Sweet

Paxton gives the best hugs and is so sweet and sensitive to receiving a kiss on the cheek. If you kids his cheek he always pats it on and will return the favor with a kiss and a sweet pat on the cheek. Even on his oneryest of days, he is so sweet with his kisses. 

Now, with the added Christmas decor in our house, whenever I give him a hug and a kiss, he catches them and "hangs" them on the Christmas tree so they will decorate our home!! How sweet is that!?!

Paxton...AKA, super why hanging out at his school Christmas Party. 

Seriously

Ho Ho Ho. Santa's little helpers, cute as can be, cuddling together by the Christmas tree!

(Seriously, how cute are these two. I'm not sure what I love the most about this picture....the fact that Paxton, unprompted, put his arm around Harper, the super cute Santa hats, the precious smiles or the adorableness of Harper having a baby (or two) in her arms at all times.

Little Momma

Harper Grace LOVES baby dolls. LOVES them. She "talks" to them, loves on them, pats them on the back to burp them, carries them all around the house, wants you to join in when playing with dolls and never ever leaves the house without a baby under her arm. I'm telling you, she LOVES baby dolls. It is so fun to watch our little lady with her babies and watch her sweet nurturing side.
This week, we had the amazing opportunity to spend some great time with Kim, Austin and my niece Ruby Grace. Can we just say...precious! Oh my mercy, Ruby Grace is just so darn cute, tiny and the sweetest little baby girl.
Harper thinks so too. In fact, Harper does not understand why she cannot hold Ruby as her own baby doll. It is adorable. She will follow anyone around that is holding Ruby and she mimics everything. When Kim gave Ruby a bottle, Harper tried to feed her baby, when Ruby was burped, Harper burped her baby. So sweet. Harper just talks and talks in her precious, tiny baby girl voice to her new BFF. When Kim and baby Ruby left our house, Harper cried and cried. Sweet girl, she loves her cousin so much....me too Harper girl...me too!
Oh how I pray these sweet girls grow up to be the best of friends!!

Harper sat at the table like this for SO long just chatting it up with sleeping baby Ruby

Seriously!!! How precious is she!!

Sweet Moments

So, the other day Paxton came up to me and asked "Momma, do we have a park bridge in our pantry?"
What the what? I stood there dumbfounded as I tried to sift through what he said and figure out what he was asking. In a few minutes I heard Maddox singing the 12 days of Christmas and I finally figured out the riddle. Paxton was asking if we had a Partridge in a Pear tree.
Oh the things I never ever want to forget!

We received a Christmas card in the mail today from one of Maddox's dear friends. When I showed him the card he said "Mom, Tagen is my most favorite friend......but do you know who is my favorite friend all the time? Jesus. He is with me everywhere I go"
Oh the passion he is gaining for Christ is breathtaking. I adore him.

Thankful for sweet and funny moments with these boys....especially when they make me want to pull my hair out. Ha

Decor

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Voda house. We finally decorated our Christmas tree, and the kiddos were thrilled to hang the ornaments and admire the lights. They are at such a fun age where the sparkle of the Christmas tree is surprising to them every single time they see it. I love it. I will admit, I was not at all in the mood to tackle putting up decorations this year...I have been a bit worn down at being a mommy to three spirited little ones, but boy oh boy did these precious little ones change my heart as I watched them excitedly decorate the tree and bring in the Christmas cheer.

Pearly Whites

When I opened my computer this morning, this picture popped up. This was our beautiful Harper Grace on this day LAST year! How cute is she!?!? Oh that button nose. The smirk on her face...yummy!!

You can tell she is getting bigger, but she is still just as adorable as last year! The button nose, the smirk, the whole package. So thankful for this baby girl.....even if she did bite me this morning!! What the what...where did that come from?

The Littles

The little ones in our house are growing up. They are getting big and expressing their independence. 

For our littlest, her new found "growth" can be documented best in the following picture:

Yup, there you have sassy mcsassy sitting in timeout. Ugg she is expressing her opinions and her emotions in very no attractive ways resulting in a minute in timeout! (Luckily, the timeout works well to calm her down and move on to something else). Oh Lord help us. She will be the sweetest little handful!

Our middle child is growing into a mighty fine little boy. He truly is a little boy and no longer a toddler. He is becoming more and more independent, more social and he can be quite the stinker. Although, with a dietary change, he is gradually showing some improvements in some of the behavioral issues he has been expressing. I think the new growth in this little boy is best documented in the following two pictures:

Sweer little boy with his most current school picture. He looks so big....especially when you compare the picture from last year. He was just a baby. (He had one single tear in his eye in last years picture...but is all smiles in the new pic). Oh how far he has come in a single year!!!

