New Year's Eve...2016

Tonight we were planning on going to eat at a Hibachi restaurant by us, but the kids voted for Grand China Buffet, so that's what we did!  The kids decorated this rice krispie treat, and then we watched our home videos for this year.  We finished our night by watching a movie and everyone made it until midnight (barely).  And when I say barely, I mean for Mommy, Daddy and Madison....Nathan never gets tired and could stay up all night!

It wasn't looking too promising for Madison when I took these pictures!

Most years, I'm not ready to see New Year's Eve come and go.  But this year, I'm ready for 2017!  It has been the most stressful and difficult year we've had in a long time.  We had emotional outside family situations and also financial difficulty (we replaced our A/C system, washer, dryer, oven, microwave, kitchen faucet, dishwasher, refrigerator - 3 of them, and had a couple of plumbing issues).  We had two huge hail storms blow through, requiring us to get a new roof, new back windows, a new screen door, a newly painted house, and a new trampoline - after buying a new one for Madison's birthday just one month earlier.  We had a ton of church stress and an overwhelming workload, lost several good friends to job relocation's, lots of sickness (flu, strep, pneumonia, mono), and discouragement with neck pain and failed attempts at becoming pain free.  Up for 2017 is a new kitchen sink, new vents for the bathrooms and getting the microwave looked at because of the crazy sounds it makes, As hard as it was though, we still had many blessings and we are all safe, happy, and together this New Year's Eve.  I know one day we'll look back and laugh at this time in our lives!  The Bible says that trials and tribulation make you stronger, so we should be one strong family with big faith!  I'm thankful for so many things, and I'm constantly reminding myself that things could be much worse.

On a positive note this year...Madison turned 12, we visited Lacey and Cody in Tennessee, we had our family vacation in Pensacola, Nathan turned 9, Michael turned the big 4-0, we continued our tradition of Friday night pizza and sleepovers with the kids, Madison has improved so much with her clarinet and loves it, both kids are doing amazing in school and Nathan even made it in the GT program (gifted/talented), we had our summer hotel getaway, we stayed close as a family, we still managed to keep laughing, and we consistently saw God's hand in our lives through the little blessings!  Praying for a great 2017 and maybe just a little less stress!

Last day with Lacey and Cody...

It was a very short trip, but these kids had so much fun together this week.  Running, laughing, playing games, talking....they didn't want it to end.  Hopefully, we'll see them again very soon!

A relaxing day with Lacey and Cody...

Today, we just stayed around Gaga's house while the kids played (hide-and-seek, cards, etc).  Then, we went to see a house with lights to music and video.  It was really different, and the kids enjoyed it - the lights were so pretty!

Lacey and Cody are busy tomorrow, so we really just have one more day to see them.  It's been a short and fast trip, but the kids have had a blast with their cousins!

Christmas with Lacey and Cody...

Lacey and Cody made it in from Tennessee!  We went over today to exchange presents and have lunch with them before they celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was a quick day, but we have more time coming up in the next few days!

Clover...

We always love the month of December and seeing everything Clover gets into every night!  He's always very entertaining for us, and we will miss him a ton!

I couldn't get a good picture of the entire mirror, but he drew all over the mirror - thankfully with dry erase markers and lipstick!

Until next year....bye, Clover!  We'll miss you!

Christmas day...2016!

I can't believe Christmas is here already....this month flew by so fast!  The kids woke up super excited to see what Santa had brought, and to exchange gifts with mommy and daddy.  You can't tell by the picture, but Nathan was so excited and was having a hard time waiting on Madison to get ready and come out!  He knew I was taking a picture, so he purposely didn't smile - little stinker.

I made a decision this year to not take any pictures of the kids opening presents (who wants to see a million posed pictures anyway?) and to just enjoy the moment.  I succeeded and only got two this morning.  It was SO nice being able to enjoy it and be a part of what they open instead of worrying about capturing that perfect picture!

After presents, daddy made our traditional Olaf waffles!  They love eating these on Christmas morning.  I didn't get to them quick enough to capture Olaf's entire body though - they went fast!  We also read our good deeds for the Jesus bag during breakfast.  I want to instill a love for serving others in my kid's, and I hope these little traditions make an impression on them one day.  It's easy to get caught up in the busyness of Christmas and forget the real reason, and I don't want that.  Really though, we want a love for God all year long, not just at Christmastime!

After breakfast, we went to church.  Gaga, Nana, and Papa came with us and we loved having them there on Christmas morning!  Afterwards, we headed over to Nana and Papa's house for lunch and presents.

Other than Madison still not feeling great, it was a great Christmas.  Lots of smiles these past few days!  We are blessed to have family, especially during this time of year.  Lacey and Cody are coming in today, so we have several days of cousin fun coming up!  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve with Gaga!

Since Madison is still under the weather, awesome Gaga brought everything over to our house for the day so we didn't have to get out!  It was a huge help, and allowed Madison to be at home cozy and relaxing while she's trying to get better.  We played games, watched Elf, ate, and did our Minivan Express minus the minivan (since I got a new car).

It was a bit different this year scrunched in a car with no room and a coughing little girl!  (Who's idea was it to get rid of the van?  We're missing it a ton).  But the kids still had a good time and love finding all the items on the list!

We had a fun and relaxing afternoon/evening with Gaga!

After Gaga left, they put reindeer food out, and then set out milk and cookies for Santa!

These kids are ready for tomorrow morning!  Nathan is beyond excited and is worried he won't be able to fall asleep tonight!  I love the excitement and joy at this time of year.