A Look Back on 2015

2015 was really good to us. We made so many wonderful memories. Our kids are growing and healthy and awesome. It was just a great year. I was thinking back, and 2015 is the first year since 2009 that we haven't found out we were pregnant or had a baby. Crazy, right?! The lack of those huge life changes meant we had more time to take extra vacations and make memories with our kiddos. Here's a look back at our year.

January
- January is always a slow, laid back month for us. We went to Stillwater for a fun family day and played at the children's museum and watched an OSU women's basketball game.


February
- This month will be remembered as sick month. I lost count how many doctor's visits we made. Everyone in our family was sick at some point. Samuel needed three different antibiotics to clear up an ear infection, and I got shingles.
- I turned 30 and celebrated with a fun day with my mom and an overnight date with Matt at the Mayo hotel.

March
- Samuel turned TWO! We had a fun dinosaur party for him, and so many friends and family were able to celebrate with us. It was an awesome day.
- Nathan had his first soccer game. He loved being on the Blue Monsters team.

April
- My mom, Elisabeth and I took a fun girls' weekend shopping trip to Kansas City.
- Samuel started climbing out of his crib, so we transitioned him to a toddler bed.
- Elisabeth started crawling and earned the nickname "Little Miss Destroyer" by her brothers.
- We took a weekend trip to Branson to go to Silver Dollar City.

May
- Nathan turned FOUR, and we celebrated with a Paw Patrol party which was extra special because Cousin Amelia (and Uncle Jeremy and Auntie Anna) came to celebrate with him.
- Nathan had his last soccer game and finished his first year of Cubbies.
- Samuel said goodbye to his pacifier.
- Matt and I took a five day vacation to San Antonio/Arlington to celebrate NINE years of marriage. We went to Schlitterbahn, the San Antonio River Walk, and Six Flags.
- Matt turned 32.

June
- The kids and I headed to Weatherford to spend the week with Granny and Grandaddy, and Nathan and Samuel attended VBS at FBC Weatherford. Wonderful week!
- We took Nathan and Samuel to Frontier City for the day. I think it was one of the best days of the year for all four of us.
- Matt got a promotion to Level 5 engineer at Flight Safety.
- We spent the weekend in the hospital with a sick Elisabeth. I'm still so thankful to the Lord for healing for awful abscess without surgery.

July
- We took Nathan to his first movie in the theater to see Inside Out.
- We celebrated the Fourth of July with friends and sparklers.
- Elisabeth started walking.
- We made the difficult and prayerful decision to leave our church and seek to find a new one.
- We made a weekend trip to Iowa to celebrate Amelia's fourth birthday.

August
- Elisabeth turned ONE! We had a Ruffles and Bows party to celebrate, and I had the BEST time planning it and celebrating my sweet girl.
-  We started attending FBC Broken Arrow, and after the first week instantly felt like it was the right place for us. We praised God for answered prayers.


September
- Matt went to Miami for a week for work.
- As soon as he got home from Miami, we left and headed to Florida for a week at the beach with my parents. It was a wonderful vacation filled with lots of playing in the sand, listening to the sound of the ocean, swimming in the pool and eating delicious sea food.
- Nathan started Pre-K at FBC's community preschool (Samuel started attending one day per week too).

October
 - We spent a great day at the Tulsa State Fair.
- Matt had to make another quick weekend trip to Miami.
- Nathan went on his first field trip to the pumpkin patch.
- Matt and I ran the 5k at the Tulsa Zoo Run.
- Matt started building a shed in our back yard.
- We officially joined FBC Broken Arrow.
- We took Samuel (and Nathan) to his first movie theater experience to see Minions.
- We celebrated Halloween with a Flintstones theme.

November
- Matt got promoted to Group Lead at Flight Safety. I'm so proud of him and his hard work.
- We welcomed the arrival of Elise Gayle Miller.
- Nathan had a fun Thanksgiving Feast at school that Matt and I were able to attend with him.
- We had a great Thanksgiving with so many family members.

December
- Nathan played the role of Joseph at his Pre-K Christmas program.
- We attended Christmas parties, decorated cookies and gingerbread houses, looked at Christmas lights and soaked up the magic of the Christmas season as a family.
- We celebrated Christmas with Matt's family in Edmond and the kids and I spend a few days in Weatherford just before Christmas.
- We had a wonderful Christmas celebration at our home and spent three days celebrating with the Flamings.

Christmas Weekend

We headed back to my parents' house around 11:30 on Christmas. We took a quick family picture and then got busy tearing into packages.

Fun, fun fun!! The kids got some great new toys. After all the presents were opened, it was time to play with all the new toys. We had a really low key, easy day, and it was just so fun to play with the kids, relax and spend time with family.

Poor Elisabeth spent a lot of the day on Grammy's bed. She didn't feel good at all.

There's never a shortage of food at Grammy and Papa Joe's either. We feasted the whole weekend on delicious food.

Amelia got Nathan a fun circuit play set, and he and Matt spent a lot of the day playing with it. It was such a great gift.

