Our Riley

 While working on our 2020 year in review video (coming soon, I hope) my phone created a video of our sweet middle child. I couldn't help but get sidetracked and publish this. He is just so important to our family. 

One picture on there is actually of his brother, Jayden, but they look so alike I can see why my phone gets confused. 

Riley bug, I hope one day you stumble on this video when you need it most. You are so, so loved and 5 years with you has flown by. You are more reserved and cautious but always say the nicest things and keep us laughing. Never change. You have so much to offer this world. Love you, Riley!

Christmas 2020

 Christmas week around here was as beautiful as always. It was quiet, but that is what happens during a pandemic, as we quickly learned. We spent our time together at home as a family of 5. The weather was super nice, for our area so we really enjoyed getting outside to play. 

I love having my daughter and husband home over Christmas break. My husband has been fortunate to use most of his vacation time around the school schedule and it's just been a huge blessing for us as a family. So much time together. We cherish every minute of it, even when the moments are far from perfect. 

Here is a video from our Christmas Eve and Christmas day:

At the end of the video, is a picture of my hand. I landed into the emergency room on Christmas Eve after getting into a fight with the stand up mixer. There were no broken bones and for that we are so thankful for. Today, I still have some tightness but am mostly back to normal. But, my husband got the joys of doing almost everything on Christmas (including making meals and caring for the kids) as I needed to rest and ice my hand on repeat. 

I essentially had my phone create for me and then just put together the two videos. It was still a lot of work but hopefully this video will show my kids how sweet this time with them has been for us. Although, I have blogged our Christmas yearly since 2013, but the only other video I am seeing is from 2016:

Oh how quickly the times change. 2 littles to 3 littles. And now, all 3 of my children don't feel nearly so tiny. 

A few other pictures I want to show from our Christmas break not included in the first video. I just had to share:

Riley made a special card for Santa. He used his sights words and did this all on his own. Not bad for a preschool kid!

Payton also left a note for Santa and it is as incredibly detailed as we know and love her to be!

                                                           A note to the kids from Santa.

A picture with one of my babies.

Payton and I pulled our matching shirts from last year on. Glad they made another year.

We got out to explore our property and had a great time roaming our land!

What a great Christmas it was and we loved celebrating Jesus's birthday. I hope your holiday went as well as ours did! All this fun stuff must have caught up to us as we are tired today. Jayden is currently taking a 3 hour nap. I am hoping to get our 2020 year in review up soon as well as our month of December posted. All while fully soaking up having everyone at home!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our baby turns 3!

 Our sweet little boy turned 3 on a beautiful Saturday morning. I can't help but be extra thankful for the gift from God we have truly received. I hope and pray that we get many many more years of celebrating this sweet, sweet baby. 

                                      

This boy has brought so much of all the emotions to our life. His medical journey has been challenging and a long winding story but we've made so much progress in 2020. In fact, this has been his healthiest year yet. If it gives me anything, it's hope for a healthy future. 

                                                 

We are so thankful to have this boy in our life and he keeps us so entertained. He is currently into knock knock jokes and making silly faces. He loves to remind us, "he loves us with all his heart," and "he loves us too much."

To prepare for  the big birthday celebration, the boys helped me to make the cake!

After the boys went to bed that night, my daughter and my husband helped set up for the party. Jayden was so excited to see our set up when he woke the next morning:

We spent the day together as a family, complete with breakfast funfetti pancakes and opening presents! We also worked on a scavenger hunt our local 4-h group put together that involved getting to know the community we live in. Since Jayden's birthday is so close to Christmas, we turned his cake into little trees:

                                                        

After nap, we went on a trip and met up with my extended family. Due to the pandemic, we hadn't see some of them in a year! And, also, due to the pandemic, we met outside and wore masks while playing at the playground. It wasn't totally ideal but it was so great to see family and be a little "normal" for a moment. Even if the circumstances weren't entirely normal. This is just the season we find ourselves in.

All in all, it was a great birthday and I think we showed Jayden how truly loved he is. 

Jayden, our sweet boy, we know you are meant to do big things in life. We can't wait to see what those things are. Keep loving us all so hard and sharing your spirit with the world. You may be the one to bring the changes this world desperately needs.

