Black Butte Ranch

For Christmas Brandon surprised me with a trip to Sister's Oregon.  He rented a great little place in Black Butte for 3 nights and arranged for Grammy, Amy, and Katie to help with the kids.   It always takes a bit of planning to make sure everyone has a place to go and that things are as "fair" as possible but we figured out a plan that I think everyone liked and that worked for Grammy who was taking on a majority of the kids.  THANK YOU!!!  THANK YOU!!! everyone for the help and time away!

Before we left I made a trip to Walmart with a Christmas gift card from Nana and bought the kids some special treats and new things to play with while we were gone.

We left after naps on Wednesday, dropped a couple of kiddos off at Amy's house and then went to Safeway before heading out of town.

I know this is silly but one of the little things I've grown to love about our trips is going to the grocery store.  Normally grocery shopping is routine.  We usually do grocery pick up somewhere and if I do have to go into a store, it's in and out before anyone has a meltdown.  The shopping is practical and planned and as affordable as I can make it.   However, when we go away we always go to a nicer store, we splurge to buy the fun stuff,  we usually only have a partial list and wing the rest, and look at me shopping with this tiny cart that could definitely not feed even a quarter of my family.  I LOVE IT!!!

We hit a little bit of snow on our way through the pass but nothing too crazy and arrived safely at our destination just before dinner time.

For dinner we drove into Sisters and went to Three Creeks Brewing.  They had some tents set up outside with heaters and although it was pretty cold it was still nice to feel like we were eating out.

Brandon makes the best breakfasts!

This picture is from at home but Brandon also makes delicious coffee.

Day 2, New Years Eve, was spent mostly out and about.  We drove into Bend and spent the first part of our time wandering around a Barns and Noble.  We bought a book for Brandon and some gifts for the kids.  Then we went to Jamba Juice and Target before grabbing an early dinner at a Mexican food restaurant in Sisters that also had outdoor seating.

Then we came home and I finally learned how to play Catan!

DAY 3 was our down day.  We did end up making a quick trip into town because someone forgot their yoga pants but it worked out alright because on the way back we grabbed burgers at a place called Sno Cap that Brandon had been wanting to try.  The burgers were great and we met a family while we waited who had 2 year old twins with them which was kinda fun!  

We spent the afternoon playing more Catan and going for a walk.

To wrap up the day we had appetizers and drinks, a good conversation, ravioli, and watched Friends.

I'm never quite ready to head back but alas the time has come.  We spent the morning of Day 4 packing up, I found some time to journal and write down some of the New Years goals we'd been talking about and that I'd been thinking about the past few days, and then we headed back into Sisters for a few more quick souvenirs before heading home to our crew!

Until next time...

Christmas 2020

This year my mom and I made a record number of Christmas treats.  We made 8 plates for Brandon to take to his job sites, 6 tins for teachers, plus extras for the kids and for our big family gatherings.  It's a lot of work but it's also one of my favorite Christmas traditions.

Another favorite tradition of mine is sending and receiving Christmas Cards.  Thanks to Grammy we got our pictures taken back in September so my cards were ready to go 1st of the month.  Unfortunately I somehow managed to stamp EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. on the wrong side.  So embarrassing but thankfully they all got where they needed to go and the few people I asked said they didn't noticed.  Chalk it up to 2020 and being a mom of 7!

Here are a few additional pictures from our little family photo shoot.

Aubrey

Evie

Hazel

And then of course there are the decorations.  Nothing makes it feel more like Christmas at our house than candles on the table and a lighted tree.  We didn't put any gifts under the tree until a few days before Christmas but we did decorate it right away and surprisingly the babies left it alone.  I was picturing them constantly messing with the ornaments but they were great!

Christmas morning we made our traditional Christmas breakfast of Great-Great-Grandma Swier's cinnamon rolls, eggs, and little smokies.  This year Grammy, Caleb, and Uncle Robert joined us for breakfast and gifts.  The kids used their allowance money to shop for one another on Amazon.  It makes for a lot of little gifts but it's fun seeing how excited they are to give gifts to each other.  They were all really thoughtful in their buying this year and their gifts included Legos, slime, Hatchimals, Barbie's, lots of football cards, and even little toys for the babies.

Daddy reading the Christmas story.

The big gift for the oldest 3 this year was a Nintendo Switch and we're hoping we don't quickly regret our life choices.  Seriously thought they were so excited.  They love playing Mario Cart on Caleb's Nintendo at Grammy's house.

Hazel and Evie's big gift was the long asked for and wished for Barbie Dream House.  Again possibly a regrettable life decision. :)  Hazel especially has been asking and asking and asking for this and when she eventually got in trouble for asking she started with questions like, "Is God more important than a Barbie Dream House?  Is food more important than a Barbie Dream House?  Are ALL the presents here?"  She even had one point during our Advent devotional where we were talking about idols and she recognized that a Barbie Dream House was hers.  Anyway, after 2 years of wishing and hoping she was one excited little girl when we pulled this in from Grammy's car where it had been sneakily hiding.

After naps we headed over to Grammy's for Christmas Dinner.

Tommy and the Twinnies!

Adventures of a Troyer Twin

I've said it before but these two are busy, busy, busy!  Don't take your eye off of them for a second and be prepared for lots of tumbles and very few cuddles.  They have places to go, things to do, and people to see.

They want nothing more than to be a part of WHATEVER the bigger kids are doing.

They've gotten a little bit of goat time over the past couple of weeks.  They like it for the most part although it can be a little overwhelming.

Maddie

Aubrey

They really do crack each other up.

They're also known to get a bit carried away once in awhile.

On this particular day they opened and emptied an entire box of mac and cheese while I wasn't watching.  I figured they might as well enjoy playing with it once it was opened so I scooped it up and poured it on their trays where they proceeded to make a HUGE mess.

Up on the kitchen chairs continues to be their favorite spot.

They don't want to cuddle but they do want to be in your business every chance they get.

Maddie

They love to be in Zoey's business too!  They are still up to their dog bed stealing shenanigans and Zoey STILL doesn't know what to do about it.

They're not entirely to blame for how crazy they are.  They do have A LOT of older siblings who love to make them crazy.