Bunking Up

I wasn't really planning on this happening though I wasn't sure what we would do with Brad when it was time to transition him out of the crib. One night when we were putting the boys to bed Nate was throwing a fit because he was scared and then at the same time Bradley started wailing in his crib acting scared as well. I can't remember if Chance was gone that night or what, but I just decided to grab Brad and put him in the bed with Nate so I could console them both. My hope was that maybe if they had each other they wouldn't be so scared (Luke was in his top bunk). Anyway, they both seemed to be okay with it and ended up sleeping together in the bottom bunk. Well, once Brad got a taste of sleeping in the same room with his brothers he was not having sleeping in his crib/room anymore. So now Brad has officially joined Luke and Nate in the "boy's room". This was a quick transition and once it seemed like the boys had adjusted well enough I didn't waste much time converting Bradley's old room (aka: nursery) into a playroom. I have been wanting a room to keep all the boys toys in for some time. One room for sleeping, reading and dressing and another room for play and toys. 

I took one last video of Bradley's room before I took it apart. This was sad, but I tried not to think about it and just tried to focus on the task of converting the rooms. 

Here are the boys playing in the playroom. I have since moved the rocking chair into our bedroom. I considered getting rid of it all together but then decided I wasn't ready to let go of that chair and it's memories of holding my babies yet. It's in our room now, and I love having it there.

This isn't a super great option as you can tell, but the boys seem to be okay with it and though we play a lot of musical beds, I think that would happen whether they have their own bed or not. Nate is almost 5 and he still sneaks into our bed most nights. My favorite part is having what feels like all of my heart in one room at night. There is something very comforting about that.

Magic of Christmas

This story is crazy. Lane called me up one day asking if Chance would want to go to a Seahawks game. He was given awesome tickets from one of his student's parents who happens to be a season ticket holder. Did I mention they were playoff tickets too? Wow! Anyway, I knew Chance would love to go because I knew he had looked into tickets to see how much they were - WAY TOO MUCH! Lane said he would surprise him with the tickets later that day. Not 5 minutes after I hung up with Lane (Chance did not know about the phone call) Chance was in the kitchen with his santa hat. He said, "You know, sometimes I still believe in the magic of Christmas." "What are you talking about?" I asked. He replied, "I don't know, like maybe somehow someone would give me tickets to the Seahawks game." Now I promise you, he had no idea about the conversation I just had with Lane! He was truly just being his dreamer self. Trying to contain myself I laughed and said, "Yeah, good luck with that!" He laughed too. Little did he know...

It was so funny, because he was so confused about the whole thing! He kept thinking I got him the ticket. He couldn't believe the coincidence that he was getting tickets the same day he was dreaming about the magic of Christmas!

Nice seats! Brother in-law of the year: Lane Barnhill!

Lots of Christmas Fun!

It was another merry Christmas season for the Norris family. December keeps me very busy. Lots of planning, but it is all so fun to make the Christmas season special for not only the little boys but for Chance too. We had lots of fun family activities planned. I told the boys I wasn't sure we would do the Advent Calendar this year, because sometimes they start getting a little entitled and throw fits if the daily activity isn't something they deem enjoyable. In November we told the boys we were going to the store to buy stuff for the operation Christmas Child. Nate was not into it and of course whined and complained that he wanted to stay home. Luke wasn't too thrilled about it either at which point I reminded them that this was the very reason we may not do the calendar this year. Well, Luke perked up pretty quick and then told me, "Mom, even though it's not my favorite thing to do, I will still help buy gifts for the little boy because God loves him too and.... I WANT that calendar!

I decided to go ahead with it (shocking, I know) and for the most part the boys did really good. Nate occasionally had to stifle his disappointment with certain activities, but in the end seemed to enjoy them all. Here is a recap of some of our Christmas fun this season.

Making marshmallow snowmen.

Decorating Christmas cookies.

Lights of Christmas. We haven't done this one since Nate was a baby. It was a little rainy that day, but we still had fun. 

Christmas Light bath. Prior to the bath we went on a ride on the "Polar Express" to look at Christmas Lights.

Decorating "Christmas Trees". The boys love this one, mostly because of the candy eating they get to do along the way.

Bradley was really concerned about Nate eating too much of the candy

 3rd Annual "Game Night with Friends" with the Jensen family.

Snowball Fight!

Hot Potato. Nate had a love-hate relationship with this game. He wanted to win so bad, but each time we played it he was like the first one out! Watch how nervous he gets the first pass around and then sadly, he was left holding it! Poor Naters. :(

Family Game Night. We played charades (though our rules are rather loose no the no talking). The boys loved it! I was surprised how much Nate and even Bradley liked it. Bradley totally got the concept and did a really good job! 

Here is Bradley taking a turn. He would come up with what or who he would be and act it out all on his own! It's hard to tell, but he came in the room doing the Darth Vader breathing.

Here is Luke taking a turn. Nate would get so excited trying to be the first one to guess it right.

The kids had a great time on Christmas Eve at the Simon Grandparents.

Christmas Day was great. Though I'm never good at getting many pictures of it. I try to live in the moment more on these days. :) Here is Luke wearing his new Captain Hook hat on Christmas morning.

On our way up to celebrate Christmas at the Norris grandparent's.

The Norris exploding Christmas Tree!

All he wants for Christmas...

Is his two front teeth!! Haha. He was so excited to lose his teeth. I'm so impressed with this little boy. He let me pop his teeth out when they got really loose. He was really nervous, but finally let me do it. Bye, bye baby teeth.. :(

Little Devil

The boys have been looking at this Bible App on my phone. It has different animated bible stories for them to watch. Luke of course wants to pretend to be the villains (King Herod, Pharaoh...Satan). We told him he couldn't go around pretending to be Satan, because it doesn't come off really well to others. LOL. We compromised and let him play the part of Satan in a Bible story...

I swear he is not an evil child! He has a wonderful heart for God! Here is a little drawing he did on the window with window markers:

It says: "Love God. God is very holy. He olso can do very amazing thing like he mad the hole earth."

My Marshmallow

When Luke is in school and Nate is at preschool, it's just me and this little guy. He is really fun to take around with me. He is very sweet when there is no older brother to compete with. I think he enjoys his time to just play however he wants and have mommy all to himself. 

Bradley is so goofy. He has created his own animal sounds.

Don't let the adorable face fool you, he can be very stubborn. He was my best baby eater. Would try way more things than Luke and Nate when they were babies, but then all of a sudden he got really picky and won't even eat things that he use to gobble up! It's so frustrating! He won't even take a bite!