stats.

i've taken all of our boys for physicals since moving to california.

thanks to one of matt's co-workers, we found this really great pediatric office.

the american health system still confuses me, and we have run into a few doctors who make it pretty obvious that they are totally in it for the money (which i don't blame them! but at least have the courtesey to pretend that you're not!) so i feel like i am always this really skeptical, defensive patient when i try out a new office. 

funny story - i went to a dentist recently to have this very small stain on a tooth checked out.

i didn't bother telling the office that i was a dental assistant beforehand, but probably would have had a different experience if i had.

i walked out of the office with thousands of dollars worth of work that they suggested i have done, and the problem i wanted checked out was totally ignored!

i was so mad.

i know i don't have perfect teeth, but what they suggested didn't seem wise to me. and had never been addressed an issue by the doctors i had worked for or been a patient of.

i felt so pressured into doing things that i honestly didn't think needed to be done.

they even tried to have me sign off on the work while i was lying nearly upside down in the chair and, when i declined a lot of the work, they told me it would be a lot more work for them if i decided to move forward later, rather then now.

what?! more work for you? and why should i care about that!

anyways, i had them fix up a couple fillings that they said were starting to fail, and left.

when i got home i was just so frustrated and decided to write a mean review of the office on yelp - since i had just downloaded the app the night before!

i posted my first ever yelp review, and then went to bed.

unfortunately, in the morning, one of the fillings they fixed up had fallen out.

so i called them and scheduled a time to go back in later that day.

as soon as i got there, i knew they had read my review!

they were being so kind and running ridiculously on time.

shoot!

i hoped to be able to just leave after that appointment and never return, but as they sat me up the doctor flat out asked me to my face to explain my review.

nooo!

oh my goodness, it was like the worst dream ever.

i tried my best to kind without backing down from what i truly felt, but it was sure awkward.

in the end, the doctor and i were on good terms, my filling was fixed, and i deleted yelp! haha

anyways, back to the original reason for the post, we found a really personable, thorough doctor who we like, and have been diligent in getting all of the boys in for check ups, and up to date on any vaccinations that differ between countries.

tad lies at about the 50th percentile for weight and height.

chet is on the lower end of the scale - at about the 20th percentile for both.

and holden, who i just took for his check up yesterday, is at the very top - 70th for weight and 97th for height!

we always knew that holden was tall, but i didn't realize he was quite that tall!

and i honestly don't know where it comes from. matt and i are pretty average, i think.

i am 5'6" and matt is 6'0".

either way, our boys couldn't be more spread out on the scale of things - one at the bottom, one in the middle, and one at the top.

it's funny how that happens!

tadley.

when i showed matt these pictures, his only response was 'whoa, patterns!'

haha whatever matt.. i think these pictures are cute!

leavitts + leavitts.

we had visitors!

mitch, marci and their kids, came to visit us on their way to mexico.

we have been seriously missing having family around, so this was such a treat.

we got to meet up with them 3 times during their trip.

#1 - they came to pasadena for the evening, after they flew into LAX.

we ate chick-fil-a at a park, played at our house, and the dads took the kids on a late night fruit-raiding adventure!

#2 - we spent a day exploring the santa monica pier and the venice boardwalk and beach.

we ate a combined 11 churros, matt and mitch (reluctantly) participated in some crazy street show, we admired the venice beach body builders and skateboarders, crammed 12 people into a minivan, saw a sea lion, hunted for sea cucumbers, played in the waves, ate lunch with the most intrusive flock of pigeons on earth, and did all sorts of great people watching.

#3 - we went to disney california adventure! as your may remember from years past, amusement parks aren't my cup of tea - i am a total chicken when it comes to rides, crowds, and germs. BUT this day was a lot of fun! my mom offered to come visit us a couple days earlier then she originally planned so that she could keep tad at home with her. at first, i felt really bad leaving him. but i quickly realized how much he would have hated it.. and how much we would have hated his bad attitude! (next time, tad!) matt decided to take chet and holden on the tower of terror very first thing. uhhh... haha. although neither of them say they liked the ride, i think it was fun to get them right into it! the park was definitely busy, but we still got on plenty of rides and into a show. i think everyone's favorite was soaring over california, with radiator springs racers as a close second. and the one that scared the crap out of all of us was goofy's flying school! haha i would not be one bit surprised if that ride killed some one.
the day was busy busy, but so special!

chet's christmas concert 2016.

back in september, chet joined his school's choir.

and, ever since then, we have been listening to a CD of 9 thanksgiving and christmas themed songs 90% of the time we drive anywhere in our car.

