Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas from our crazy family to yours!

Santa must not have checked his list twice this year because we made off with quite the Christmas haul - despite that one incident last January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and even just a few days ago.  Maybe Santa's gotten soft in his old age?
Big changes are on the horizon for us (and our blog, too!)  Mama goes back to work in a week and a half.  She is officially signing off until then.  She's going to enjoy every last second of this screaming, yelling, hitting, fighting, pooping, puking and late night feedings while she can.
So with that - MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We love you all and wish you the best in 2012.  If our next year is as good as this past one then it's going to be a GREAT YEAR!
Love,
The M----- Gang
Joe, Kristen, Lilly, Anna and Jack

Zingers

 This morning I told Mommy not to be a hater.  Seriously.  What?  WHERE did I learn that?  And how funny was it?  It went like this:
"Lilly, eat your lunch if you want to go see a movie with Babi."
"Mommy, don't be a HATER!  I'm not hungry!"
Oooooh, boy.  That was a good one!

Want to hear one even better?  I was just sitting on the couch next to Mama tearing up some envelopes and whacking my baby brother in his head in the process and Mommy said,
"Anna be careful of your baby brother!"
"Just be PATIENT Mommy I'm doing something!"
Okay now I know where she got that one!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

Christmas Pageant!

 Did I spell "pageant" right?  Who cares?  Do you care?  I don't care!  I think you know what I mean.  Mommy has to admit, she hasn't taken very many pictures at all lately - bad Mommy!  Poor Jack!  We had about 1,000 pictures of Lilly by the time she was 7 weeks old, about 250 of Anna about the same time, and about 14 of Jack.  Sorry, Buddy.  We'll make up for it at Christmas time!  Promise!

 Lilly had her first Christmas pageant!  It was so fun!  Thank goodness we got seats!  It was packed!!

 This is my baby brother Jack, he doesn't do much so I poke him just a little bit...

 There's our adorable little reindeer!!  We were pretty far away so...

 Daddy walked up to the stage for a better picture. 

 Here's Lilly with the best preschool teacher EVA!  We LOVE HER!!

 We tried to get some cute pics of all 3 kids when we got home.  One is notably absent.  Here are a few of the best we could do:

Are you ready for Christmas?!!?  We are!  Only 2 giftcards left to buy and a gift for Uncle Dan!  Hey, Uncle Dan!  HOLLA!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

Gingerbread Houses With Grammy!

 Mommy just downloaded 270 pictures and still hasn't even blogged half of the ones we're behind on!  Eeeeeeeeek!!!!  Time to catch up!  A few WEEKS AGO (!) Grammy and Grampa came so Mommy and Daddy could get all decked out for the annual Snow Ball that they love so much!  Grammy always comes equipped with lots of fun projects for us all to do together and this time it was gingerbread houses!  As you can see above, I was particularly excited while Anna got particularly frustrated (see below)...

 "What do you mean I can't EAT THE CANDY!?!"

 Grammy and I worked diligently on our house and it is still proudly on display (though partially picked over thanks to Anna who finds pieces "conveniently" fall off on a daily basis - that she then must eat) - in all, a beautiful first effort and wonderfully fun project!

 Here is my finished house!  I dressed up just for the picture! 

And both of our beautiful houses!  THANK YOU Grammy and Grampa for coming to stay with us and do fun things with us so Mommy and Daddy could go to this:

We love you!
Okay, stay tuned - we've had LOTS of visitors the past few weeks and we have LOTS of pictures to put up and things to say!  Not to mention we are getting all ready for Christmas and we've started fun new traditions we can't wait to share with you!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

Jack's Stats - A Week and a Half Late

I'm getting BIG!!  I'm almost 8 lbs!!  Ha ha, little peanut.  I'm 7 lbs 11 oz and I grew half an inch!  I'm sleeping about 3 - 3 1/2 hours a night and I want to be in Mommy's arms 24/7 - like right now - and Mommy is one handing this which is not easy - or fast!
Here I am about a month ago!

And here I am again - watching football with my Uncle Matt!

Go Browns!
Love,
Jack (Lilly & Anna)

Gratuitous Go Blue Post

WE LOVE BRADY HOKE!!!
Gooooooo BLUE!!!!!
Love,
ALL OF US!!!

Best. Sister. EVER.

 We had Teti visit - oh, almost a month ago now.  We love our Teti!  She is so good to us, so fun to be around!  We even got to celebrate her birthday while she was here!

 The age gap between Teti and Mommy is slowly closing!  ;-)

 Even Jack loves her already!