This last picture is a favorite of mine. The two littles don't get along all that well, so when they do it's worth documenting!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

What a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
Our morning started off super early as the boys bundled up and loaded the truck to go "hunting." Yep, Brad braved the cold outdoors with  three year old and 5 year old boys to go hunting for sandhill crane and make unforgettable memories with his sons on Thanksgiving! The boys had a blast...all three of them! The kids enjoyed shooting the bird, hunting for the said now dead bird, and even watching daddy get all the meat out. YUCK-O. I'm glad they enjoy their man time together and this is one adventure I am not sad I am not invited to participate!
While the boys hunted, Harper and I watched the parade and prepared our thanksgiving feast! It was such a low key day and I think it turned out wonderfully!!!
I do have to say I think one of the best parts of the day was my precious, 3 day old, tiny little niece joining us!! Yes, Ruby Grace Jenkins made her grand entrance into this world on Monday, November 25 and at only 3 days of age, she joined our family for Thanksgiving!!! Such a blessing and a beautiful little lady! Her momma and daddy are amazing and have taken on the parenting roll with such class and grace!!

Such a wonderful day to step back and verbalize just how thankful we are for each other.
Maddox, Paxton and Harper Grace,
I pray you know everyday how thankful we are for the three of you. You are all so special and have so many unique talents and characteristics that make you special and absolutely perfect. You are the joy of our lives and we are so proud of each of you! Thank you for making our days brighter and for loving us even when we mess up from time to time! You all are so full of life and energy and you teach us new things every day. Your daddy and I are so thankful that God choose us to be your parents!! We love you guys!!

The manly men

Harper girl enjoying her breakfast, watching the parade, and sporting her pink camo while the boys hunted

Happy Thanksgiving from the kids table

Gobble gobble

The joy of my soul

Sweetest, tiniest little turkey...Ruby Grace

Paxton, my Paxton

Our littlest boy is getting so big. Paxton James is growing up right before our eyes. He is maturing, he is getting smarter, he is getting more social, he is getting more talkative.....he is also getting grumpier, feisty-er, sassy-er and gaining a lot of attitude. I realize a majority of this is his personality, but I am also hoping he can outgrow some of it as he matures and gains better ways to express himself. Sheesh, right now is such a difficult time for me as a mom. He can be the sweetest, kindest little boy and then in a blink of an eye he can be so disrespectful and outright mean. I received a phone call from his school this week from his teacher expressing to me that he was having a very "emotional day". He yelled at other kids who wanted to play near him and he cried a lot. I know he definitely does not like to have his space invaded and for the most part he is perfectly content to play all by himself; however, that is never life! We are always forced to be around other people and it is my job as his mom to help him find ways to cope with what naturally feels very uncomfortable to him. And right now, as his mom, I am exhausted. I just reach my limit on how to discipline, and the desire to yell and scream overtake me. I am working on my own temper and my ability to handle him when he is at his feistiest....whew, it's been a wild month for him.
He is so creative and smart, he is also so darn stubborn that it takes a lot for him to actually "show" you what he knows. He can identify every letter of the alphabet by shape and sound. He can count to 100. He knows the english alphabet and the Greek alphabet. He knows all of his colors and most of them in both english and spanish. He is the best colorer I have ever seen for his age. He loves to "read" books and we recently started a new book that is actually teaching him how to read. He is able to sound out a few words like "S-T-O-P" and he can tell you what letter certain words start with.
He continues to struggle with being overwhelmingly afraid of new things; however, if you can ever force him to try, he usually likes them. Although, he might try new things, if he doesn't like it, there is NO convincing him otherwise. He is stubborn to his core. This quality will play out well as he grows and matures and is unwilling to give into peer pressure (it is my job to guide that stubbornness into something that strengthens him rather than limits him)
My days with this little man are long and exhausting, but they also bring me so much joy and laughter. What an amazing little man we have. He is so creative and loves to find new ways to play with his toys. He is super excited for other people when they achieve new things. This past week, Maddox got in trouble a few times at school for not paying attention and lying. On Thursday, Maddox got in the car and Paxton immediately asked "Madd did you get in trouble today?" When Maddox happily responded with "No." Paxton responded "Oh yippee, Maddox. I am so happy. I'm so proud of you! Give me a hug"
Such a sweet spirit he has....when he wants to.
Please join me in praying that we guide his personality to allow him to be the most amazing, world changing little man that the Lord created him to be....one that shares and tolerates other people. Ha.

