Happy New Year! I hope everyone has had a fantastic start to their year so far.
This is my final round-up post for 2018! I have really enjoyed these posts, so I've decided to carry on with them in 2019 as well. I know they can be a little repetitive sometimes, but it's a great way to catch an overview of our month. This post will be a little shorter than some of the other round-up posts because I did so many individual posts in December. Here are some of the photos that didn't make it into posts of their own!
I love to make soups in the winter, so on one particularly cold night I made chicken taco soup in the slow cooker. It was the first time we've had it this winter, and Brianna said, "Mmmmm, it smells like winter!" I agree!
When Brianna and Chloe Jo were three, four, and five years old, they were really into My Little Pony. After Chloe outgrew her ponies, she gave a ton of them to us. Not too long after we got Chloe's ponies, Brianna lost interest in them as well. However, I've been hanging onto all the pony stuff because I figured Brooke and Brecklyn would be interested in them soon, and I was right! Lately, they have really enjoyed watching our My Little Pony dvds and playing with all the pony stuff that was Brianna and Chloe's.
Once in a while, I capture a spontaneous magical moment with the camera on my phone. One Wednesday night, we had eaten our usual El Azteca dinner before Bible study. We were waiting for Daddy to pay, and I was checking a message on my phone. I looked down, and the children were having the best time just hugging on each other. I quickly snapped a photo, and the magic below was the result. I love it!!!
The air has been cold and dry lately (hellooooo, winter!) which has been wreaking havoc on Brecklyn's hair. Every time she sits on the couch upstairs, her hair is a static-y mess. Brooke doesn't really have this problem as much (her hair is such a different texture than Brecklyn's), so she is fascinated when Brecklyn's hair stand up everywhere.
A few years ago, Papa cut me a bunch of little wooden discs to use for crafting. I was about out of the original batch he cut, so Meme told him to cut me another batch. He did, and they delivered them one Saturday evening after they had been out running around all day. While they had been out, Papa purchased a wooden sled, so they brought it in our house to show us. The kids had to sit in it (of course), and I thought it made for a cute pic of them :-).
I never know what Brenson might be up to at any given moment. One day while driving to church, I looked back and saw this:
That same day (while at church), Bren drew a picture of Uncle Russ preaching.
Didn't he do such a great job?!?
All my kids love to read (they come by it honest), and I love capturing little moments like the one below. 💓
Brecklyn and Brooke love doing puzzles (especially Brecklyn). Right now, their favorite puzzle to put together is the Alphabet Train puzzle. A little teamwork helps them get it done!
So proud!
Every year I try to take photos of the kids in front of our Christmas tree. I almost forgot this year, but thankfully remembered to do it one Sunday after we got home from church. Cuties :-).
They all wanted to hold their Christmas stuffies in the photo.
One of the twins' Christmas gifts from us this year was a teepee to go upstairs. Chris set it up for them right after they opened it during our small family Christmas, and it's still in our living room. It's so cute to look over and see them playing in it!
The week between Christmas Day and New Years Day is always a little crazy around here. I let the kids totally take over the house with their new toys, we set up extra tables to play on, and our schedule is super relaxed. On one of those days (who can even keep track of the day?), I took the children to Wal-mart and let them spend some money my Granny had sent them for Christmas. Bren was SO excited about the Nerf gun Grampy and G-Jo got him that he purchased another gun with his money. He said it was so "Chuck" could play guns with him :-).
I keep a very tidy house, so having all the things all over the house drives me a little crazy (Chris, too!). However, it's a special thing that we do after Christmas, and it's so nice to not have to spend time every day picking up a bunch of toys.
One day, I didn't know anyone was in the teepee until I looked over and saw a little foot peeking out at me. It belonged to Brecklyn :-).
Brianna got a large Lego set for Christmas, so she spent quite a bit of time working on it. She loved having this extra table set up for working space!
You can see her working on it again in the photo below. While she was doing that, Bren was working a puzzle he got for Christmas, and the twins were playing with some new toys they received for Christmas. I LOVE relaxed days like these at home!!!
On December 28th, we decided to go to the movies for the first time ever as a family. In fact, it was the first time Bren, Brooke, and Brecklyn had ever been to a theater at all. We went to see Mary Poppins Returns.
I wasn't sure how it would go. Bren is very sensitive to noise, Brooke hates the dark, and Brecklyn rarely sits through a whole show or movie. However, it was GREAT!
We bought one huge tub of popcorn for everyone to share, and one drink for us all to share, as well. We talked a lot about rules, what to expect, and how we act in a theater.
Our local theater has recliner seats, so we all got comfy with our snack.
No one was bothered at all by any of the things I feared would bother them.
Well, there were a few times that I caught Bren like this, but he didn't whine or complain!
I mentioned in a previous post about our washer not working. We purchased a new washer and dryer when we moved into our house a little over two years ago, and the washer has been a huge headache since that time! First, it was recalled so we had to hassle with having the washer picked up and a new one delivered. Then, after we'd had it only 15 months, it stopped working properly. It wouldn't run the spin cycle after washing the clothes, so everything was sopping wet when I'd pull them out of the washer. Chris looked up a bunch of stuff on the internet and youtube, we tried some different tricks, and basically limped it along for about six months. Just after Thanksgiving, we started having more problems with it. Chris ordered new parts, replaced several things, and we even had a repairman look at it. The general consensus is that it needs a new motherboard, which would cost roughly $500 to replace. UGH. We decided to just buy a new washer because even replacing the motherboard isn't a guarantee that the problems will be fixed, and quite frankly we are SO TIRED of messing with the whole thing. Chris went and picked up our new washer this morning, and is currently working on installing it.
Meanwhile, the laundry is just piling up and up and up! This is even after I did three loads at Mom and Dad's house before we left after Christmas. I'll be so thankful to have a working washer again!
Yesterday morning, I met my friends Amy and Angie for breakfast. We were all talking about our plans for ringing in the New Year, and Angie mentioned that she and Jesse had no plans. I invited them to come hang out with us, so they did. We had the BEST time! We ate a ton of good food, visited, played a couple games of Headbandz with the kids, watched Mary Poppins (the original), and just laughed and laughed. I'm SO grateful it worked out for them to come over since it was a totally spontaneous!!!
After our fun evening, they left at around 10:30pm to go home. I told Chris that we'd put the kids to bed at the first sign of a meltdown, but somehow that never happened!?! The kids were perfectly content to eat snacks and watch TV until midnight. It was kind of amazing! We rang in the new year with a few cheers, then all went to bed. This morning, they all slept until after 8, and we have the entire rest of the week to enjoy before it's back to reality. I love the way the calendar fell this year because I find it very difficult to jump back into our routine on January 2nd.
December was a wonderful month! I absolutely adore the age my kids are right now. I loved them being babies and really little, but the ages they are now opens the door for a lot of great activities we simply couldn't do when they were younger.
Here's to a fantastic 2019!
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