Christmas Morning

Another Christmas morning is in the books and this one was deemed a success by the kids. I stuck pretty well to our four gift limit plus their stockings. It was actually kind of easy to only buy a couple of things for them because I gave all my good ideas to family.  The kids were up early but we told them that they couldn't wake us up until 7:30 and they did fairly well with that. 

Due to the insanity of the past few months, I ended up procrastinating and wasn't able to find matching Christmas pajamas for the boys. I know its not the end of the world but still. Ha. The kids had fun putting out cookies, milk and carrots for the reindeer. Cruz reasoned that Daddy probably ate the cookies while Cooper ate the carrots. What the kids don't know though is that EVERY year, we forget about the cookies while we're putting the kids to bed and when we come back, Cooper has eaten them and left US the carrots. ;)

The boys gifts were small in size but I knew they would love them.

Ready to go!

Coco got an American Girl Bitty Twin. She only got one of the twins though as my sis and I split the cost and the dolls. Her cousin Jemma will be opening the other one on Christmas Day. 

The boys each got a Nintendo DS handheld video game system, extra game cartridge, carrying case and a new book. They were very excited about all of the gifts. Cruz made sure to comment on how much he liked the book. 

When I buy two of things its always hard to decide which one to give to which boy. Clearly I made the right decision for Cruz on these games, haha.

Cora (and I) love going in the store Lush and smelling all their bath bombs. She was super excited to find her very own bath bear in her stocking. She took a bath right after gifts.

Little figures and princesses are always a hit with Coco as well.

We had our traditional cinnamon roll and bacon breakfast on solid white paper plates since I procrastinated finding Christmas themed ones. This is a December to remember for sure. 

We are so blessed and thankful for all the gifts that God lavishes on us daily! We are excited to head to Illinois to spend time with our families... we are NOT excited about packing again though. :) We will see lots of you soon! 

Christmas Musical

The kids had a wonderful first week at their new school. I couldn't have hoped for any better. After the first day when Rowan got in the car he said, "you were right mom, these kids are really nice!" Both boys couldn't wait to go back on Tuesday.

Friday night was their school's annual Christmas musical. Both Rowan and Cruz worked hard all week learning the songs and actually had most of them memorized by Friday night. Their teachers invited the boys to perform if they wanted to. Rowan decided he wanted to be a part of the show and did a great job singing and doing the actions. Cruz ended up not going on stage. We are thankful for their new school and how much God blessed their first week. 

Santa 2015

I look forward to our annual Santa pictures each year. The kids know that the Santa story is not real. We learned about St. Nicholas, how he was a real person and how the story of Santa Claus stemmed from him. Even though the kids know the truth, that doesn't stop them from wanting to pretend about him. We treat Santa kind of like a Ninja Turtle, princess or super hero. He's a fun character. We talk about how we all deserve to be on the "Naughty List" but because Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross and washed away our sins, we are able to be on the "Nice List". We are showered with gifts even though we don't deserve them... on Christmas and each day through out the year. The Santa tradition has actually provided a lot of meaningful and fun conversation around our house about the true meaning of Christmas. Here are our kiddos with the jolly old St. Nick this year:

Beach

We've spent two Saturdays in a row at the beach! I wonder if we'll ever get tired of it?? 

Lido Beach:

We did a lot of shell hunting! We have a huge bag full.

The wind made a mess out of her curls! 

Siesta Key:

We did mostly sand castle building this beach trip with a little bit of ocean swimming.

Christmas Tree 2015

We put our Christmas tree up first thing on Saturday morning. I figured it might help this new house to feel a little more like home. I love the location of the tree in this house. The front doors have glass so you're able to see the tree from the street as well. It just feels so warm and cozy.

I'm thankful for this guy who had so many other things to get done but put that aside to humor my wish for the tree to go up immediately.

I just love how the tree turned out. So pretty at night. I hope the rest of the season slows down! This has been such craziness for us. 

New House Shenanigans

So, we arrived in Florida on Sunday night, closed on our new house Monday morning and waited until Friday for the moving truck. It was such an interesting and crazy week. I ended up getting to check out our new Emergency Room with Coco around 11pm on Monday night. She was not sleeping and having trouble breathing due to croup. Some steroids and a breathing treatment helped immensely. Cruz was also sick but he managed to kick it on his own. On Tuesday, Roger got sick so the boys and I headed to their new school for a tour on our own. They were both so nervous. Wednesday we scoped out a Laundromat since it had been a week since any clothes had been washed and we only packed a weeks worth. :) Thursday was hard. The kids were bored and Roger and I were having trouble feeling "home" without our things. We especially missed our beds and having a kitchen table. The sight of the moving truck on Friday morning was so so so welcomed.

The pool is ridiculously cold so I let my sick children jump into it. This is desperation. 

These kids are so excited to have stairs!!! At least they were when we moved in. I think the novelty is wearing off.

A super fun part of this house is the loft/bonus room area that will be their playroom. They enjoyed flipping and wrestling in it while it was completely empty.

He's gotten so big lately. I love when he looks little and jammies seem to do that.

I love love love these mailboxes and lamp posts! 

We killed time in our pajamas while waiting for the moving truck. 

The pond in the backyard. 

The kids were excited to have our very own lime tree and wanted to know what I could make using limes.

Now the unpacking begins.....