December Holiday Fun

In between Ella and Joseph's birthdays comes a lot of holiday fun and we thoroughly enjoyed the entire season this year!  Here are the highlights:  

Ready for Advent with my favorite tradition of the cotton ball cribs for baby Jesus.

We kicked off the month by spending the afternoon at Auntie Wendy's house decorating cookies, making ornaments and hanging out.  The kids had such a great time and we are so thankful that Wendy had us all over.  

Jen and I catching up and overseeing the fun

 The crew

 Such a great group of kids!

 They played tag for a good amount of time at the end!

 Thank you Wendy for being so good to us!

Overall the weather has been beautiful this month so we've been enjoying a San Diego December outside!  We met up with Finn and Lindsay at the skate park for a few hours one weekend afternoon which is a favorite for the kids.  The playground is great and they love the skate/bike track, too.  

 We had a huge transition this year with no tears from anyone for Santa which was bittersweet and almost brought tears to my eyes (someone was crying at least!)  They are getting so big and I just adore this tradition at church  and we all look forward to it every year.  

 

 Joseph started playing basketball in the RB rec league last month and is loving it so far.  He is on a team with a bunch of buddies-they aren't the greatest team but they are having a lot of fun.  He is doing well, we just have to watch his elbows as he can be a bit aggressive with them (which Rich seems to encourage!  Geez!!)

 The Army Navy game was on December 14th this year and we hosted the Cawlfield crew over for the game which made the rivalry intense but a great time.  Army lost but the Cawlfields were good sports about it and the kids played without complaint for the entire game so it was a fun afternoon.  

Just another Thursday with Nani...Starbucks and cake pops.  Gotta love it!

 Jingle always brings so much joy to our house during the Advent season.  She has been up to some serious business this past month...with the biggest adventure being her hat catching on fire!!! Ahhhh!!! We were in the middle of having dinner and Jingle was propped up against the Advent wreath in the middle of the table.  Rich lit the candles and we didn't think anything of it but then halfway through dinner Julia yells, "Jingle is on fire!!!"  I yelled and then grabbed Jingle and put the fire out from her hat.  And, then the tears came! They were worried that I had touched her but we reassured them that because it was an emergency that we were sure it would be fine. Thankfully she was saved just in time and only her hat was damaged, not her head.  Phew!  What a night!

The next morning we found her like this with a note letting us know that it wasn't a problem that I touched her since I saved her life and that she was just going to rest today.  She had a beautiful red, sparkly bow around her head until Santa is able to make her a new hat, although it may be awhile since he is so busy finishing up the toys.  We are so thankful Jingle is alright!  

I haven't been great about taking pictures of her this month but every day she's moved somewhere different and is normally into some sort of mischief.  She packed the kids lunchboxes with candy today!  My favorite of the season was on Ella's birthday when she wrapped herself in one of Ella's presents!!! Ella screamed SO loud!!  Of course, I didn't get it on video-ugh-but, it was hilarious!!  

 We spent a Sunday afternoon baking cookies which is another favorite tradition and then enjoyed delivering them to family and friends (and of course, keeping some for us to eat!)

Isabella had the girls over for a Christmas playdate which they absolutely loved!!!  They watched a Christmas movie, had pizza and all wore Christmas jammies.  Our girls just adore Izzy! 

We hung around at the Westwood Club for a bit one day.

We met up with the Zicklers one night and did our yearly tradition of Christmas Card Lane.  This was the first year that we didn't bring strollers and it was such a treat!  Again, bittersweet that these kiddos are getting so big but so thankful for all of them and all of these sweet memories.   

 

The last week of school was filled with all sorts of holiday parties.  On Thursday I just bounced from party to party to party.  Joseph's teacher was kind of enough to let the girls join in and they loved making gingerbread houses with Joseph and his friends.

Ella and Julia helped Nani do some baking one Saturday morning. 

 And then crashed hard that night at her house!  

Speaking of crashing, this is how I found Julia and Charlotte in OUR bed one morning!!  

 I started the tradition of making a pillow for each of the kids back in Texas when Val and I went to a sewing class together.  I gave Joseph the pillow for his 2nd birthday.  I managed to make pillows for Ella nad Julia for their 3rd birthdays but Charlotte's 3rd birthday came and went in September and I didn't make her one, so I forced myself to have it done as a Christmas present.  I don't mind the actual sewing part but I don't love the steps leading up to it-I have realized that I'm not really a detail person and don't have the patience for straight lines and threading bobbins.  I'm more of a "close enough" kind of person. Well, after a few nights of watching youtube videos to reteach myself I made Charlotte's pillow which is definitely a "close enough" kind of pillow but her reaction on Christmas morning was totally priceless and she loves it and doesn't care if the borders are a little off.  And, I am glad that I don't feel guilty anymore for not having it done and that now all 4 kids have something that I made for them.  This will probably be it :). 

 Christmas break=pull up bar out.  

 Ella and I have matching dresses!!  I found them at Target one day and unfortunately they didn't have all of our sizes but I knew that Ella would love it and she sure did.  So fun to match with her and I have to remember to do this more often.  

 Just a pink bath for Charlotte one night...she has been introduced to bath bombs and loves them!!

