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!

A Little Announcement. . .

Merry Christmas!

I shared a little announcement* today on fb and IG and of course wanted to share it here, too!

*Hint: Count the pairs of shoes!

Father's Day // 2019

Happy Father's Day to hubs! We are so blessed! The kid and I love him so much and we are so grateful and thankful for how much he loves us!

We started our day by missing church because one of our sweet littles has been sick for two days with a fever and vomiting. No bueno! I am praying it doesn't spread to anyone else.

I made a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits for hubs' breakfast and we just hung out all morning... talking through budgets, home improvement projects, self-employment taxes--basically my husband's dream conversations all in one day! LOL! Leftovers were on the menu for lunch (I'm winning at this Father's Day stuff) and then it was time to open presents!

Hubs finally got a new phone! YAY! He's been stuck with my rose gold iPhone 6 for ages since I always take his upgrades. 😜 Now he's the owner of a shiny new black XR! We also got him a case because new iPhones are slippery, y'all! LOL!

Hubs opened a few more gifts and cards, then it was nap time for all!

The afternoon included more relaxing (especially for my sweet sicko, E), some Wii U Minecraft for the kids, and lesson planning for me. Hubs requested brats and corn on the cob for dinner, and it was delish!

For dessert, I made an Oreo ice cream cake. It looks much prettier here where I found it. But this is how it turned out. #pinterestfail 

The good thing is no one complained that it wasn't pretty, and it must've tasted good because everyone had seconds!

After dinner, it was time to play outside! Squish (and his non-sick siblings) loved playing with the new splash pad he got for his birthday.

I think it was a great day for hubs--and the rest of us! Happy Father's Day!

New Years // 2018

// Still playing catch up on the blog... I'm actually posting this on 6/7/19. Better late than never?

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Time to celebrate the New Year! We had so much fun partying with our besties 'til late into the night! E found the noisemakers... shocking.

This guy looks like he's ready to ring in the new year in style!

LO and our littlest. Sweet loves!

E's ready to toast to the new year with one of his BFFs!

These two. I hope to use this image in the slideshow I'll inevitably play at the rehearsal dinner before their big wedding day!

Back at home, we had our countdown balloons to get us through midnight! The kids LOVE doing these every year! We put fun activities in each balloon and label them for every 30 minutes. Then the kids take turns being the one to pop open each balloon at the specified time and lead the next activity. So much fun!

We had a great time welcoming 2019!

Christmas 2018

// Still playing catch up on the blog... posting on 6/7/19. Better late than never?

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We had a great Christmas with our family! Here are a few quick snapshots.

First up? O playing peek-a-boo with Mona! LOVE.

The spread for Santa! Chocolate milk not pictured.

Buddy the Elf delivering candy canes to our goofballs.

Santa's been here! Ready for Christmas morning!

Had to share a pic of my kiddos with all of their cousins. My mom and I made matching pajama bottoms for ALL of them! Aren't they adorable?!

My sweet crew! I love these guys so much!!

Wait--is that a Santa sighting?? Love my Chase!

Halloween 2018

Yep... still playing catch up on my blog! Here's a quick recap of Halloween 2018 (posted on 6/7/19)!

The kids had a great time dressing up this year! LO chose to be Hermione from Harry Potter. I made her cape thing (I'm not a Potterhead, obvi), bought the outfit, and she had a wand from her birthday. She ROCKED it!!!

Chase is still DEEP into his love of all.things.Pokémon. He wanted to be Ash Ketchum, the famed Pokémon trainer! He looked fantastic in his mom-made costume! He had to take off his hat for the photo so he could show off his black hair!

I totally and completely "phoned it in" for the younger boys this year. These are skeleton pajamas from The Children's Place (I think). Yes, these boys went trick-or-treating in pajamas. I don't even care.

We went to our friends' neighborhood to go trick-or-treating with them and had a FANTASTIC time! It was so much fun!!!

Easter 2018

What a busy whirlwind of Easter excitement, y'all! I haven't been able to catch my breath for what seems like weeks, but that's another topic for another time... For now, I'll just focus on Easter last weekend!

I was super excited to join the worship team at our church for Easter services by singing in the worship choir -- along with my mom! It was awesome. We had rehearsal Wednesday evening, and it was really so wonderful! We had three Easter services, one Saturday evening and our usual two Sunday morning.

On Saturday afternoon, the kids dyed Easter eggs and had a blast! Squish was napping so he didn't make it into any of the pictures. ;)

My super sweet and smiley Rock Star, Chase!

My beautiful daughter, LO!

The family goofball: E!

Let's do this!

See above. Goofball.

Love this boy!

Pretty eggs!

E liked placing his eggs in ALL of the colors... which basically left him with either poop brown or army green. Good times.

LO going for turquoise here. Win!

So many pretty eggs! I especially love the turquoise creations.

The finished products! I spy Lloyd from Ninjago... Silly Chase!

After our Easter service Saturday evening, I prepped some food for Sunday, and had an EARLY morning on Sunday to do it all again... twice!

Y'all, we typically attend our 11 AM service, which means I usually don't get up on Sundays until around 9:45 AM. Holla for weekend sleep! But to sing in both morning services, I needed to leave the house at 7:40 AM for our 8 AM call time. Whaaaaat! Whoa.

Everything with my family was super low-key this year. I did buy LO a new dress several weeks ago, but only because it was cute and majorly on sale. I wasn't even thinking of it as an Easter dress at the time. And I literally forgot until Saturday evening (after the kids went to bed) that I hadn't even bothered to figure out what the boys would wear! Sheesh. Sorry, hubs! He was flying solo Sunday morning to get 4 kiddos fed and dressed for Easter Sunday. #epicwifefail

The Sunday morning services were so incredible! Afterward, we literally went through the Arby's drive-thru for lunch on our way home. What can I say... it was a busy week! I forced the kids to let me take a few pictures before we let them inside to eat lunch... and find their Easter baskets! #hahahaha #momwin

Here are my Easter cuties!

Love this Squishy kid of mine! Just look at that toothless grin!

I mean, really... he IS the biggest goofball I know!

This boy. My heart!

Pretty girl!

There's that smile again!

Meanwhile, back inside opening Easter baskets... or, for some, watching everyone else open Easter baskets.

Heyyyyyyy!

Oh! A new book! Love! And a frisbee? Totally practical for a 9-month-old. LOL!

E's Easter basket had a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and a tiny Ray Stantz action figure from Ghostbusters. Squish absolutely loved the Marshmallow Man! I think I have an idea for his Halloween costume...

After a quick lunch and Easter basket fun, we loaded up the kids and the food I'd prepped the night before, and hit the road to head to hubs' parent's house. My MIL had hip surgery and has been homebound, so we really wanted to bring Easter to them. A couple of casseroles, rolls, and cranberry sauce paired perfectly with my FIL's amazing grilled pork tenderloins. Oh, and a blizzard cake from Dairy Queen. Yes, y'all, I phoned it in with this year's Easter dessert! We also had an egg hunt for the kids in the front yard and my MIL was even able to come outside and watch the kids run around like little crazies. It was beyond perfect!

This really was not a "typical" holiday for us, but I don't care. I worshiped along with our amazing church congregation... THREE TIMES. I loved on my family. I got to spend time with my incredible in-laws. It didn't matter to me what we ate or what we wore. My focus was on relationships -- investing in the lives of the people I love. And I wouldn't have it any other way!!!