Arctic Vortex

Well, it's arrived - the "arctic vortex."  With temperatures this week getting as low as -30* and wind chills of -50/60* expected we decided that +16* yesterday was acceptable to get out and play in! 

Climbing up to the football field!

Jackson came out too - he handled the cold like a true Wisconsinite!

He eventually just fell asleep all toasty in his snowsuit :)

Amelia being a penguin

Eventually Joey got cold and tired so we headed in for a late lunch and naps for the boys.  It felt good to get outside one last time before we are stuck in the house for the week! 

December Highlights

December flew by!  Here are some photos from last month:

Monster Jam!

Coconut oil baths at Nana's house for cradle cap

Our favorite house to drive by in December!

Amelia's 4K Christmas program

*Video here of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!"

Visiting Santa!

Fun at the mall after seeing Santa

Colored bath and foam!?!?!  FUN!

Jackson's first Christmas :)

Christmas morning

Campouts in their new sleeping bags/tents!

They have solved an infinite number of "problems" as superheroes in their custom capes!

December was a fun month and now we are looking forward to making new memories in 2014!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Our final photo of 2013

We didn't do anything too exciting - just ate frozen appetizers (in waves) and had sparkling grape juice with the kids!  I went to bed at 7:30 since Jason was off of work, ha!  

Welcome, 2014 :)

Snow Fun!

Yesterday we went to a friends Christmas gathering!  We had a huge meal with a turkey, a ham, stuffing, sweet potatoes, corn, homemade mashed potatoes, Jason's "famous" green beans almondine and more!  It was delicious!

Before the sun got too low we took all the kids outside to play in the snow!

Her first snow angel of the season!

W had a blast pulling Joey around!

Joey and C

Amelia had a blast on a tiny hill with this saucer sled!

Joey shoveled - a lot.  He was "cleaning up!"

These babies were all born within four months of each other!  D, C, W and Joey :)

W and Joey both wanted to pull C and D!

After coming inside the adults played a game called "Last Word" - so fun!  I had never heard of it but it was seriously a blast!  We totally wanted to play another round but unruly/tired kids won and we ended the day after just one round!

Just so he's not left out, here is Jackson:

His first (successful) time in the Bumbo!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

To bring a smile to your face, here is a clip from Amelia's 4K Christmas program last week.  She was so, so excited about this event.  She kept yelling to us from on stage between songs to say "hi!" or to point out that she was on a stage etc.  It was precious!

*She is on the far right, front row, green dress :)

Lookout Ridge

Yesterday afternoon we met some friends at Lookout Ridge - an indoor play park!  We have already been feeling cooped up this winter and needed a way to burn some energy off!

Amelia showed me to the top of the climbing structure! 

THREE kids SMILING?!?!?!  Success!

Baby Jackson fell asleep towards the end of our play time!

We played for two and a half hours - well worth the admission of $4.50 a kid!

Turkey to Trees

It's hard to believe it's already the first week in December!  With the late Thanksgiving this year time has seemed to fly the past week!

Attempted family Thanksgiving picture...

I got home from work about 7 a.m. Thanksgiving morning, grabbed approximately two hours of sleep and then we started getting ready to go to Jason's grandpa's house.  Before we left we successfully got a (decent) picture of the kids together!

Three little people I am very thankful for :)

We enjoyed the traditional Thanksgiving feast, watched some football and watched the kids play in the leaves outside before heading home for the night.  My parents were out of town so my sister came over in the evening for a bit.  That's about it - a pretty simple Thanksgiving!

Baby's first Thanksgiving :)

Saturday night we put out our Christmas tree and a few decorations/toys - nothing too fancy because, well, we have Joe :)

Sunday morning we went with Jason's family to get a tree for his sister's house.  We've gone as a group the past few years and each year we get more excited to be able to go cut one down for our own house - whenever that year may come!

Amelia and Joey helping Auntie Liz drag the tree out

After getting the tree, everyone came to our apartment and we made spaghetti and watched football!  Daddy's team beat mommy's team :(

Hanging on the couch with Auntie Liz and (sleeping) Uncle Kory

Sunday evening we started a couple advent activities - chocolate advent calendars and 25 days of books.  First one of the kids chooses a (wrapped) book* from under the tree to open and we read it together.  Afterwards they get to open that day on their advent calendar and have a little treat before bed!  

*My mom, sister and I went to half-price books and got 25 books to do this with.  In the future, if we continue this idea, I may just wrap up the Christmas books we have and do something like "12 Days of Christmas Books!"  We'll see.

Advent calendars!

It's hard to believe that December is already here!  What a fast year it was!