Nathan couldn't wait to go practice with his new golf clubs. Papa Joe was so proud!

Elisabeth wasn't feeling well enough to play with her new toys, so Samuel helped her out and tested them out for her.

These cousins played SO well together the entire visit. We have friends over pretty often and Nathan has made some good friends, but by far he plays best with Amelia. I loved watching them play together. They put on concerts, played Paw Patrol and laughed and giggled the whole time. I never heard any arguing or whining. They have such a special relationship. I can't get enough of it.

There is candy for days at Grammy's house.

While the kids played with their new toys, Grammy and Papa Joe were sweet to keep on eye on them and let the Moms and Dads play some games too. Jeremy and Anna are some of our favorite people to play games with. We had the best time playing Christmas night.

The boys stayed over, and Elisabeth, Matt and I left late Christmas night to go home. Amelia and Nathan slept in bunk beds together and stayed up way too late giggling an talking. Cousin love!

We headed back over for more fun on Saturday at lunch time. My grandparents were planning to join us for the day to spend time with Jeremy, Anna, and Amelia. Unfortunately, Grandaddy came down with Pneumonia and they weren't able to make it which was really disappointing. We still managed to have a good day though even with the change of plans. Elisabeth was feeling better but still not her normal self. She was feeling good enough to request to sit at the kids table at every meal. Poor girl never wants to be left out.

Saturday afternoon/evening we played more games. I got Matt Dominion for Christmas and we played several rounds of it. I think it was everyone's favorite. We also played Pirates Cove and Seven Wonders.

These two played and played together all day Saturday too

The kids busted out some board games too

And Sicky Girl had lots of company on Grammy's bed when the kids needed some down time.

The boys stayed again at Grammy's house to spend some more time with their cousin.

Sunday morning we all headed to my parents' church and their good friend took some family pictures for us. They turned out really good considering Elisabeth still wasn't feeling great, and Nathan came home from church running fever too.

Elisabeth was DONE and upset that she might have to go to nursery, but I love this pic!

The biggest smiles came from these two when I asked them to pose together just the two of them.

The weather was not cooperating, so the Flamings ended up leaving right after pictures. We had the best visit with them and can't wait to see them again soon. Elisabeth wasn't healthy enough to stay either, so we brought her home too and were sad to miss church. We spent the rest of the day in our jammies trying to get everyone well. Nathan got really sick Sunday night with a high fever and more vomit to clean up. Still though, even with all the sickness, we had one of the greatest Christmases. I'm so thankful for my family!

Christmas Morning 2015

Christmas morning started out rough. Elisabeth woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. I was terrified that she had the same bug that Samuel had earlier in the week, and we would be up all night with vomit. I stayed up with her for an hour or so and she seemed okay, so I put her back to bed, and she slept the rest of the night. She was a sick little girl on Christmas morning though. I felt awful for her. We still managed to have a wonderful morning despite our sick baby.

The kids woke up about 7:30 and were ready to open presents. They ran downstairs and found their stockings and their joint gift (a sling car). The crazy thing was that Nathan was more excited about his new toothbrush than the car. Mom fail, I guess.

The kids got toothbrushes, toothpaste, coloring books and stickers in their stockings. And Nathan also got a movie, and Samuel got coasters :). Elisabeth found a Daniel Tiger book in her stocking too.

Elisabeth was pretty excited about her new toothbrush too.

We opened the rest of the gifts and then spent time assembling, reading directions, and playing!

Samuel got Farm Legos, a cash register, and of course Pop the Pig was under the tree!

Nathan got a bat cave, batmobile, and Paw Patrol books.

Elisabeth got a laugh and learn chair, a tea set, and a Baby Margaret doll

She has been attached to her Baby Margaret. It's adorable. She carries her everywhere and takes her to bed with her every night. I love it!

Girl toys make my heart happy happy!

Matt and I exchanged gifts too. I got him a new card game, and he got me new dishes. We also always exchange coupon books in our stockings. 

While the kids played, I started on breakfast. For a few years, I was trying to figure out the best breakfast to serve on Christmas morning, and I think we've finally figured it out.

We had the same thing we had last year (and I think every year from now on): homemade waffles with all the toppings (strawberries, chocolate chips, and whipped cream) and bacon.

We ate and talked about how much we love Christmas and our favorite presents.

I just love my sweet family.

After breakfast, I bathed Elisabeth to get the vomit out of her hair (ugh). Samuel joined her in the bathtub.

Then we played a little more and got dressed and ready to head to celebrate with Grammy, Papa Joe, Jeremy, Anna and Amelia.

After all the gifts from everyone were opened, I asked the boys what their favorite gift was this Christmas. Nathan said it was the bat cave and Samuel said it was Pop the Pig. And since Elisabeth won't let Baby Margaret out of her sight, we're pretty sure it's her favorite gift. Yay for good presents! I had the best morning with my family playing and spending time together. Can't wait for next year!