Princess Addie

When your five year old really really wants to wear her new princess dress to church and you both reach an agreement that she can for the day if she leaves her tiara, gloves and wand at home. 

Win Win? 

I will add that I was secretly proud of her for being in character and bowing royally to people in the hallways when they'd tell her hello. I love this little princess of mine.

Festival of Lights

The kids are finally feeling better so we made our annual trip to the Festival of Lights. Addie remembers this family tradition but it seemed to be a whole new experience for Hudson. All three loved it and it was nice to actually be out of the house. This was the first outing our family has been on since the flu hit hard at our house. We always do the Festival of Lights on an evening after Christmas Day but before New Year's Eve because the place is almost always vacant and it's nice to keep the holiday magic alive for a few days longer. I'm glad the kids are finally feeling better and that there's no more sickness going on with our family at the moment.

The Flu Hit Hard - Christmas 2019

This isn't the Christmas we envisioned, but it's the one we got and will not be forgetting. Instead of a silent night we had a long sleepless night filled with so many changes of clothes and countless throw up buckets needing to be emptied. Poor kids are sick so we're in for a cozy stay at home day. Even though Danny and I worried the Christmas magic would be gone the kids have proves us wrong and it's definitely still here. I'm thankful for their sweet excitement and reminder that it's really the togetherness and little moments that matter.

It turns out that when we weren't sure why Grant was sick two days ago it was because the poor boy had the flu. Sad thing is that now my dad is really feeling the effects of it today as well. Even though we tried to keep him away from the cookie making fun his symptoms were still shared. Sorry Dad.

Merry Christmas 2019!

Christmas Eve night - Opening their PJs

Christmas aftermath

Exhausted sick baby

Cookies With Oma and Opa

Last year my parents started a new tradition with my kids with making Christmas cookies. This year they came to our house to do it because our schedules were so busy and we weren't able to make it to their place for it. Grant also woke up feeling very sick so we felt bad for him. He didn't participate much which was okay because we weren't sure if he was sick with the flu or sick from teething. The other kids though had a lot of fun making cookies with Oma and Opa. The funny thing is that they actually forgot their cookie cutters at home on their kitchen counter while they were making their way out of their house so luckily we had our own cookie cutters here. Only thing is that they weren't Christmas shapes, they were Halloween. So the kids made Halloween cookies and used their imagination to make them Christmas cookies. For example the ghost shape turned into a Christmas bell and the bat was a Christmas ornament. The shapes didn't make a difference really and Addie and Hudson both really enjoyed themselves. 

After the cookies were all done we also exchanged our Christmas gifts. Christmas day can be kind of crazy if we fit in too much traveling so this really worked for us and it works for my parents as well. Plus the kids will never complain about getting presents a little early.

Christmas Sunday Outfits

Nice. Nice. Nice.

With a dash of naughty.

And yes the kids wore the same outfits two Sundays in a row because the boys got haircuts during the week so I got some before and after pictures. I'm equally in love with both sets though. 

Bean's First Haircut

Grant got his first haircut today, I'm not really sure we should even call it that because it was barely a trim but I'm sure he would say it counts. He hated sitting in that chair and hated every time the girl touched his hair. We didn't even touch the back of his hair and we're letting that grow out into a little mullet but we did trim the front because hair was starting to get into his eyes. We didn't leave with the haircut we intended because Grant was over it and wouldn't let the girl finish up his sides but that's okay. Sometimes with new experiences you just have to take baby steps and this was definitely a little step taken.

Addie wanted her hair braided.

Hudson did amazing for his haircut.