Stockings...An Afterthought!

At both our house and at Ga-Ga & Pa's we completely forgot about the stockings. We didn't end up opening the stockings at Ga-Ga & Pa's until late in the day after dinner.

By this time Ella had kind of figured out this whole opening present thing!

Ella got banana cookies and some yogurt melts!

The boys got trucks, Buzz & Woody zipper pulls, tape, scissors, crayons, paints and of course candy!

Owen wanted Jack's truck that he got so he traded his Buzz zipper pull to get it. It was fun to see the boys negotiate like that. It also wasn't very hard to convince Jack since he really wanted the Buzz zipper pull!


When we got home from Ga-Ga & Pa's on Monday we had the kids open their stockings at home. I swear my kids think that Christmas is a week long celebration!


The boys each got a movie in their stocking - Veggie Tales Jonah & Bedtime Stories. Owen got a truck and Jack got a container of frogs and lizards from Toys For Tots.


And what's a stocking with candy! Twix to be exact, or as Jack calls them...chocolate fingers!


Ella Bean (another one of her nicknames) was so cute just holding her stocking. I had to help her get her treats out.

She got two containers of puffs - Blueberry and Strawberry Apple. They aren't Gerber they are the Albertson's brand and so far she doesn't like them! :(

By this time I was ready for the Christmas festivities to be over...it's exhausting!

Nicknames

All of our kids have nicknames...some have come and gone, but some had stuck.

The nickname we use most of the time with Owen is "O" or "Owen Bowen" Jack is either "Jack Jack" or I'll use his full name Jackson. For both the boys we use "Bubba" or "Monkey". Ella has her own set of names too. She is most commonly called by her first and middle name Ella Grace and her nicknames are "Ella Bean", "Ella Bella" or "Sissy Girl".

Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday we decided to go to the early service at our church and it was great. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be getting all 5 of us out of the house by 7:30 in the morning. It was totally worth it too. Church started at 8...breakfast was at 9:30 and then we were down at Ga-Ga & Pa's before 11:30. Normally we go to the second service and we don't get home until almost 1. It's always such a rush to get the boys to eat lunch and then get them to nap.

Picture perfect...they actually got up into this chair and sat together all by themselves!

This is the first time I've worn a skirt in forever. I wore it mainly because I can fit in it. I'm still carrying around an extra 10 -15 pounds of pregnancy weight and my wardrobe is severely limited right now. I'm now swimming in my maternity clothes, but my normal clothes are still a little too tight and uncomfortable. When Owen came into our room in the morning and saw me wearing this he had this funny look on his face and he said, "Mama what's that? Can I touch it?"


This is one of my favorite pictures of Owen and Pa! Owen LOVES his Pa!

It was so nice getting to see our family friends Jim and Norean since they didn't get to spend Christmas with us last year.

Uncle Ryan had a new special friend joining us this year. This is his girlfriend Stephanie. She's been such a blessed addition to his life. I've only spent time with her twice in person, but I swear we could probably talk for hours!

Ga-Ga gettin' sometime with Ella girl!

The Easter dress! Ga-Ga bought this for Ella back in January at JCPenny's. Ella also wore the petticoat that Aunt Jan made for the Tara dress, but I took it off and never got a picture of her wearing it. :(

Pa got this rocking horse...his name is Ed...back when Owen was a little baby. We had to take a picture of Pa holding Ella riding it because it reminded us of this picture of Owen and Pa at Owen's first Easter in 2007.

I think he knew that candy was coming...I'd say he's just a little bit excited!

Norean was excited also, but not for candy...she just wanted to hold our sugar bear or as I like to call her my snugger bear. Don't ask me where I come up with these nicknames...it just pops in my head and it fits.

Let's wrestle with Daddy!

The boys had fun getting into the Easter baskets that Ga-Ga got them. They both got two Veggie Tales DVD's (Ga-Ga actually forgot to put those in the baskets), a Bob the tomato filled with jelly beans, whopper eggs, mini M & M's and bubble blowers!

Ella hanging out with her new lamb and her paci. Out of all our kids she has been the most in love with a pacifier. Owen liked his mildly until he was 4 months old. Jack on the other hand looked at you like you were trying to give him poison anytime we tried to put on in his mouth. Ella really likes them, but when she's done she just spits it right out and falls asleep without it.

Jack's 4 Month Check-Up

This morning I took Jack in for his 4 month check-up. He hasn't been seen by the doctor since he was 6 weeks old. He's now 13lbs 9oz and 23 3/4" long. Surprisingly he's not that much bigger than Owen was at this age. When I took Owen in for his 4 month check-up he was 13lbs and 23 1/2" long, but Owen was actually 4 1/2 months old at the time. Still I was thinking that Jack would have blown Owen out of the water in weight by now. He seems so much bigger to me than Owen did at this age. His latest nicknames that are used on a regular basis now are Jackers and Fattycakes. I love the double chin! So cute!!!

Nicknames

We are big about nicknames in our family. We had a ton for Owen and still do. The most common one is still monkey though. My newest thing is to add a word after monkey and it doesn't matter what it is...my new favorite is monkey noodle. Who knows how I come up with this stuff it just comes out.

So far our nicknames for Jack are...Jack Jack (If you've seen The Incredibles this makes sense to you) - Jack Attack - Jack Man. Jack Man is my personal favorite. Owen doesn't know how to say Jack yet, but he did learn how to say baby. It sounds like...BAA BEE. It's his first new word in a really long time as most of the time he just says UUUUUUUUUUU!!!!