celebrating Christmas with family

We lucked out again this year and got to host everyone at our house over Christmas! Huge shout out to Sarah and Drew for making the very long trek from South Carolina up north. The boys were so excited for their cousins to be here over actual Christmas, and we were excited too! They got in late the night before Christmas Eve, perfect timing to dive right into all of the Christmas festivities!

Things got busy as soon as all the boys woke up the next morning!


I always love Christmas Eve services at church. Throughout the month of December there's that feeling of excitement and anticipation for opening gifts on Christmas, but on Christmas Eve the anticipation for Jesus' return one day is more palpable to me. The focus is put where it should be and I always feel a sense of peace and calmness as I Take time to wrap my mind around the fact that Jesus was willing to come to earth and live human experiences just so he could empathize with us and later save us! Even through multiple trips to the bathroom, passing out of snacks and "shhh"s down the row, it was a special night to worship with family!



Hot chocolate treat before service!


Obligatory Christmas Eve photo in between prepping dinner and waiting for Deric to wrap up at church!

Christmas morning!

(And some Christmas pj photos from a few days later...)

Aunt Foo and Uncle Drew put sticky balls in the boys' stockings so Grandad drew a target on the door for them. They had a blast-- we probably could have stopped giving gifts at that point! 

There's always so much going on on Christmas mornings! Playing Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, assembling Lego trucks, nursing babies out of the frame ;) and trying to capture memories of it all!

We got all four boys these Ninja Turtle masks because they all like to pretend. The little masks are really tricky to keep on but the weapons got plenty of play time regardless! There's always someone around to fight crime.

Jake saw Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots at the store about a month before Christmas and mentioned it quite a few times for Christmas, so that was an easy choice for him. And its a great game for everyone! The boys love deciding who's Red Rocker and who's Blue Bomber before they battle it out.

All Deric's doing... :) She is the best gift this year!

Grandad's new scarf-- and new grand baby!

Eli got this Mickey couch and it was a big hit for all the kids. There were a few scuffles over the "doodah" (as Eli calls Mickey) couch but it became a big wrestling mat for everyone most of the time.

Over the next few days, the boys got some major playtime with all these new toys and their cousins too. They built forts, played superheroes, wrestled, colored, crafted...so much to do! Its so fun to watch them interact and play together...and to sit back and talk with my family while the kids are entertained by each other. ;)

Jake worked so hard on this "tunnel" for Eli and Reid. The sign was all his idea and he cut out most of the letters by himself. It says "let's go" but backwards. I love this age!!

We followed everyone up to Courtney's for a quick visit before we came back to town to celebrate Christmas with Deric's family. 

On our way back home, we stopped first to see Christmas lights timed with a local radio station. We could have watched for awhile but had a baby to get back home before the fussing started.

On to Christmas number two! Its so funny to me that Kensie's foot spa was one of the boys' favorite things to play with. She would play calm music and then scrub their feet after they had soaked them. Lego building sets, the Nugget couch, board games for kids and adults...all the best memories of time with family!

Reagan doesn't look thrilled here, but she is loving her new playmat!

Continuing traditions, giving gifts to the kids that they love and continue to enjoy, spending time with family and focusing on Jesus' love for me....this Christmas season will always be a great memory for me! 

the holiday season

This holiday season was such a great one! We carried on with our tradition of an Advent Scripture reading and an activity of some sort each day of December. To be honest, even just this simple tradition wore me out this year. Of course that's because we're all still adjusting to having Reagan around--and she was still waking up in the night at this point-- but this Christmas I felt like God was reminding me that Christmas would still "feel like Christmas" (what does that really even mean when we say it??) even if we didn't do all the Christmas activities we usually do. [Side note: I've noticed how easy it is for me to become attached to traditions rather than spending my time, energy and focus on the Lord, so I've been purposefully letting go of some traditions in order to detach from them. Its freeing! And its also freeing to know that those traditions can come back next year or look different next year, and it'll all still be good.] Simple activities with the boys were just enough to make the season special from the rest of the year and to be intentional about spending time with them and talking about Jesus' birth. And thanks to taking it simply in this area, we had plenty of good memories in between the fun planned activities.

