More Christmas to come

We hope you all had a blessed Christmas. One thing that I really missed this year was our Christmas Eve service at church. We left thinking we had plenty of time to get to church, however it took us over an hour to get halfway there. Unfortunately, we never made it. So, we stopped by my parents and had my Dad's famous BBQ burgers.

Christmas Day was lovely, spent with my family at our house. We had lots of yummy treats, drinks, dinner, and the best part was just lounging around and being together. We have more Christmas fun to come. We were supposed to spend Christmas Eve with Shane's side of the family. However, my poor sister-in-law got really sick on Christmas Eve :( So, next week we'll have our extended Christmas with the Lofstedt/Walker/Sander Family.

This is the first year that Olivia was excited about Santa--well, I shouldn't say excited because she still doesn't really want to think about him. Nolan isn't a big fan quite yet, he bawled when we took him to get his picture with Santa. On Christmas eve Liv asked Shane and I "Is Santa coming right now?" I need to get to bed, I don't want to see him!" She loves the thought of him though. We left out cookies and milk and the next morning she was thrilled that he'd been to the house and had a treat. I love the magic of Christmas through a child. Olivia couldn't believe that Santa remembered some of the things she'd asked him for, and that he actually brought gifts to her house. Watching Liv this year brought back so many memories of those sleepless Christmas Eve nights when I was a child. I remember being so excited that I couldn't sleep a wink. My brothers and I would get up around 5AM and try to drag my poor sleep deprived parents out of their bed. Something that I'll be experiencing with my own children in the years to come. I hope you all experienced the joy of Christmas and celebrating Jesus in your home & hearts as well! Lots of pictures to come later!

A Christmas Celebration-Ballet Style

Last Thursday Olivia had her first ballet performance. It was so cute! There were quite a few dances, and songs celebrating Christ and that was pretty awesome too. We enjoyed the entire program from watching the advanced, and beginner ballerinas. I didn't realize how emotional I'd get over watching my baby girl dance. I felt a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. I can't believe how grown up she's getting, and that she actually got up on stage and performed. The Lord has continued to move mountains for her as she's finally growing out of being away, or separated from Shane and I. There is no way she would have gotten up on that stage last year, she would have been terrified. Here's a short video(because I took it with my camera,) and some pictures. Liv, we loved watching you dance, and are so happy that you've found something that you enjoy. Bravo sweetheart!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, Thy candles shine so brightly!

Our walk into the woods to find our "silver shamrock."
Yay, we found it, and it's a beautiful shade of greenish/silver, & has very soft needles so the kids won't get poked :)
It's HUGE, Shane had to cut like 3 more ft. off when we got home.
The boys staying warm by the fire in the cabin.

We were so excited to join our friends(who are more like our second family, sadly we missed the other half of our group,) on a Christmas tree adventure. We packed all the kids into our car, and Shane and Richie drove big red so they could hall the trees. The Wells have been going to the same tree farm for a few decades and this year they asked us to join them. It was so much fun, and a totally different experience from all the other years we've gone. The only thing that would have topped it off was if there would have been snow on the ground. I always love cutting our tree down when we're surrounded by white, white, white! Nonetheless, it was wonderful. Ted, the tree farm owner, heated up his little cabin for us so that we could go in and get warm and relax for a bit after we got our tree. So sweet! The cabin was amazing, completely restored. The kids sipped on cocoa(thanks auntie D,) and we visited for a bit until we headed home with our trees(which were like 15 feet long!) It was a very memorable day, and we learned & made new tree hunting/cutting traditions. Thanks you Wells Family for inviting us, great memories!

Forget About Black Friday!

I order things online quite a bit throughout the year. However, this will be the first year I've done almost ALL of my holiday shopping online. I'm pretty much done except for a few little gifts. I gotta tell you...it was AWESOME! So easy, convenient, hassle free, saved on gas, time, $$$ and the list goes on...

I don't think I'll ever go back to circling the parking lot for a spot, standing in long lines, dealing with inpatient/grouchy people, AND running around from store to store on a wild goose chase to find the things I have on my Christmas shopping list. All of those things can quickly turn me into the Grinch. One of the best things about my .com shopping was that I only spent around $15 on shipping. To me that was worth every penny. It was actually a lot of fun! Now all I have to do is wait for my UPS man to drop everything on my front porch--easy breezy.

