Insta-Friday December Recap

Our December was full of fun.  

Here's a few of our favourite moments..

Popcorn stringing

Nutcracker Ballet with the big girls

Gingerbread cookies

Card making

Unhappy babies on Santa's knee and one unwilling 13 year old not in the picture.

Sending love to friends and family in the States.

Cute little treats for Mike's office

Discovered some new braids

Made some to-die-for hot chocolate

More beautiful braids

Lots of extra time to play with Caity

This girl danced in a big Christmas Eve production at a church in town.

The commitment was huge the two weeks before Christmas.

She had a great time being a part of the show.  She is always looking for new opportunities to dance!

Only 5 kids checking out the Christmas lights due to above dance commitments:)

Mads dressed up for Christmas Eve service.

Opening a little family present.

{we have an advent quilt. In past years I have filled it with little presents but this year I stuffed a note with an activity for the day written on it.  All the activities you see above were announced to the kids in the quilt on the appropriate day.  Some days, the kids were given a family gift..this one was a new Christmas CD.  Another day it was a new family game.}

Tradition for many generations in my family.

But I'm pretty sure they never used coconut sugar or spelt flour:)

Sweetie pie in her Christmas dress

Mikayla bought each of her sisters a book for Christmas.

She thoughtfully picked each one.

Both girls loved their books and read through them very quickly.

Taylor Swift tickets!!!!

More braids!

Cool snowman.

Caleb is awesome at rolling gigantic snowballs!

Playing with Bree's new mermaid Lalaloopsy.

Now she has one just like sissy...which makes bath time much more peaceful!

So Much Love This Time Of Year!

Praying your Christmas is filled with love and joy and hope!

Thoughts on Homeschool and This Season Mixed With A Few Photos

Hi!  Welcome to the "new blog look"!  It was time for a change and I have all these fantastic pictures to work with from our photo shoot with my friend Jaime so it was really fun to switch it up.

More of the pictures in a minute but first, a few thoughts if you don't mind...

This week was packed with finishing up school, a visit from Amber (our supervising teacher),  a *few* shopping trips to get Christmas gifts, enjoying the KCS Christmas concert and a couple other fun events.  I am thankful for a few weeks to rest, hang out and celebrate with our family.

I have to be honest, homeschooling is much more difficult than I had anticipated.  Completing the schoolwork is just a tiny piece of the puzzle that makes up a successful home school.  Juggling the home life and the school life, dealing with attitudes, looking at the strengths, the weaknesses, the character growth of each child and addressing each of those while managing the others' needs AND having 3 meals and a few snacks on the table, it's just a lot to fit in.

We are driving less.

We are rushing less.

I didn't have to bring 3 fruit platters to 3 Christmas parties today. 

I didn't have to cringe at the amount of junk my kids were allowed to eat.

We didn't change out of our jammies until well after 9am.

There are a lot of perks to our new circumstances for sure and I am so thankful.

When I look at the big picture I see an opportunity to embrace this life that we have been blessed with; the big family, the God who loves us and has a purpose for each one of our children. I have an opportunity to turn the rat-race induced auto pilot off and dig deep: invest in their precious hearts, their keen and curious minds... to make sure that HIS words are written on their hearts and that they feel secure in who they are in HIM. 

Wow!  What a big task but so worth it!

How can I not give these sweet kiddos my very best?  

They will be grown before I know it.

THIS is the time.

This is my season!

If I begin to lose heart or start to sound whiny, can you please just link me back to this post so I can have a friendly reminder of which direction the ship is supposed to be sailing? 

Ya? K, 

Thanks!

Now, on to the photos!!

 5 girls = one serious collection of nail polish, an abundance of PINK, GLITTER and DRAMA!

The three M's.

 Sister-girls

 I look at these 4 girls, each created completely unique regardless of their similar upbringing.  They have the same two parents, many of the same experiences, yet they have been fearfully and wonderfully made to be individually perfect just as they are.  What a miracle!

I pray this Christmas is an opportunity for you to love the people in your life, to find meaning in the lights, the carols, the original and most significant gift that we could have ever received, Christ Jesus, sent to earth to save YOU and ME!

Christmas Tree!

 All the trees I saw at Macy's this year had fun things exploding out of the top.  I liked it!

We all love this "believe" sign.

 My favourite wrapping paper purchased this year...It's textured!!

 The girls' favourite wrapping paper.

 Wishing I had purchased a bunch of these letters @ Pottery Barn to spell something fabulous like "peace".  I grabbed this one to top one of Mikayla's birthday packages.  

Wasn't thinking about Christmas yet!!

 My Mom gets each of the kids one of these fantastic ornaments every year.  One year each girl got a light bulb like this with their middle names (Grace, Joy, Faith, Hope) and the year on it.  I think they are some of my favourites.

 Another fun ornament from Scribbles in California.  

Mailee got this the year she had a cheerleading birthday party.

 Miss piggy was given to me by my Grandma when I was little.  My mom and I disagreed every year over her placement.  I thought she deserved a place front and center, Mom did not share that opinion.  I still think she is beautiful but now I have my own tree and she gets a place of importance:)

 A newly acquired ornament from this year's ornament exchange.  I think she's cute!

 More personalized ornaments.  Love them!

 My treasure from the Macy's baking tree in Dallas!

Lots of girly ornaments on our tree!!

Let's see your tree!  

Do you have a kid tree with lots of fun and crazy ornaments like us or a picture perfect pretty tree?

Share a link!!