Happy December, end of 2016 and beginning of 2017!!
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Random December
What a FUN month! December is always such a crazy busy month but there's always so much fun that happens, too. It starts out with the Wheaton Bible Church ladies night and just goes on from there. Concerts, cookie exchanges, Santa visits, lights viewings, Christmas Eve services and Christmas Day, just to name a few. We had some fun with friends at the ball factory, at our house for dinner, movie nights and coffee with "Aimee" (Gemma's new BFF), as well as Gemma's meltdowns over the silliest things.
Happy December, end of 2016 and beginning of 2017!!
Happy December, end of 2016 and beginning of 2017!!
New Years Eve
Ahhh, New Years Eve. I've never been a big New Years Eve person, but having littles makes me even less of one, 😏. We were actually invited to an adult only party by our new besties in the neighborhood, but finding a sitter on New Years in neither cheap or easy! So while they were only 3 houses down, we weren't able to go this year...maybe next year!
That being said, we were able to go to bed before midnight, and the kids got to do a fake celebration at 8pm 🎉🍸. We had a little dance party and countdown (thank you Netflix!) and then got them in bed. The Christian and I played a game and got to bed at a decent hour ourselves. Still, a fun little night and memory for the kids that really don't know what New Years means 😂.
That being said, we were able to go to bed before midnight, and the kids got to do a fake celebration at 8pm 🎉🍸. We had a little dance party and countdown (thank you Netflix!) and then got them in bed. The Christian and I played a game and got to bed at a decent hour ourselves. Still, a fun little night and memory for the kids that really don't know what New Years means 😂.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Ford Family Christmas Celebration
The day after Christmas we headed down to St. Louis for our annual tradition with Nana Kay and Papa C. Usually my siblings and their families make it down, but as families grow and life happens it seems to be more of a challenge to get everyone together. I can see that being in our future too as the kids grow older and we'll come up against sports schedules over the break, etc. For the time being though, as long as we can, I want to make sure we're able to get together as much as possible with family because that's very much a priority for us.
The kids traveled great down to St. Louis and the first night there we had our Christmas celebration with my parents. We started off with our traditional Christmas prayer before our meal that is a song we sing. The first picture shows Micah singing it which just warmed my heart - as it's the first time he's been able to join in on that tradition. A sign that he's growing up but also a piece of what good can come from getting older. They loved their gifts, as you can tell from the faces and hugs I was able to capture.
The next day we headed out to see Moana, and what a fun movie it was! There also seemed to be quite the amount of biblical symbolism in there with the creation of the world and Adam and Eve, which Micah seemed to really understand as we discussed it which was kinda cool. The next day we headed out to the zoo (shocker! 😉) and then I actually met up with my best friend from high school, Sabrina. It had been about 8.5 years since we had seen each other and let me tell you - that's a long time! It was fun catching up and meeting her two girls and having her meet Gemma (the boys stayed home!) and I'm glad we were able to get together! Later that night, Christian and I were able to hang out with the Davis', Jason and Betsy. They moved to Kansas City about 18 months ago and we were sad to lose their friendship in a every day life form, but we've managed to maintain a friendship via our St. Louis connection, as Jason and I went to youth group and high school together.
Other than that, we had a lot of fun at home, playing games and puzzles, coloring and racing our new remote control cars. We even stayed an extra day because we weren't able to see my dad that much due to his heavy working schedule and played a new game Christian had picked up called "Ticket to Ride: Europe." It was a fun game and I'm sure we'll play it lots more in the future!
All in all it was a great trip and hopefully next Christmas more of my siblings and nieces and nephews can join in on the fun 😊.
The kids traveled great down to St. Louis and the first night there we had our Christmas celebration with my parents. We started off with our traditional Christmas prayer before our meal that is a song we sing. The first picture shows Micah singing it which just warmed my heart - as it's the first time he's been able to join in on that tradition. A sign that he's growing up but also a piece of what good can come from getting older. They loved their gifts, as you can tell from the faces and hugs I was able to capture.
The next day we headed out to see Moana, and what a fun movie it was! There also seemed to be quite the amount of biblical symbolism in there with the creation of the world and Adam and Eve, which Micah seemed to really understand as we discussed it which was kinda cool. The next day we headed out to the zoo (shocker! 😉) and then I actually met up with my best friend from high school, Sabrina. It had been about 8.5 years since we had seen each other and let me tell you - that's a long time! It was fun catching up and meeting her two girls and having her meet Gemma (the boys stayed home!) and I'm glad we were able to get together! Later that night, Christian and I were able to hang out with the Davis', Jason and Betsy. They moved to Kansas City about 18 months ago and we were sad to lose their friendship in a every day life form, but we've managed to maintain a friendship via our St. Louis connection, as Jason and I went to youth group and high school together.
Other than that, we had a lot of fun at home, playing games and puzzles, coloring and racing our new remote control cars. We even stayed an extra day because we weren't able to see my dad that much due to his heavy working schedule and played a new game Christian had picked up called "Ticket to Ride: Europe." It was a fun game and I'm sure we'll play it lots more in the future!
All in all it was a great trip and hopefully next Christmas more of my siblings and nieces and nephews can join in on the fun 😊.
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Christmas Day!
One of the best days of the year! Seriously - our purpose, the reason we're alive, why anything else matters...because of the birth of our Savior. Getting to spend the day together as a family just brings a smile to my face.
We have traditions of taking a family picture with our camera on a timer, and getting the kids individually and all together in the brown chairs. Soon they're going to be too big for that, I'm afraid! All 3 is getting to be a challenge already. We open stockings right away in the morning. We do reindeer pancakes for breakfast and sing Happy Birthday Jesus. We read the Christmas Story as a family and then act out the nativity (tho sometimes we forget that part). We open presents and celebrate Christ coming, as well as each other. It's chaotic and crazy, amazing and joyful. What a wonderful day and one I'm so sad is over when the sun sets and the kids are all in bed.
Poor Reidees came down with a little bit of a fever this Christmas, and you can see his enthusiasm at breakfast (or lack thereof!) but thankfully he perked up a bit for the present opening. Then it was rest time and snuggles nursing him throughout the day while Christian made a fantastic dinner and I helped get us packed up to leave for St. Louis tomorrow.
I hope you all had a wonderful day as well, enjoying time with family or friends and remembering the reason for the season! Merry Christmas All!
We have traditions of taking a family picture with our camera on a timer, and getting the kids individually and all together in the brown chairs. Soon they're going to be too big for that, I'm afraid! All 3 is getting to be a challenge already. We open stockings right away in the morning. We do reindeer pancakes for breakfast and sing Happy Birthday Jesus. We read the Christmas Story as a family and then act out the nativity (tho sometimes we forget that part). We open presents and celebrate Christ coming, as well as each other. It's chaotic and crazy, amazing and joyful. What a wonderful day and one I'm so sad is over when the sun sets and the kids are all in bed.
Poor Reidees came down with a little bit of a fever this Christmas, and you can see his enthusiasm at breakfast (or lack thereof!) but thankfully he perked up a bit for the present opening. Then it was rest time and snuggles nursing him throughout the day while Christian made a fantastic dinner and I helped get us packed up to leave for St. Louis tomorrow.
I hope you all had a wonderful day as well, enjoying time with family or friends and remembering the reason for the season! Merry Christmas All!
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