Visit to Weatherford

For the first few days of Christmas break, the kids and I headed to Weatherford for a visit.

Katherine was spoiled rotten! She loved every minute and Granny and Grandaddy did too. Grandaddy snuggles are the best.

There was no shortage of spoiling the other three either. Pancakes for breakfast is always a special treat.

The kids always look forward to playing Fast Track when we visit.

They had so much fun playing in the basement too. Elisabeth had been asking for months when we could go to Weatherford so she could play in Granny's basement.  We also got to visit Matt's parents and my Aunt Kay and Uncle Wesley when we were in town.

On Friday before we left town, we visited Momoo. The kids were excited to open their first Christmas present.

The boys couldn't wait to start building.

Katherine enjoyed even more snuggles.

I was excited for these two to meet for the first time.

The kids kept building and playing with their new toys. They took a quick break for lunch and cake and then were back at it.

Nathan finished his new lego set before we had to leave. That boy amazes me!

We had such a special visit. I enjoyed getting to share Katherine with all my family. She was the star of the visit and it warmed my heart to watch so many people get to love on her while she's still teeny tiny.

December Fun

Our December has been packed full of fun. We've had so many special events, performances and activities. I'm loving it! I'm soaking up all these sweet moments with the kiddos.

Samuel and Elisabeth had a parent observation day at gymnastics. They were both excited to show off their "gymnastics tricks."

 

They did a great job.

Every year the kids look forward to decorating gingerbread houses. They've asked several times this month what night we could do them.

There was a lot of sneaking candy during the decorating, but they all did a great job. It's a favorite Christmas tradition. They're already talking about next year.

I can't get enough of the adorable Christmas dresses, and I had to get matching ones for my girls. My heart is full with these sweethearts.

Nathan sang in the children's choir at our church's Christmas celebration. He did a great job.

My little ballerina had her winter studio performance/cookie party. She was a little distracted with the audience. But she's adorable. I love how she lights up when she's performing.

Another favorite tradition is visiting the lights at Rhema. Elisabeth couldn't stop talking about walking through the Elsa cave- the lighted bridge with lights that are timed with Christmas songs. For a few years they played Let it Go as one of the songs and Elisabeth always remembers it.

She also begged to play in the "circles." I bring the kids to Rhema sometimes to feed the ducks and they always love to play in these. It's like a playground to them I think.

We've never been into Elf on the Shelf, but I read about these Kindness Elves this year and I decided to try it. They don't visit everyday, but occasionally they leave notes for the kids giving them ideas of how to spread kindness. I'm hoping to make it a new tradition. It's been special to see them focus on being kind.

Samuel has started watching this Christmas cookie competition show with me, and ever since he has been begging to bake Christmas cookies. I usually bake and decorate sugar cookies as part of teacher Christmas gifts, but I just wasn't up to it this year with a new baby. So we just made some for fun and I let the kids decorate them however they wanted. They had a lot of fun.

We REALLY like sprinkles on our cookies.

Samuel and Elisabeth had their Preschool Christmas program this week. I look forward to it every year. It's such a sweet little program.

The Pre-K class performs the Christmas story, and my sweet boy was a Wiseman. He was so excited about his program and practiced his little line a lot! I also loved hearing them singing all the cute songs for the weeks leading up to the program.

So far we've had a Joseph and a Wiseman, and I'm thinking we might have an angel or two in our future :). I'm glad we have several more years of watching this program.

We have even more fun things coming up! December is becoming one of my favorite months. All the special activities are SO fun to enjoy with my babies.

Thanksgiving Week

We had a fun Thanksgiving week! Monday was full Thanksgiving school events. Samuel had his Pre-K Thanksgiving Feast. They did a little show for the parents before we ate. He had been singing the songs all week and was so excited for his special lunch!

Nathan also had a Thanksgiving play at school on Monday. I'm so thankful I was able to make it to both of their school events and that I had a good friend who was able to keep Elisabeth for me. Nathan's play was super cute. They told about the First Thanksgiving and then sang some fun songs.

Samuel wanted to wear his Pilgrim hat to Nathan's school.

I'm so grateful to get to be involved in the kids' school activities.

My grandparents came into town on Wednesday afternoon. Katherine and Grandaddy took a nap together.

While they napped, the rest of us played Fast Track. The boys are getting good at it!

Since Aunt Sydney spent Wednesday night with us, Nathan slept with Samuel. I thought it was adorable that he wanted to sleep in the same bed with Samuel instead of sleeping on the top bunk.

My little turkeys were excited to celebrate Thanksgiving.  I sure am thankful for them!

This little girl was thrilled for her first Thanksgiving. Three whole days of extra arms to hold her. She was in heaven.

We spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house. We ate and visited and played. It was a good day! This little girl was in a turkey coma (more like hot dog coma) when we got home Thursday night.

We took family pictures Friday morning and rewarded the kids with ice cream for doing so well during pictures.

Friday night we decorated the Christmas tree. The kids were SO excited and did a great job- no broken ornaments this year.

Our busy day wore these two out!

We had a low key Saturday after all our company left. We had a movie night Saturday night and watched Cars 3.

Sunday morning our church had a combined church service with our Coweta campus. The kids were excited because they got to ride a school bus to the service.

This boy is the best big brother around

And we celebrated this Peanut's two month birthday on Sunday! She's our joy!

Matt ended up going to Urgent Care after church on Sunday and came home with a Strep diagnosis, so the kids and I were on on own on Sunday afternoon. There were some crazy shenanigans in our house on Sunday.

After Elisabeth's nap we walked to the playground to enjoy the pretty weather. We stayed for almost an hour and the kids played so well together. I loved that they were all playing with each other (and no fighting!)

I enjoyed some Sunday night snuggles with the best baby around. 

It was the best way to end the weekend.