It's Christmas Time!

We had fun singing Christmas carols outside JCPenny with some friends to help earn money for Salvation Army. We love this tradition. It's a great way to serve as a family.

One of Kevin's favorite treats around Christmas time is peanut brittle so we had to make that. It's so easy and quick when you have a microwave. We are so blessed to live in this time.


Here's our sweet little boy. He is an active baby inside the womb. I think his name will be Connor James. James will be after his great grandfather.

I love this profile of him. Kamren has been so sweet to remind me each time I walk outside to step over the ice so I don't slip. We feel so blessed that everything looked good during the ultra sound.

Kamren's favorite thing lately is wrestling with Andrew. He even put on the same pants so he could dress up like Andrew. He is a sweet big bro. It's even more fun when he can do it longer because he's on Christmas break.

We have put all of our kids in a bed at 20 months. Andrew is now a big boy and has his own bed. The first few days were rough but now he loves it. I love having the crib gone because it makes the room look bigger. Kamren now sleeps on the top bunk.



The kids had fun making this blanket for the family we had for Christmas. They love Hawaii so we thought it would be fun to make them a blanket that reminded them of one of the places they love.



The children weren't too interested in acting out the Nativity on Christmas Eve but we tried. This year the children chose me to be Mary since I am expecting a little boy.



Ashleigh loved decorating the sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. Andrew loves the eating part.



The children can't wait to open their presents with their friends on Christmas Eve. My favorite part was eating the ham, potatoes, rolls, salad, pineapple, and rice pudding!



We always have a tradition of going sledding on Christmas Eve. Andrew loved it this year.



Kamren woke up at 4 a.m. but we told him we would get up at 6 a.m. Everyone got up at 6:45 a.m. and they were ready to go see what they got from Santa.



Andrew was already at the bottom of the stairs waiting his turn to come and see what he got. The youngest got to go first!



Here's all the children in their new pajamas they got on Christmas Eve. Andrew is finishing the carrot that the reindeer didn't eat.



We started a new tradition this year. On Christmas morning we hide a pickle ornament and the first person who finds it gets to open the first present on Christmas day. This is a german tradition but they usually hide it on Christmas eve and they get a little present when the child finds it.





We always have fun eating Christmas breakfast together. Our tradition is orange juice, monkey bread (like cinnamon rolls), sausage, and eggs. Ashleigh decorated our table fancy. We had fun hanging out in our pajamas all day long.



Brynn and Ashleigh had the same theme this year for Christmas. They each got stuff for their American girl doll which they love.



Andrew is following his brother's footsteps and loves legos. Actually all the kids have been enjoying this toy.



Kamren is enjoying the lego sets he got for Christmas.



Ashleigh loves her new closet and bed for her doll. I was able to make the bedding for the girl's beds with a friend and we had a friend make the beds since Kevin didn't have much time.

Ashleigh and I loved baking cookies this year during the Christmas season. We are making buckeyes.

Here's our Christmas outfits this year. I always do red and black or something with green but this year I did something different. We were all in cream and browns.

Ashleigh loves having her Christmas break hanging out at home especially playing with Andrew and dressing him up as a bride. Andrew didn't mind one bit.

Here's Kamren and Andrew in their Christmas outfits. I love Andrew in this chocolate color.

The girls loved their Christmas outfits. I was able to make their pearl necklaces to go along with their dresses.

Here's the cute kiddos. I just love them all dressed up. It has been so much fun having Christmas with them.

It's a......

My dream truly has come true!!!!

Just the Two of Us!

All Aboard! We are just about to start our cruise. Five years ago we took our first cruise with Royal Caribbean to the Western Caribbean and this was our second cruise to the Bahamas. I can't believe the five relaxing days are already over. We weren't too impressed with the weather but we were still able to enjoy the break from our busy lives. We were blessed to have safe and on time travels there and coming back. There were no issues at all. Not even lost luggage!We are so grateful we didn't get motion sickness from the ship. We were most grateful to hear that our children behaved and that our babysitters had a great time with them. One of my favorite things to eat was fresh pineapple everyday. I loved not having to cook and clean!



We exlored the ship the first few hours we were there. Everything was so tidy and clean. This ship occupies about 2500 passengers and the chef prepares 15,000 meals a day. Unbelievable! The employees of the ship were so friendly. We loved listening to the different accents and countries they were from.


I was so cold on the first day that we decided to put our feet in the hot tub to get warm. It actually worked. One of my favorite treats for the afternoon was making your own soft serve ice cream cone. I didn't care if it was cold out.

Key West was our first stop. It was full of history which I loved. I learned about the Little White House that was used by President Harry Truman . We also were able to visit Ernest Hemingway's home where he wrote many of his famous books.

We had fun visiting one of the local gardens in Key West. A group of people decided to keep history there and made gardens around some of the ruins that were left behind.

Great tourist stop. We walked 5 hours this day. We needed to burn off some calories from all the yummy food we were eating. We really enjoyed seeing the island on foot. The sun kept us warm while we walked along the beach.

