Catan!

Back in November we had dinner at Micah and Kim's house. After dinner while the kids played Micah and Kim introduced Michael and I to the game of Catan. They could not believe we had never played it before and they knew we would really enjoy it. Well they were right so when I went shopping with my mom on Black Friday I decided to go ahead and buy it as a family gift. Normally we buy one family gift at Christmas...last year it was the BB Gun. This year I just couldn't wait until Christmas. I knew the boys would love it and I wanted to play it with them now. 

It has been so much fun playing it with them. The age range on the box says the kids should be 10 and up, but if your kid likes strategy games they will love this. 

I love how each of the boys have there thing that drives them. For Jack it's absolutely the Developmental Cards. He's always trying to buy as many as he can! 

For Owen it's the longest road! He has to get that and he gets very upset when someone takes the longest road card from him. We've even had to have a talk about good sportsmanship because he wants that card so badly! 

The kids have also enjoyed stacking up the pieces when it's not their turn. They actually have made some pretty cool looking castles. 

Ella and Zeke are most definitely too young to play, but they do love rolling the dice and playing with the pieces. 

What I love about this is game is that every time it's different. For some of it it's just the luck of the draw, but there is strategy involved. I think Michael has won the most games, but Jack, Owen and I have all won at least once as well. Now I really want to get the expansion packs that go along with the game! 

The Living Nativity!

Going to the Living Nativity at Discovery Baptist Church in Gig Harbor has become a must do Christmas tradition for our family. The production only runs the first Saturday and Sunday night in December. In years past the kids have just not had the ability to focus on everything and really embrace the whole experience, but this year was completely different. It was amazing to get to really enjoy each and every aspect of walking through the streets of Bethlehem. 

On this particular week Michael was on-call so he wasn't going to be able to make it with us. However Michael ended up getting a bad cold and was off work for 3 days and they had someone else take his call. So realistically he could have come with us, BUT....the night before we went Michael got a call about a main break at 5pm and he didn't slip into bed until 4:33AM the next morning. Needless to say he was pooped! The kids and I ended up meeting Ga-Ga & Pa at a shopping area in Tacoma and then we all rode together. Parking can be a bear since it's such a popular destination.  

Fresh out of the car and ready to go! 

So nice to have 2 extra hands to help coral kids in the dark! 

We had originally planned on going on Saturday night, but our friends the Kuch's already had plans. We decided to wait until Sunday night so we could go with them. It's always fun to go with friends! 

Handsome Zeke Man! 

Jack with his bear paw gloves! 

Addison all bundled up! 

Anna excited to show off her newly lost tooth! 

Precious Ella Grace...she barely ever zips up her coat! 

I'm not sure if Owen is giving two thumbs up or two thumbs sideways! 

Caleb is ready to go! 

The church really does a top notch job of making everything look amazing! I can only imagine the hours of preparation that go into these two days! 

When we got up to the gate shortly after 5pm we were greeted by the Roman Centurions who asked us how many people were in our party and then they wrote the number down for the census!  

I tried really hard not to take many pictures because I didn't want to detract from the authenticity of the experience. 

That and when I took a picture of this lady holding a chicken it freaked the chicken out! I did copy some of the pictures Christina took and put on FB though! :) 

No room in the inn! 

The street is lined with tents that are for the different merchants. We got to see the bakery and eat nice warm raisin bagels. We also got to feel all the different grains they would have fed the animals. 

There were teachers that were reading from the Scriptures. They had scrolls for all the kids that had the prophesies proclaiming Jesus' coming....one side was in English and the other side was in Aramaic. 

We also got to enjoy, dried fruit, hummus, lentils and spiced almonds. 

The tax collector was interrogating people and telling them how much they would need to pay and if they didn't pay the amount of shekels he said they needed to a Roman Centurion would take them off to jail. 

Jack and Ella both got wooden crosses from the carpenter's workshop. All the kids got to pet goats, sheep, chickens, horses and bunnies. We also got to witness a Centurion telling Herod that the Magi had not returned to tell him the location of Jesus. Herod was of course angry and sent the Centurion off to find the Magi. 

After that we were ushered into a tent where the 3 Magi were proclaiming the good news about the baby. When they were finished a shepherd boy opened up the tent and proclaimed he had seen the star. We all piled out of the tent and were starting to make our way to the star when we were freaked out by a bright light...it was the angels giving glory to God. Then a shepherd boy came running saying he had seen the baby and we got to walk up to the stable and see the baby Jesus. 

It really was so magnificent! Everyone was in character and you could ask them questions and they would answer the way you'd think they would for the time period. The costumes were fantastic and all the different age groups that participated was truly amazing! 

After we saw the baby we made our way back up to where we parked. Discovery Baptist Church is right next to a Covenant Church and they partner together. Everyone parks at the Covenant Church, but the production is at the Baptist Church. Then the Covenant Church opens up for everyone to come in, get warm and have some hot cocoa. 

Of course hot cocoa was a huge hit with these cold kids! 