The Ozecks finally made it to San Diego, after a 3 day delay, and it is so great to have everyone together again.  Although the Zicklers are heading to Canada for Christmas so we really only had one day all together but we made the most of it!  We celebrated Joseph and Ella's birthdays and celebrated Christmas together and just had the best day.  Nani and Poppa put on such a wonderful event every year and it didn't disappoint.  Matching pajamas, the gift card game, delicious food-it was great!  

 

 

 Love the days on break when we aren't rushing around and the kids can just play and have time to be at home.  They love looking through their "special boxes".  

 Let the fun begin with the Ozecks!!  Looking forward to a fun 2 weeks with them!

After the sleepover on Ella's birthday we went to a jump place the next morning for a few hours which the kids loved. 

Now we are ready for Christmas Eve!!!

Hope everyone has been nice...the jury is still out on Charlotte for this year :). 

A bit sassy

 And a little mischievous.  

 Nah, definitely nice!

Finally, to finish out the December random holiday fun and more post here are two beautiful sunrise pictures from our bedroom window this month.  So pretty and what a fabulous way to start the day!! 

 

What an exciting, wonderful and full month!  Happy December!  

 

Happy Birthday Joseph!

December is full of fun for us with all of the holiday festivities but we also love celebrating Joseph and Ella's birthdays!  Yay!!  It's hard to believe that Joseph is 9 this year!  I remember a friend of mine posting a few years ago when her daughter turned 9 that she was halfway until 18 now when they'd be considered a grown up so of course that was on my mind as he turns 9 this year.  Half way!  Where has the time gone?  I'm not sure but I sure am thankful for these amazing 9 years with him.  I love thinking back to when it was just Joseph and the hours that we'd spend snuggled up on the couch in Texas reading books together and then what an amazing big brother he has turned out to be to all three girls and watching his relationships grow with each of them.  And then to think that he is in 3rd grade this year...3rd grade!! He is focused in school (although sometimes doesn't read directions as carefully as he should!), is a great listener, an excellent public speaker and most importantly a kind and caring friend.  And, most importantly, I still love that he asks for hugs before going to bed every night and sometimes will even call them "huggies".  He can seem so old to me at some points but still has that softer, innocent side still.  

His birthday this year fell on a Saturday which made it super fun.  Rich was running in a race on Sunday so had to leave Saturday morning so we ended up turning his birthday celebration into an entire weekend event which worked out well for Joseph. 
He celebrated at school with donuts on Friday and was recognized at Friday flag for his birthday that weekend.  

Then, Friday afternoon at 4:00 the Vuongs and the Laugesens came to our house for a sleepover.  Unfortunately it was raining a little but thankfully it cleared up by after dinner so we were able to head to the club to play a fun game of laser tag which was such a great idea (if I do say so myself!). They had a great time!  Then it was back to our house for a movie and eventually bed.  They are such a good group of boys that they make it easy!  Joseph wanted all things Minecraft for his party this year. 

Since the Laugesens and Vuongs don't have any sisters it is pretty funny to see them at our house with all these girls!  Alex came down in Julia's dress in the morning-I have no idea how it happened but they all thought it was hilarious!  

After some breakfast and trampoline jumping on Saturday morning everyone headed home but Jen and I made secret plans to meet up that afternoon to surprise Joseph.  Since Rich was gone that day and my parents were out of town we didn't have any family plans but I wanted to do something fun to celebrate him so we met up with the Laguesens at Rock and Jump for a few hours.  It was perfect and then we celebrated more with frozen yogurt after.  That night the kids and I had leftover pizza and we watched Elf which was a perfect way to end his day!  

The celebration continued on Sunday when we picked Rich up from the airport that afternoon and then headed to Corvette Diner for dinner.  It was a fun birthday dinner and then came home for the rest of his presents.  He was able to open up one on his birthday but the rest we made him wait so Rich could see.  

This is such a Joseph face!

Crazy teeth were won tonight!

Back at home for the final round of birthday celebrations...well, until, we celebrate with all of the family once the Ozecks arrive!

Happy 9th birthday to you, Joseph!  We love you and love that you are silly, funny, kind, thoughtful, a hard worker and that you bring so much joy to our family.  We can't wait to see you grow this coming year.  

Tis the Season

In previous years we have always waited until the first full weekend after Thanksgiving, normally a week after the holiday, to decorate and get ready for Christmas, but this year Thanksgiving fell late with it being on November 28th, so I was feeling the crunch to get the tree up and to begin the Christmas fun right away.  We got the tree on Saturday November 30th and decorated it that night and I have to admit that I LOVED having it up for the entire month of December.  Maybe a part of me was feeling jipped still from last year when we had our leak in the kitchen so we didn't decorate until the 15th of December, but wherever the feeling came from, I could definitely see us starting to decorate that weekend after Thanksgiving from this point forward.  I think I can firmly say that Rich's tradition of decorating the tree on the Army Navy game is officially out the window-way too late for me now!  

Anyways, Rich and Joseph went to Costco to pick up our tree.  Since we've done Costco for the past two years and the trees are prewrapped so there is no picking out specific ones, I don't feel that we   all need to go-we'll just focus on us all setting it up and decorating it.  A part of me missed the experience of all of us going and picking it out but when you save about $75 at Costco it's worth it. 

Love decorating our tree and the house and all things Christmas! Today was the perfect start to the Christmas season.

First ornament on the tree!

Love these kiddos!