 And besides being an AWESOME Teti and the BEST SISTER EVER she's beautiful, no?!

 As are we, of course!

Thanks for coming up, Teti!  We love you so much and can't wait tos ee you again at Christmas!!
XOXOXO
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

Snuggle Time...

 Since Blogger was "down" for Mommy for over a week she's got so many posts/updates she wanted to share she'll need to take it one at a time...she's also trying to post between boobs for Jack, which means she's 1-arm typing which is slow, slow, slow.  For today, since Mommy is missing us (we are at Mary Lou's/School) she thought she would just post this sweet picture of all three of us doing a snuggle...

On Daddy's favorite blanket while he pulls us around the house.  This is a favorite game on rainy days (or really any day!)
Hope you're having a great week!  So far, so good here at the old M----- house!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

Yay! No More Bugs!

 Mommy finally figured out a workaround to the Blogger issues she's been having - she just used a different browser and POOF!  Problem solved!  We can now download our pictures!  Which means we have lots of catching up to do!  But we have been very busy doing a lot of this:

 NOTHING!  Still somehow doing nothing can be very exhausting when there are 3 kids 4 years and younger in the house!

We hope you all had a FABULOUS Thanksgiving!  We will get new pictures and updates up PRONTO!
Love,
The Gang

Off the Chart!

 I went in for my 4-year checkup yesterday and I am OFF THE CHART for (can you guess?) - HEIGHT!  And if there was a chart for shoe size I'd probably be off that too considering I'm now wearing the same size as my friend Mackinsey who is 2 years older than me!  As far as weight/BMI goes I am 3%ile - does that surprise you?  Anna is getting big, too - she's nearlt outgrown 2T clothes already.  Man, this goes fast!

I cracked Mommy up at the store last week.  Mommy and I went shopping at Target by ourselves for a little Mommy-Daughter shopping time and we took our time perusing the clearance jewelry.  I found about 100 things I wanted to "ask Santa" for.  Finally, I said to Mommy, "Mommy, do we pray to Santa?"
"Ummm...probably not, Honey, we can pray to God."
"Okay!  Well then, I want to pray to God to give Santa a message."
As I was walking down the aisle, in front of a whole bunch of people, I closed my eyes, clapped my hands together and said, "Dear God, please tell Santa I want a lot of jewelry for Christmas.  I want rings and necklaces and bracelets.  Amen!"
"Amen!" THAT'S MY GIRL, people!  Praying to God for jewelry in the middle of public.  Try not to laugh at that - but you can't!  Because praying is serious business!  Even if it's just for jewelry!
On another note, Boots is gaining weight!  He is 6 lbs 14 oz now.  Yesterday was his 3 week birthday.  He is NOT off the charts but that is fine - so long as he stays ON the charts for weight.  He is doing very good.  Mommy is spoiling the tar out of him, how can she not?  Look at the precedent we've set!
Finally, since Grampa was the only one who got his creative juices flowing when Mommy gets around to it we will be renaming our blog!  B3 - Bean, Banana Bear and Boots!  We are adding "Banana" because when I get mad at Anna (frequently, like when she takes my toys or breathes my air) I yell "Anna Ba-Na-Na!" (instead of Anna Jane - this is hilarious to everyone in ear shot, especially Anna) so look forward to that...sometime!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TETI AND UNCLE DAN!!

 Sorry Uncle Dan, Mommy just had to - this picture reminds us of the one you two took of yourselves on the driveway in Troy when you were teenagers making silly faces.  The funny thing here is that you weren't trying to make silly faces, you just HAVE silly faces now.

 Now that's better!  Mommy thought she'd put up Happy Birthday pictures from our New Orleans trip since that was the last time we were all together and boy, was that fun.  Alarmingly, Mommy did the math on the New Orleans Sibs/Cousins weekend which was - in February, right?  And Boots was born October 26 so if you count backwards nine months...oops.  Sorry, Boots.  Looks like you're going to need extra tutoring in school.  Mommy did not do you any favors in New Orleans.

