holiday Fun

We are loving the holiday season! And I have a plethora of pics that have been waiting to be shared. :)

This holiday is extra fun because as Graham sees it, kind of for the first time, it is SO fun to see his amazement. He is in love with it all!

He's picked up a lot of new words including snow, snowman, & Christmas tree! And "whoa" has become a much used word as well!

Andrew & I got to take one of our date nights to Pittburgh's Light-Up Night where they officially light up all the trees downtown. It was lots of fun!

I told Graham that daddy was bringing home a tree. He wasn't sure what that meant, but when Andrew brought it into the house he just kept saying "whoa"!

 here he is "helping", of course!

 Next was the annual Christmas Macy's parade. FREEZING, by the way! But Graham just adored it!

 He loves music, so the bands were his fave, especially the drums. After something would pass by that he liked, he kept saying, "again!" Sorry buddy, that's not how it works! We went inside to warm up and his poor hands were like ice, but he actually cried when we left and all the way home he kept saying "more", "again"....so sad!!

 loves wearing Santa hats!

 3rd and final (so far!) trip downtown to check out the holiday displays!

tree and skating rink

 gingerbread houses and train route

 the coolest tree of all...

 waiting to go on a free carriage ride! again, so cold, but he was a trooper!

 I can't even tell you how much he loved it! The entire time we were on the carriage, he kept saying "ride" over and over again! Now every time he sees a horse he tells me about the ride we took! He just loved it. It was perfect, cozy in the carriage and with snow flurries falling. A perfect family outing!

 Someone's in the Christmas spirit for sure!