Life

I've fallen behind again. Maybe it's the holidays, but things have even feeling crazy around here. Here are a few pictures of things that have been happening lately.

Amy made her first drawing. It's Dad, Mom, her and Cole,

She had a Christmas party at school. It was also hat day.

And brought home an adorable picture frame that she made and her teachers put in this picture of us at the Halloween party.

This was in the back of the frame

Grandma came over, and they loved it

We saw fireworks 

Decorated the Christmas tree 

And built gingerbread houses

And Cole has been doing his best to get into trouble

Cole, no!

That is probably the most used phrase in my vocabulary recently. This kid is crazy. He's such a different baby than Amy was, in the most exhausting of ways. I can't keep up with him! 

And then he looks at me with this face and I know I've lost.

I was doing so good

And then holiday time happened.

I'm trying to get into the habit of posting more often, even if they are just short simple ones. I just need to not forget this is here. But with great holidays, comes great responsibility. Or at least an overwhelming amount of things to do.

First my mom came to visit, which was fun and the kids really enjoyed it. Brandon and I also got a date night, and those don't happen often, so it was nice. 

Then my other family came up to visit for a few days, which is a big deal because my dad has a hard time taking off work. Things tend to fall apart when he is not around. So I was really happy to have them here, and so were the kids. 

Thanksgiving was a little crazy. We had 12 people here, not counting the kids. I've never cooked for that many people before, so it was a new adventure. Thankfully, I have several members of my family who help in the kitchen, so it was less stressful than I feared. Overall it went really well and I think everyone had a good time. 

I didn't really get any pictures myself, so this post will be pretty void of them. 

Now it's time to start planning for Christmas. I won't be hosting this one, so it will be a bit more relaxing. It's always a good time though!

How to give a five year old medicine

Amy's been sick for a couple of days, mostly just a fever and general yucky feeling. So she's had to stay home from school. Thankfully Advil and Tylenol keep the fever at bay, but we sort of have to hide it. This is our medicine remedy.

Chutes and Ladders aka the game that never ends

Amy learned how to play Chutes and Ladders last night. She was actually a really good sport about having to go down the ladders, and had a lot of fun. Brandon got first place and Amy got second. Since I was the last player, I assumed the game was just over then. Silly me. Amy said I had to finish the game. So I spun the spinner and moved my measly few spaces each time. Oh no, slide. Back to the bottom. Spin the spinner and move more spaces several times. Slide. This happened again and again and again, more than it ever should. I think I played the game by myself for about 15 minutes before I finally made it to the top. I don't think I've ever been so thankful to finish in last place, because at least I conquered those evil slides. 

Cookies!

Like every little girl, Amy loves all things Frozen. So when she saw Frozen cookies at the store, she just had to have them. And I'm a sucker for these ready to bake cookies, so I was happy to help her eat them. 

My kinda baking

Date day

My mom is in town visiting and offered to watch the kids while Brandon and I went out. So we decided to have a date day. We went to lunch at a yummy place and then saw Big Hero 6 at the movies. It was a very cute movie, I recommend it. 

Getting away, even for just a few hours, is so nice. Just Brandon and me, being us rather than Mom and Dad. I know one day, the kids will be older and not want to hang out with us and then I'll miss these days. But for now, I really enjoy my time away when I get it. It's also really adorable to come home and have them so happy to see us. 

High five!

What a ham

Little Monkey

It's about 20 degrees and snowing out today, so we decided to take Amy to Monkey Bizness. 

She's been begging to go sledding, but we don't have a sled or know of a place to go (gotta look into that), so we compromised on this. She loves this place, so I don't think she's too heartbroken. I mean, who wouldn't love this slide?

My how time flies

I'm a bit embarassed that my last post was over a year ago. Yeesh. 

To save on time, let's just say we all got a little older, a little wiser, and some of us even got a little cuter.

To be continued... (hopefully)