(ok fine, not 90%.. but a large percentage!)

it was a trial, to say the least.

i am a firm believer that christmas belongs in december, so listening to christmas music when it was 90+ degrees outside was unacceptable!

but, since i didn't want chet to be the only kid who didn't know the words, i gave in and listened to that CD hundreds of times. no joke.

not only did chet learn every word.. but so did i.. and holden.. and i wouldn't be surprised if tad started singing the lyrics once he figures out how to talk!

chet practiced with the choir every monday after school.

and, on december 6, they put on the most adorable christmas concert ever.

it was worth every time we listened to those songs in september.. and october.. and november.. haha

we were so proud of him! i was seriously beaming.

chet can hardly wait to start up with choir in the new year.

chet has a little group of kids that he plays with after school often - chet, valentina, ruby, and kai.

they were all in choir together, and they all looked too cute on the night of the performance!

gingerbread house 2016.

making gingerbread houses is one of my favorite christmas traditions.
it is something we did every year when i grew up, and i have fond memories of that.
now that we are the parents, i see it a little differently - so much sticky-ness and dropping of candy! - but it is a tradition i hope to carry on as our boys grow.

to this day, my favorite gingerbread house making memory is from like 7 years ago when our nephew, lincoln, (despite the countless times he was told to STOP EATING CANDY!!) ate so much candy while he was making his house that he threw up on it when we were taking pictures afterwards!

it is a great story of warning to tell our kids as we embark on our house making adventure each year!

this is what most of the pictures looked like..

here is one to trick you into thinking our kids are always super cooperative when it comes to picture taking..

and one with grandma..

our weirdos.

chet and holden play so well together. (almost all the time!)

we are so happy for their darling little relationship.

they are truly best friends.

even though they certainly know how to bug each other, and sometimes like to tattle on each other, they are lost without the other.

i have often wondered when tad will get to join in on the fun.

i mean, chet and holden have always adored tad and treated him so well.

but i have wondered when he will be considered part of the crew.

lately, i have started to see glimpses of it!

the other day, chet and holden took tad into their bedroom and played 'king and knights' with him.

tad was the king.

(he had no idea!)

and chet and holden decked themselves up in, what they considered to be, knight costumes.

matt and i were dying when we saw their outfits!

we seriously have zero dress up clothes, so i have to give them props for being so creative.

such imagination!

their game basically consisted of following tad around and pretending to protect him.

they had fun, and tad felt special, and i was loving watching it all unfold.

sometimes i would give anything to not be in this stage of childhood/motherhood.

sometimes it is so exhausting, and seems totally unrewarding.

but when i see our boys being goofy, lovable, kind brothers, it brings me all sorts of happiness!

target.

it's no secret that i love target.

when canada rejected target, and we had to live without it for a year, i was pretty sad.

where does one buy cute, inexpensive things, if not at target?

on sunday, we were downtown, at a place called 'LA live', checking out some christmas decorations and there just so happened to be this huge target christmas party going on!

obviously, we went.

there were lots of neat (and free!) things to do and make.

talk about impeccable timing to be downtown!

my favorite part of the night was when we saw the target mascot and chet, so sincerely, said, 'mom! you should go say hi to the target dog! i am sure he remembers you!'

PCL parties.

matt's company put on 2 amazing christmas parties this year - one for the kids, and one for the adults!

(and i did a terrible job of documenting both.. ugh.)

the kid christmas party was held at the olivia in burbank.

it was a carnival theme, so there were cute carnival games, a magician and, of course, santa.

and there was also disgusting amounts of food.

honestly, just thinking about the wasted food makes me feel like a terrible person!

PCL always has santa hand out a gift to each of the kids at this party and, this year, the kids got to submit their top 3 gifts that they would like.

we (being the cheap, clutter-hating parents that we are) told our boys that santa would be handing out their main gift from him at the party, rather then at our house on christmas eve! haha

in our defense, they actually thought that was pretty neat.

chet and holden were willing to sit on santa's lap long enough to get their gifts, and a picture. 

but tad.. didn't want much to do with santa. and that made for the perfect 'screaming on santa's lap' picture. classic.

the adult christmas party was snazzy!

like, seriously, the snazziest thing matt and i have attended. ever.

we had a blast!

the party was held at the resort at pelican beach, in newport beach.

months before it happened, we asked my mom to come hang with the boys for that night so we could turn the party into a little getaway.

and she did.

and it was dreamy!

24 whole hours with just matt and i - yay!

we did a bit of shopping, went to a movie, checked into our hotel (down the road from the crazy expensive resort that the party was at!), got all dolled up, spent the night mingling/eating/dancing/laughing with a really fun group of matt's co-workers, slept in the next morning, ate breakfast on the beach, and then headed home to our 3 little amigos.

is it weird that i am already excited for next year?!

the venue was seriously so gorgeous, but really hard to capture with my phone camera, so i only have a couple lame pictures that totally don't show off my cute new outfit and boots! haha lame.

random picture dump.

i have had the hardest time staying on top of our blog the past couple months.

i feel like i use all my allotted daily screen time working on things for our letterboard shop, and our blog is getting neglected because of it.

oops.

both are good things.

the shop is such a fun thing for me to work on.

it's not easy - i have to work hard and step out of my comfort zone often - but it is really rewarding.

it has been fun for matt and i to see the hard work especially pay off lately.

but, with that being said, this blog is really important to me. and falling behind gets me stressed.

i have been posting on this thing for over 6.5 years and, even if no one ever reads it but me, i find it to be such a great way to reflect on how lucky i am to be married to my favorite person on earth and to have 3 darling sons. we have such a good life!

time for a picture dump or my ridiculously handsome crew..

our newest nephew, eddie!

oh, and this is a picture of tank listed for adoption on the pasadena humane society website just a few hours after he ran away.

uhh that was a little too efficient, pasadena humane!

if i said i wasn't a bit tempted to leave him there to find a family that could deal with him peanut-brain, i would be lying.