Its the most wonderful time of the year....

Bedtime Stories with Santa

Selfie with my godbaby Parker!

Love these clearance PJs that I bought last year!

Allison wanted to join in the snuggling up to listen to stories!

Parker, Riley and Katie joined us for dinner and then came to this event with us!

We ran into our buddies Brody and Carter... baby Cameron even got to sit on Santa's lap during story time!

This even is held at Woodbury Lakes and this year it was even better, we decorated cookies, made reindeer dust, and made our own fancy hot chocolate complete with marshmallows, whip cream and candy canes.   

Christmas party with the CSB Crew

When everyone started having kids the group got too big so last year we started the tradition of renting hotel rooms and swimming with all the kids... this year we got smart and got pool side rooms so that after the kids went to bed, the adults could gather and chat! This year was amazingly smooth and most kids did great and slept through the night!  Definitely a tradition that we will continue!

Grace and Eva!

Partners in Crime, best friends, two peas in a pod!

If her brothers do it or have it... she does too!... the goggles and the hot tub!

Ethan and Aidan!

All the kids... the only one missing is Logan!

This year as part of MOPS, I was invited to be part of something called 

The 25 Days of Christ!  Each mom was responsible for making 25 of the same ornaments, we then got together and exchanged them.  So each day of December there is a bible story and an ornament that gets hung on the tree!  People were so creative and it has been a great way for our family to celebrate the true meaning of the season!  A tradition that we will continue for years to come!

Family Christmas movies have also become tradition... Yup my 17 month old was watching Home Alone with the best of them!  The boys think that movie is great! Other favorites include The Snowman, The Grinch, Rudolph, Frosty, Polar Express and National Lampoons.  

The elf's shenanigans continue.... he TP'd our Christmas tree!  Silly elf! Each morning I love listening to what the boys say when they find the elf! " look Nathan that elf toilet papered our tree... you are in big trouble ELF!"  "Daddy come down and see our tree... you are going to be really mad!" 

Its Begining to look a lot like Christmas!

Allison loves the window clings.... baby, the baba and twinkle twinkle are her favorite parts

Dinner with Gramma before Charlie Brown at the Stages Theater

The Stages Theater does such a great job!

Meeting Snoopy and Charlie Brown

Berks is getting into the spirit too!

Nathan and Benjamin's Baby tree from the winter mommy was on bed rest with them!

Allison's 1st time putting the star on top of the Christmas Tree!  It was fun to watch her because she loves stars and sings twinkle twinkle to all of them!

Done deal.  

Can't get enough of this outfit!

Christmas with the Narrs!

Macy's 8th Floor: A Day in the Life of an Elf

We always like to bring Grumpy downtown with us because he always enjoys it... and no trip would be complete without a stop at Candyland!

Traditional Candy Canes from Grumpy!

We had a very interesting St. Nicholas Day this year!

Nathan and Benjamin for weeks have had a hard time 1st time listening, sharing, using indoor voices and cleaning up their toys. So, St. Nicholas had to take a stand!  There was nothing in their shoes the next morning.   I was a little heartbreaking in the morning when they were so excited for Nicholas the Elf to arrive with special gifts for them from St. Nicholas. When they saw they had nothing I was not sure how they would respond... N: "I didn't need anything anyway!" B: contrite in attitude "Allie boo look at this cool book you got!"  

We read the letter and all day they were very aware of the fact that they needed to change their behavior.  In the evening after dinner Nathan had the idea to write St. Nicholas an apology letter to put in his shoes... Ben joined in too!  I think that this was a good lesson to both of them. 

Thankfully St. Nicholas had a chance to come down St. Croix Road the next morning... and everyone was very grateful for their new treasures. Nicholas the elf joined us for the holiday season too!

I just think this photo is cute!

Allie and Mommy at the MOPS Christmas Party

Oh Christmas Tree...2015

Off to find our Christmas tree!

The highlight for the kids is always to go sledding!

We luckily had a tiny bit of snow for them... as you can see Allison is right in there with the big boys!

This is why I don't let them go head first!

Brothers!

We found our Christmas tree!

Allison and Gramma found a Charlie Brown Tree!

Gramma and Grumpy found their tree too!

Off we go!

Its tradition!  What a fun Christmas tree farm!  Both nathan and Ben said that their favorite part was the hot apple cider and the sledding!

Allison was not a fan of Santa!

I wish they could stay little forever!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  

We taught Allie to say "ooble ooble"... AKA gobble gobble

We spent the weekend before Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Utech celebrating Thanksgiving and Grandpa's 60th Birthday!  The boys had worked hard with Grandma creating cards and gift bags for Grandpas big day!!!  We also had a yummy ice cream cake.... allison thought the cake was just for her!

They used some of their Halloween chacolate to decorate these bags for grandpa!

Grandma and the boys also worked hard to build this log cabin Christmas Home!  There was lots of hot glue involved wich the boys loved... and were quite skilled at by the end of the weekend! 

Allison just liked to eat the pretzels and gum drops!  This is such a fun tradition with Grandma!

On Thanksgiving Day we headed over the Gramma and Grumpy's House!  Everyone was there to celebrate.... the boys always love when they get to spend time with Sam and Peter!

And we also spent some quality time with cousin Meghan!

Nathan's favorite food was the Pie... Ben loved to hawaiian rolls and the cranberries!

And thanks to uncle Adam we are now the proud owners of a selfie stick!!!  

Happy 33rd Birthday to mama!!