December 30 - Selfies

For the last 2 years the GS mom's have done a white elephant gift exchange at our holiday party. This year, my gift was a selfie stick and...I ended up with my own gift at the end of the night. Haha! The kids and I have been playing around with it and it is really fun! (and don't worry JD, I'm not taking it everywhere I go like some people we see around town lol)

Luke

Julia

Mom

December 28 - Christmas Jammies

I love family traditions, both old (Christmas Eve dinner, inherited from JD's family, and no presents under the tree under Christmas morning, my family) and new (our Christmas Eve Eve sleepover under the tree). I'm not sure if this constitutes a tradition per say, but all of our kids have worn the same pair of jammies for their first Christmas. I'll save them and pass them down to the kids one day, although I'm sure they'll wonder why I'm giving them old clothing! But maybe their kids will wear them one day. 

Jules - 4 months

Luke - 2 months

Jillian - 3 months

December 26 - Merry Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas 

and a Happy New Year!

Christmas 2016 is in the books and while it was unseasonably warm (almost 80 degrees), we all had a wonderful day. Let's jump back to last week. On Friday evening, our neighborhood had our annual Spruce Hollow cul-de-sac party. Julia and I made invitations last week and she handed them to everyone. We set up tables at the end of our driveway and everyone brings a dish to share. We had chicken chili, beef chili, chips and queso, brownies, cookies and banana bread. It was amazing! The kids played in the cul-de-sac for hours while all the parents chatted away. Little Jillian loved her first party and was awake the whole time. That night was Christmas Eve Eve which also means it's the kids annual sleepover under the tree. JD, Bryan and the kids made a fort out of blankets and they snuggled in. 

Our family does our 'fancy' dinner on Christmas Eve and JD did not disappoint. We had delicious ham, green bean casserole, butternut squash risotto and baked macaroni and cheese. Afterwards, the kids and I baked cookies for Santa (sugar cookies in the shapes of dog biscuits, hearts and gingerbread men and chocolate chip/chocolate chunk/m&m cookies). We realized late night that we didn't have any carrots for the reindeer, but Uncle Bryan reminded the kids that they also like cheese. So...cookies and a cheese stick were left by the fireplace! The kids were SO EXCITED. Julia was insistent that she was going to stay up late to get a picture of Santa. The kids had a sleepover in Julia's room and were sound asleep by 11pm..no pictures of Santa this year! 

J

ulia and Luke were up around 6.45am on Christmas morning. We made them wait until 7am to go downstairs...and then the gift opening extravaganza began! They were very excited to see what Santa brought them. Julia received an iPod and skateboard and Luke received a hot-wheels set and iPad. They are so incredibly spoiled by friends and family. Thank you so much for all of their wonderful gifts..legos, nurf guns, books, board games, MineCraft stuff, pogo stick, clothes, basketball, BB gun (this was a gift to Julia from JD..that I had no idea about), dvd, Harry Potter stuff, Anki overdrive. Jillian slept for some of the gift opening and then woke up to join in the festivities. She was spoiled with new clothes and toys. JD and Bryan received a few "fun" gifts. The kids got them "Poo-Pourri" which is a spray you use before you...you know. Hehe.

I also bought each of them a ManCrate. They were wrapped in duct tape and then they had a small crowbar and a wooden crate to pry open. Inside JD's was exotic jerky and Bryan had fun games. It was fun to watch them open them. 

After presents, we had a great french toast breakfast with fresh fruit. We then made our holiday calls and spoke with family (everyone had a wonderful morning) and then it was time to play. JD, Bryan and Luke built a huge Hot Wheels course (that went halfway up the stairs and had two 360 loops) while Julia was outside practicing on her skateboard. Jillian spent most of the day eating, I think she is going through a growth spurt. 

Overall, fabulous Christmas. Thank you to everyone who helped make our day special!

Opening up the Man Crates

My favorite little man

Sisters

Proud owner of vanilla mint Poo -Pourri "Own Throne"

Skater girl

My favorite Christmas present, Jillian

December 21 - The Cutest Gift Under the Tree

I found the most adorable, precious, present under the tree the other day!

