Christmas Break

We've had a fun winter break off from school. We stayed home a lot and just played and tried to get everything back in order after the Christmas chaos, but we also did some fun activities.

I love Christmas dresses on my little Cutie. This was one of my favorites from when Elisabeth was a baby.

This boy ended up sick the weekend before break started. He ran fever for a couple of days. I was terrified the other kids would get it too and really mess up our Christmas plans, but thankfully he was better in a couple of days and everyone else stayed well! So far, we've all been pretty healthy this season. I'm hoping it stays that way.

He was better in time for his winter party/Polar Express day. He was so excited!

He had a fun time at his party with his friends. It was crazy with my other three there too, but everyone had a good time.

 Nathan and Matt were super excited to see the new Star Wars movie over Christmas break.

And we got a little snow right before Christmas. Samuel loved it the most. He kept asking why there wasn't snow when it was almost Christmas. When I told him that it doesn't snow very much in Oklahoma he asked to move to a different house that wasn't in Oklahoma, ha!

He outlasted everyone outside and played in the snow for a long time. I was excited for him to get to enjoy it.

After Christmas Nathan spent most of his time building Legos. He had finished this 1300 piece set the day after Christmas. I can't get over how fast he built it.

He had finished all the lego sets he got for Christmas within about four days.

 It took Samuel and I a little longer to build his airplane, ha! But it was a fun project to do together.

The day after Christmas we took the kids to Sky Zone for the evening. We had planned to go to Sky Zone on Christmas Eve, but they closed earlier than we thought. The kids were super disappointed so we promised to take them again soon. They jumped out a lot of energy!

We had our friends over for dinner and the OSU bowl game. The kids have SO much fun playing together, and Matt and I love anytime we get to spend with Corey and Brooke. It was a super fun night, especially when root beer floats are involved.

The weekend after Christmas we went to Edmond to celebrate Christmas with Matt's family. The kids had fun playing with Bryan and Becca's dog. He was the best entertainment.

 We had a fun weekend opening presents, playing and resting.

We have a New Year's Day tradition to host a lunch for the Millers. We've been doing it for years and always look forward to it. Our kids had a great time playing with their friends.

We always have broccoli cheddar soup in pretzel bread bowls for lunch and try and play board games when the kids let us, ha!

Katherine had a fun day hanging with the adults while the kids played upstairs.

Matt was able to take off work the last day of  break, and we took the kids to the Children's Museum for the morning. Nathan has been asking to go for months, so I was glad we finally got to go. The kids had an awesome time. They played for 2.5 hours before we drug them out of there so we could have lunch.

We had a lot of fun while the kids were out of school, but I was ready for their school routine to start back up and excited for a new year of more fun and adventures.

A Look Back on 2017

2017 was a special year for our family. It was the year we became a family of 6 and are finally complete. Nathan learned to read. Samuel started Pre-K. It was a year of activities- gymnastics, ballet, soccer, and church activities. We traveled and made memories.We started new school routines and adapted them as we added a newborn. It was such a good year.

January
- We found out we were expecting our fourth baby!
- Samuel started gymnastics
- We took the kids to Stillwater to watch an OSU basketball game. They were most excited about the popcorn and Pistol Pete

February
- We had a fun night celebrating Valentine's Day with fondue and a scavenger hunt
- Angela turned 32
- After 11 years, I finally convinced Matt to let us get new living room furniture

March
- Samuel turned FOUR! We had a fun Mickey Mouse party complete with a Pinata
- The kids traveled to Iowa with my parents over Spring Break while Matt and I enjoyed a kid free weekend
- My mom and I drove to OKC for a fun shopping weekend
- I coordinated a church wide dinner for our church's mission conference

April
- We had a great weekend celebrating Easter
- Samuel and Nathan started soccer. It was so fun that they got to play on the same team
- Elisabeth started Gymnastics

May
- Nathan turned SIX and we had a fun Lego birthday party.
- We found out we were adding a sweet baby GIRL to our family
- Nathan had his first school bus ride to the zoo for a field trip
- Matt and I spent a week in Washington D.C. for vacation
- Matt and I celebrated 11 years of marriage

June
- The kids and I spent a week in Weatherford for Vacation Bible School
- Nathan participated in a week long theater arts camp
- Elisabeth started ballet
- We had a fun family vacation in Kansas City. We went to Lego Land, the children's museum, the Sea Life aquarium and a fun water park at our hotel
- We played at the pool a lot!