It is easy to see how much bigger Harper has gotten, but good grief look at how "baby" Paxton was when his sister was born. Sweet little stinker!!

Such a handsome little fella. That smile certainly makes up for any frustration throughout the day

Sweet moments

Oh my mercy! My granny and Harper coloring while we waited for lunch!!! Such a sweet picture. Love these two little ladies!!

Brace yourself. You just might not ever be the same after seeing this next picture......oh my yumminess. She is the most adorable little thing I've ever seen!!!

Halloween 2013

Halloween 2013 was a major success. I am not a huge fan of this particular "holiday" but I certainly love watching our kiddos transform into super heros and overly cute tiny little bugs with costumes created by their amazing grandmom.

Maddox requested to be a military pilot, Paxton just wanted a cape....grandmom created Zoro...a three year old boys dream...a cape and a sword. And our sweet Harper Grace was the most adorable little lady bug. (I wish I would have gotten a video of her walking in her costume....it was so precious to watch her tiny body waddle along with wings flapping behind her). 

Paxton spent the week of Halloween in Oklahoma with grandmom and granddad voda. He was able to go to the okc zoo to trick or treat as well as a festival at a church near by. He had a blast and the grandparents were thrilled to see their little Zoro in action!!!

Maddox and Harper spent Halloween at a festival at Maddox's school and then finished the evening at my Granny's assisted living home. Such wonderful moments to watch my kids with my Granny!!!

The holiday as a whole isn't my fav...but these kids dressed, up using their imaginations and having a blast...I would say that is a fantastic evening for all!!!

Harper is 16 Months Old

 My mercy she is getting big....too big. I cannot fully express in words just how much joy she brings our entire family. She is so sweet and immediately draws the attention of any room she enters. Brad, Harper and I went to lunch today and she had perfect strangers walking up to us from across the room to comment on just how precious she was. The table across from us got a few super cute waves from our baby girl and a super sweet "Hi". You will see grown men crumble at the cuteness and the pure preciousness from our Harper Grace. One of the lady's at the resturant made the comment that Harper "has a way of making everyone feel special". Yes, yes, I would completely agree. One tiny grin, a wave, or a giggle from our baby girl and your world will never be the same!!
(Can you tell we are all completely smitten with her?) I still think that Maddox is the one that is wrapped around her finger the tightest. He absolutely adores her. He will give up any toy, his time, his attention simply to make her smile. He gets so sad if she gets in trouble or is crying. In fact, if we ever have to get on to her and she starts to cry, he gets so upset and asks me to "never get on to her again. Just let her have what she wants!" Ha. Sorry Madd, that didn't work for you and it won't work for her either...but that pout, oh my that pout. It sure is tempting to just give her anything...we won't...but it's tempting.

What are you up to these days Harper Grace:
- weigh 23 pounds
- wear size 12-18month clothes
-size 5 shoe
-size 4 diaper
-you are not a big fan of eating these days...but when you do eat you love tomatoes, cheese, meat, spaghetti and breakfast bars
-you are still on organic, hormone free lactose free milk (we tried you on regular whole milk and you didn't adjust very well. You were very cranky)
-you were a wonderful sleeper until you came down with a strange virus where you ran a high fever and just felt miserable. Now you think waking up at all hours of the night should mean that I come in there to cuddle you. Hoping you feel better soon and we get back to that awesome sleep schedule
-you are gaining a pretty good signing vocabulary. You currently sign:
     -more
     -eat
     -drink
     -please
     -night night
     -you can do all the motions to "Patty Cake"
-You currently say the words: ice, hi, please, thank you, momma, daddy, gigi, puppy
-you LOVE dogs. We have to remind you to love the puppies gently, but you are perfectly content petting a dog, chasing a dog and watching the dogs from the window
-you adore your daddy. You squeal with delight when he gets home from work (makes every hard day at work more worth while to be greeted that way)
-you are a great walker/runner. You are getting harder and harder to keep up with you when you are on a mission. You are fast! Tonight you started walking backwards. So funny!
-You still love to cuddle and you give precious hugs and kisses
-You are becoming more aware of other peoples feelings and you comfort the boys when they are in timeout

Oh Harper girl. We are thankful for you and we are proud of the little girl you are becoming!

