christmas time

Since Thanksgiving was early this year, it felt as if we were given an extra week of Christmas which felt like such a gift.  The kids went to Columbus a day early to help Grandma prepare and so Tyson could play with Shane and that provided a day for me to prepare their rooms for Christmas.  They knew we were decorating when we came home that weekend after Thanksgiving but they didn't know that I had bought special Christmas sheets for their beds.  So I decorated their rooms and changed their sheets and pillowcases for the new festive ones and added as much Christmas as I could with the exception of actually decorating their mini trees because I know how much they love that part.  I couldn't wait for them to see their rooms when we arrived home and I will never forget their reaction.  They were all completely surprised, so many squeals, laughter, and thank yous.  It was precious.

We got right to work decorating the rest of the house that night and it was so much fun that as usual, I didn't want it to end. Our favorite part is always reminiscing as we look through ornaments and deciding where they should go on the tree.  The kids have their smaller tree up in the kid zone and they only hung ornaments made by Aunt Debbie and Aunt Beth on it this year while we hung all the others on the bigger downstairs tree. At least we thought we hung all the others but I knew some were missing and they turned up in a box in the basement about a week before Christmas.  Those will be the first we hang next year.

Jason took extra time off this year and we made the most of every minute.  It actually felt slow for those two weeks he was off.  It felt slow and beautiful.  We had plenty of downtime making room for cuddles and conversation along with plenty of adventures mixed in.  He cooked us some of the most amazing meals ever and we even got to go ice skating. We watched our typical Christmas specials including Elf and Christmas with the Kranks. We cut out and decorated sugar cookies, put together a gingerbread house that kept wanting to fall apart, made puppy chow and buckeyes that the kids delivered to neighbors, went out to eat, did our annual minivan express night, attended a Christmas Eve service at our church, and the kids were even able to go caroling again with neighbor friends just a few days before Christmas.  We had our candlelight Christmas Eve dinner of (frozen) popcorn shrimp and our cinnamon rolls Christmas morning complete with a candle lit on one so we could sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out the candle for Jesus.

A new tradition of the kids having a sleepover in the little girl's room on Christmas Eve began when we moved into this house 2 1/2 years ago.  This is such a big deal to them and they get really excited about it but this year, they turned out to be a little too excited.  Could have been the hot cocoa with tons of toppings they had at church that morning, the loads of sweets they ate that day, or the bottle of orange crush I thought it would be fun to let them have at dinner.  All of the above plus an extreme level of excitement are most likely all to blame for the fact that I heard footsteps at 4:00 am and went upstairs to see that the light was on in the bedroom.  I went in to find them all hanging out, eyes wide open, happy as can be.  They had been up since 2:00 am just partying it up together.  So, much to their dismay, I made them all go to their own beds so they could at least get a couple hours of sleep.  They were devastated but all fell asleep within a few minutes.  I was freaking out a bit thinking that Christmas day would be ruined because they'd be too tired to handle it.  I finally fell back to sleep after worrying about every possible scenario but assuming they would sleep in after all that partying nonsense.  6:45 am was my next wake up call.  So they got a few hours of sleep on Christmas Eve and thankfully, Christmas day was far from ruined.  We had a wonderfully sweet day.  They were losing their minds by dinner so they did have an earlier than normal bedtime but they were all ready and fell asleep immediately.  Crazy kids.

Jason and I played Christmas Vacation in our bedroom as we wrapped the kid's gifts, which has become a little tradition for us.  We went crazy this year and wrapped a few days before Christmas Eve which shocked us both.  We have so much fun laying them all out and deciding what order they should be unwrapped.  We put numbers on them so the kids know the order and each kid had their own wrapping paper as well.

The kids get really into giving gifts to each other and us.  They spend their own money at their school holiday shop or we take them to the dollar store and Target.  They wrap them all themselves and get so excited to give that they can hardly stand the wait.  It's my favorite part watching them light up as they give their sibling that well thought out personal gift.  And this year Violet got a set of 3 BFF necklaces for Avery and Mia which was so stinking cute.  Also, this year Avery made every member of both sides of our family a perler bead ornament.  They were the cutest things, so well done and thoughtful.  They were a huge hit.

The favorite gifts ended up being Avery's stingray stuffed animal, Tyson's mini indoor basketball hoop, and the little girl's microphones.  They played with those microphones ALL DAY LONG which meant loads of entertainment for the rest of us. A few weeks later and Tyson still can't get enough of his basketball hoop which Jason set up for him in the basement complete with 3 point and free throw lines.

