Merry Christmas and how our break is going.

 Happy Holidays! We are currently on the last day of December. I made a quick little video to show what we have been up to over the holiday break. We have had a great time doing all the community activities and enjoying our own rituals and time with one another. I am not sure any of us will be ready for break to come to an end this week. 

I hope your time has been going well this holiday season as well! We are so thankful God sent Jesus and the many blessings he has given our household. 

Jayden turns 6!

 December is already busy and we make it even busier with a birthday boy. He had school on his birthday so we did a quick celebration that morning when he woke up before sending him to school with treats. He was festively dressed in the Christmas pajamas he slept in:

                                       

Breakfast banana pancakes were served complete with candles and singing. We also let him open up his gifts. He went on to school and had the best day with his class celebrating him. 

Prior to his day, we got outside to take some pictures when the weather was really nice the week before. I can't believe he is 6 years old already. Time is such a thief. 

Jayden picked his own outfit, poses, and spots to take pictures at. He said the tree at our house is one of his favorite trees to look at and the playhouse on his swing set is one of his favorite places to play. I'm thankful that his big smiles show the same amount of happiness he brings our family. 

Even with the crazy schedules, we opted to do a family experience over an all class birthday party. So we headed to a hotel with a waterpark the next town over. We surprised the kids with the trip on a Saturday and left on Sunday. The extra surprise was that they got to miss a day of school on Monday for the trip. 

And we had the absolutely best time our family could have. 

We got out to see the Christmas lights in the park, watched movies in our hotel room, enjoyed the water park, spent money (and won some) in the arcade in the hotel, and soaked up time with each other. The memories we created will hopefully last us all a lifetime!

Happy Birthday, sweet Jayden! We love you big time. You are in such a good place health wise yet I always take this time of year to think about how lucky we are for you and how your health journey as really shaped me for the better. I am so deeply thankful for all that you bring to our lives and I am so, so glad you are here with us. You march to your own beat. Don't ever change. And, please, take me along for the ride. 

I love you so.

Mom

Happy Holidays

 As I sent out holiday cards over the last week, I wanted to share some of the pictures we used for those and to wish you a Merry Christmas, dear reader. I hope this season is magical for you. 

This is one of the first years we did not get a photographer and I went out and took the pictures myself. This also mean I am not in the pictures. Nor is my husband (to which he wasn't totally happy with but he is also the one who requested no hired photographer, so you get what you what). But, I am totally in love with the pictures I did take:

There were so many keepers to choose from when I only requested one good photo. 1. That's it. Boy, did these kids show up.

 

We chose one of our favorite walking areas of which we have never taken family pictures at since having children that I can recall. Fun fact though, Monte and I took holiday pictures here back when it was just us and our 2 beloved dogs during our first few years of marriage. It was so bittersweet to be back here taking these pictures as a family with 4 beautiful children.

I took the pictures on my own but Monte came to supervise towards the end. By then, Avery was over it and was ready to go home. Overall, I was a bit of a crabbier photographer as I would have liked to be, as my subjects weren't super cooperative. And, yet, we still got some great pictures. But it took much longer than planned and then Avery lost steam so the kids didn't get to walk the route like they hoped. Which was a total bummer.

So, we went back a few days later to try again. Minus taking pictures since I needed no retakes.

And this time there were no complaints and a bonus of a rare caffeine high and a baby napping!

To my children,

I hope you look at those family pictures and they bring up good feelings of happy times. Please know that I am so thankful for you and am so sorry for the times where I didn't behave my best. I am a work in progress and try so hard to be intentional. 

Love, 

Mom

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

November Recap

November recap, here we go! This month the man in the below photo has a birthday and his four spoiled him well:

He kicked off the month taking one weekend to hunt early opening season with our boys. They spent lots of time together and with the grandparents. They even got to see the grandparents and cousins on my side for a few hours as grandma took them to my hometown for a bit. 

The girls and I were left at home and we enjoyed ourselves as well:

 

We got outside, went to the children's museum, ate together, and went to church. It was a great, quiet weekend with just the girls. A real rarity. 

Monte spent his birthday day back at the land deer hunting again. and this year it was fruitful:

He came home and got to tell the boys all about his trip. His daughters have very low interest in this kind of adventure so they stayed away. The boys were thrilled though and helped all that they could. They can't wait to hunt themselves! 

Our sweet neighbors dropped off a pizza kit and dough kit for us and we felt so spoiled. We are so lucky to be so blessed by our community:

My mom came to visit and we surprised the kids by her showing up for a kayaking adventure we were on. It was the best! The looks of some super surprised kids:

And grandma had fun:

Guess who is another month older? Well, technically we all are. But, Avery hit 7 months! Growing like a weed and so much personality. She is super happy most of the time and we feel so blessed to have her in our life. She sits up and gets into position to crawl (although not quite there yet) and enjoys trying foods even if she spits them out most of the time. She lights up with all of her family members and is pretty cautious now of anyone outside of her immediate family. 

The kids had a dress up day to dress like the lorax. So our kids were all trees:

Monte and I both attended the holiday feast. Since our oldest is in a different building I joined her while Monte went to the lower elementary school building. It was a wonderful meal and we joined them at recess after before returning back home. 

Payton finished her diamond art project she has been working on for months:

For Thanksgiving we went to Monte's parents house for a few days. I got zero pictures. Not a single picture to show for it. But, it was a good time and we stayed super busy (thus the lack of pictures). We returned back home and I did end up with sleeping pictures of 3 of our 4 kids on the day we returned. That's how tired we were. 

And that last few days of the month we were back to school and extra curricular activities. Here Avery and I are hanging out in the car while one kid is at piano and the other two are playing football in the grass while we wait. 

We also stopped at the park a few times:

Jayden was with us for these park stops but he was lucky enough to see friends both times and was off with them. Sometimes, he forgets about us a bit. We're working on that.

Around the house, we have been watching this great horned owl:
                                                  

He loves watching our chickens but seems to find food all over our property (not our chickens though). He is huge and this picture does no justice. Such a beauty to watch.

Monte took the kids to the movies while Avery napped. Riley wasn't interested in the movie so he chose to spend some time with me. We sat and talked together for a bit and then he asked to play Madden. He proceeded to get his best score he's ever gotten and therefore wanted it documented:

And my other two had fun at the movies with dad:

And that's a wrap on our November! Off to December! Happy Holidays!