This chef carved this chief Indian in 15 minutes. Everyone that worked there was so talented. It's fascinating to learn how they manage everything on the ship. Everyone who worked there was so happy and took so much pride in the ship. It showed by how they took care of it.

We loved the palm trees everywhere. They are so simple yet so beautiful. Coconuts grow on them year round.

We are enjoying the view of Key West.

Our waitress was exceptional. She remembered our names the first evening we were there. She heard me say how much I loved the strawberry cheesecake so she sent us home that evening with a few more pieces. We actually didn't get to eat them because we were so full.

This is a couple we met right before we started the cruise. She is from Africa and they were the sweetest couple. It was their first cruise so it was fun to talk to them about all the new adventures they had.

Every evening our room attendant would make a different animal out of towels. It was always something fun to look forward to. The rooms are very small but you aren't in them very much. There is too much to see and do.

Our cruise ship had a place where you could rock climb so Kevin took advantage of it.

We loved watching us come into the Bahamas. This was our second stop. Behind us is the Atlantis Resort where we explored later on that day. It was huge! We were able to see the Aquarium and explore most of the hotel.

As you can tell, I still have my jacket on. It was in the 60's and a little breezy but the sun was out. We are enjoying the afternoon on Nassau's public beach. It was so clean and we loved the blue water. It was fun to take a fairy over to this beach. I only put my bathing suit on once the whole cruise and that was early one morning to get into the hot tub to watch the sunrise.

We are finishing our day in Nassau, Bahamas. It was a beautiful day. This is one of the smaller ships of Royal Caribbean and it still seems so big.

Cococay was our favorite island to visit in the Bahamas. This was our last stop. The people in the Bahamas live such simple lives and they are so happy. It was fun to talk to a few of the residents that lived there. Royal Caribbean owns this island. We were able to walk the whole thing in a few hours. It was fun to walk on the soft sand and collect some of the beautiful shells. We even got to see some very unique fish and some stingray. We got to watch some locals spear fishing. They are so quick.

Our last night we were able to see a gorgeous sunset after we worked out. We actually worked out everyday we were there. We didn't think it was going to be so nice when it just sprinkled a bit, but we were wrong. We wish the sunset could last longer but it went down so fast.

This is the couple we ate dinner with every evening. It was fun to get dressed up and go on a date each night.

Even though our trip is over, I'm grateful I had some time with just Kevin.

November Catch Up!

Bye Bye brown, and green paint on the main level walls of our home.

The paint to the right is what I painted our kitchen, dining room, living room, hall and upstairs hall with. I love the golden color. It brightens the home especially when it's gloomy outside. I'm so glad I'm done painting. It took 40 plus hours but it was so worth it!


Andrew adores Brynn. He loves to plop right down in her lap and have her read to him. He truly lights up when he's with her.


I remember as a child eating these yummy cream puffs. This is my first time making them and they were so good. I still think my mom makes them better.

I asked Kevin if he could put in some new flooring to update our bathroom floor. This is the old one.



Here is the finished bathroom. Kevin was so sweet to stay up late to do this in both of our bathrooms upstairs. It's not real ceramic tile. We did both the bathrooms for $80 and it's really vinyl and then you grout it. It looks just like ceramic tile but it's never cold which I love.

This is the flower hair thing I made for a neighbor for her Winter Formal.


One of my friends taught me how to make these hair things. I love making them. The girls love getting their hair done like this. We call it the princess tiara.

I've always tried to find something to go on the boy's shelf in their room so this is what I made. I hope this helps the boys to remember to Choose The Right!

One of my friends taught me how to make this cover for a car seat. I love the fabric!

This is sweet little Andrew who had fallen asleep on the way home after a huge blow out at church. I love to watch him sleep.

One of my friends taught me how to make these necklaces. They were so easy and fun for all of us girls to match.

These are 8 year old curtains that I was getting bored of that I made.

These are the new ones I made. I like them so much better with the new paint.

The children have their own tree to decorate and this is the finished product. I love watching them do their own tree every year. It was so fun to get up the Christmas stuff last week.

On Thanksgiving day, our tradition is to give the children an ornament to put on the tree. After they open it we take a sharper marker and put their initial and year they received it. Andrew can't wait to open his.

Here are their ornaments for this year.


The oldest gets to put the ornament on first and then to the youngest.


Happy Thanksgiving! We love doing our Thankful Turkey every year. It helps us to stay focused on what we truly are grateful for.


We had a great group we celebrated Thanksgiving with. It's so fun to see the kids play so well together.

We have a tradition to make gingerbread houses the day after Thanksgiving. This year we did it with our neighbors.

Andrew is enjoying the treats from the gingerbread houses.

This year the kids requested to make them a garage on the side of the house.

Here is Ashleigh's detailed gingerbread house. I love watching her as she using her talent of creativity.
Brynn did a wonderful job on her gingerbread house.