Finally catching up...

I have been so behind with updating on our life....It has been a little bit crazy around here. We have both been working so hard up until this weekend. I have wanted all spare time to be spent with the kids and friends. But...I really wanted to finish out the year updated on at least this! :) So....here is the last 2 months of our lives....

Christmas...Eve...

We had a great Christmas.Eve this year. How could we not with the kids! :) It was a little different. Normally, my parents come down to spend the night with us on Christmas.Eve. We all go to mass and then I make dinner. This year, it was just the 4 of us. We met up with our close friends at church...which was awesome! We then came home for a nice dinner of soup. Then we put the kids in their pj's, made hot chocolate and drove around to look at Christmas lights. It was a great night!

Gotta do pictures before church!

I don't know how much longer I have to coordinate their outfits. I will do it as long as they will let me though. My guess is they did not realize I coordinated them this year though :)
This was before heading out to look at lights...we were tracking the Big Red Guys progress....I love that website each year! Such great motivation to go to bed :)

Yes, they let me do matching pj's too! Hoping I can get a few more years out of this tradition as well!

Setting out our treats...My favorite tradition...each Christmas.Eve right before bed I read The Night Before Christmas. I love doing this. It feels like it makes the night complete. Again, I am really hoping the kids let me hold onto these traditions as long as possible. They mean so much to me. Each thing we do brings us back to what is important. This holiday is not about the greed...about how much we can get. It is about what we do for each other, family and friends. As long as we keep that in mind...we are good.

The kids went to sleep so nicely without many peeps. They were so tired from running around for 2 days that is helped! They were super excited for the morning though...

A cute show

The thing that I love about Critter's preschool is that it is a Christian school. So...at Christmas time, they celebrate Christmas! His class put on a little Christmas show. All the kids are 3 or just turned 4. Since he only goes to school 2 days a week, I was not sure how he would do with the performance. He is not the most outgoing in new situations, but he did great! I was amazed at how well he knew the songs. Some of these kids go 5 days a week so they have a lot more time to memorize the songs.

This last one is my absolute favorite!

This show just made my Christmas season....

Critter is four...

I have no idea how his birthday came around again. I have no idea how he turned four! Each year is going faster and faster. He was so excited about his birthday. This was the year where everything made sense to him. He was involved in everything and it all held meaning for him. He is such a joy in our lives. He is my book loving, cuddling, growing too fast, shy and reserved in new sitations and fun loving and crazy when he is comfortable...kid.

We love you Critter. You have made this family balanced and complete. I can not see what you do in this next year. As long as you still stay my boy! :)

Walking a parade...

All 4 of us walked in a great parade earlier this month. It was during a spell of rain...we were just hoping it held off. Which, it almost did! As we were walking it started raining more and more. By the time we finished the parade it started pouring! We had parked a bit away from the downtown area. So...we had to walk awhile. But, we had no traffic getting out of there! It was great fun. These are some of my close friends and the kids friends. It was so cute to see the crowd react to them. We had decorated their bikes and scooters...

Yes, I wore those ears on my head the whole time! You can't see the glow sticks around the ears. I will do anything to make my kids smile! It really was a great event, a new tradition for my group. Plus, the kids really liked being in a parade. They were so excited and could not stop talking about it. This was just one more holiday event we could enjoy with the kids. Really, this time of year is about family and fun!