The Nordstrom Kid's Fashion Show Presents...

My little Liv is a fashion diva! She tells everybody that she wants to be a "clothes designer." If she ever follows that dream, than I'm so glad I have her first fashion show experience on tape and camera. She was invited to be a part of the Nordstrom kid's fashion show. It was very cute! It was also nice to meet my co-workers families/children. One of Olivia's little bestee's Ava Grace was also invited to be a part of the event. So, the girls were able to walk down the mini runway together. I love the part of the video were Ava gets shy, giggles, and covers her mouth. After Liv's turn walking down she sat next to me and watched to rest of the show and was very interested in the BIG girls. She stared at them scoping them out from head-to-toe observing how they were dressed. I've never seen a 4 year old so interested in a fashion show. All the children got a goody bag that had a HUGE whimsical sucker(that matches the Nordstrom Holiday book,) as well as a few other kid friendly things. It was darling, and I'm glad that Shane, Nolan and I were all there to watch Liv, it made her day! Here are a few things Olivia told us after the show~
"I think the show was really good."
"My favorite part was when I was walking out to see you and Dad."
"The only thing that was a little bit bad was when I got afraid when they took me back to the dressing rooms."
"I think that the big sucker they gave me was delicious."

Gam, Yaya, Papa, & uncle Joey THANKS for getting up early and coming to watch Olivia. I know she was really excited to have you there!

Reading Buddies

AHHH, I'm so glad it's Sunday, one of my favorite days of the week. We are finally towards the end of this nasty virus we've all had. Shane, the kids, and I have never had colds that have lasted this long. This may sound strange, but one thing I've missed the most is not being able to smell my kids--okay some of you are reading this right now and thinking, what the heck is she talking about? Those of you who know me well, understand me completely. I love the way my kids smell, especially little Nolan's sweet breath. I'm one of those strange moms who talks about wanting to eat my kids up, or nibble on them. I can't help it, they're delicious! Anyways, since I've been sick all my senses are off. Isn't that an awful feeling?

It seems like there are never enough hours in a day. Life is busy, and I so often feel like I'm trying to catch up on "things." When Liv comes up to me and asks me to read, it typically forces me to slow down. Sometimes it's not the best timing for me, but I have to put my selfishness aside for a few minutes(joking...I don't think we ever get to be selfish as parents.) Reading with my kids is one of my favorite things to do. I love cuddling with them, laughing, making silly sounds, and mostly, watching the expressions on their little faces as the story begins and ends. Nolan has started to do one of the cutest things ever--he'll grab a book and then I'll say, "do you want me to read you a book buddy?" and then he walks over to me, turns around and sits down on my lap. I LOVE IT! He's started to do this with Olivia, and it's super cute. Plus, it makes her feel like an important big sis, and she loves to read stories to her little B. It's really sweet! Personally, it's just a reminder for me to SLOW DOWN, and enjoy the moment.

Trick 'r Treat

My little LionGammy the Carrot

This is Olivia's Dentist, funny right!

NJP and his little buddy Landon, both Lions.
Pinkalicious Fairy & Tinkerbell
This is about as good as our group shot could get, so cute though! As you can see, all the kidlets were distracted.


CLASSIC! Poor Nolan, he's probably thinking, "what's the deal here, can you please get this hot costume off of me?"

We are so blessed to live on a little cul-de-sac, it makes trick or treating with kids easy, and safe. We took our kids(along with our friends, and grandparents,) around the horseshoe and called it good. Most of the kids had a great time. Then there was my Livvy, she was totally freaked out by a lot of costumes. I can't blame her, some of it creeps me out too! She shed quite a few tears. I was the same way when I was little, I hated going to places like Chuck E Cheese, and also got scared of masks and weird costumes, poor Liv--she's inherited those fears from me. We had a delish chili feed, beer bread, and enough sweets to feed an army. On the downer, Olivia woke up in the middle of the night Fri burning up with a fever. She's been fighting a nasty upper respiratory virus all weekend. 'Tis the season!!! almost every mom that I've talked to this weekend has a sick child :( Is it already that time of year? At the same time, it seems like there's been junk going around for months, and it doesn't seem to ever stop. Praying that all our kids get better, and that we can all stay healthy. It breaks my heart when my kids aren't feeling well, I feel so helpless. Hope you're in GOOD HEALTH, and if you're fighting the "bugs" praying that you will get better soon!