Sunday, December 25, 2016

Merry Christmas 2016

MERRY CHRISTMAS!


The kids were very eager to wake up Christmas morning and get going on opening presents. From the moment they walked down the stairs all you heard was, "can we open presents yet?" 

The kids hadn't even eaten breakfast yet, but that didn't bother them, they just wanted to rip the wrapping paper off their presents, to see what Santa brought them. Along with all the presents that grandma and grandpa brought with them when they were here for Thanksgiving. Their presents had been sitting under our tree since we got it because they brought all our Christmas presents with them when they came to visit for Thanksgiving. 



Little man did NOT want his picture taken

Let the unwrapping begin...







Auntie's new socks

Trying out his new binoculars.

Exploring the indoors

Christmas day it was so nice out, that after being inside all morning, we decided to run around outside for awhile. 

McKaila took her binoculars and her notepad outside and wrote down what she saw



After spending some time outside in the afternoon, we came inside, relaxed and played with all the new things we had gotten for Christmas. The biggest hit from Christmas was the Pie Face game. The girls got a kick out of it and so we spent most of the night watching the girls laughing at all the whipped cream on their faces.

Watching the kids, especially Logan, and how happy they were with each present they opened was worth everything. So, even though we were still dealing with McKenna's sickness, it was an amazing Christmas!

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Christmas Eve 2016

Our Christmas Eve wasn't like we hoped for. Usually, the day is all about making Christmas cookies, watching Christmas movies, and so on. We did accomplish watching Christmas movies all day though. And I happened to have stuff for peanut butter cookies, so I whipped some of those up for Santa's arrival. 

We didn't have our typical Christmas Eve due to sickness. Christmas Eve it hit us hard. McKenna got the worst of it, but along with her, McKaila and I weren't feeling too good. With coughs and runny noses, we thought it would be best to skip the making of our normal Christmas cookies so the kids weren't coughing all over them and just spend the day cuddled on the couch, watching movies. 




Sprinkling reindeer food on the lawn. (oatmeal and glitter to guide them)
Cuddles with Auntie


Popcorn and watching the Polar Express



Lambie and McKenna's blankie don't leave her side when she's sick

McKaila made something for Santa and the reindeers and wrote her own note for Santa this year

Ready for Santa and the reindeer

Tradition of reading the night before Christmas. As you see, they were so excited about it 


Even with all the sickness in the house, Christmas Eve was a great day. I mean, what is better then spending the day watching Christmas movies and cuddling with the ones you love? NOTHING!

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Early Christmas Surprise

Unknowing to our kids, we had an awesome surprise for them. The Papa family was coming for a visit! 

The Papa kids knew they were coming to North Carolina to see us, but we wanted to keep it a surprise for our kids. It was a very hard secret to keep, especially when we were picking out and wrapping presents for Kolton, Lilly and Ryker, but the kids believed us when we told them we were mailing them out so they could open them up at home. 

When we knew that the Papa's were getting close, I unlocked the door and we put on a movie so the kids would all stay in one place for their surprise. Minutes later, the Papa clan came walking through the door and surprised the kids! 

I tried taking pictures of the surprise, but there was so much going on all at once, that i only got a couple good ones. 

The kids were so excited to see each other and our hearts were so full to see them all together again. Unfortunately, I didn't take as many pictures of our time together, like I hoped, but were were all enjoying each others company that it totally escaped my mind to take pictures. 



The kids went back to where they left off and went right to playing with each other. Starting off with some Lego playing and then onto some karaoke. 



McKaila and Lilly cuddling before bedtime

Off to Pinky's for some lunch

Mommy night out!!! Much needed for both of us

To say that we were happy to have the Papa's here visiting us, would be an understatement. There are really no words to describe how happy we were that they were able to drive here for a couple days before heading to Ohio for Christmas. 

I really didn't realize how badly we all needed a visit from friends. It's always nice to have visits from family, but to have friends here is a totally different thing. They know our life, our military life. Our life with 3 kids. It's just great to have those friends that truly knows the ups and downs to life and totally understand them, because they are going through them too. 

We love you, Korey, Natalie, Kolton, Lilly and Ryker! 


Friday, December 2, 2016

Christmas Pictures

This years Christmas pictures were a bit of a struggle. The girls were eager to take pictures for me and smile pretty, where as Logan didn't want to have any part of any of the process. So, I got some great pictures of the girls together and alone and then it was time to get creative with Logan.

I sat him down and dumped all his cars in front of him and mixed in some Christmas lights. He still wasn't having much of it, so the girls started acting silly and talking to Logan and with that, I was able to get a handful of shots of Logan smiling.

Did a outfit change and inside/outside pictures and in the end with all the difficulty Logan was giving me and the mini meltdowns for the kids, the pictures came out very well!











MERRY CHRISTMAS!!