Movies

   We LOVE going to the movies and we soaked them up over Christmas break.
We went with some friends to see the new Annie movie and I took all the kids by myself.  I'm not lying when I tell you I prayed before I went in.  Norah can be a bit high maintenance at times :)  I came prepared and had snacks and candy galore.  And to my surprise she did so good!  With about 30 minutes left she was getting bored and I pulled out my secret weapon, a huge milk chocolate candy cane and let her have at it.  When we walked out this is what we looked like

My mom and I took them all to see Paddington and with about 30 minutes left she was bored again so I let her play with my purse and when we walked out she was covered in red lipstick

We have a discount theater and they were still showing box trolls and we went with Mimi, Patrick, Maggie and Uncle Patrick.  Little miss Norah did AMAZING during this movie!  A few days later Caleb came into the kitchen telling me he was a box troll :)

Christmas!

 I get more excited every year for Christmas.  I just love the kids excitement and all the preparation for it.  We went to Michaels family Christmas Eve then to church that night.  We set out milk and cookies and then sprinkled reindeer food in the backyard then off the kids went to bed.  I found a wonderful recipe for crockpot breakfast casserole that you cook all night then its ready in the morning… it was perfect and I LOVE smelling breakfast when I wake up.   Mom, MA, Dad and Drew came over in the morning.  We were outside most of the morning because Santa gave the older two electric scooters and they loved them!  Caleb got a remote control car and Norah got an adorable tree swing.  We went to Michaels cousin for the afternoon and then crashed that night.
                                  They were convinced they saw Santa's sleigh

 We put Super Mario brothers on the Wii and it was a hit.  The boys..cough…men…played for hours trying to beat the game

 I love this video because its just us…crazy and loud.  Norah started crying because I wouldn't let her out of the room so I could video them all coming out together, Cohen has a horrible cough…  but my favorite is Michael at the beginning.  A fun fact about Michael… when he is hungry and/or tired he turns into Napoleon Dynamite.  I love them all

Holiday Season

I loved being home for the Christmas season and we loaded up on fun stuff to do!  The kids saw Santa twice, Mom and MA took them to Santa's North pole and we went with the Beckhams and McDonnell's to the enchanted forest.  

                     I was able to get Norah's first pig tails…. be still my heart!

                                                                         :)

We went to a VERY cold Bartlett Christmas parade.  I had us sit on a corner of the main street which ended up being a bad idea because when it started people went out on the street and we were left in the back… I won't' get outsmarted next year :)  It really was fine, it was so cold we only stayed for a few minutes of the parade, still had fun and then headed over to dad's to watch some football

Savannah and I went to the nutcracker with some friends and Norah wore her tutu.  We had a great time and Savvy got so tickled at one of the guy ballerina's tights, it left absolutely nothing to the imagination, she even had me giggling

The kids got to dress up as their favorite Christmas character for school

Cohen is the abominable snowman… ha ha!  He said he kept on having to tell everyone who he was :)

Caleb had his first ever Christmas program and that morning was not feeling it.  He didn't want to go, didn't want to sing, didn't want to get on the stage… I was having flash backs of Savannah's programs. So I warned his teachers that his stage fright is hereditary (ha) and prepared for the worst.  Well that baby did amazing!!!  He got up there and sang and did the motions and loved every minute of it!  He was precious

I tried twice to get pictures for our Christmas card and my creative juices and camera were not working together!  They turned out B.A.D.  I ended up doing individual pictures of the kids