Hello 2016

Traditionally, January has always been a month without much action.  The start of 2016 was no different.  We tend to slow down in the winter time and spend a lot of time at home.  Luckily for me, my kids are home-bodies and perfectly content relaxing at home.  I relaxed too, and have not been taking as many photos as usual.  So, not many pictures for this post, but still plenty of smiles.

It did not take us long to cash in the Graeter's gift cards the kids received for Christmas.  In fact, we took them here to celebrate their last day of winter break.


Morgan loves these little toys called Shopkins.  (They'll make an appearance later in this post as well.)


Everyone stayed up to watch the entire Bengals' playoff game.  I can't even bring myself to talk about it.  When I put Charlie to bed that night I told him it was all part of being a Bengals fan. sigh.


Severe bed head.


Hanging with Grandma.


Taylor read the responsorial psalm at a school mass this month.


Taylor and Morgan like to pretend the bed is a gymnastic's apparatus and perform routines for me.




They also like to recreate Morgan's Shopkins using playdoh.


We finally had our first snow day of the year on January 20th.








Charlie's cub scouts had an outing at a Cyclones Hockey game again this year.


They accidentally scheduled it on Princess Night, but the boys were good sports about it.


The cyclones won 6-2 (which meant we got free pizza at Donato's the next day!).



My aunt and uncle won the Reds Caravan Home Takeover contest this year which meant they had a tour bus of Reds personel come to their house.  My uncle is a HUGE reds fan so I couldn't be happier for him.  I came to capture the moments for him.  Of course he had to feed the boys with his delicious wood fired pizza.


Probably one reason why they won was because my aunt mentioned this memorabilia room that my uncle has in his house






It was so cool to see him showing off his collection to people who truly appreciated it.




Here's Tom Browning sitting in his own director's chair that my Aunt's mom had made for him.  He's also sitting under a framed photo commemorating his perfect game.


Mark was lucky enough to come too.


They even made the news.  Check out this link for a great segment: http://local12.com/news/local/reds-visit-caravan-contest-winners


It was a fantastic day.


Taylor was in the school play this year.  I was so proud of her!












Morgan started soccer this month.  She was so excited for her first class.


That'll do it for this month.  I hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying this winter :)

Wrapping up 2015

Well, another year is over.  We finished off 2015 with food, family and fun!

First, we celebrated Uncle Mark's birthday at Grandma's house.








Taylor and Grace made a special slide show for him showcasing all the reasons we love Uncle Mark.




Morgan took advantage of the captive audience by performing some dance moves after the slide show.


We attended another birthday party this month for our one-year old friend, Gillian.  My friend snapped this photo of me and the kids.


Here's my little stinker modeling for me while I set up for a photo shoot.


Taylor went to an AHG lock in at school.  Her grandmama was generous to take her and to take pictures!





We tried something new this year.  We attended the Christmas Parade in Lebanon.





This parade is unique because it is comprised completely of horse drawn carriages.




Here's some quick shots I took of my sweet girls playing together.  They like to pretend that they are dance teachers.


They must have worn themselves out because I found them later snuggling in Taylor's bed watching a show on the iPad.


Elfie joined our household again this month.  The children decided to entice him with candy and homemade houses.  Here's the one the girls made:




Charlie decided to get on the action by writing Elfie this letter.


He left a trail of candy that led to this "Happy Forest".




The kids performed in another Christmas recital at school this year.






I attended their christmas parties on the last day of school.  I led a craft for Taylor's party and read a story at Charlie's party.




Our first family celebration was with Grandmama.












Morgan was so thrilled to get the Easy Bake Oven she'd been coveting.


We put it to use the next day.




Charlie utilized his Little Bits toy by making this car to deliver Grace's birthday card.




I like the way Grace protected her birthday cake from her siblings.




Since the children couldn't decide on decorating Christmas cookies or a gingerbread, we did both!










Morgan surprised me with this Frozen tattoo the day before Christmas Eve.  I knew it would be in all of our photos, but couldn't really be angry.  It was beautifully done after all, thanks to big sister Taylor!


On Christmas Eve morning, the Wells, Gevers and Grandma came over.  Morgan entertained them with a book while I cleaned up breakfast.


Then I bribed them with a few photos before opening gifts.




I knew Aunt Julie would be excited to get an OU sweatshirt of her own since she's never had one.


(See the tattoo?)


Somehow I missed the opportunity to take photos of our Christmas Eve evening celebration with Grandpa, but we had a wonderful time eating dinner, opening gifts and enjoying each other's company.

Finally, the day Morgan had been counting down with her paper constructed chain all month arrived- Christmas Morning! I told the kids that they could wake us up at 8am.  Morgan pounced in our room at 8:02 shouting "It's time! It's time!" We always start by opening our stockings.


Then I take a photo every year of me with my kiddos on Christmas morning.


I love opening presents on Christmas morning, because unlike other gift openings throughout the season, we always take our time and open them one at a time.  Santa brings three gifts for each child, and mom and dad give 1-2.  They also spend their own money to buy gifts for each other.  Here's a few highlights:










I took this family photo before church by pushing all the presents and wrapping paper just out of the frame.  It's probably my favorite family photo in a long time.


After church we had a couple hours to play and relax before heading over to the Wells house for the Damon Family Christmas.  I snapped this photo for Jessica.


Here's our group this year.


We started a new tradition with the women this year by doing a sock exchange. We filled our socks with goodies and did a white elephant exchange.




It's always fun when people 'steal' each other's gifts.


We had such fun with this and I'm sure we'll continue the tradition next year.


I know I've written it many times in the history of this blog, but December 26th is my favorite day of the year.  Last year we started a new tradition by declaring it Pajama Day.  We put all our names in a hat and take turns choosing a person to pick the activity for all of us to do.

First up was Taylor. She chose Reverse Charades, a game Grandma and Grandpa from KY gave to the family.




Then Daddy chose Taylor's new Bananagram game.


Morgan's choice was playing a game called Headbandz.






After a brief lunch break, it was my turn to choose.  I picked Wii bowling.


Finally, Daddy picked the game Clue.


Then Morgan and Taylor decided to make us some cupcakes using her Easy Bake Oven.


We don't particularly like leaving the house on Pajama Day, but we made an exception this year and finished off the day with dinner at Skyline.  (Notice that I let Charlie keep his PJs on.)


The days following christmas were very similar.  We enjoyed staying in and playing with our new toys.  Morgan's donut maker was quite fun.






I decided to snap some photos of our decorations before they disappear for another year.


We did venture out one day to swim at the YMCA.




Finally the last day of the year arrived.  For years now my mother has courageously invited all her grandchildren over to celebrate New Year's Eve with her.  She lets them stay up until midnight and bang pots and pans outside to celebrate the new year.  It's one of my children's favorite holiday traditions.


Mark and I take advantage of the kid-free night to celebrate with this amazing group of friends each year.


It's always a fun night.


I started thinking about the children's tradition of make noise outside at midnight and decided it sounded quite fun.  When else do you get to go outside and shout in celebration at midnight?  So I talked Mark and my friend, Sarah, into bringing our noisemakers outside.


When people asked me about my christmas I realized that overall it felt quite relaxing.  I'm not quite sure why.  Maybe it's because my youngest is five.  Maybe it's because I made a conscious effort not to get wrapped up with unimportant aspects of the holiday.  All I know is that this Christmas was one of peace, love and joy.  And for that, I'm so grateful!



Merry Christmas, everyone!!

And here's to a happy and healthy 2016!!