Its Christmas time!

With a late Thanksgiving - it was a quick turnaround to get Christmas up before December! 

We made Anna (and the boys) a felt tree to play with so she would leave the other one alone. 

It ended up not being an issue - but the felt tree was fun regardless! 

Loved watching the boys show Anna all of the decorations and holiday fun. 

Special hats, special blankets... 

Huge snow globes that light up and sing! 

This girl was so excited! 

Love this photo too - reminds me of our cat growing up... 

Anna is quickly learning the joys of the holidays - often wearing bells around the house and plopping herself into any lap to read a Christmas book. 

Got to celebrate with some of my favorite people! 

And we even took a shift ringing bells! 

James caught on quickly and did an awesome job! 

Isaac loved the stick to push the money in the most - and once he realized that loud and proud voices of gratitude got you more money - he was good too! 

I mean who wouldn't want to donate when these are the kids shouting

 "Merry Christmas" and "Thank you!" at the door?!? 

We got through just about all of the Christmas movies - 

saving White Christmas for our wrapping night! 

And our holiday card for 2019 --- again pretty joyful around here! 

Holiday baking

As much as I am not a fan of baking - I do my best to make cut out Christmas cookies happen each December. We use a ton of sprinkles and frosting and share them with our neighbors to remind the kids that its not all about them :) 

Grandma and Grandpa came to town just in time for decorating! 

Anna thought she won the lottery most of the day and I think will soon be calling Grandma Carol Grandma Cookie just like the boys! 

We did candy houses  the next weekend - again lots of sugar and candy! 

  We tag teamed each of the houses and were very surprised at how long the boys stuck with it. 

We covered just about every open spot! 

Thanksgiving 2019

We got to host Thanksgiving this year - which means two of my favorite days back to back and no travel! 

Wednesday night is Beer Buffet: tons of great friends, neighbors and loads of kids! 

Its the perfect way to kick off the holidays - though again, enjoying ourselves too much to be bothered with photos I guess!  

Cousin line up before the guests arrived! 

I did manage a photo of some of the kiddos - maybe next year we need a line up on the stairs! 

Anna made the rounds upstairs and down and definitely helped disperse toys! 

Thursday was a fun day of food and family. So glad to have the Rhyans with us! 

And absolutely love the space our kitchen allows!

 #lotsofcooksnoproblem 

Girls photo #afterbedtime 

And no Thanksgiving would be complete without a Christmas card photo for Grammy and Buppa!

Only sharing the rejects so we don't spoil their card! 

mild temps

Snow in early November, but a pretty mild end to the month. We took advantage and got outside with a rocket that James got for his birthday. 

Such a cute photo - hoping to just recreate this without coats in the near future! 

All of the things for a successful launch! 

Isaac was on Anna duty --- 

LOVE this pic --- telling her secrets :) 

We had some great launches --- but not great video to share. 

Just the memory of the fun will have to suffice!