December Birthday Celebration

We celebrated December birthdays on December 20th at our house with a special visitor!  Santa showed up at the beginning of the party and was a great way to start the party!  Although the kids realized that it was Poppa dressed as Santa's helper immediately, they were all still so excited and we all had so much fun with Poppa Santa! 

These girls were so excited!  Looking back at these pictures makes my heart so happy to see how happy they are here! 

"Just a few more things, Santa..."

This one could be my favorite from the day though!  Ha ha!

A little dancing from Santa before he left on his way.

Once Santa made his way back to the North Pole and Poppa showed up after taking care of Murphy ;) we were able to begin with the real birthday festivities!  First on the agenda, per Joseph and Ella's requests, was opening presents.  They both made out so well and are so grateful for their awesome gifts.  Favorites this year were the rollerskates for Ella and the tackle box for Joseph.  So fun!!

Ella planned the entire party and did a great job!  She wanted a bunny theme for her birthday but since we celebrated her and Joseph together we went with bunny themed games (for the most part) and then did a neutral dessert and decorations and saved her bunny decorations for her real birthday.  She created a pin the tail on the bunny game (that even Nora participated in) as well as a bunny hop (with balloons in between their legs!) The kids all had a blast!  

For dessert they created their own chocolate chip cookie sandwiches which everyone loved and then of course had our Ducote tradition of candy bowls, too.  I think it's so funny that Ella is in her helmet in this picture-she barely stopped long enough for dessert as she was doing laps around the pool on her new rollerskates.  It was so perfect that Mr. George's walker was in the back of Poppa's car as that really helped her get situated and confident on them.  I wish that Ella and I had gotten a picture together-we were wearing the same thing, per her request.  She doesn't like to match with her sisters but she loves to match with me...I'll take that as a huge compliment ;). 

After the party Ella requested to go to a park since she was getting the hang of her rollerskates and wanted to keep practicing.  Love her motivation so off to 4s ranch park we headed.  We stayed until sunset doing laps and she did so well!  

We had such a fun day celebrating both Joseph and Ella, and, of course, Poppa, too!  We wish that Brian and Hollie would have been there, too, so we could have celebrated Bri, too, but totally understand and respect that they are laying low since covid numbers are on the rise around here.  It was a beautiful day for a birthday party though and everyone had a a great day!

Joseph's 10th Birthday!!!

Gosh, I can not believe Joseph is 10!!  A whole decade of this kind, funny, hard working, dependable, generous, focused, great brother of a kid.  We are so blessed having him as our only son and are so thankful for him.  He brings so much joy to our family and is such a great role model.  We have loved watching him grow over the past ten years and can't wait to see what the future holds for him.  He is such an easy going, happy kid and his birthday is the perfect example of his great personality because despite covid and having a doctor's appointment to get his cast right in the middle of his birthday, he had such a great day! 

What helped in making it a great day was that he got lucky this year because there wasn't any school on his birthday due to parent teacher conferences so that was a nice treat for him.   We celebrated in the morning by getting breakfast at Elmisa cafe and then came home to a surprise from Nani and Poppa stopping by to bring donuts (they are still quarantining from us since we travelled to Atlanta over Thanksgiving) but we got to see them, and Murphy, from the car.  Plus he got to open one present in the morning!

We picked Shane up around 11 and headed to In n Out to pick up lunch and go to a park in Carmel Mountain Ranch to play for a bit.  We then came home and the girls hung with Daddy while he and I went to his doctor's appointment. 

 

The orthopedist confirmed a subtle fracture in his right wrist and told him he'd have to wear a cast for 4 weeks-kind of a bummer but at least the timing is pretty good with only 4 days of school and then two weeks of Christmas break so it won't be too bad for schoolwork.  Plus, better now than during the summer where he'd have to miss out on swimming.  He took it all in stride and had a great attitude about it.  Sidenote was that they had us wear two masks at this appointment-this was a first but they said they are doing this to try to prevent a holiday surge in cases.  We obeyed but thought it was a little strange! 

After the doctor's appointment, Jer stopped by to wish him a happy birthday which was nice.

  

Then we did presents!  The girls all made homemade cards for him which were super sweet and Rich and I were so excited for this because there was a big surprise which we knew he'd love!  After opening up a few small presents he opened up a present that had a clue on it and told him that he was to go on a scavenger hunt.  His eyes got really wide and he said, "Maybe it's my trick scooter?!"  These were the ten clues hidden around the house:

His reaction at the end when he realized that he was opening up a laptop was everything!!  It was so awesome and brought tears to everyone's eyes.  He was so appreciative and excited and it was so fun to gift it to him. 