July
- The Shondelmyers lived with us for a week. It was such a fun week catching up with dear friends and watching the kids bond and become good friends
- We hosted a fun Fourth of July party with our favorite friends. We're hoping it's a new tradition because it was the best night
- Angela went on a girls' weekend with Erica and Mindy to the Pioneer Woman Mercantile.So much fun!
- The kids visited cousin Amelia and while they were gone, Matt painted Katherine's room PINK!
- We spent more time at the pool and lots of play dates.

August
- Elisabeth turned THREE and we had a Trolls birthday party
- We had lots of end of summer play dates with our best friends.
- Nathan participated in KJAM at our church
- Nathan started first grade
- Samuel and Elisabeth started their Fall gymnastics class

September
- Samuel started Pre-K- he's thrived at school and loves it so much
- Elisabeth started pre school, one day a week
- Our precious Katherine Grace was born and we adjusted to a family of six

October
- We spent a fun morning at Pumpkin Town
- We visited the state fair (with a newborn)
- Samuel had his first Pre-K field trip to the pumpkin patch

November
- Matt traveled to Miami for a week
- The kids went to Branson to ride the Polar Express with my parents
- We had fun Thanksgiving activities at the boys' schools- A Thanksgiving feast and a Thanksgiving play
- We celebrated Thanksgiving with our families

December
- We had lots of fun Christmas activities- Nathan sang in church, Samuel and Elisabeth had a gymnastics parent observation, and Elisabeth had a winter ballet program
- Samuel was a wise man in the preschool Christmas program
- We visited Weatherford for a few days before Christmas
- We had a special first Christmas as a family of six
 - Nathan started basketball

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was pretty fun around our house! When I put Nathan to bed on Christmas Eve he told me he wouldn't come downstairs until 7:00. By the time I checked on him, he'd changed his mind to 6:30, ha! And then on Christmas morning, he and Samuel were downstairs at 6:15. He told me he changed his mind and wanted to come down earlier, ha!

The looked under the tree and didn't see any new presents, and Samuel started saying that Santa didn't come. But then they saw their stockings and decided that he did come. They were excited about their stockings.

Samuel was most excited about a new wallet and new underwear.

Nathan got a brickheadz he'd been asking for and some other fun things.

Elisabeth got new dolls for her dollhouse and some peppa pig perfume

Katherine thought everyone was crazy for being up so early.

After stockings we headed to open gifts under the tree. Nathan's big gift was the Millenium Falcon Lego set. His reaction was priceless. He was so very excited and grateful. His reaction was my favorite Christmas memory.

Elisabeth got a computer so she could play "work".

Katherine got some nesting blocks that we had with the other kids. They were so worn out from our other kids playing with them all the time that we had to trash them. I thought we needed a replacement set for our newest little girl.

Elisabeth also got a vanity play set and hair stylist costume and she got a school play set. She plays school all the time,  and always wants to be the teacher, ha!

Samuel's big gift was a Hot Wheels garage that he asked for. He also got a Lego airplane/dump truck set and an art kit.

I think he was most excited about the art kit. He's played with it a lot. He's my little artist for sure.

After we opened presents it was time to play!! Nathan couldn't wait to start on his Millenium Falcon.

And Samuel got busy drawing.

While they played, I made waffles and bacon for breakfast. It's our Christmas morning tradition.

We ate breakfast and then got back to playing for the rest of the morning.

Around noon, we headed to my parents' house to celebrate with them. The kids were ready to open more presents.

 They got some fun new things.

We spent the rest of the day eating lunch and playing with all their new toys. The kids were worn out by the end of the day. It was full of sweet memories.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a special day for our family. We went to church Sunday morning for our church's candlelight service.

The kids did well during the service. I sure am grateful for our church's preschool and children's ministry though, ha!

Sunday afternoon we took the kids bowling for a fun Christmas Eve activity. We all had fun!

Samuel's favorite part was the ball return

These kiddos were WOUND UP on Christmas Eve, so much excitement!

When we got home, Matt read the Christmas story to the kids.

Then we let them open one present (a joint present for all of the kids)

Then we had to play their new game!

Grammy and Papa Joe came over for dinner and let the kids open new jammies.

Before they went to bed, the kids asked to leave cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.  We don't make a big deal of Santa in our house, but it was fun to go along with it and let them enjoy some of the magic. 

They had a hard time going to sleep on Christmas Eve. They were all so excited about Christmas morning!