Random things

It has been a very busy Christmas season and I have to admit that, while it was fun while it lasted, I'm kind of glad to see it go. We are very blessed to have wonderful extended families and we get to celebrate Christmas many times over at several different places. The kids love every minute of it and enjoy all the family gatherings. However, it gets a little hectic for mom and dad with three kids and mixed-up schedules and mealtimes and sweets and an abundance of gifts. I'm trying to figure out how to cut back on the chaos next year. I'm thinking it will get a bit easier as the kids get older.
We are excited to see 2009 come and to see what all it will bring. As we look back at 2008 we praise God for His many blessings: His protection, His provision, His grace, and His forgiveness, just to name a few. We are so grateful that when things around us are uncertain He alone remains steadfast, trustworthy, & sovereign.

One of our 2008 blessings is Isaac. He is officially 3 months old and we are enjoying him more and more every day. He has his ups & downs, and loves to coo and gurgle during the happy times. He is very ticklish and giggles and squirms and kicks a ton. He still isn't a great sleeper, so our nights are very unpredictable. We get some good ones and some not-so-good ones. Overall, we are all adjusting quite well and are starting to find somewhat of a groove. Now if we can just survive Jan and Feb, we'll be just fine!

Cookie time

Great-grandma Mugs brought over cookies and all the fixins to do some decorating. The kids had a blast and enjoyed the decorating and the eating!

Can you tell?

Here are the 3 kiddos at about the same age, I think. It's the same sleeper on each of them, so they all have to be in that 3 month and under range. The bottom two look pretty similar. They go in order of birth: top is Micah, middle is Ellie, and bottom is Isaac.

Can you believe it?

Can you believe that some company would pay me $200 to bake cookies? I can't, but it is true! AJ and I are signed up with many different agencies to do taste test and market research focus groups. We get calls every now and then and most studies pay somewhere between $20-$40. However, we recently have had several calls for studies paying over $100! It's a total God-thing as we have been feeling the pinch of the rough economy and Christmas is coming. We are pretty diligent at finding deals and doing great bargain shopping (lots of coupons, etc), but this extra cash has been an answer to prayer.
Anyway, back to the cookies. There have been 3 steps to this study and total compensation will be $200. I had to do a phone interview, a homework assignment of baking cookies at home and uploading photos of the process, and an in-home visit while they watch me bake cookies. Total time is about 3hrs and about $10 out-of-pocket. And I don't even have to make cookies from scratch...it's all about refrigerated cookies! It's a great way to make a little extra cash and eat some cookies!

Three Musketeers

Just a recent pic of the three kiddos. I can hardly get any pics of Isaac alone as the other two are always jumping in. Oh the woes of being a third child! Little Isaac is doing pretty well and it is so hard to believe that he has only been with us for 9 weeks. It seems hard to remember life without him. We have LOTS of ups and downs, good and bad days, but overall we are settling in pretty well. He is starting to smile much more and be a bit more content during the day. Our nights have actually gotten worse instead of better, so that has been challenging. I am a much happier person when I'm not up 4 times during the night! We are trying to enjoy this time of him being little, but I find myself often looking forward to a year from now (even 6 mths from now) when he is out of my not-so-favorite baby stage!