We love you more than we could ever say. Thank you for choosing us to be your family. We can't wait to see what year 3 brings you.

November: Thanksgiving, Voting, and Just Overall Gratitude

November, November, November! Fastest moth ever! We are only four days into December and I already feel like November is waaaay behind us. We just continue to weave between a whole lot of everything and nothing at the same time. We continue to spend most of our time at home as the pandemic continues. That isn't a bad thing necessarily for our house as we have so many projects and ideas and things to do. There's still a lot of chaos and noise inside our 4 walls. 
 

So let's dive in for a recap:

Payton wanted to play photographer. In a season of so much free time, we just let her, no questions asked or monitoring. We later found these gems of her brother, along with videos of the two of them dancing and playing together:

We were just the 5 of us for Thanksgiving but we still enjoyed our day. We had special Holiday punch, made pie, and fixed a meal fit for 20! We ate for days!

We spent the afternoon bouncing between the 2 parks in town playing tennis and baseball. We try to keep a tradition of doing something active on Thanksgiving day. It's all about balance between extra eating, extra sitting.

We also made mimosas for the adults! It was good to have a little something special for us as well over the quiet holiday. Payton also took a photo of my husband and me together as well. One of the rare times we are documented together any more, it seems.

  On one of the random nice days (weather wise) we got out lights and Christmas decorations out and the kids got a few minutes on the roof (they begged and dad caved):                                         

                                                

I watched them hold hands and hug most of the time up there. It was so sweet to watch but nearly gave me a heart attack. I was happy to have them back on solid ground. 

We spent a lot of time starting to watch Christmas movies. The kids decided to "camp" and watch Home Alone:

I hope this boy never stops holding my hand:

We have been doing so much preschool fun! Dragon day, spiderman puzzles (which my 5 year old can do on his own), Train exploration activities (complete with a stop at our train depot), color mixing (one of my favorite preschool lessons to do) and letter making:

We made our thankful turkey:

And, as always, lots and lots of outside time. We love exploring our own backyard:

A day of matching outfits and sweet boys:

We made a stop at the park one day:

We made a trip out of state for medical appointments for our youngest. He ended up getting so sick that first night, we stayed but didn't make our appointments. After 24 hours, you would have never thought he was even sick. We now think it was altitude issues. The big kids still got to go to the zoo but he and I spend the entire trip in a motel room. 

This beautiful pic of a sleeping child. I know he will do big things in life, but sometimes he just needs to rest. 

This was the only picture from the trip I came home with. We will try this trip again and hopefully have better results next time, along with a new plan. 

In November, I voted. I did the drop off box and we talked with the kids about the entire process. It was so great to help them understand the process:

The bounce house! We love this thing so much and it's 100% worth the investment:

We got outside for the fire pit and smores:

My super creative sister started a side hustle this year and made chocolate dragon eggs. The kids had a blast breaking into them and eating all the fun candy inside:

With the food allergies of my youngest, he wasn't left out! My sister sent me a mold and I made something for him as well:

                                           

This month, we also ventured out to the park several times:

It was my husband's birthday in November and we tried to make it as special as he is. We celebrated a day early since we were traveling (the above story about our youngest being sick) on his actual day. We kicked off the (albeit early) day with breakfast waffles, played games, danced, and reminded him all day how loved he was:

Riley made him a pumpkin birthday present, a creation we put together during preschool art time:

As we wrap up this month, we are already planning the birthday of our baby of the house. He will be 3 in December. I'm already a mess trying to process how fast 3 years flew by. The child that is still asking me for a picture all the time. He's grown so much, especially as we think specifically in regards to medically. I'm so thankful for him and that God gave us 3 whole years with him: 

This last picture is one of him using his hand to write. His thumb had surgery earlier this year and he just continues to "wow" us as he grasps, pinches, and uses his thumb. We can't wait to celebrate this baby in December and remind him of just how much he is truly loved in this house!

If I could slow down time, I would, but I think I've said that on repeat throughout this blog. The saying that it goes fast is ever so true. And it's so hard on me. But, I am also truly enjoying seeing my children grow and I'm so excited to see the people they will become. So, onward to December we go!

Happy Holidays!