Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Welcome Home, Lucy!

((Still playing catch up with the blog, y'all))

On November 19th, we surprised the kids with an early Christmas gift surprise by placing a single wrapped gift with a question mark label on it under the empty Christmas tree. They were perplexed to say the least. See?


Can you just take another look at Squish's face? Literally the best. 😂

We gave them the option of opening the gift or not, and not surprisingly, they all agreed to go for it!

Inside they found... a book on beagle puppies! I also included a flyer with our new pup's info on it for them, too!


Here's the big moment on video:


So on Saturday, November 30th (the day after we informed the kids they would be getting a new sibling!), we loaded up the kids in the Suburban, temporarily dubbed the "Christmas Express," and hit the road. The kids each had a Christmas gift bag in their seats stocked full with Christmas coloring books, candy, popcorn, activities, and more. They also each had a cup of hot chocolate in their cupholders, a Christmas movies was queued up in the DVD player, and I even went so far as to (gag) put reindeer antlers and a red nose on the Suburban (TEMPORARILY).

Now we were ready to hit the road! Destination? North Carolina. More specifically: Shiloh Farm! We were surprising the kids with a MAJOR Christmas gift a few weeks early... their very own beagle puppy!

They were all instantly in love the second they met her!


Somehow they were all able to come to agreement rather quickly that her name should be Lucy. Her middle name is Opal. Our last name starts with L, and they purposely chose Opal for her middle name so her initials would be LOL. Aren't they crazy? They thought Opal would be a good fit because she was born in October, and opal is the birthstone for October.

She was so tiny!


The kids settled in with her at home in no time flat! They loved watching her sleep.





Without a doubt, Lucy prefers Chase's "nap lap" over all others. She will curl up with him and take the best naps!


LO has been the best mama to her sweet Lucy. I love watching her take care of her little four-legged baby.


As you might have noticed, one of her favorite activities her first month or so with us was SLEEPING. She slept all.the.time. And she still sleeps a good bit! She stays in her crate at night and when we're gone, she loves running and playing in the backyard, and she's so great in playing with the kids inside. She's really been a wonderful addition to our family! The kids all love her so much, and though I'm not much of a pet person, I've been pleased at how well the kids have taken care of everything (with help from hubs): feeding, bathing, picking up poop, cleaning up inside messes, keeping little toys/choking hazards picked up and out of her reach, etc. Lucy has been a wonderful addition to our family!

Welcome home, Lucy!

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Merry Christmas 2019

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone reading this is enjoying the best Christmas ever! We've had a wonderful holiday week so far. Last night, for Christmas Eve, we attended a wonderful service at our church and enjoyed a big family gathering at my sister's house. The kids all opened their matching buffalo plaid pajamas! It was so much fun!

This morning, the kids were so kind to wait until after 8AM to wake up (some of them much later), so I was able to sneak downstairs to get a few pics before they came downstairs to kick off the magic!

Every year, the kids get new ornaments. Squish got a new car!


E got a Star Wars ornament!


Chase got a new game controller ornament!


And LO got a new reindeer!


Here are a few pics of the loot!





The kids made cookies for Santa last night and they came out so cute! Here's a BEFORE pic...


And an AFTER pic once Santa was done with them! LOL! He enjoyed his cookies and chocolate milk. He even wrote back to Chase's request for a note from Santa in his journal!


The kids were SUPER excited to see all the Christmas fun awaiting them downstairs!


My favorite thing about Christmas this year was watching the kids start out by opening the gifts they had each made for each other. Chase made E a Splatoon gun of some sort. It was so neat to see Chase was probably just excited to GIVE the gift as E was to receive it!


LO crocheted an AMAZING Pikachu for Chase. I still can't believe she MADE this! Isn't he adorable?!


Check out this adorable reindeer LO made for me! I love it so much!


Chase was thrilled to receive one of his Christmas wishes: a skateboard!


Lots of new games for E this year (since he happens to be an expert at losing game pieces). Ha!


Chase and E with their new onesie jams: Pikachu for Chase and a Minecraft creeper for E!


O finally woke up about 2 hours later and was excited to try out his new balance bike!



His stocking contained one of his most favorite things ever: M&Ms!


Bed hair don't care. LOL!


Here O paused mid-gift opening to randomly say, "Cheese!" since I had my camera in his face. Haha!


I didn't get too many pics of LO, but she was super thrilled with her new Warrior book sets, a new dress, new boots, and lots of other great stuff!

We loved our family time this morning, and are super excited to continue our Christmas festivities with Christmas dinner at our BFFs tonight, and then hosting my entire family for Christmas dinner tomorrow night!

Merry Christmas, all!