December Delights

December has been wonderful!  My intentions this Christmas season was to keep things slow, purposeful, and very easy.  Considering we have been anticipating our newest arrival I wasn't sure how much time or energy we would have for Christmas preparations.  We kind of assumed he would be here by Christmas but alas it is Christmas Eve morning at 4:30 AM to be exact and no baby.  The nice part of that is I got to do lots and lots of Christmas stuff with the kiddos.  The bad part... 4:30 AM...yep pregnancy insomnia hit hard this go around and most days I'm up by 3.  I try so hard to fall back asleep and never can but at least I get to enjoy this view for a few more days.

December Delight #1: Tree Lighting 
We went to our annual tree lighting here in Larkspur and the kids love seeing Santa there.  Grandma Decker even got to join us this year which was extra special and nice for mommy since I kind of panic when it's dark and we are trying to keep an eye on all 3 kids in a crowd.  We still managed to lose Ryder who has become the king of getting himself lost lately.

December Delight #2 - Dunkin Donuts
We don't live close to a Dunkin Donuts so my kids have never been to one.  However, we pass by one on our way to our midwife appointments so I made it point to stop one cold morning with the boys. They were in heaven.  Ryder especially, who after about one hour said, "mommy, I know we just had donuts so why is my body telling me it wants more sugar.  I really want to get another donut." Oh, the magic of sugar my son.

December Delight #3 - Quiet/Nap Time
I am so thankful all 3 kids either nap or have a quiet time during the day.  Ryder never sleeps, Rilyn sleeps probably 4 days out of the week, and Sawyer sleeps every day.  Regardless, I get at least 1 1/2 hours of mostly uninterrupted me time, which lately due to the awesome 3 AM wake up calls I've used sleeping.  Ryder has quiet time in his room and Rilyn in my room.  They entertain themselves really well and Ryder especially needs this time to play and be alone.  I've considered doing school during this time because we could accomplish so much but I have to remind myself that not only do I need the quiet but so do the kids.  Also, it's very amusing to see how Ryder entertains himself...

December Delight # 4: Polar Express Reading
Our library hosts a Pajama Time Polar Express reading complete with activities, hot chocolate, and cookies.  The kids look forward to this every year and it is probably their most favorite activity.  You know because hot cocoa and cookies.

December Delight # 5: Mom's group Christmas Party.
The leader of our group puts on a such a meaningful party for the kids.  We read through the Christmas story and do activities for each part.  It ends with a birthday party for Jesus.  We love spending this time with friends and learning all about God's gift to us.

December Delight #6: The start of Renovations
I say the start very lightly because after two full days of work after 5 full months of a delay our contractor informed us the beam he needs wasn't delivered so he'd be back after the first of the year. Ya thanks for ripping off our garage roof, leaving thousands of dollars of materials to sit in the snow, and a making a very pregnant and hormonal woman want to lose her mind.  So, actually this doesn't even qualify as a delight just a rant...

December Delight #7: A Visit with Santa
Once again our library comes to the rescue with a no line FREE visit with Santa.  Come visit Santa, do activities, sing songs, don't pay for your pictures, and definitely don't wait in line.  Umm...yes please!!!

December Delight #8: Cookie Decorating
Of course, we needed more cookies and frosting in our lives.

December Delight #9: Crafting
We didn't get to tons of crafts this year, because really my kids just aren't that into them.  But, they LOVED making ornaments.  We made clay ornaments and angels, and pipe cleaner candy ornaments and they loved them all.  Even Sawyer was very particular about who is getting what ornament. Ryder went with the same theme as the cookies obviously...all the blue!

December Delight #10: Christmas Light Looking

We put on pajamas, grabbed hot cocoa, and some popcorn and headed into Castle Rock to enjoy some lights.  The kids also did this with Grandma Decker earlier in the month so they got two special nights of this.

December Delight #10: Life
Really just spending my days with these 3 little crazy kids is the best ever, and knowing this boy growing oh so long inside me is the best delight ever.  I feel like the worst mom some days.  Again hello 3 AM wake up calls, but when I reflect on all the smiles we've had this month I guess we are doing an okay job as parents.  These pictures don't even tell half the story.  We've watched Christmas movies, sang Christmas songs, Rilyn has wrapped up things around the house and placed them under the tree for us all to unwrap 3 seconds later, colored in our advent book taking us through the birth of Jesus, read ALL the Christmas books (Rudolph - Sawyer's favorite, Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Ryder's favorite, and The Nutcracker - Rilyn's favorite), a school performance where Rilyn took Elf's motto so seriously "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear," and just spent our days together loving eachother the best we know how.

