december 2014

december was fantastic!

we loved every second that grandma was here and miss her badly.

 we did a few fun things while she was here, but mostly spent our time at home with baby O.

much to our delight, she brought a small version of her famous christmas game with her! we were sad to miss it last year and thought we would be missing it again this year, but we should never underestimate the power of grandma! she lugged a whole suitcase full of gifts with her so we wouldn't miss out!

chris took the big kids ice skating one saturday. everyone had a couple falls, but surprisingly chris had the biggest spill of all thanks to those darn toe picks! jack and ellie did surprisingly well... they must take after their mama ;)

 chris and jack went squirrel hunting, but alas, no squirrels were to be found. although jack has no problem with the idea of eating one when he finally does get one.

christmas was the absolute best! this year we decided to do secret santa each monday and doorbell ditch goodies at different families from our ward. the kids had so much fun! we also skipped out on making homemade gifts to deliver to our friends because i had about zero energy thanks to a newborn. BUT, we did buy about 24 bottles of sparkling cider and delivered them with cute little tags and ribbon. the kids ran up to each house, rang the doorbell and said merry christmas, then ran back to the car. it was so easy and stress-free, not to mention it was super cute watching the kids... i don't think i'll ever go back to making a bunch of goodies to deliver!

on christmas eve day we went to the church with the smiths, rackhams and, peczuhs to have brunch and then play dodgeball. then that evening we had our traditional spaghetti dinner at the smiths along with a white elephant game. we fought over a jar of pickles. what can i say, we like pickles.

here are a few pictures from christmas day.

i think we've been in arkansas too long. the kids got bows and a gun to share this year. 

chris made a family boot rack for us and we each picked out a pair of boots, which was pretty special. chris is getting pretty handy and able to build just about anything these days. he's pretty much my hero.

  chris was on call all of christmas weekend and one of the doctors scheduled cases on christmas morning, the stinker! but luckily chris is a nice guy because one of his single coworkers offered to work for him on christmas morning until noon so he could stay home with us. we are so grateful!

and this babe.... he's pretty special!

december also brings charlie's birthday on the 27th!

he's FOUR!!!

because chris was on call and had to go in to work a few times throughout the day, we kept charlie's special day simple with birthday waffles, a surprise silly string attack by mom and dad, and a piñata after pizza. then daddy took the three big kids to see Night at the Museum.

we wouldn't recommend having a silly string attack inside your house... its pretty messy! but it was definitely worth it.

we celebrated New Years Eve on the evening of the first because the kids were being naughty on the 31st and were sent to bed early. oops.

but the next night we rocked out with confetti cannons, bubbly, and 300 layer bean dip (as chris called it) and pretended like it was the 31st. it was fun to toast with the kiddos, even if it was only 8 o'clock, and shoot off a bunch of confetti, even if it did make a huge mess.

we are so ready for 2015!