Preparing for Christmas

Christmas time is truly my favorite time of year.  So many traditions, some meaningful and some just fun, and so much excitement and anticipation all around as we prepare for the birth of Christ.  We've tried each year to become more purposeful in the way we prepare our hearts.  One of the ways we've done this is by starting a little earlier so that by December 1st our tree is up and most of gifts are bought leaving us the rest of the month to really enjoy and prepare for Christmas.  So the Saturday after Thanksgiving has become our tree cutting day.

I love nothing more than a seeing our tree lit and decorated!

Each year we buy the kids a new ornament representing something important from the year or something they liked that year.  I keep a list because I can't keep it all straight and it's our tradition is to unwrap all the ornaments and then we go year by year and reminisce about the different memories as the kids hang up the corresponding ornaments.  They get really excited to find theirs and love remembering trips to Disneyland and puppies and births and old pets and nicknames and old homes and so much more.

Mom and I also always enjoy our baking day.  We bake treats for Brandon's job sites, teachers, and our own family gatherings.  We've gotten pretty good at it and you'd be amazed at just how many goodies we can crank out in a day.  

Cradle-to-Cross Wreath

This was a new addition to our Christmas traditions.  At dinnertime as we sit down to eat we light the candles counting down the days until Christmas and then as the kids begin to eat we read an advent devotional that helps us reflect on the glory and sacrifice of Christ.

Jesse Tree

You can kind of see our Jesse Tree to the left of our Christmas tree.   We started this a couple of years ago and it really helped us remember what we're celebrating rather than just getting caught up in the gift giving.  Each night we read a devotional about a character in the family line of Jesus and open a corresponding ornament to hang on our tree.  We remember that He uses broken people and that the birth of Christ is truly the greatest gift we will ever receive.

I got this idea from a friend.  During the year this board contains all the Christmas Cards we received from friends.  I love enjoying them all year but for the month of December I hung up all of our old cards and enjoyed remembering how much our own family has grown and changed.

Gingerbread Houses

Grammy does an amazing job with the gingerbread houses.  She does it a little different each year and it's one of the kids' very favorite traditions.

Christmas Cookies

Over break Sadie had a couple of girlfriends over to decorate Christmas cookies which was a lot of fun.

Nana sent these beautiful Christmas flowers.

And we got some true winter weather this year which was very exciting.

Dress-up Days

The kids had a couple of dress-up days at school before break.  The first was civil war day which in Oregon is when the Beavers play the Ducks.

Go Beavs!

Go Ducks!

They also had spirit week.  I didn't get pictures of each day this year but this one was too good to pass up and it shows which of my kids are most animated. :)

Happy Birthday Cooper

This guy is 9!!!!!  

Happy Birthday Cooper!!!

Cooper continues to amaze us with his wealth of knowledge and quick wit.  Ask him anything about football or animals or rocks or anything he's interested in and he's a wealth of knowledge.  Ask him to do something and he's one of our most easy going and compliant children usually replying, "Yep, I can do that!" He can also be a spaz at times and if you try to give him a hug and you'll never catch him.  It's been his thing for awhile but this year he has a teacher who loves giving hugs and an Auntie who tries to catch him in the hall at school and it's become quite the game with him.  At night after Wyatt comes out to say good night we usually have to get up to say goodnight to Cooper and sometimes even end up jumping in bed with him to say goodnight.  He'll NEVER let on but he secretly likes it because though he's hard to catch he can't hide his smile.

Go BEAVS!!!

Cha Cha Chocolate 

Oooo La La

Rubber duckies quack, quack, quack

Fire breathing gummy bears

Moooooo!!!!

Not sure exactly where this came from but the kids sing it every time after we sing Happy Birthday!

They're a bunch of goofballs!

He's quick but Daddy's quicker.

It Finally Hit

It's been a year and a half since the start of all the "COVID" craziness and it finally hit our family.  A few days after Evie's birthday we started dropping like flies.  By we I mean all my siblings.  So I'm guessing maybe we started it as the kids have had colds but I suppose we'll never know for sure.  Anyway, the Kaufman house definitely had it which messed up Autumns birthday so we did a little drive-by celebration to surprise her.

Ryan and Katie also had it so we pitched in where we could watching kids so they could rest.

And by Thanksgiving while most were on the mend people were still recovering so we had a very small celebration with just Robert, Caleb, Grammy, and Carter.  Such strange times.

And then lo and behold when we thought we were done I got it.

Like a pregnancy test except less fun.

Luckily my symptoms were mild.  I felt a little under the weather for a couple days and lost my sense of smell, which made diaper changing interesting as I had to rely on kids or just constantly checking to know when the girls needed changing, but other than that it past quickly and now we can say pretty much all 25 of us have had it :)

Happy 5th Birthday Evie Rose!

Our Miss Evie Rose turned 5 this year.  Seems like I always say hard to believe but it is!!!!  These kids of ours are growing up so fast as I suppose all kids do.  Evie continues to be our sweetest, blondest, ditziest, girl.  She's easy going, she's not easily rushed to eat or load into the car or really anything, she plays nicely with everyone, she loves baby goats and puzzles and Mario Kart (sometimes she can't stay on the road and other times she owns just about everyone, just depends what mood she's in), and she loves pretty dresses and flowers, and all things sugary and sweet.  In fact one of the kids decided she's a sugitarian which I'm fairly certain isn't a thing, but if it was she would be ALL in.  Her favorite meal is breakfast, especially on the weekend when Daddy makes pancakes with Nutella, or waffles, or french toast.  It's literally the only meal of the day that doesn't take a painfully long time for her to eat.  

Our life wouldn't be the same without you Evie.  You were our sweetest surprise and the baby I'll always remember snuggling with every chance I got because I thought you were my last and you were just so stinkin' sweet and easy going.  We love you so much and are so excited to walk with you through all the new experiences this next year is sure to bring.

Cinnamon Rolls for Breakfast

Trying on her new clothes

A birthday smoothie which she decided to blow into the straw of in the time it took me to pull out of line and park to hand the babies theirs.  No explanation she's just a goof ball.

Aubrey

Maddie

Birthday Ice Cream

We thought giving them just cones would be less of a mess but what do we know.

Once again we've underestimate toddler twins.

Evie's Party

Evie made it easy on me this year.  She picked out gems and crowns as her party theme and I already had flowers from Kendra's baby shower awhile back.

Maddie and Hadley

Happy Birthday Evie!!!