Other Happenings in December

Look at me getting all caught up! Okay so December is busy as usual but I want to remember some of the big and little things we've been up to.

LB loves to help cook! Keeping with the December theme, she made this pizza wreath for dinner one night!

Sometimes she's just so dang cute getting ready for preschool that I have to snap a pic, and she certainly loves it!

We've been hitting the swim lessons hard and I'm super proud of each of the kids and the progress they are making, and I have to say I love the calmness of the kids getting to take lessons during the day, sometimes they're the only ones in the water! 

Groot graduated basic obedience classes and now that we are back in the foster pup game, I realize just how much progress he has made! He is a great dog!

No really, he is AMAZING with the kids and we adore him for it! 

I want to say we were testing out a new peppermint sugar cookie recipe here, I'd say she liked it!

We had parent observation week at Malachi's hip hop class. It is great to see how much he loves class!

Little miss learned a tough lesson with wrestling with siblings - ouch! 

We have enjoyed our Jesse Tree tradition even more with the kids now that they are getting a little bit older and can participate more. 

Daddy helped the kids with their gingerbread house. I think its pretty much stripped of all of its candy by now. 

The holidays are so busy and we can find ourselves completely neglecting our relationship. Peter and I made an intentional decision this year to focus on each other more and it has made this season extra special! 

This is the face of a dog that wants all my attention all the time. This is way of trying to distract me when I try to do a little workout at home. between him and the kids it's certainly a challenge to get any "me time". I never imagined really falling in love with another dog but I sure do love this guy a lot. He's been perfect for our family and can make me laugh even when the spirits get down.

Always special when Grandma stops by with treats!

This year we changed up our Christmas lights a little bit and headed out to a city that is known for a big neighborhood light display. The kids were impressed! 

This past week Malachi had his first ever piano recital and he did awesome! It's been fun to watch him really progress over these last couple months and I can't wait to see where he is with another year under his belt.

Yep, we are definitely making the most of the season and I'm loving all it has to offer! The kids sure are keeping us busy and as much as I like a more relaxed schedule, I couldn't imagine it any other way during this phase of life! 

A Perfect Day

We've really been trying to focus on family time and enjoying each moment we have with each other. The day after Thanksgiving is always an exciting day in our home, and it's not because it's the big shopping day. It is because it represents the very first day of Christmas in our house! And with Thanksgiving being so early this year, that meant that we had an extra week to enjoy Christmastime this year. I don't know what it is about this season but we definitely get into the spirit and enjoy our time leading up to and through Christmas.

First things first, we enjoyed a Christmas breakfast and the arrival of Henry our elf!

And then the kids favorite part of decorating the house. Always nice to have lots of helpers! 

I promised the kids I would make them an apple pie and since we still had a few pieces of ham leftover on the bone, we decided to recreate our own Thanksgiving dinner with all our favorite parts - mashed potatoes, green beans in cheese sauce, and homemade bread rolls. As much as I love our big family holidays there are times that I get a bit selfish and just want to enjoy these moments with our own kids so this was the perfect happy medium in that we were able to have our own time. This may become a tradition in the future! 

And this isn't the best picture but the cutest end to our evening was the kids overjoyed to dance to Christmas music under the glow of the Christmas lights. It was just one of those moments where you look around and realize just how blessed you have been! 

Our Christmas fun has continued, we're trying to behave ourselves a little bit better this year and so I've cut way back on the Christmas baking but that doesn't mean we haven't indulged the kids a bit!

The holiday season was and still is off to a great start. I count my many blessings this time of the year in this husband and family and life we have together!

Thanksgiving

Look at that, we're making up some time and already to the end of November! November was easier schedule wise as we wrapped up soccer, but we jumped right into swim lessons which kept us hopping during the day. And before we knew it, we were to Thanksgiving week.

Thanksgiving was honestly a bit hard this year. I was going through some hard stuff that week, we as a family were having to make a big decision, and it's very possible that the kids were feeding off of some of our energy but they were giving us a run for our money too.  

We really had to just take a step back and focus on the important things, like our little family unit and really pressing in and showing love to each other. It was a good time of reflection. Just as our devotion last night reminded us, Christmas lights glow best in the darkness, that is how my reflection of that thankful holiday felt. Even if things were hard for that moment, the important and good things still shone through.

My grandma hosts several big family events at her home every year, and this was the first major holiday since my grandpa passed away in August. It certainly makes you appreciate the moments that our big ole family can still get together.

We've had enough holidays at her home that we went from one big table when I was a little kid to 2-3 big tables going every which way in her house now.  I hope someday my home looks the same was as hers with kids, grandkids, and what seems like a constant influx of great grandkids joining the ranks. 

I feel like Peter's motto reads the same way as Malachi's shirt "I'm just here for the pie"!

And then there's family traditions that have spanned since I can remember as the bingo cards are pulled out as everyone slowly digests their dinner. There is family everywhere, many conversations happening all at once. It's a fun time to catch up with cousins and watch all of our kids play together. 

Yep, there is always so much to be thankful for. It is nice to have a time of reflection over thanksgiving and now as we enter into the excitement of Christmas and the anticipation of a new year with new hopes and dreams! 

Halloween Fun

Yeah, I know we are now almost to Christmas and I am just wrapping up our Halloween festivities. But for my own sake, I want to get some of these old memories posted. 

So going way back to October, the kids had a blast at a church trip to the pumpkin patch. We let the big kids go with the church and LB went with her preschool so we didn't have to do the big trip this year :) 

The weather was awesome for all the kids trips to the pumpkin patch which was amazing!

We are still loving the kids cooking boxes, especially the holiday themed ones!

And of course the annual pumpkin carving

We took the carving a little easy on Peter this year but he still did a great job!

And last but not least, the big day itself. The kids were adorable and easy to keep tabs on while trick or treating since they all matched! We love the resurgent of Incredibles as it was a big part of our wedding and if people remember way back to when we were "bringing home baby Dash", so we are certainly partial to our little incredible family!

San Diego Part 2

After a fun filled first two days in San Diego, we were excited to get to spend our day at the zoo!  We got there bright and early and were some of the first people in! I was pretty excited that our first stop was the koalas and they were active and eager for some breakfast which was fun! 

One of the biggest attractions at the zoo is the panda exhibit, they weren't very excited to see us but we got a good little laugh!

The penguin was pretty excited to see Eli and was really disappointed that we had no food for him. 

The Ethiopian section was a particular favorite and I could have watched these entertaining guys all day!

It was a really cool zoo as everyone tells you and I am glad that we were able to spend some time checking it out. Eli loves animals and so the zoo was a perfect place to go and explore with him. He tells me that someday when he is a zoo trainer I can come spend the day with him and meet all the animals up close! 

And then it was back to one of Eli's other favorite places, the beach. It was a beautiful evening!

He was pretty thrilled to find so many whole sand dollars. He loves collecting all sorts of interesting things he finds on the beach!

And before we ended the evening, we promised him that he could try out the rollercoaster that was on the beach. He'd been eyeing it and so off to his first wooden rollercoaster experience. It was terrifying but fun he said!

The next morning we had a few hours to kill before heading to the airport so back to the beach for a nice long walk and a refreshing treat. 

And one last ride on a rollercoaster to end what was one awesome trip!

I love both of these guys so very much, and I loved getting to spend time spoiling Eli for a couple of days.  These one on one trips sure bring some precious memories and help us build our relationships with our kids. It's definitely one of the highlights of my year! We love you Eli and had so much fun with you!