I love the sweet expression on her face while she looks at her daddy

Harper in action. Just "chatting" it up with the hostess at a resturant

EEEK. I never want to forget this fluff

She's finally getting a little hair

Harper the hoarder. This girl is happiest when her hands are full. Her favorites are carrying laundry and shoes. Big helper

Adorable. She's such a delight. 

First Field Trip

A few weeks ago I had the awesome opportunity to accompany Maddox on his first field trip of the school year. His class went to the corn maize. They attended corn school and learned how corn grows, they went through the corn maize, road the cow train, went on a hay ride, picked a pumpkin to bring home and looked at the various animals they had at the farm!

I love this little boy and I love to watch him in his element with his school friends and his teacher!

Fall

We are experiencing some beautiful fall weather these days. Fall is my favorite time of year. It is easy to play outside with the kids without getting too hot and unlike our spring weather, it is not a constant dust storm with high winds surrounding us. The colors are beautiful, the weather is peaceful and the transition from summer to winter as far as wardrobe is concerned is my favorite, especially with kids and even more especially now that I am blessed with a baby girl to play dress up with. Jeggings and boots on that tiny little body...yes, please!! I could just gobble her up!!!

And just for giggles, here is miss Harper Grace wearing the same outfit this time last fall. It was a full dress on her last year and now it is a snug little top!! My oh my how quickly the time goes!

Coloring

Paxton likes to color. He is fantastic at coloring. He colors in the lines. He chooses his colors carefully. He is ambidextrous. If is right hand is tired, he just switches and uses his left hand to finish his art work. He is meticulous. He is obsessive about everything being perfect. He is SLOW at coloring so often times anything he brings home from school has barely anything colored on it because he takes so long, but when he does color, the outcome is fascinating!!!

Sunny San Diego

So, this past week, our little family of 5 packed up and flew to Coronodo Island right off of San Diego, California. It was so much fun. Brad had work meetings there and we were able to tag along. This is the same place in California that we had the amazing opportunity to visit with Maddox when I was pregnant with Paxton. It was great to go back and have two more in tow this time. Crazy and hectic at times...yes, of course, but oh so worth it.
The weather was amazing. It was around 80 degrees during the day and the evening time cooled off just enough to need a light jacket. The boys LOVED the beach, splashing in the super cold ocean water, building sand castles and digging holes in the sand. Harper Grace on the other hand absolutely hated the sand and would cry the most pathetic cry if you even put her tiny little finger on the sand. Ha. She eventually let me set her down on a beach towel but she definitely preferred to be held. She did however love the various birds that flew and walked on the shore of the beach! She would wave at them and say hello and giggle her tiny, precious giggle when they flapped their wings! She is definitely our animal lover.
The kids and I spent the morning and early afternoons together while Brad attended his meetings. We would walk to breakfast and then play on the beach and head back in the hotel for a nice quiet nap until daddy was finished. Then it was more time on the beach exploring and off to dinner somewhere. There were so many fun shops and restaurants all along the streets by the hotel. It was lovely!
Saturday Brad had the entire day free so we loaded up and went to Sea World San Diego!! What a crazy, chaotic outstanding time we had! The weather was great and the kids did fantastic. Maddox got to ride his first roller coaster (he LOVED it), and they all really enjoyed watching the shamu show. Paxton's favorite were the penguins and Maddox loved the sharks!! Harper loved Shamu and the flamingos as well as the penguins.
And now for picture overload.....

My breakfast dates!

Waiting inside the lobby of the hotel

Brothers during one of our morning adventures

This is how I looked on the beach most of the time

sweet siblings soaking in the sun

Maddox digging a hole and Paxton running in pure delight

Digging for treasure

Sandcastle building

"I'm the king of the world"

Hand in hand my brother you'll be

I love this picture. Love their little foot prints in the sand as they soak in God's glory

The water was so cold, but Maddox didn't care one bit

Pax splish splashin

All smiles

He couldn't get enough of those waves

So much fun

Love these beach bums

Happy as can be with her shovel in her hand

Harper loving the birds and her walk with daddy

A late night cup cake treat in the hotel while sister was in bed

Breakfast before we went to sea world

Such a happy girl

Boys feeding the sting rays

Harper and I at Sea World

Pax was thankful for his sisters stroller for a bit

All tuckered out! Sleeping Harper. 

Excited after watching the Madagascar Show

Maddox loved the sharks and the big shark teeth

He was SO happy seeing the penguins and getting his penguin toy

This was just minutes before leaving Sea World. This was our "we survived" smile

Such good little travelers

I just can't get enough of them holding hands and playing in the water.