It's 11.5 hours to Arizona:

{this was only 38 seconds of it}

IKEA!

Today my cousin met me and the kiddos out at IKEA.
It's a big deal since it's 45 minutes away.
I think it's fun to wander through if you have a few hours lose.

Two hours & 310,000 square feet of:

Touching 1,000 of the 10,000 "unique IKEA Products"
backtracking
1 hour of Småland (kiddie playland)
strolling through 50 room settings
cart spinning
4 packages of fruit snacks
family gossiping
2 gooey-centered cinnamon buns

Playing with kid's mask: Priceless

Purely to entertain me

I'm so grateful for the brilliance of technology to be able to rewind this commercial 5 times.

Lady GaGa will do this to ya.

the ones i love.

to the ones i love most.






for all the love you give me.

i love you.

a little under the weather.

I hate when my kids are not feeling well.
They look miserable.

Other reasons {more selfish ones} why I hate that they're sick
is the coughing,
and snot,
and whining,
and sleepless nights.

Oh, but there are the good times.
There's less energy,
less mischief,
longer naps,
and more cuddling.

More is better.

At least to my little man.


{two?}
{or three?}

This kid LOVES cars

So much that when he finds his In-N-Out shirt,
he insists on wearing it.
However, the car graphic is on the back
and he has to wear it backwards.


He won't have it any other way.

Breakfast with KJ.

Piggies

KJ's 2 year molars are trying to come in.
I know this, well, because he told me.
"Mom, owie" {and points to the back of his mouth}
I love that my baby is getting bigger.

Today he was getting tired and slightly irritable, so I decided I needed a cuddle on the couch.


I played "This little piggie" with his toes and he was thrilled.
I realized I don't do much of those little things with him. At least, not like I did with Parker and Riley.
Probably because he's #4.
After each "wee, wee, wee, all the way home", he would excitedly say "gin!"
Again and again, nearly 20 times.

Until this little surprise came running through singing, "I'm a ballerina! I'm a ballerina!"


Emma's really been into dressing up lately.
Her swimsuit seems to be the reoccuring theme.
I think she really wants winter to be over.
Perhaps she's my little groundhog, predicting an early spring. :)

Twinners

I guess the boys were jealous that I always dress the girls alike.

tea for two & me

Riley and her friend were having a tea party today after school.


Little brother wanted to join too.
He even used proper etiquette.


Looks like he may have had a little too much.


At least he's wearing his manly flight jacket.

per⋅son⋅al⋅i⋅ty

This one is full of it.

Brothers & Ice Cream

I love these moments.
My two boys delighting in a bowl of ice cream together.


They even helped with clean up.

The Christmas Box

I finished reading this book today.
It is a beautiful story.
I've been thinking about it a lot.
It's inspired me.

Tonight when KJ started yelling Mom from his crib,
{as he always does every night when I put him to bed},
I tried something different.
Instead of going in and telling him to lay down and go to sleep,
I went in and rubbed his tummy.
Then his back.
I rubbed and rubbed {and rubbed} until I watched him go to sleep.

Read {or reread} this book.
It's a good one. :)

two words: holiday shopping

i {heart} snow.

a little off the top

Amusingly, most of KJ's hair has been growing on the crown of his head.
We comb it down the back and sometimes it makes a little duck tail.


Kj had his first hair cut tonight.
I held, Kempe trimmed.
Riley documented.


{I forgot a final picture}

what big brothers do to little brothers