whirl-wind #2....to Decatur

The week after Christmas, 7 of us ventured west to that land called Illinois.  We went for some family time (and there were some presents, too).  We left Andy home with the pets, our Christmas gift to him: silence.  Let me say, I really enjoyed travelling with the kids this time.  Having everyone a little older, especially Kinley, has made travelling much, much easier.  We stopped to get snacks before we headed out, and we only stopped once for a bathroom break.  Easy peasy.  We got to have a couple days with Andy's parents, brother and wife and kids.  The cousins hadn't seen each other in a while, so that was fun.  Even the little ones liked seeing their cousins.  I'm glad we got to go.

It's the classic cousin picture.  The only time they are all together and not moving.

We may have forced a board game on the cousins.  

My very favorite Christmas  decoration at Chris and Kim's house.  It's stupid that it makes me happy, but, it does.

We even got to spend New Year's Eve with everyone.  We stayed up till midnight, too.  And, went to bed right after the ball dropped.  Kella wowed everyone with her sense of style.

Liam snuggled down with Savannah and Marie.

And, the part that all the kids were waiting on-presents!

 I like to call this picture our New Year's Eve miracle:  all the cousins together and mostly looking at a camera.

Happy New Year!  

the whirl-wind that was....Christmas 2015

First, just let me say that if play-doh is for little kids, shouldn't little kids be able to open the containers and dig the play-doh out on their own?  That's what the girlies are doing this morning as I try to snag some computer time before we decide whether or not we want to leave the house for the library this morning.  The fact that only 1/3 of us are dressed at this time does not point to success.  

But,

Christmas came and went, as usual.  Santa started out strong, getting gifts a few at a time, starting in the middle of the year.  So much easier than trying to buy for 6 kids all at once.  Then, Santa hit a wall in the fall and had to power through to finish.  His helpers this year were definitely Amazon Prime and the 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby.  Santa was even out shopping on Christmas Eve.  A certain 12 year old was hard to shop for.

In the end, the kiddos were excited and happy with their gifts.  I call that a success.  

The stockings could not be hung once filled.  The kids woke up on Christmas morning, and before the parents could make it down the stairs, had already gotten their stockings and opened their stocking gifts.  I guess we trained them to be self-sufficient after several years of me working Christmas Eve and letting them open their stockings before I got home.  Also, Kella was weeping because she did not get a stuffed pony like Kinley (she got a stuffed flamingo which she had wanted forever).  And, Kinley was screaming every time someone got near her, looked at her , thought about her.  This was a pretty intense start to our morning, but we recovered and moved on.

I think I say this every year, but, this tree was one of the best we've had.  It held its needles great. And, extra bonus, no child or beast knocked over the tree this year. In fact, I think only one ornament was broken and it was a simple gold ball. 

Let the opening begin!

Legos!

A telescope for our hard-to-buy-for son.  And, they got to use it that night to look at the moon.

Kinley and her new dolls.

The aftermath.

Santa got each of the boys a game.  We had some game-playing fun that day.

And, some lego fun.

Kella got her new Elsa dress.

Star Wars ships!

Liam and his furby.

I had to work that night, so I took the liberty of getting a couple pictures before I left.  

Another great year!

...and one of my presents...

My sweet Cale got me this mug, purchased with his own money at the Santa Shop at his school.  I love coffee and tea, but I love this boy more!  Cale is one of my best presents!

It's my birthday!

My birthday happened in a busy week of basketball, work and the girls' preschool program.  Honestly, it didn't really feel like a birthday with all the business.  But, we did have cake-a requirement, of course. I got to attend a concert (preschool Christmas program-where my gift was that I didn't have a little one to watch and could focus on the performances-that's been a long time coming) And, I got a few pictures.  Selfies galore.  

The kids were all worn out anyway from the preschool Christmas program that night.  I know they got cookies there and then we came home and had cake.  My present to them-sugar and more sugar.

Me and my boys.

Kinley was a fan of the cake-had to sample the frosting to make sure it was good.  Made from scratch with homemade purple frosting.  Purple-my favorite color and the color of royalty.  Cale volunteered to frost the cake for me.  One candle-a lady never tells her age.  The kids sang happy birthday with energy and were happy to be up eating cake after bedtime.

Sweet moments for my birthday.  

My coats have a new home

I got a new closet last month.  I think Andy was tired of hearing me talk about how much I would love a coat closet re-no and he had time to work on the project.  I am thankful for how handy Andy is and that he knows how to do home projects like this.  I was ready for the coats not to all be hung by the door on the hooks we have there.  All the games we had in the closet had to be relocated to various areas around the house, but I was willing to sacrifice the game closet in order to have a new home for the coats.

Here is my inspiration.  Found this gem on Pinterest.  I loved the idea of hooks in the closet instead of the hangers for coats.  And, there were hooks low enough for the littles to reach.  

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/188588303119617718/

Ponyo-not a fan of the air compressor, we discovered

measuring the space

just some wainscot for the bottom part of the closet

the hard part is done-wainscot is up and a chair rail put up at the heights the hooks will go

a nice coat of white paint

then, the hooks and voila! a closet with plenty of hooks for this family.  I've even tried to convince the boys to keep their backpacks in there.  That's another work in progress.