New Years Eve

New Years Eve we invited friends and family over and partied like its … 2014 (my age just showed because I had to sit for a long time to remember what year we were in… and I have asked Savannah how old I am on 2 different occasions this year)  

But we had fireworks and food and dancing and ended the night with a movie.  My WHOLE crew stayed up until midnight!  I got a little weepy bringing in the new year with all of us there and being able to hug and kiss each one.  I'm one blessed woman and eternally grateful for these precious faces

His Vest and Chia Seeds

Our hand me down bag had this vest in it and it instantly became Caleb's new obsession.  He sleeps in it, it was worn everyday for the first week.  I love it, but it's already to tight… he's not going to give it up without a fight :)

Caleb just loves Indie

 She loves girly things but she has some heavy boy influence in her life that she is very receptive to.  Warrior princess all the way

 Caleb got a Chia pet for Christmas.  4 days after we prepped the pet, I found this in the bathroom sink. Caleb must have washed his hands and the seeds got stuck in the drain.  There isn't even a window in this bathroom, so this is really just  some kind of miracle.  I was able to pull them out and so far we have had no more Chia bathroom growth

                                         Do you think I love her

Us

Michael and I get to hang out so much in December :)  We went out to eat for my birthday, several Christmas parties and our 12 year anniversary!

          One party was at the Hard Rock and we got a photo with the mayor

                          At the peabody, which is gorgeous in December

 And celebrating our 12 years with my family.  I'm a better person because your my other half :)

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

Piano Recital

Savvy and Cohen started taking piano again this summer.  They both had to start from scratch because in Walla Walla they were taught using the Suzuki method, and our new teacher starts with learning to read music.  They both have done great and did wonderful at their recital

Cohen's video disappeared from my phone… no doubt that a little 1 year old probably deleted it.  I'm so sad but he did wonderful, he played two songs, "Beep Beep" and "Big Ben".