A Year In Pictures

Could this year have gone ANY faster???

Thankful for our many blessings, our ups and our downs, our easy and tough lessons, our sweet half dozen, our fun and chaotic life, and for your friendships through this past year.

Hope you have a fun New Years...here's hoping I'm not asleep when the ball drops :)! Anyone have exciting plans?

Good, Good, (random) Times...

lots of gifts were opened...

even more Christmas goodies were consumed :)...

tons of memories...

5 girlie's that love their new toys...

1 little guy that is crawling...but only backwards...

I thinks it's because he is so used to backing up from all these women :)...

we got Netflix as a gift and I keep wondering why NO ONE told me how great it is!?

our house has been filled with giggling kiddos...

and our overflowing shoe basket is going beyond the call of duty...

the long weekend went to fast...

I loooove having holiday family time...

and having my hubby home...

and opening little gifts that the girls have wrapped...

I'm looking for someone who wants to hit Targets holiday 75% off sale with me...

the girls have been playing Twister and they think it is hilarious...

I'm wishing it would snow instead of rain...

and a certain little man got some Lincoln Logs this year...

Although dad and his little girls have been the ones playing with them for now :).

Pretty random, eh? You'll have to excuse me while I try to get back to forming complete thoughts after a long, relaxing weekend. I hope you all had a great Christmas!

From Us

Well friends, it has been a busy week (and month) around here. We have been hanging out, wrapping gifts, baking, and the older 3 have been making loads of friendship bracelets for their cousins (they are really into those right now) :).

I'm out of here till after Christmas to spend loads of time with family and our house full of kiddos.

So from our little family to yours...

(and yes, I realize that Lincoln looks like a clone on Eric's lap! Ha!)

Hope you have a great weekend and wonderful Christmas celebrating all that He has done for us!

Much love to you all!

As Seen In Our House Yesterday...

Not the most perfect buckeyes, but the Littles worked pretty hard on them :).

(the recipe I use is right here!)

Happy Tuesday!

Laugh Till You Drop

Everyone always asks us, "how are the girls with Lincoln???"

Well, they are gushing over him and cracking him up all the time. (They also act like 5 little mama's which can be good AND bad!)

So excuse me while I post this 18 second memory that I want to keep forever so I can listen to that little laugh years from now :).

Pretty cute, huh??

It also kinda melts me at the end when Char says, "again!". Looove that joy they bring to each other.

Alright, mommy-melting-moment over now. Normal business can resume :).

Bakin' Some Goodies - Peppermint Bark

We started in on our holiday baking this week and I thought I'd share this kid friendly Peppermint Bark recipe. I'm sure many of you have made it, but if not, the kiddos adore it and it was a huge success even with all our little helping hands :).

All you need is:

1 bag of chocolate chips
1 bag of white chocolate chips
crushed candy canes

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Melt the chocolate chips, either on the stove or in the microwave, and pour on baking sheet. Put in fridge to harden. Melt the white chocolate, be careful cause it burns quicker than the regular chocolate for some reason (anyone know why???). Pull baking sheet out of the fridge and pour the white chocolate over the hard bottom layer of regular chocolate. Crush candy canes and sprinkle generously. Pop back in the fridge and let harden. Then break apart and serve!

I made a double batch thinking I would freeze some for our family gatherings next week, but I think we are going to have to make some more :).

We made some cookie cutter sugar cookies too, always a favorite around here. Next week we are diving into the Lemon Bars and Buckeyes. I LOVE Lemon Bars. I mean, really love them. And those recipes are so great to make and freeze.

So, that's it for now, make this if you haven't already!!

Bedtime Woes

They are never fun.

For some reason I've been asked a lot lately about our bedtime routines - mainly how we keep the kiddos in their beds when they share a room. I mean, it's rough when you have a built in play mate, it's like a party all the time.

My main advice is to just throw them all in there and pray for daylight, my friends.

Ahem.

Soooo, I've been emailing back and forth with people talking about what has worked best for us. And WOULDN'T YOU KNOW, all the sudden after sharing the good and bad of our bedtime wars, our little 3yr olds have decided to give us a run for our money at bedtime.

Yet again.

It makes me sorta crazy when they don't listen at bedtime, mainly cause I've usually been on active mom duty for 16 hours and I'm ready for the sleep part of my shift. You know the feeling.

But even though it makes me crazy when they won't lay their sweet little heads down and get some shut eye, I have to laugh at what they come up with to keep themselves busy.

Exhibit A...

Those are my clever 3yr olds under their fitted sheet with ALL the animals and dolls in the room. They said its like a tent, and I have to hand it to them, getting under the fitted sheet is a pretty ingenious tent idea. Back in my day we just propped the sheets up with chairs.

Tent making has come a long way, folks.

So it looks like we are back to our disciplinary ways at bedtime. We aren't the only ones with night owls are we??

And for the record, those giggles are hard to crack down on, even when I'm really tired :).

The Good Life

It may not be the glamorous life...

or a wealthy life...

or the life that comes with the finest dishes...

But it's the good life.

It may not be the easy life...

the stress free life...

or the gourmet meals life...

But its the good life.

It may not be the quiet life...

the relaxing life...

or the life with the most personal space...

But its the good life.

It may not be the worry free life...

the free-to-do-what-you-want life...

or the life that remembers to fill frames in the nursery (just add a pic, its been 7 months!!)...

But its the good life.

It may not be the caught-up-on-the-laundry life...

the house looks perfect life...

or the life that thinks pants are more important than the decorated Christmas tree...

But its the good life.

It may not be the fancy furniture life...

the romantic getaways life...

or the easy bedtime life.

But its the good life.

I thought of Kinley when I looked down the stairs tonight after a draining, mom-is-so-worn-out kind of evening - I actually laughed about the underwear picture and her innocent sweetness when I saw the light of the tree...

Thankful for the reminders of God's goodness and incredible blessings :).

Sometimes being a mama isn't the least stressful life, but it's definitely the good life.

(1st Lights)

In Other News

The girls and I are painting nails today. Its one of their favorite things to do - and I have a new color I want to try out, called "I break for manicures", so its a win-win.

Have I ever mentioned that I've never had a full pedicure? I don't like touching peoples feet, and I don't like mine being touched either. I should get over that cause I hear they are fabulous.

Lincoln is sorta sitting up, but very wobbly.

AND he cut his first tooth! It's been a busy week for him :).

We're making homemade playdoh today - the kiddos are pumped to say the very least.

Remember that sign I posted on here from Pinterest?? Someone made one for us! Some sweet, sweet, person (they won't tell me who!) made it for us as a gift. We hung it in our entry way, opposite my Fall wreath/mirror...

I love, love, love it...

I'm making our first chore chart - turns out 5yr olds and 7yr olds CAN help out around the house :). So they are now the proud owners of morning and afternoon chores. It's added more structure to our day in some ways which I really am liking.

We are still having dance parties in the kitchen.

Our Comfort Crockpot Mac and Cheese is in the crockpot today, its always a hit!

So we're off now to start our playdoh making, Hoping its a success!!