The Mooney Clan

The weekend before Christmas we got to hang out with Justin's mom and dad and the kids got some grandma and grandpa time. It was lots of fun! On Christmas Eve we loaded up the van, the trailer that we pull behind the van and last but not least - the kids and headed to our Christmas in Estevan. They traveled really well. They each slept some and when awake they were contented just to sit or to watch the dvd. Christmas Morning The stockings for the ten cousins. The triplets got high chairs that we will be able to push right up to the table and they can use them for a few years. Dylan is already working on getting out of it. The kids got into opening their stockings and their gifts. They liked ripping stuff open for awhile but then they got tired and whiny so they went to bed for the last part of the gift opening. Caden was really excited about the whole thing. I think it had that Christmas Magic feeling that you want for your kids. A little hockey... Some play with cousins... ...

Yesterday was another fabulous day. What did I do to be so blessed? I got to see all my nieces and nephews on my side and my sisters - in - law. I had some crazy moments in the morning when the kids were in the tub and the phone kept ringing and it was that crazy wonderful chaos that you just can't help but laugh about. Then in the evening we had a night out with good friends where we had good conversation and some laughs. We did that while our kids were babysat by Seven (yes I said seven) wonderful gals that I very much appreciate. It is so hard for me to ask people to watch our kids. I just feel like it is a really hard job but when it was friends and there were seven of them :) I was totally able to relax and know they could more than handle it. I must say though that it was a party I was a little sad to have missed! Thanks again girls! And for laughing with some of you afterwards. There are a lot of really great people in this world and I seem to know a lot of them!...

We had such a nice day yesterday. After church we just came home and hung out. I left the housework for today and I didn't have to worry about meals since we had leftovers. I didn't think about our to do list. We just spent time with each other. We almost never get to do that. It felt so wonderful. At one point Justin had all 3 of the little boys laughing - hard. It was hilarious. Justin and Caden went out sledding for an hour in the afternoon. They loved that and I had hot chocolate for them when they came back. My heart had that wonderful full to bursting feeling and it's still there. I'm not thinking about all the work I have to do - even though there's quite a bit this week. I'm so grateful for this time in my life when my kids are small and my family is so happy. I can't express enough, just how blessed I feel.

We have had such a great week. I've been feeling more cheerful and like myself than I have in a long long time. Life is really really good. It might be because it is christmas time or maybe that I've come out of some sort of fog. I'm feeling incredibly grateful for our family and our friends. I'm surrounded by the most fantastic people. Anyway - here are some pictures from the last few days. Warning - there are quite a few this time. Craig and Leah and Lena came over one night. Caden got a wild ride. Caden just loves this little baby girl. He keeps asking for a baby sister. Here he was rubbing Lena's back. So Sweet. Now a few pictures of Dylan the Daring. He climbs right up on our chairs now. It's kind of nice that we haven't gotten nice ones yet because these ones we can just fold up so that he can't use them. You can see on the screen that he has opened a few windows. Yikes. Only a few minutes later he climbed up onto the coffee table. Pr...

We are getting into things around here. Last weekend we made a gingerbread house. Caden snuck an awful lot of candies but we still managed to get a few on the house! And you'll notice that I ended up putting up the gate around the tree. I was spending a lot of my valuable time redecorating the tree so I decided to put a stop to that! I had gone to do something after we were done the gingerbread house and I come back to Caden doing this. What a kid! On sunday and monday the Pippus' were down. We had a nice visit, put a couple of babies in baskets and did our 'christmas' together. Dylan wasn't too sure about the talking truck. He was keeping his eye on it. Thanks for the presents!! This pre-christmas made me pretty excited about the big day. Even though they won't really get what is going on, they will enjoy playing in the paper and seeing all the new toys and hanging out with family. They'll know that something special is going on. Not too mention ju...