We traveled to Scottsburg the day after and to Columbus the next weekend and stayed one night at each soaking up the extended family time.  The kids enjoy their cousins on both sides and we have a great time just being together.

My heart is bursting with gratitude for another precious Christmas time with my people. So much goodness.  I always have a hard time letting it go but I have to remind myself that there is so much goodness in our everyday if we have our eyes open to notice.

  

  

trick or treat

The weather actually cooperated on trick or treat night this year which felt like a miracle.  It started to sprinkle as we took pictures out back beforehand and then by the time we were out the front door, it was done and stayed clear the rest of the night.

The playhouse made for a fun photo spot so I had all kinds of fun with that.  The kids got into it so I guess they had fun too.  But mostly they were cooperating because they knew as soon as we were done, they could start collecting candy.

Tyson had a hand-me-down Thor costume that Shane wore one year which he loved and I found all the girl's costumes at a secondhand store.  Avery has been wanting to be a leopard for years so it finally worked out for her.

Avery wanted to pretend she was trick or treating at the playhouse for a picture.   They kept saying they were going to play "trick or treat" after that night in the playhouse but they never did.  Fun idea though.

Violet was so excited that she hardly knew what to do with herself.  I don't think she fully realized what was about to go down.  I love how the first 3 years (at least) of a child's year, each holiday seems like their first because they just don't remember from year to year so it's all new to them each time!  So awesome.

"Wait for me!" were Violet's repeated words for the first several houses.

My favorite photos at Halloween are always the ones from the back so this one is precious to me especially because Mia & Violet were holding hands without being asked.

After each and every house, Violet would come down the driveway staring into her bag and then loudly say, "Look what I got Mommy!" and then something hilarious about how it was what she always wanted.  She couldn't believe it.  We had so much fun listening to the sweetness and watching her in action.  She was very serious about her manners too.  She would make sure the person was looking her in the eye before she said thank you.  It was the sweetest.  One time when she forgot, she came down the driveway and said to Jason and I, "I forgot to say thank you but that's okay."  We told her she still had a chance so she ran back up to say thank you but not until they looked directly at her.  Also, because she is little and adorable, people were just throwing extra candy in her bag and telling her how cute she is.  She was in heaven.

As usual, I did not want the fun to end but the girls got tired and were ready to go home and eat some candy.  Tyson would have stayed out all night long if we had let him but it was time to call it a night.  Once we were home and all the goods were dumped out on the table, we learned that Violet is completely obsessed with candy.  It became a slight problem in the form of a few (or 20) meltdowns.  That little rascal.  

They already have next year's costumes planned out so we'll see if the ideas stick...

judd kid quotes

"I need to get to a lower level of curious." - Tyson, after the nail gun incident

"Watch this, you'll be unbelieved!" - Mia

"That happens when I need to bless you (sneeze) while I'm drinking." - Mia, after spitting water out

"Thank you that Presley is well-feeded in heaven." - Mia during a prayer

"Thank you for your loveness and giveness." - Mia during a prayer

"That's why I'm glad God gave me you so we can do preschool together." - Mia to Mommy

"I don't feel hurtness anymore." - Violet

"She never bits." (instead of bites) - Violet

"Guys, did you SAW the animal eating the grass?" - Violet

"When I get big, I'm not going to be little." - Violet

"Mommy said don't pick your burgers." - Violet to Mia

"Can I sleep in my toenails?" - Violet after getting her toenails painted

"I'm allergic to brushing my teeth." - Violet

"The store didn't make it that way, God did." - Violet

"Oh, okay, I'm just make suring." - Violet

kings island

In early May, we got to use our Kings Island passes for the first time this year.  It was Violet's first time to really experience Kings Island since we have not had passes for the past two years.  Mia's excitement got the best of her and she fell asleep on the way there.  She usually wakes up when you get her out of the car but not this time.  The girl was OUT.  We were all cracking up.

We stopped by the fountains on the way in for some fun squinty photos.

And then they waited for Violet's first ride ever.  I have such sweet memories of all them on the swing ride at Kings Island.  We discovered Avery is too tall for a bunch of the rides in the kiddie area now which made us all sad but it gave her a chance to ride a couple bigger kid rides with Jason and Tyson.

She just loved the swings and we loved seeing that sweet smile.

