Gobble Gobble 2016

So Thanksgiving...I mean what is not to love?  A day spent with family eating amazing food without the pressure or hype of gift giving is just about perfect to me.  My kids ( and me...cough cough) ate our weight in turkey, stuffing, pie, and just about everything else.  My only regret is not saving a old pair of maternity pants for the occasion.

This year we celebrated our second Thanksgiving as a family of five this week and had the most special time with family.  The morning was slow and lazy and after kiddo naps we packed up and were off for the day.  We are quite lucky in that both of our families live in tow and only five minutes from one another.  We are even luckier in the fact that everyone gets along and enjoys spending the holiday together.  Depending on what out of town family/significant others etc. are joining we either split the day between both families or one side will host everyone.  This year my parents hosted the whole gang and every detail was memorable.  Unfortunately I was too busy drinking wine and chasing my toddler tornados to document the day but I did squeeze in a few pictures...

 



Maybe one day I will actually be a grown up and cook for Thanksgiving, but this year my contribution was a cheese dip and sourdough bread....and three cute kids. 

 

Halloween 2016

Despite Halloween falling on a Monday we had the BEST time trick or treating with friends and family.  Although we took Reese trick or treating last year, this year she dove into it 100% and it was such fun to watch her and her neighborhood buddies dominate door to door.  Another fun addition this year was Henry and William!  Last year they were just four months old and after a long and fussy day, we kept them home with my parents while we took the big kid around the block.  The poor buddies didn't even get to wear their costumes.  But fear not, they made up for it this year by being stuffed into last year's unworn costumes (astonishingly they still fit) and carted around in their wagon, buckets in hand.  This Halloween was a bit bittersweet as it is very likely our last Halloween in this house.  We have come to love so many of our neighbors and consider them some of our closest friends.  Now, on the good stuff.  A few months ago Reese declared herself a firefighter and from that moment on she would entertain no other costume ideas.  Done and done.  W & H squeezed into last year's tiger costumes making them the two cutest tigers in all the land.

Summer 2016 Recap!

Now that it's November and we're a week away from Thanksgiving...what better time to do a little summer recap?  In my defense it's 75 degrees here today and a most perfect breeze is coming through the windows.  We had an excellent summer; weather was mainly mild, we stayed busy both at home and with planned outings, and even made it to the pool a couple of times!  All a win in my book.  For my record keeping purposes I'll break it down month by month.

May:  May is always a crazy busy month in our family.  We celebrate numerous family birthdays, our wedding anniversary and Mother's Day.  So we figured 'what's one more thing?' and had the twins baptized on Mother's Day.   Other highlights of the month include Tom running in his fifth consecutive (!) Flying Pig Half Marathon and Reese's first Red's game.  May flew by in the blink of an eye but we were lucky to spend a lot of QT with friends and family.

  

 

 June:  This June was a big month in our family as the twins turned ONE!  It is a little bittersweet celebrating the last first birthday but honestly I was just so proud that we made it.  The adjustment to from one child to three, under the age of 2, was huge and every month we had to grow and adapt to the rapidly changing needs of our family.  This year was hands down the most challenging, but wonderful, year of my life so we celebrated this birthday BIG TIME!  We celebrated Father's Day and spent endless hours playing outside.  I spent a lot of time this month transitioning the twins from bottles to cups and finally, finally, said goodbye to breast pump FOREVER (all the praise hands).

 

 

 July:  July is equally as special as our big kid and very first baby turned three.  We celebrated her little face off and had so much fun!  It got fairly hot this month so we spent a lot of time playing on the porch with our water table and baby pool and even braved the pool with all three kiddos for the first time (talk about an anxiety attack).We enjoyed 4th of July at home and visits from out of town friends.

August:  For some reason I just don't love the month of August but we had a great time just spending some quality time with friends and family.  And the big excitement of August was me taking my first trip away from the children...to MEXICO!  I was treated to a long weekend with my mom and sister while Tom held down the fort for three days with the kids.  It was such a nice getaway but of course I missed the babies a ton.  I'm very grateful for a husband who can handle all of my daily responsibilities with the kids and supported me taking a break.  After I got back from my trip the rest of the month filled up with play dates, church festivals, trips to the zoo and preparing the big kid for preschool.

I'm already looking forward to next summer!