Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve

Molly and Mitch spent most of the night fighting over baby Jesus. Until it was time for new PJ's and then all was forgiven.Molly and Ethan wrote special notes to Santa. Well Molly told me what to write, but it's pretty hilarious, so I had to take a picture of it for memories sake.All ready for bed. They actually feel right to sleep this year. They were too exhausted to stay awake with excitement.

Christmas Morning




Mitch, who LOVES stuffed animals right now, was really scared of the Giant Tiger that Santa brought. Molly named him Bobo. All day whenever Mitch saw Bobo he would run away saying "NO Bobo." But by the end of the day (with a lot of convincing from the rest of the family) he decided that Bobo was okay and actually really comfortable.

favorite tradition

My favorite Christmas tradition is making/decorating/delivering sugar cookies. I have made these every Christmas for as long as I can remeber. But I'm pretty sure my best sugar cookie memories will be the ones with my little helpers.

feeling behind

It is almost Christmas and I can't believe how fast this month has gone. I feel like I have been running non-stop and up until right now have felt very "behind" this year. Even though I still have a long "to-do-list" I decided today that I will spend the next week focused on Christ, my family, and just enjoying the season. (finger's crossed that I can accomplish that goal without getting too stressed-out.) We took this picture this morning with the self timer on our camera. I'm amazed we got a decent one in only 3 takes.

We also got some funny out-takes of the kids. They were having fun "posing" for the camera.

Here are some picture from the blur that has been December.
Ward Christmas party. The kids were so cute in the Nativity of course they loved seeing "Santa" even though they knew it was really our friend Marc. Everyone except Mitch who usually loves Marc. I love crying Santa pictures!
The kids decorated Christmas trees. It was just an ice cream cone, green frosting and sprinkles. They loved it.Made a few things. Just wouldn't be Christmas time with out a craft or two.

And of course it snowed. So now we are ready for Christmas.

Yeates Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful, sunny Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for. We met up with almost all of the Yeates crew. (Dan, Heather, and new baby Seth, who was born right before thanksgiving, couldn't make it) The kids all had a blast playing at the beach and pool all week and we all came home completely exhausted.

Balloon Closet

In between interviews we found time to celebrate daddy's birthday with a pretty awesome party. Complete with golf cake, balloons, and "glow-in-the-dark dance craziness". What more could you ask for. The kids had a blast. And if you were wondering what we did with all the balloons once the party was over....


We have a sort-of "mini mud room" by our front door. It is really more like a small closet. But the nice thing is that you can shut the door. We filled it up with balloons today and it provided hours of fun! Literally!!! I'm actually a little annoyed that I never thought to do this before. What a great idea, I think every mom needs to try this. And I think I'm going to stock up on balloons and make this a weekly thing. After they got tired of running around they did this....

And if all the pictures and videos weren't enough, Molly finally got a much needed hair cut and grandma has been asking for a picture. Here you go Grandma, Molly's cute hair with an extra touch of sass :)

Trick-or-Treat

Happy Halloween! The kids had a great time trick-or-treating tonight, especially Mitch. He was very serious about trick-or-treating . . . all business, and determined to get a bucket full of candy. Don't even think of touching his bucket. His tiny fists were clenched so tight we had to pry it away. Molly decided last min that she wanted to be a lady bug instead of a princess. Good thing we had a lady bug costume. And Ethan did a great job of describing who "Chris the Wild Kratt" is. If you don't know, just ask him, he will tell you all about it.

Hungry Hungry Hippos

this is how we play!!!

fall crafts

I made this wreath a few weeks ago and I really like it. It feels a little weird putting it on here because I'm sure everyone has already seen it in pinterest, which is where I got the idea.

This sign is my new favorite thing. 1. I love pumpkins and have quite a collection of them. 2. I salvaged the wood from the tree lawn so it was free and already perfectly weathered. 3. This took about 5 min to make. All I had to do was wipe the board clean and give it a quick sand around the edges.

Fall bonfire

Thanks to the Loveless fam, we had a perfect night roasting hotdogs, smores, and apples.