And this picture of the birthday girl with all 3 of the (soon to be) B------ girls.  This was a fun night.  Can't you tell by Mommy's blank stare how much fun she was having?  She should have left the shades on like Teti did, and where did Miss Soon To Be Aunt Kimber get a tiara and where can I get one?!?
Happy late birthday Baby Brother and Baby Sister.  I can't believe you're older than Mommy now, Uncle Dan.  Teti, you are gaining on Mommy quick.  You are closing in on only 6 years apart in age!  Fantastic how time works in Mommy's imagination, isn't it?
Love you both bunches and bunches!!!
xoxoxo
Mommy, Daddy, Lilly, Anna and Jack

Baby Boots' First Bath

 We gave Boots his first bath tonight.  Ha ha, just joking, we gave it to him last week.  That would be SILLY to wait until he's almost two weeks old to bathe him, wouldn't it?  Especially since all he does is eats, sleeps, and poops.  I don't like it when I'm holding him and he poops on me.  I was holding him today on Mommy's lap and he tooted on me and I pushed him over.  Thankfully Mommy used her other arm to catch him, and I jumped off her lap and said, "Ew, I don't like that."  And Mommy thought to herself, "I on the other hand love getting pooped on by my children!" 

 Anna was very curious about Boots' and his wet head.  She was very gentle but mostly she just watched...

I'm the one who really loves to hold Boots.  I think this is because I have had a little practice being a Big Sister but Anna is still learning.  Lucky for her, she has me to help her.  We contend, here and now, that Boots is likely going to be a spoiled little Mama's boy but we guarantee he will hold doors open.  We're going to teach him ALL the ropes.
Mommy and Daddy had their first parent-teacher conference today with Ms C, my teacher (no joke, parent-teacher conferences for preschool - you get what you pay for at the Stepford Academy!)  Anyway they had to bring Boots with them (nothing better than exposing your not yet 2 week old to a gazillion germs at preschool) and Ms C said, "Oh, Boots!  Lilly tells me that his Mommy and Daddy name is Jack, but her name for him is Boots, so we call him Boots."  And, so shall we...
On another, unrelated note, Boots also went for a weight check today and wouldn't you know?  He gained one lousy ounce.  Mommy knows he's eating (and how at 3:00 in the morning for an hour at a time) and Mommy knows there's stuff there (you get my drift?) but evidently Mommy makes small babies who like to stay small.  So Boots still isn't even 7 lbs, which makes him a great size for ME to hold! (for now, but you need to grow you little pudnuts)
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Boots

Bless You Hawt, Mawmy

 I am doing very well with the transition into Big Sisterhood - better than Mommy and Daddy expected - but it's still early.  Mostly I just ignore "Baby Boots" or call him Marek (which is the new baby at Mary Lou's) but when I do acknowledge his existence, I'm generally gentle.  It's hard being dethroned but Mommy keeps reminding me that I'm her baby girl, to which I respond "I'M NOT A BABY!!!!!!" and then growl in her face and scream and run away.

But I still have my moments because you know me, I cover both ends of the spectrum of extremes.  Today I was playing around with "Mawmy" and I grabbed her face in my hands and planted a big, wet one on her kisser (her favorite and Daddy's too, they love it when I kiss them like that) then I squeezed her cheeks really hard and said, "Bless you hawt, Mawmy."  and Mommy thought, Dang, I'm a lucky, lucky girl to have 3 awesome, healthy, sassy kids.
(I love you, Anna Banana Bear!!)
Love,
Anna (and Mawmy)

Rename Our Blog!

Mommy is starting a campaign to rename the Lilly Bean blog!  Even though everything is still all about me, always, all the time, we have gone from a family of one little Bean to a family of three!  Lilly Bean, Anna Bear and Jack O'Lantern (or something) is just too long!  Leave your suggestion in the Comments section or shoot Mommy an email - winner gets the satisfaction of seeing their title on our little blog every time you log on!  And props, Mommy will give you props, too!
Mommy thinks that since you all are such an important part of our blog it would be fun to make you a part of it!
We love you, people!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

Happy 1 Week Birthday, Jack!

 

Happy 1 Week Birthday, Jack - yeah, we're a day late but hey!  Get used to Mommy!  :)  It's been the best week of our lives so far now that we are a complete family with you here, you rock Jack and we love you!

If Mama had a little more patience tonight she'd try to wrestle with Blogger but she doesn't have the energy.  So this picture is landscape vs. horizontal.  Oh well, you get the idea.  Anyway Mommy thought it would be fun to track Jack's growth next to his new little Polar Bear!  His first cuddle present!  We will try to do this every month, but don't hold your breath.  Seriously, we will try!  As you can see here we are just about the same size.  Mommy can actually squeeze me down to the same size.  I'm so little!!   And sweet and cuddly, just like my new little bear.

For kicks, Mommy went through our week-old pictures, too.  Look how LITTLE we were!  It all goes so fast - time to enjoy it (and since little Jack is keeping Mommy up all night, she's got EXTRA time to enjoy it)!

Love,

Lilly, Anna and Jack