These two cuties also melt my heart:

December 19 - Party Party Party

Wow, last week was quite the week. On Sunday, Uncle Bryan drove in from Montana. He retired from the Air Force and is staying with us until his new job in upstate NY starts. Needless to say, everyone (including the furry babies) are excited he's here). 

On Tuesday, the Girl Scouts came over for our second annual cookie baking. Last year we had a small crew with only a few girls. This year, almost everyone came. The girls divided up into three groups and made a batch of cookie. Julia's group attempted to make triple chocolate cookies-they added cocoa to the dough mixture and had a few different types of chips. Another group also went "off-recipe" and added in crushed peppermints, mint chips and chocolate chips. The third group followed the mint/chip recipe on the bag. Can you guess which group had the best cookies? The group that followed the recipe! The other cookies were tasty but they looked..well, let's just say, not that appetizing. The girls had a great time and Luke had a great time eating them. 

Thursday was an insane day-between the kids we had THREE holiday parties. Julia's class had a pizza party with pizza, cookies, fruit and a craft. Bryan went to her party and they both had fun. As the room mom for Luke's class, I was in charge of his party. Bryan was a huge help prepping for this the night before. He helped me put together gift bags for the kids which included reindeer ears (headbands), picture frames and stuffed animals. At the party, the kids ate fruit, veggies and cookies, decorated their picture frames (with winter foam stickers) and played 'pin the nose on the reindeer.' They also made cards for the military overseas. It was a super fun party! 

That evening, it was time for our 4th annual Girl Scout Christmas party. This year we did our first ever Christmas caroling with the girls around our cul-de-sac. We sang 2 songs per house (Jingle Bells, Silent Night, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman). The girls (and Amelia, who went door to door with us) had fun. We also did a cookie exchange, the girls exchanged Secret Santa's and the moms did a white elephant and regular gift exchange. The girls also did 'pin the nose on the reindeer' and loved it. Overall, a fun but exhausting week!

Friday was pj day at school and the kids were excited for the last day before winter break. All the kids looked adorable in their jammies!

Girl Scouts

December 16 - Soccer Stars

Fall soccer wrapped up with back-to-back tournaments the weekend after Thanksgiving. The weekend of the first tournament coincided with the school districts robotics competition. JD and Luke went to robotics all day, where our North Pointe Robo-Rockets qualified for states. Great job Robo-Rockets! Julia, Jillian and I were in Missouri City (about 50min away) for a chilly soccer tournament. Jillian and I were huddled on the side of the field at 7.30am in the 50 degree weather (and rain) while Julia and her team played their hearts out. We had a 2h break into between games and spent the time at Whole Foods with her friend Tanner, eating an early (long!) lunch. Then we headed back to the soccer fields for game 2.

The girls lost both games but had fun playing in the mud. The Sunday game was cancelled (the fields were flooded due to a huge storm). The following weekend was our final soccer tournament of the season. Lucky for us, it was at our home fields, which are only 5min from our house. The girls played amazing and won their first two games, qualifying for finals!! The lost the final game but were very proud to earn second place. Go Space City!!

After soccer, we finally went and got our Christmas tree. After ten plus years of white lights, we decided to go with color this year. So fun!! We also have a small pencil tree in the foyer with white lights and a small Hallmark tree that was mine when I was a child. The house looks so festive with our three trees! 

Julia & Tanner

2nd place - go Space City!

He loves his sister

December 9 - We Love You Great Grandpa

Dear Great Grandpa,

My heart is heavy with sadness, but it is also full. So full of wonderful memories. I love your never ending stories, your big laugh, your love of Troubles, Brownie, Lady, Lenya and Silver. And of course, Thanksgiving. We are so fortunate to have spent almost every Thanksgiving together over the last ten years. You are a wonderful great grandpa to all of the kids and we will cherish every memory. Thank you for opening your home to us over the years-

We love you forever and always.