Nature/nurture

Remember when you were little and you broke the couch, bed and who knows what else and then you tried to blame it on your parents.....Aaron? Ellie isn't ours biologically, but she is more like us than we know. She has Jons stubbornness, aunt Corries sleep patterns and uncle A's destructive ways! Before:

After:

Ellie was hanging around the chair acting all suspicious, minutes later Gram and Ellie went down. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Gram and Pap had a church full of people praying for us during the adoption process so we took the kids to Ravenna this weekend to introduce Ellie to the church. Of course, she was a hit. As always, we had a great time.The boys couldn't wait until church was over to head up on stage with Gram:

Coloring

A few weeks ago, Sam was upstairs "napping." I heard an odd noise, but by the time I got upstairs to investigate, Sam was back in bed and the noise stopped. It wasn't until later that night that I realized what happened. After almost 4.5years of having kids in the house, we've had our first defacing incident. Sam pulled the knob off the drawer outside his room and scratched the wood. As you can imagine, I was NOT thrilled. Then Sam came up to me with a huge smile on his face and in his most proud voice said, "look mommy, I color!!!" How could I be mad at that?

Hoodies

The boys got new hoodies for Christmas. Today seemed like the perfect day for warm sweatshirts.
They are too cute!

Wordless Wednesday

He does!

Play time

Jon was lucky enough to get 2 weeks off from work for the adoption. He went back to work then got a long weekend for the holiday. We (especially the boys) have been loving having him around so much. Most of Jons days have been spent in the play room. The boys have moved almost every toy they own up there and have done a great job of trashing it, but they've had a blast in the process. Ben has been mixing and matching his pj tops and bottoms recently. We've had some creative combinations lately!

We managed to pry them back down to the living room for dinner with aunt Corrie. Ellie showed off the onesie that Corrie bought her and took advantage of another pair of hands holding her.

Showing off her new sweater:
I couldn't help but compare Ellie and Easton. He is about a month and a half older than Ellie and is a beast next to her. Its amazing the difference a couple pounds make at this age.

Going crazy

Jon went back to work today. I've been on my own for 6hrs and I'm already past crazy! It didn't help that Ellie did not sleep well last night. She had a doctor appointment first thing this morning. I tried to get as much ready last night as I could, but their was still plenty to do this morning. Of course, every time I tried to take a shower or do something half way productive, she started screaming.

We finally got out the door, and we were on time. However, things went down hill real quick. I can never find a place to park at the doctors office and since its only 2 blocks away, I decided we should walk...in the middle of a blizzard. Have you ever tried pushing a double stroller through 4+ inches of snow??? Lets just say, I got quite a work out!

The appointment went really well. She is still 20inches (75%) and 6lbs 10oz (10-25%--not sure why their is a range on that one). She looks great and doesn't go back until March.

After the appointment, we walked to get a bagel and met my mom and her coworker there. I decided to leave the kids with them and go home to get the car. Thats when I realized I had no keys and they must be in the front door. Not only were they in the door, but it was wide open. Thank goodness we live in a safe neighborhood. We made it home and have dealt with whining, snack time, getting boots on and off, more whining, not listening, screaming, getting Ben to school, the car getting stuck in the driveway and so on. I'm so ready for Jon to come home, but of course, he has a 5pm meeting and will be home late tonight! I have plenty of friends with 3 or more kids. I don't know how they do it. I'm sure we'll get into a new routine soon enough and it will be like we've always had 3 kids, but that feels like a lifetime away today!

Some of her newborn clothes fit perfectly and some are still a bit too big!

Ben and Sam trying to help me out a bit by playing nice.

Daddy time

I took Ellie up to my old office last week to show her off to everyone. Jon decided he wanted to do the same today. They were only gone for a couple hours, but it felt weird not having her around. Ben was at school, Sam was down for his nap and I was left with no baby to hold! Its weird how one week she doesn't exist then, all of the sudden, you don't know what to do when she isn't around. Of course, an outing meant another cute outfit. Of course, a cute outfit meant another photo shoot!

