Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe a year ago we were down in Florida celebrating the end of 2014. This year we are having a nice quiet day. Caleb is off to celebrate the New Year with friends and the twins went down to bed around 7:00. Joshua, Luke, and I went to ring in the New Year with friends Rio Style :) I love this tradition. Every year all the kids countdown to 2016 following Brazil. At 9:00 we celebrate bringing in the New Year then everyone goes home to celebrate with their families. It was great to get out and visit with sweet friends and have some adult time!
By 11:00 we are all home, the twins are still asleep, and we are ready to say goodbye to 2015 and hello 2016!

December Recap

December was a blur. We had school activities, girl time, boy time, and of course celebrating the Christmas season!

My handsome boys at church

Guys Weekend-ACC Championship

This month the big boys enjoyed a guys weekend away in Charlotte watching the ACC football championship! They had a great time hanging out in downtown Charlotte walking around the fan zone. Joshua was ready to cheer on his UNC team to a championship, the other boys were there to enjoy the football! UNC may have lost but the guys had a great guys weekend!

 

Ballet Open House

Between all of our Christmas and school activities Abby had an open house at her ballet studio. She was so excited her grangran was able to come watch her. She also could not wait to dance with her best friend who just joined her class!
Our beautiful little ballerina.

Christmas Day lunch

After all the gifts were open it was time to head over to celebrate Christmas with the family. This year my brother and his family were off with the in-laws in Tenn. We missed having them there but had a great Christmas with the rest of the family!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning came really early with the twins. They were so excited to go wake the boys up and begin our morning.




















Everyone changed into their new Christmas Pjs (except Matthew, he decided his blue pjs were perfect for opening gifts). Then it was time to come downstairs for some quick pictures before opening the gifts. I loved watching the excitement in each of the kids eyes, there is so much love for their siblings. Get ready for picture overload!!

Christmas Eve

This year Christmas Eve started off perfect! The big boys all went out for a soccer pick-up while the twins and I did last minute touches for our quiet family Christmas Eve dinner. We finished all the decorations, the candles were lit, the Christmas music was playing. Abby and I decided to do one last minute craft, making Christmas place cards for each seat. A few minutes into cutting out all the trees I knew the house got to quiet. Matthew came walking to me soaked.

Special Time with Aunt Patricia and Uncle Jim

We had the sweetest visit with my Aunt Patricia and Uncle Jim. On their way up to DC for the holidays they stopped in for a few nights at my parents house. I have so many special memories of staying with them growing up. I was excited to be able to spend time with them and for them to have special time with my little ones.

Merry Christmas 2015

Santa Visits

2012

 

Happy Birthday Jesus Party!!

The tradition continues...I have missed the years when we would get together with our friends and have a Happy Birthday Jesus party. I am so excited to start this special tradition over again with the twins. This year the twins each had a friend over to play, do special crafts, and eat yummy snacks.

The twins made special gifts for each of their friends-
Polar Express Family Trail Mix and a lollipop Christmas Tree!

Girl Time

Abby and I had the sweetest night out seeing Disney on Ice. She was so excited to get dressed in one of her favorite princess dresses- Elsa! She even picked out a matching scarf for me to wear.

 We headed out early so we could walk all around the center while we waited for the show to start.

 The show was great, Abby did not stop smiling! This picture says it all.

 She loved watching all the skating. She cheered with the crowd when the Frozen characters came out. She laughed hysterical at Donald and Goofy.

She waved to all of her favorite Princesses. She really loved seeing Rapunzel, Belle, and Toy Story.

 It was definitely a magical night with my little princess.

It was also a late night. As I was driving home she asked if she could go ahead and go to bed in her car seat. I think the girls night out was a success!

Special Time with my boys...

Last week was a busy week with each of the boys. All 4 of them had special events at school (along with all their normal soccer activities)!. I loved being able to attend each one with them!

Caleb- Varsity soccer banquet

Joshua- School Spelling Bee

Luke- 5th grade Christmas Musical

Matthew- Speech Class Christmas Party

Christmas Time with the Twins

It is so much fun having little ones in the house again during the Christmas time.  Even the big boys are loving watching the twins faces as they experience the magical time of Christmas. Their eyes light up so bright when we drive by Christmas lights. They love all the decorations. They love all the Christmas books and Christmas Movies. They love making all the special treats and crafts. They are still trying to figure out the Christmas countdown. Abby debated with me that we should just move the angel out of day 11 right to 25 so Christmas could be here.

How the twins are celebrating the season.

Over Thanksgiving weekend we decorated the house as a family but when the boys headed back to school on Monday the twins started their own Christmas celebrations. First stop Target to pick up some little kid decorations then off to Krispy Kreme to get Christmas doughnuts! Yummy!



















The Elf on the Shelf, thankfully we missed this tradition with the big boys :) Abby had noticed all the elves at the store and kept asking if we could get one. I was still not going to start that tradition with the twins (trying to keep up with 5 kids favorite holiday traditions I did not want to add moving an elf around every night to it!) Instead I found a boy/girl elves set on Amazon. The elves were waiting for the twins at bedtime with 24 Wrapped Christmas books and their Christmas tree. Every night the twins unwrap a new Christmas book and the elves sit on their laps while we read to them. Matthew decided he was going to name is Elf Buddy and Abby decided on Bell (Jingle Bell).

Crafts, Crafts, Crafts!! The twins love all the Christmas crafts.

Santa visit. This year we had no tears! Progress! Matthew still was not sure of Santa and looks scared in his photo. I am only a few inches out of the camera view holding my hand up so he could quickly reach me after the photographer took the picture. He did stand there and tell Santa he wanted a Hulk for Christmas. Abby sat right on his lap and told Santa she wanted a Dolly. Matthew was jumping up and down after the visit when we told him he was going to Chick-fil-a! **Side note- I was not even sure this visit was going to happen. Matthew did not want to wear what I had picked out for him. He wanted to wear soccer shorts. He cried for 45 minutes about his soccer shorts. This was one battle that mom was going to win! As soon as we came home he had the dress clothes off and his soccer shorts and jersey back on!

 Christmas movies.

Christmas Baking

Christmas Story time by the tree

It is now December 15th and we still have 10 more days until Christmas. Next on the schedule Happy Birthday Jesus party with their friends! This was always one of my favorite traditions with the big boys. Every year we would get to together with our neighborhood friends and have a Happy Birthday Jesus party. I can not wait to start this tradition with the twins!

More Christmas memories.... Abby has Santa driving Baby Jesus to the Nativity in the bat mobile and Matthew keeps wishing everyone Happy Birthday after watching Frosty the Snowman! It is Christmas time with little ones in our house!