The bumper cars were next.  She was excited but not sure what to do so she basically turned around in circles the entire time.  We cracked up at the side lines watching her adorable self try to figure out what was going on.

Bubba to the rescue to help her out of the car.

I got to ride the helicopters with her and she was in awe of the sights.

But her favorite sight was Daddy.  She was so excited waving and yelling for him.

And her and Mia rode the carousel while the big kids rode a coaster.  She was adorable and quite mellow at this point, just taking it all in.  I wanted to eat her up.

the perfect park day

One beautiful spring day recently we had planned to visit the zoo in the afternoon after Violet's nap.  Well we left late and would only about 30 minutes once we arrived at the zoo.  So Jason took a detour and headed to this great park we had only been to a couple times last year.  We had an incredible time together.  

The sky was so blue and the clouds were white and puffy.  I just snapped pictures with Jason's camera like crazy trying to capture the beauty of the day.

Isn't it the best when your original plans don't work out, but the alternative is so much better than you could have imagined.  That's my favorite.

the best snow day ever.

DISCLAIMER (and a bit of a rant):  It took me a couple days to get in the groove during this full week of snow days but then I was a girl on fire.  Don't go thinking I am "super mom" or anything crazy like that!  I have "super mom" days for sure but the majority of the time, I am an ordinary momma just trying to do my best. It's a shame that I feel bad posting my "super mom" moments but there have been too many facebook and blog posts shaming moms for only sharing the highlights of their life.  I would hope that any adult realizes at this point that nobody has perfect kids, a perfect home, or a perfect life all around.  Personally, I hide negative posts from my news feed because I don't need all that in my life.  What is wrong with keeping things positive and celebrating the good in our lives?  I don't watch the news on television or read about it on the internet because it brings me down.  I want to be aware of issues but I don't need to fill my life with negativity and constantly think about all the bad in this world.  Focusing on the good keeps me positive and helps me create a joy-filled home.  I can tell you that there has been a whole lot of fighting around here this week and I have locked myself in the bathroom way more than necessary just to have a few minutes alone.  We are a far from perfect family and I will continue to admit the bad and celebrate the good.  It's okay to be "super mom" occasionally and record it so the family will remember the times you went above and beyond to make the most of your time with them.  

There is no shame in being awesome every once in awhile.  

I went to bed Tuesday night with a bunch of ideas floating around in my mind.  I knew I wanted to be extra intentional the next day making sweet memories with all four of my babies at home.  I will desperately wish for a week of snow days with them 18 years from now when they are all out of the house.  I decided on a beach theme.  I was a teacher and still am at heart so themes get me giddy.

We got the playing in the snow out of their system right after breakfast.  They didn't last long due to the extreme cold and then it was party time.  I brought up the plastic pool from the basement and Avery helped me clean it out.  Everyone, including me put on their swimsuits and sunglasses.  We blasted Beach Boys music from the sound bar, laid blankets out as towels, and used container lids for surfboards.  We had ourselves a serious beach party.

The kids got really into it and even pretended to lay out in the sun.

Mia was all about posing for the camera.

It was such a simple thing that made everyone so happy!  We laughed a lot, danced like crazy, and the fighting was non-existent.  It was amazing.

Oh, Violet, you are so incredibly cute.

Avery had an idea to hide the dive rings and sticks around the living room.  It was genius.  We all took turns hiding them and I think they would have played that game 100 more times.

The floaties even came out.

"Sand" castles were built.

And Avery decided our sandwiches should be shaped using our dolphin and fish cutters.  Again, genius.  We had pretzel goldfish on hand which worked quite nicely with our theme and oranges completed the lunch.

We ate in the pool of course.  Tyson told me I take up a lot of room in the pool but I pretended not to hear him and moved on with our day.

Then for dessert, we made "snow cream" for the first time.  I found a recipe on Pinterest that worked with the ingredients we had on hand.  Their favorite part of the day was probably when I threw a coat and rain boots over my bathing suit and went out to fetch the snow for our cream.  They were inside cracking up and Tyson said he knew I was okay because icicles were not forming on my booty.  They laughed at what the neighbors would think if they saw me outside getting snow without pants on.

The finished product got a thumbs up from everyone.  Tyson enjoyed some candy from his Valentine's Day box as we ate our snow cream and everyone was happy.

And of course there were books read to go along with our theme.   

Basically, we had the best snow day ever.