Newborn clothes

When the boys were born, they wore 0-3month clothes. One or two things were too big, but basically everything fit. When we found out we were getting Eliie, I went out and bought a bunch of 0-3month clothes. She is just over 6lbs, and she is swimming in her clothes. To make things worse, she will pull her legs out of the pj pants she is wearing, tuck her legs up under her butt and sit indian style making herself look even smaller, and her clothes even bigger. We went out and got some newborn clothes (as well as both moms and aunt Corrie) and had to show her off looking like an actual baby rather than a stump!

As long as her legs are crossed, she is happy!

The kids

Things are finally starting to calm over here. Instead of running around like crazy people, we got to hang out with friends this morning, do a little shopping for Ellie and relax. It feels like we'll finally be able to spend some time enjoying having Jon home with our little girl.
The boys are completely in love with Ellie and were excited to spend some time with her in front of the camera tonight.

Wordless Wednesday

When we walked in the door Sunday, this was waiting for us, along with a pair of pink baby socks that aunt Corrie made.

Settling in

We are home! Its been a long week and a half, but we are finally home and can start getting things back to normal. I think I'll be referring you to our other blog quite a bit for the next week or two, but wanted to put up some pictures of our baby girl!

Sorry for the scary hair, but they are too cute!

Crazy week

I'll do a real post as soon as things calm down, but wanted to share the big news. Go here for some info.

Song time

Cross Point held its Christmas service last Sunday. The kids came up and did a little song for us. I love mini concerts!

A week of Christmas

The boys have been counting down until Christmas for a while now. We threw a wrench in the counting by having 4 different celebrations. I don't think they minded though. We've had a great time being with family and are looking forward to the biggest present arriving on Tuesday!

Paps church:

I'm not sure how much longer Jon will let me get away with dressing them alike.

Reading The Night Before Christmas

Matched

If you haven't been called, seen FB, or read our other blog....you should check it out! Unfortunately, things are now a bit crazy over here so everyone will have to wait for more details, but we will post them as soon as we can. Merry Christmas.

Presents

We headed to my parents house over the weekend and did our Christmas with them. We tortured the boys by making them sit and have some snacks before opening presents. When it looked like they couldn't take it anymore, we let them start passing out some gifts. They were excellent helpers, but all Ben could focus on was tearing off wrapping paper. They got a lot of fun stuff. We had to open a few things over there in order to avoid their heads exploding from all the excitement! As usual, my parents spoiled the kids. As usual, the boys loved it.

Sam got a puppy that says his name. He looked freaked out for a half a second the first time he heard it, but it makes him smile now.

They love their trains:

Ben got a real digital camera that he hasn't been able to put down. We now have pictures of all his church friends, the floor, ceiling, the back of everyones head and some random people with no heads!

Ben also got a computer (toy) that Sam borrowed while Ben was busy with other things. Both boys think its awesome that they have a lap top just like mom and dad.

Ben has turned into a rock star!

Thank you momo and papa for the food and gifts. We all had a great night.

Cookies

Each year, the Purdum women get together during the Christmas season to bake a crazy amount of cookies. Unfortunately, we weren't able to coordinate a date this year, so Corrie and I had a mini cookie day yesterday. We limited ourselves to chocolate chip and sugar cookies. Ben loved every part of it. He poured in all the ingredients, mixed the dough, rolled it out and made shapes. He also had the brilliant idea to put sprinkles on the chocolate chip cookies. After a while, the music pulled him away from the cookies and dancing took over. Sam took over sprinkle duty, although I think most of his sprinkles missed the cookies and landed on the tray (and in his mouth).

After the cooking, our entertainment went down for naps and Corrie and I got to work on frosting. I did the base coats, while Corrie used her expert crafty skills for decorating. They taste even better than they look!

Thanks for baking with us Corrie. We all had a great time.