Jake and I raked the leaves from our one and only tree in the front yard so that the town truck would kindly collect them the next day. The raking went quick and then there was time for the best part-- jumping in the pile you just worked so hard on! When Reid woke up from his nap he got to join the fun too.

It made me cringe when Jake buried himself like this, thinking of all those scratchy leaves! Glad he enjoyed it. I declined his invitation to jump in too and told him straight that I *do not* like that feeling! ;)

This ride-on Thomas was given to us when Jake was a year old and we lost the battery charger during the move. So for over a year it sat in our garage and I always said we needed to find the charger so Reid could enjoy using it. I finally order a new charger (for a whopping $12-- why did I wait so long?!) and Reid got a few days out of it before he dropped the battery while helping Deric recharge it...and now the battery's broken. Poor kid! He loved it while it lasted.

Baby snuggles in front of a fire with cozy Christmas lights. The best.

Adding jingle bells to our Magna Tiles was such a hit! Jake and I made a town out of toys one afternoon and he had the idea to add the jingle bells to Mickey's house. They looked like Christmas decorations and I loved it!

 

Once again, Reid woke up from his nap and got to enjoy the fun too!

Borrowing big brother's Captain America costume while he was at school one morning! Within the space of an hour, Reid was running around as the Cap and then upstairs swinging slowly and rubbing his nose with his blankie (which he's only allowed to have upstairs). Such a fun age!

Someone thinks its funny to pretend to be a baby! (Thankfully there's been no regression and serious pretending to be a baby--just an excuse to sit in the bouncy seat!)

The boys like to hide when Deric gets home sometimes and this was their hiding spot one evening-- but look at Reid's little fingers sticking out! He was also talking the entire time. Didn't take too long for Deric to find them. ;)

Our first Advent activity-- coloring on cut-out trees with white crayons and watercoloring over the designs! Jake was all about this and he made quite a few trees. 

Next up, our first time making play doh! It was so fun and simple to make and the boys loved playing with the play doh and our Christmas cookie cutters. Jake spent probably an additional hour that night making cookies with the play doh-- he eventually opened Jake's Bake Shop!

Gingerbread cookies!

I about had a heart attack over this particular fort! I came downstairs with Reagan and the boys were minutes away from trying to jump off the top cushions. I had to explain that while it would be fun, they'd most likely get hurt so no, sorry-- time to take the fort down to a more manageable height. ;) This photo was after they took some cushions off the top!

Naps on a Saturday morning...

...and you're hungry but just too tired to stay awake to burp!

Deric took Jake to a basketball game downtown one night and it coincided with a reading of The Polar Express at Barnes and Nobles, so we each got a date night with the boys! Reagan got to spend time with our neighbors while I took Reid in his pajamas to get hot chocolate and cookies with his friends. They dutifully listened to the story but you know they were in it for the treats. ;)

Our Life Group Christmas party encouraged festive attire-- so we got festive! It all came because of Deric's idea to wear his tux to the high school Christmas party rather than an ugly sweater, so we went all in for our Life Group party a week later. Even Reagan got fancy!

Caught the boys in a sweet moment one morning as they looked through a Look & Find book together. Reid's hand on Jake's shoulder kills me!

Another Advent activity-- going on a neighborhood walk to see Christmas lights! We lucked out with a really mild night and its a great memory.

Baking with my Christmas elf! 

And whew, we made it to the last few photos! On the coldest night of December-- I kid you not, it was something like 8 degrees-- we went to see the Christmas lights at the zoo with friends (and get pizza first!) It was unbelievably cold so it was a quick walk through the zoo before everyone just about ran back to their cars, but it was still so enjoyable to be with all of our friends.

I think Reagan was the warmest out of all of us!