December Recap

December was another quick month. This month was good in so many ways. Our littlest baby turned 3, we all took Christmas break off together and stayed home, just us 5, we had the best Christmas together, Riley played basketball for an extra-curricluar, and so much of everything in between. 

Another month of dumping photos to share:

Sunrise at our house after our first beautiful snow fall in December. 

So much food we go through. I've gotten really good at food prepping and these fruits and veggies don't make it a week at our house! But, we are eating more cleanly than I've ever eaten before. 

Riley did basketball rookie sports this year. He had so much fun and improved significantly in his short time of this activity. 

We took the kids through a breakfast to go/meet Santa morning. It was so fun and we brought home so many activities to do and decorations to make, like this tree ornament. 

The kids got outside to help their dad. 

Each year we "adopt" a few kids and buy gifts on both their need and want list. We try to keep the genders and ages similar to our kids and it is always so worth it. Payton was so excited to deliver these gifts. We always hope this helps other families to have just as magical a holiday as ours is. 

Lots of playing together!

My husband's family did an online painting class as a group. So he, I, and Payton all did the class at home as it was after the boys went to bed. The next week, I helped Riley complete this same set of pictures so that we have a set of 4. It was a good way to add some fun into our break and we are looking at doing another class someday!

Grandma and Grandpa gave the kids a cardboard cutout house and the kids spent a huge chunk of their break playing with it. We put it away one evening and hope to pull out again next Christmas.

                                                      Preschool before winter break started.

Gingerbread houses! The 3 kids made this together in an afternoon when it was too cold to get outside.

                    Fresh bread. We ate and cooked and baked and ate so much during this month. 

Outside playing.

One morning the kids asked me to do something special for breakfast and this was about the fastest, easiest I could do. Cookie cutter shaped toast with eggs and grapes. The kids loved and asked for on repeat all week! My kids are God's sweet reminder that it's the littlest things in life...

Riley and Payton both wrote notes to Santa. Riley used his sight word flashcards to do his all on his own. 

Santa left a little note for the kids on Christmas morning.

So many crafts! All three pictures from above are crafting time for preschool! We made hanging art, cards that we mailed to others, decorated Christmas trees, and disguised a gingerbread man (so he hopefully won't get eaten)!

I pulled down the hand me down clothes and found Riley some of the cutest Christmas sweaters this year! He was so excited!

Payton really wanted to bake and asked for some assistance making brownies.

We got some good snowfalls in December and the kids loved getting outside to play. Payton liked being dressed as pink as she could! Only for all of them to get their clothes so dirty and muddy that I had to wash everything as soon as they came inside. They had so much fun though!

Jayden and Riley asked to work some baking into their school schedule and so we did!

We did take a trip to see Santa and if this picture doesn't sum up the Pandemic 2020, I don't know what does. I laugh every time I see this photo.

We just stay so busy that poor Jayden just begs for a tv break. And when he gets it, he looks like he's about to fall asleep. Every. Time. 

We got outside to explore on our property, a piece of land we never go to. And, I always leave asking myself why we don't go over there more often. I got some gorgeous photos of those that would pose and we burned off so much energy running around. 

Another round of this little guy requesting tv time. This time with mom and he posed for a picture before zoning. 

Payton and Riley worked on one last project before wrapping up December. These cute magnet picture tiles are the best! I look at each of these pictures daily with so much fondness.

Batman came to visit. Jayden is just now getting into costumes, while his siblings will live in them! It's been so fun to see him decide he enjoys this as well.

Ending this round with a picture of Riley and Payton snuggled up and watching a show. We had so much quiet, down time sprinkled in to all the busy our family brings. I am treasuring how much I saw all of our family cuddled up together. It was just the sweetest month.

Here's to January! May it be just as sweet!

 

2020 Our Year in Review

2020 is over. Done. I can't believe we landed ourselves in a pandemic. I never would have guessed that at the beginning of the year. Now, I enter 2021 and feel fairly used to the new normal that COVID 19 has landed us in. 

We were really the lucky ones. We didn't lose jobs, I loved having our daughter do virtual school during the start of the pandemic, I was also happy to see her back with her friends in school in the fall, and our family just mostly soaked up all the extra family time. At home, because we just couldn't really go anywhere. We gave up most extracurriculars (Riley did do football and basketball for a few weeks and Payton did a few weeks of cheerleading). We found an extra chapter to our own personal story loaded with family time, something you don't normally get with an elementary aged kid and lots of fun activities always around for families. Our household will look back on this season of life lovingly and know that we felt safe and happy in our little bubble. 

As we spoke with the kids about the year they brought up so many highs! Payton entered and placed in a state contest where you submit your own story and artwork. Riley placed in his age group when our family participated in a local (virtual this year) 5k run/walk. Our family just participated in a local 4h group scavenger hunt and won this week! Our youngest completed one of his surgeries we learned when he was born that he would need to have. He also, unfortunately, broke his leg. So, he has us very familiar with the cast experience, something I was very afraid of but now can take on and know it will be okay. 

Despite all the horrible circumstances going on in the world as a whole, our family was fortunate to be celebrating good health. Our youngest child was very sick his first few years of life, but with the help of a team of specialists, food allergy diagnoses, and cleaning up his diet... we had our healthiest year ever. EVER! And it was so good to be so healthy and not worried about some of the scary things we have seen related to having a sick child/children. For this alone, we are so, so thankful. 

As I type this, our winter break is about to come to an end and it's been nice to have the 5 of us home for 2 whole weeks. We have enjoyed sledding outside, playing games together, driving around to look at Christmas lights, reading books, laughing, and just curling up and watching movies together. 

The kids were so excited for this years review movie. Mostly because I think they are old enough to actually understand. Payton and Riley have spent lots of time watching our review videos from previous years. My husband and I worked hard on this one and found many challenges putting this together. Our kids love the song Welcome to the Family by Avenged Sevenfold. Since it's been their most requested song in 2020, we had to put that one in there. So, here it is, our year:

2020. It was such a different year but our little household enjoyed the extra time of quiet, stillness, and being at home together. We are excited to see what 2021 has in store for us. 

Happy New Year!

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.