Christmas Decorating

I love decorating for Christmas. Well, not really the act of it but I love the tradition of it. Having my family do it together while listening to Christmas tunes. And usually my glass of wine- but not this year!

Jace was a little out of control. So we kept trying to keep him occupied while we did the real decorating!

Here is Jace with his stash of ornaments. He didn't want these on the tree because he wanted to play with them. So I followed my friend Becky's idea and made a kid table- and that worked great. The kids played with the specific non-breakable ornaments all month and for the most part- he stayed away from the ones on the tree.

The Fisher Price nativity- a huge hit every year! I found baby Jesus in the weirdest spots around my house this season though. One day he was tucked in the corner of the bathroom, covered in toilet paper, like a blanket (with his face peaking out.) Gotta love it.

Kid table! This is a new Christmas tradition. Next year- I'm going to get a mini tree to put on the table and really make it more fun for them.

our 6 year old

Sometimes it is so hard for me to believe that I have a six year old. A child that is in school. What? It doesn't seem possible. Yet the years are quickly going by- I believe everyone that says you blink and they are over. So I'm trying to enjoy each day with my sweet firstborn girl. She is a beautiful, funny little girl. I love her so much! A few things about her at age six: She loves:

 babies- dolls and the real thing, changing outfits (at least 3 a day), telling stories (tonight we heard her whole labor story about her twin babies that she had yesterday), her brother Jace- they play together really well- most of the time and she is his big protector, sweets (oh this girl has a sweet tooth!), reading, any kind of art (she draws and crafts all the time!), adult interaction- she isn't much for entertaining herself- maybe that is firstborn status?, kitties (at Papa Marvin's house), and knowing what is going on (she always is listening to what Mark and I are talking about and is asking 500 questions!). She is sweet hearted- can be very sensitive about things. At the same time, she is can be blunt and opinionated. She is strong willed, oh my, so strong willed. I have noticed a growth in her maturity in the past couple of months. I am thankful for the gift of Addelyn that God has given us. It will be fun to watch her with two little brothers in the upcoming days. 

We had a fun birthday celebration this year.

First of all, we had a night out for dinner. This girl loves to eat out at restaurants- a girl after my own heart! Carlos O'Kelly's was her choice again this year, again her Momma's girl. Jace was a wild man (he is no fun at restaurants these days) but we still had a blast. We love food before food!

I got to visit Addelyn at school on her birthday and eat a special lunch with her. I brought her Jimmy Johns which she thought was super cool! Usually when I come we both eat cold lunch so this was a treat!

She also loved the fact that Cedar Heights put her birthday on the sign out front. 

We had to drive by twice to see it!

Mark took off early on her birthday and we went to a movie- Frozen- just the three of us. The best part- the theater was empty except for our family. We told Addelyn we rented the theater just for her, ha!

I love this early morning pic (6 am baby, my kiddos are early risers!) on the day of her birthday. Jace and I sang happy birthday to her and she had a special doughnut waiting on her "You are Special" birthday plate.

Jace got a little sick the day before Addelyn's friend birthday party so we postponed that until January. We had a birthday party with family over the weekend. Here are some pictures. Of course, Jace wanted to help her open presents.

She picked out a very special party dress to wear.

She was super excited to get clothes. This girl loves her fashion.

She picked a special cake out- a baby girl cake. This girl also loves her babies. 

Addelyn's Great Grandmas- Mick and Lois. They are special women! So glad they get to be in her life.

Cousin Lily lives close now! Woohoo! It makes getting together for celebrations and stuff much easier. What a fun birthday for my six year old girl. We love you Miss Addelyn!

december happenings

The month of December was full for our family. 

We tried out our new favorite coffee shop (numerous times!) Sidecar Coffee Shop. If you haven't been there- you need to check it out. It is on College Hill. If you aren't a coffee drinker- they have awesome chai tea and hot chocolate. And lunch. And treats. Okay, so you can pretty much find anything you'd like there!

We helped out with Christmas Craft Fair at the Boys and Girls Club. Orchard puts it on each year and we have a great time.  To understand more about the mission behind the Craft Fair and Christmas Store- you need to read my friend Laura's blog post.  It explains the heart and passion behind it.

This year Addelyn was much more comfortable being there the whole time, in the past she has just been young enough that she would get antsy halfway through. She hung out with our friends Kilra and Aquayla and Anna and crafted away. It is such a fun time of serving and hanging out with friends and getting to know others from Walnut neighborhood and our partner church, Harvest. 

We played in the snow!

We made a gingerbread house. One that we had to put on a top shelf because Mr. Jacers wanted to eat it, day and night.

We made lots of Easy Bake Oven treats. All I can say is nasty! Addelyn loved it though.

Our friend Doug Tensen taught us to stick things up our nose one day. So Jace spent the month putting lots of random things up his nose- noodles, crayons, etc! No ER visits, yet....

Our sweet little cousin Tenley Jane was born to Mark's brother Matt and wife Nicole. We can't wait to actually meet her soon. 

We spent time bonding with our sweet little cousin Lily. We just love her!

Look at big cousin Jace- he looks dangerous, doesn't he? 

Jace ate lots of noodles. Plain noodles- any shape or size. It is what he loves right now. I'd say we are going through a phase.

The kids did lots of drawing and coloring. Some of Jace's ended up on walls or shelves if I wasn't looking.

Dress up! There is always time for dress up!

I spent some time helping my sis pack. Jill and Levi moved this month, by Eldora. It is nice to have them closer. They are living there short term until they figure out where they are moving but I'm hoping it is even closer to us!

More Lily bonding time.

Yes, I fell asleep while playing with Lily. No worries, my sister was home- just packing in the other room. She of course loved taking this picture of us. This momma can't help it- she is just plain tired!

December was a great month. Of course Addelyn's birthday and Christmas celebration posts get their own attention and are yet to come!

snowflake express

We had the fun of going on the Snowflake Express this year. It is the "Hawkeye train" ride put on by 93.5 (the radio station) to raise money for Magical Mix kids. The kids loved it! It was such a fun family activity. The train ride went up by Shell Rock and came back- about a 40 minute ride. 

On our way towards the train, we ran into our friends Wes and Staci and family so we all sat together.

After the ride, we all got to go and have cookies and hot chocolate. 

Oh don't forget- Santa was on the ride. We don't do much Santa at our house- our kids know he is a pretend guy- so we "pretend" he comes and brings a present but the kids know it is us. So the kids were kinda interested in what this Santa guy was all about. Jace said, "Is he a monster?" I guess a lot of the pretend stuff he knows about are monsters? How a two year old thinks! They thought it was fun to see him though.

The little boys were mesmerized with the train ride.

Jace was also stuck to Wes throughout the ride. He loves that guy!

It was a great time! We will have to do it again next year. I'm so thankful we were able to get tickets!