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Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Christmas 2017

This Christmas was such a wonderful one! I'm not sure if I just lowered my expectations this year or if everything just went really smoothly, but I had gotten a lot of my shopping done early. Most of my presents were wrapped at least a week before Christmas and the decorating had been done before Thanksgiving (because I knew I wouldn't have any other time to do it).


We had the kids' Christmas programs and it was nice to have them on the same stage again. Tessa was totally not into the singing.....at all. It was pretty entertaining to watch her lack of enthusiasm.





We also celebrated with Michael's family again (one of my favorite traditions!). Terry, Danny and Sheldon spoiled the kids, as usual. It was such a fun night of food and family and games!







On Christmas Eve, we lit the advent candle at church. It was a wonderful service and a great time of fellowship!



Then we headed to Grandma and Papa's. We had our traditional Mexican feast and opened presents. The kids all got Nerf guns and LOVED them. Most of the family had a Nerf Gun war (poor Isabelle had just had knee surgery, so she had to participate without moving too much--but she managed to hold her own!).



 On our way out of the house, Tommy and Tessa decided to join the nativity set. They didn't QUITE fit in.

When we got home, they kids wrote their letters to Santa, we set out some cookies and then headed to bed.





The next morning, we woke up and I made the kiddos take their annual "in front of the tree in their PJs" picture! They're getting SO big--my heart can't take it!





After we were all done opening presents, we got around and headed to Nana's house! We had a great time visiting, eating and opening presents there with all of our family!



We finally headed home at the end of the day with a full Tahoe, full bellies and full hearts! We loved celebrating Jesus's birth with our families!

Merry Christmas!

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Thanksgiving 2017 and decorating!

We decorated for Christmas the weekend before Thanksgiving (because that's the only free weekend we had for awhile) and had so much fun. The kids and I did it on an evening when Nick wasn't there (because he's more of a grinch than an elf). We had the best time! Tommy started off the night by writing his Christmas list. So cute.
 In case you can't read that, it says, "Shoes and transformers and a remote control drone. I will think what else I want." HAHAHAHA! I love it.

Tommy was so sweet and whenever something was really heavy for me, he'd say, "Watch out, mom. I'll get it for you." And he could usually lift it better than I could!

 We took a little break after we set up the tree to make funny faces and get dinner done....

 Then it was time to decorate the tree! I tried to put aside my OCD this year and they did a pretty good job of spreading the ornaments out. I was surprised because last year....the tree was a little....clumpy.


After we were done decorating, we turned the lights off, turned the tree on and snuggled up to watch a Christmas movie! It was the perfect night.

Thanksgiving was so wonderful--good food and good family. We decided to do Thanksgiving with my family on Thanksgiving day and dinner with Nick's family the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I actually LOVED doing it that way. It was so nice to have more time with each family and not feel rushed from one event to the next. We got to slow down and enjoy our time together!

I didn't get any pictures at the Wilhelm dinner, but I did get these gems at my mom's house...

This goofy girl loves her olives!

 Tyson Wayde with his great granny...

 After we ate, some of them decided to play a friendly game of football. There were only a few tackles. It was fun to watch!

The rest of us relaxed in the sunshine and dug in the dirt.....

We sure do love these families of ours!

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Fun with my girl

Have I mentioned I love having a daughter? She's so much fun and so sweet. I'm trying to soak in this time while she's little because I remember the way I talked to my mom when I got to be a teenager and....well.....I wasn't very nice. I'm praying Tessa is a sweeter teenager than I was, but in the mean time, I'm enjoying her personality right now!

She's been begging to get her hair cut. Like, she asked us EVERY. WEEK. I kept telling her no because her dad was hesitant (and so was I--I love her long, curly hair). But we talked about it and finally decided she could cut it. So one day after school, I surprised her and took her to the hair salon! She was SO excited!

This was how long her hair was before....

I think she felt like such a big girl getting her hair cut. She's had it trimmed only once before, so she hasn't spent much time in a hair salon!


And this was her hair after.....
That dimple....it kills me.  I really do like it short and it's been fun trying different ways to style it. I think it makes her feel extra sassy! And it really is much easier to brush and looks a lot thicker and healthier. She was so happy to have finally gotten it cut!

A few days after her haircut, we got to spend a Saturday with Grandma going to craft fairs and to lunch! It was so much fun. There was one craft fair in Benton at the church and then a HUUUUUUUGE craft fair in Wichita called Vintage Market Days. There were soooooo maaaaaany booths. We could've spent hours there.

We went to Benton first and then went to lunch at Applebee's where Tessa and Grandma battled it out in tic-tac-toe.


Then we went to Vintage Market Days. They had the cutest little photo area set up, so we had to take advantage of that!

 We were tuckered out by the end of that excursion. There were a lot of people and not a lot of room to walk.

I recently took her to the park for a few pictures because I have been so bad about taking any with my good camera lately. She kept begging to take some pictures by herself, so I set up the tripod and let her have at it. She was SO excited. And some of her pictures weren't half bad! I think she's going to be my little artsy child. She loves to color and draw and craft and apparently, take pictures.

 She also loves to do the splits.....
 This last picture just cracks me up. While Tessa is sweet 95% of her life, when she gets an attitude, you can tell just by looking at her face exactly what she's thinking. She's not one that can hide her emotions. She really had to go potty and I was gathering things in the car. I looked over at her and she was standing at the door staring at me like this.....
LOL--I was DYING! Her little grumpy face, her slouchy, pouty body and those eyes....I had to take a picture. Which just made her more mad! I did eventually get out of the car and unlock the door for her, but she was SO over it.

I'm so glad God blessed me with a little girl! I hope we're BFF. And just because I love her so much, I'm throwing these in too.....