 

We had plans that night to go to Santee to go to a drive in movie for the first time to celebrate so Joseph couldn't spend the entire night setting up his laptop but we guaranteed him that he would have time the following day and that it wasn't going anywhere on him. They were all excited about the drive in and he was still in shock over the laptop! The Croods 2 was playing and we picked up pizza from Filippis close by and it was a fun time.  Unfortunately we couldn't hear the movie that great from the bed of the truck but I think everyone really enjoyed the experience still and now for next time we know how to make it really work.  Despite a broken wrist, covid, not celebrating with any extended family, it was still a super special birthday and the start to a fabulous year!  

Happy 10th Birthday, Joseph!  Thank you for bringing so much joy to our family.  You keep us smiling and keep us grounded with being surrounded by so many girls.  We are so thankful that you are our oldest and we are so proud of you.  We love you so much!

Thanksgiving in Atlanta

 We found out in early September that Brian would be promoting to Colonel and would be having a ceremony in Atlanta the day after Thanksgiving.  This is such an incredible achievement and we wanted to be there!  At that time, covid numbers seemed to be holding steady so we decided to book tickets to spend the week at Thanksgiving with the Ducote crew.  As Thanksgiving approached, covid numbers were rapidly increasing (especially in CA) and there were recommended travel advisories not to travel or gather in large groups.  After much thought (and a few sleepless nights!) we decided to stick with the plan and go...and we are so glad we did.  We had the best week and it was so special to be there with the entire family.  And thankfully everyone stayed covid free.  On the last day we did have a little scare with Julia waking up with a fever and not feeling well.  I was having visions of renting an RV and driving across the country so we could get home safely but thankfully after a trip to Rich's old pediatrician and a negative strep and covid test we were able to fly home safely and she was feeling much better the day we left.  It made for a quiet last day in Georgia but was probably ok after the very busy week we had!  

We arrived on Monday night and had all day Tuesday with just Nonna, Pop Pop, Katelyn and Trey which was great to have some alone time with them because once the cousins all come we never see the kids.  We all went to a great park nearby as the weather was beautiful!  Then Ella helped Katelyn make spinach artichoke dip, the kids all played in the backyard getting forts ready for the cousins, and the girls helped Nonna with desserts for Thanksgiving.  

The cousins started arriving on Wednesday and they all picked off right where they left off.  We love that about them all!  They have the best time together and it is like they see one another every day.  Such special relationships!  The next few days were filled with zip lines, fort building, walks to the park, football and capture the flag games, shows, firepits, Christmas movies at night, and so many special memories! 

Julia and Anna hit it off this trip and spent hours building a little fort/house complete with decorations, seats and accessories!

These two are quite a pair!

Joseph and John have such a special relationship-love that they are only 6 months apart from one another and have such a special bond!  Both of them ended up hurting themselves on this trip, too...thankfully nothing too serious but both got beat up a bit.  Joseph fell off the skateboard going down the big hill to Nonna and Pop Pop's house on Thanksgiving.  His hands broke most of the fall but ended up with a pretty big cut on his chin and a chipped tooth...and a broken wrist, which we didn't find out until a week later!  We were more concerned about his mouth area and he wasn't really complaining about the wrist until we got back home and he started doing his schoolwork and was in pain whenever he wrote.  we took him to urgent care that night and he had subtle fracture in his right wrist which required a cast for 4 weeks.  Thankfully there was only a week left of school before Christmas break so it wasn't inconvenient for too long and we are thankful it wasn't worse.  John was on the swing on Sunday swinging over the creek and fell off-he ended up with a big black and blue eye was in a good amount of pain, too, but it could have been way worse so we are so thankful for that.  These boys!!!  

 

Showtime!

Thanksgiving for 28!! It was delicious!  

There was even a special visit from Cara Rose!

The ceremony for Brian was on Friday at the Dunwoody Country Club.  It was so special to be there for it and to hear about all of his accomplishments in the military.  We are so thankful for his sacrifices as well as the sacrifices of Gina and the boys.  There was a brunch after the ceremony and it was so fun to see everyone all dresses up.  

The kids baked Christmas cookies with Nonna after everyone left-they were delicious and a great way to get into the Christmas season! 

And, we're heading home.  The flight home was uneventful and all went well.  We landed on Tuesday afternoon and kept the kids out of school for a week-they didn't have school the following Monday so it worked out to be a full week.  We also got everyone covid tests on Friday whcih all came back negative, although cost us $1050!!!!!  Rich used a guy from work whose nurse came to the house and he didn't think that they were going to charge us that much...it was convenient but definitely not worth that much money!  Oh geez but at least we were all healthy!  The trip was great and we are so glad that we were able to be there!