It's been a good December.  We are excited to meet this boy but know I'm just hoping he waits a couple more days to make his appearance.  I would have been fine with yesterday or even early today, but he's missed his chance and now has to stay for Christmas.  Too bad for him, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be magical.

Thanksgiving and Thankfulness

Thanksgiving was so so good this year.  It was a very slow day followed by an amazing meal with family and lots of relaxation.

Tyler and I both ended up waking up early on Thanksgiving morning and enjoyed a few moments of quiet and darkness before the kids were up.  This is very rare for us because usually take turns getting up with the kids when he is off.  It works out nice because someone gets an extra half hour to hour of sleep, but we definitely miss out on some sweet quality time in the morning.

We had our traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast and got ready to watch the Macy parade.  The kids LOVE watching it (Ryder for the balloons, Rilyn for the dancing, and Sawyer was excited by it all).  Actually they were all really excited to see Santa at the end also.  It was such a nice day out though that we did have them go outside about halfway through to play and they made it in just in time to see Santa.

Everyone got naps and then we got ready to head to Grandma Decker's for dinner.  They had lots of cousins to play with and good food to eat so everyone was happy and we brought home some very tired kiddos.

We did take a quick drive through Castle Rock though because the town is lit with Christmas lights and we don't get into town often when it's dark.  Such a sweet ending to our night.

The whole month of November we were really thoughtful to practice gratitude.  The kids are pretty good at this as we have done it every year and they enjoy coming up with things other than the usuals to be thankful for.  We usually talked about it at meal time because our leaves hang next to our table so Sawyer almost always said whichever food we were eating, but the other two put a lot of thought into their responses.  We didn't always write them down, but did paint some leaves with watercolors for recording our responses.  It's always such a fun tradition for us!

November Moments

November seemed to fly by with Thanksgiving, school, and general life around here.  We've spent some time getting stuff ready for baby, lots of reading, and still were able to enjoy some awesome fall weather.

The kids had fun packing their shoeboxes again this year.  It becomes more meaningful as they get older and it's a great way to start off our month of practicing gratitude for what we have.  It's also getting a little harder as far as conversations go and makes my mama brain and heart think hard about how to respond to their questions and emotions regarding life outside of our little home.  The kids were very proud of the stuff they picked out and enjoyed writing little notes to put in their shoeboxes. We also watched some Youtube videos with kids getting their boxes and this really helped them understand the excitement and love the kiddos feel when they get to open their presents.

Decorating boxes and writing on their information sheets...with a Sawyer photo bomb

Rilyn really got into the election this year, so the night of the election she got to color in her map when states won.  She was pretty bummed she could only stay up for like 10 states to announce their winner, but it was a great way to stick some geography and social studies into our schooling.  She obviously had her own opinion on who she wanted to win, and lets say we had a pretty disappointed girl the next morning.

We had some fun outings like the Wildlife Experience and lots of park days, but for the most part we have started to slow down in preparation for the new baby.  I'm in hibernation mode a little which is really challenging around the holidays.

Even though the kids get wild they are never bored at home.  Actually, I don't think they know what that word is.  We've been playing with toys and games that haven't been touched all summer and of course lots and lots of reading.

Rilyn oohhing and ahhing over baby socks.  She seriously can not get enough of this baby business.

Sawyer is mad because he won the board game.  Go figure...

This looks like a peaceful picture but honestly they were fighting over trains because as you can tell we don't have enough mini trains to go around.

 We had our first snow of the year.  The kids and mommy were beyond excited so hot chocolate, Christmas music, and some outside play were on the schedule.

The grinch appeared the second we turned on Christmas music because you know it's Sawyer....

We also started some Christmas decorating.  We are keeping it simple this year for two reasons...one everything we own is packed in our POD including all decorations and two I don't want the mess with a new baby.  We bought a small tree and found some stuff at the dollar store to decorate.  We plan on making some decorations which the kids are excited about and have lots of activities planned as long as baby doesn't make an early appearance.   The kids were actually super pumped to decorate and they got to watch a Christmas movie afterwards so I would say the season is off to a fun and meaningful start.

We are all excited for December...Christmas, snow, and new baby...perfection!