Christina really bundled her kids up and we learned from this outing to have the kids wear more. In fact later in the month we went to Zoolights and we were really bundled up and we were so happy we were! 

It was a fun outing with family and friends!

 It was also a great way to kick off the Christmas season....focusing on the true meaning of Christmas! 

Random Catching Up!

I haven't blogged in almost a month, but for good reason. First we've just been super busy and second we've had some serious computer issues going on at our house. Michael ordered a new one...Merry Christmas to him...and it was so messed up he ended up having to send it back to the company and they are troubleshooting it. Thank you Windows 10!!! He still hasn't gotten it back and probably won't until after the new year. Ugh!!! There was about a week where we didn't have a computer at all and then there was a couple more weeks of trying to get Michael's old computer set up and all my pictures transferred over. This was after we tried to set up my Dad's old computer to be my computer, but for some reason it would not install Adobe and you kind of need that when you are trying to upload pictures to Shutterfly! We've also had some internet connection issues so we had Comcast come out and they replaced some bad fittings, but I still feel like our connection isn't all that great! Oh and my phone was just a piece of junk and I finally went to the store and got a new one...Merry Christmas to me! Anyways a bunch of my photos weren't backing up and so when I'd go to blog they wouldn't be in my Google photos so that was annoying. All that to say...I'm back and here is a quick recap of our last month! 

We finished off our thankful leaves with a full window of things to be thankful for. We didn't do them every day, but we did a lot as you can see. I still have leaves left over so I'm going to pack them away with the fall decorations so we can do this again next year! 

One morning while waiting for the bus it was snowing. I had to get a picture of the very first snowfall of the season! 

Even though it's blurry I think it's a fun shot of Ella, Kendra and Lily getting in line for the bus! 

Rachael and Reagan getting snowed on!

I decided that our family should do 12 Days of Christmas activities so I planned out the activities to post on the frig! 

Me and my sweet Zeke enjoying lunch together!

Being silly with my boy! 

  

We always have the kids draw names and buy gifts for one another. To get ideas for what they would like I take them to Wal-Mart where I take pictures with things they like. The gifts can't be more than $20. I always pay half and I feel like spending $10 on your sibling is plenty at this age. 

Some kids have an easier time than other picking out what they like. We were there for almost an hour. I did walk out of the store without buying anything and none of the kids were crying so that's a win in my book. Later on I took the kids out in groups so they could actually buy the gifts. Ella and Zeke went together since they weren't buy for each other and then another day I took out Owen and Jack. 

While we were at Wal-Mart Ella saw the Princess Carriage and wanted me to take a picture of it and text it to Pa. I told her that he had already bought her her Power Wheels, but I did text it to him to appease her! 

Early in December I attended my MOPS Leadership Christmas Party. We always do a white elephant gift and this was what I came home with. 

My kids have loved playing bowling with all the different balls or marbles we have laying around the house. 

One of the days Owen desperately wanted me to help him build a Christmas LEGO scene. I built the trees with lights and he built everything else. The red section next to the tree is the fire pit. 

The giant presents were what the kids made at the free monthly LEGO build at the mall. I love how Owen made a bench for the guy to sit and enjoy his hot chocolate on. He also made sure to have 3 garbage cans, one for garbage, one for recycle and one for yard waste! 

Since we hosted Thanksgiving I went ahead and bought Reddi Whip for the pumpkin pie. That has been the best thing ever for the kids. They LOVE to have Reddi Whip with their hot cocoa! 

Look at all this Reddi Whip mom!!! 

Jackson has gotten wise and now wants to use one of my bigger Starbucks cups! 

Sweet drink for a sweet girl! 

Practicing taking pictures of mom! 

I've revised my meal planning a couple months back and we've been adding new things to the menu. Kim had made soup with bread bowls one day when Zeke and I were at her house and I thought that would be fun to do at home. Surprisingly the kids have been open to trying new things. Some things they like and some they don't, but it has been getting easier and easier to get them to actually try things so that's good! 

We've also went back to being really restrictive with electronics at our house. It helped since the computers were down! The other big catalyst was the fact that in the span of 3 days Zeke used over $60 worth of my $150 Amazon gift card to buy games on the Kindle. Talk about freaking out! I ended up calling Amazon and they were amazing! They removed all the charges and credited back my gift card...thank you for saving Christmas! I have changed the settings on the Kindles so he can't do that again, but the Kindles have still been in time out. Since we've been more restrictive the kids have been so much better with playing. I'll also find them all piled on the couch listening to Owen read a book every now and then. I absolutely love this!!! 

My MOPS group had our Christmas brunch on the 13th and Zeke's class came down from their room to sing a few songs for us. As you can see Zeke is the only boy. Instead of getting to hear him sing all the ladies got the joy of seeing him put his finger in his mouth because he's super shy and then after that he picked his nose. Thankfully he never put his finger back in his mouth after picking his nose so there is a bright side! 

So there's a quick catch up of a few of things that we've been busy doing over the last few weeks!