Baking Day!

On Monday, December 18th after I got home from work the kids and I set out to get our baking done.  This year with me working I had to go more simple. I'm not home all day long to have the time or the energy to make a whole bunch of complicated stuff. So we stuck with quick and simple! 

Chocolate turtles are always a hit and they are super easy! Zeke picked out all the broken pretzels and then put the good ones on the cookie sheet. 

Owen and Ella worked on unwrapping all the Roles for the turtles. Sadly Jack had a runny nose so he wasn't able to help out with the baking this year. 

When the turtles were in the oven I had Zeke help me with shaking the pecans in the sugar mixture to make the candied pecans. 

He was such a good shaker he turned out all blurry!!! 

The next day after work Owen and Ella helped me pack all the goodies into these cute tins I got for 70% off at Wal-Mart at the end of Christmas 2016! I think I got 24 for around $8. 

In all we made turtles, candied pecans and triple chocolate truffles. The truffle were harder so the kids didn't help me with those. I think I do need to rethink making those because it took me until almost 10pm to finish them since there were so many steps with having to melt chocolate and then chill the truffles. I do love giving out treats to Michael's co-workers and then also to friends and my co-workers. It's always fun to put a smile on someones face!

Side note: This was during the kids first week of Christmas break and I still had to work. My best friend Kim was amazing and came over to my house on both Monday and Tuesday to watch the kids...she asked me if she could help out. I didn't even ask her!!! It was such a blessing. The kids had fun playing together and I didn't have to worry about what I was going to do with the kids. 

Thank you so much Kim!!! You are such a blessing in my life! Love you!!! 

The day after this was Michael's work party where we distributed the goodies. After the party Ga-Ga & Pa took the kids until Thursday night so I could go to work. It's so great to have so many people that support us and love us! 

Looking At Christmas Lights!

On Saturday, December 16th we piled in the van, went through the drive through at Starbucks and then drove to our favorite little neighborhood in Federal Way that we always go to to look at lights. It's the perfect size for us to walk through! 

Again the weather was great! This was my favorite house. It was so pretty with the red and green lights and the big white blobs were actually beautiful snowflakes that twinkled. I loved it! 

Nativity! 

This neighborhood always has a food drive, but ever year we forget. This year I was so happy that we remembered!!! 

My 4 bundled babies!!!

This house was beautiful too! It's funny how you can honestly tell how the economy is doing by how many people put up Christmas lights. I remember going through here during Christmas of 2009 and barely anyone had Christmas lights up, but now that the economy has bounced back tons of people decorated. It was the same way in our neighborhood. There are usually only 3 or 4 houses with decorations, but this Christmas was a different story! 

Zeke with this cute penguin! 

Jackson wanted a picture with Santa Claus! 

The animatronic Santa Claus waved! 

I just loved this cool old truck and I had to take a picture for Pa!! 

Oh oh oh or ho ho ho!?!?!

This Santa popped out of the chimney and then went back down again! 

Santa on a boat! 

This house is just gorgeous! I think the people that used to live there moved though. They used to decorate in all white lights....the whole house, all the bushes...everything white. It was gorgeous. Then last year there were no decorations at all and it seemed like no one even lived there. This year the new owners went all out. Absolutely stunning!!! 

Here was the last house....I had to go across the street to take a picture of the whole thing. I just love how lights make everything look magical! 

Zoolights 2018!

On Saturday, December 9th we braved the cold and headed to Zoolights. 

This is our second year in a row going to Zoolights. Since I'm working now my mom isn't going to renew our zoo membership so we thought we'd take advantage of it while we could still get tickets for $5!! 

I can't remember what day of the week we went on last year, but it was definitely way busier this year than last. This year we had to park down at Owen Beach and we were then bussed back up to the zoo. 

The bus was SUPER warm and since we were all bundled it for the cold weather it ended up being really hot. 

Ready to have some fun with my sweet kiddos! 

Jackson got this glow stick back in November at a friends birthday party. He saved it specifically for this night. I was so proud of him for doing that. It's so hard when you're a kid and you just want to do something right away. He knew that this would be the best time to get some use out of it though. 

The line to get in wasn't long at all since we're members. The other line was a mess though. No thank you! Of course the lights were amazing! 

We couldn't have asked for a better night either. It was cold, but there wasn't really any wind! 

Being all bundled up helped. Most of us had our snow clothes on. 

Jackson wanted a picture with the tiger!!! 

That giant crab is going to get Zeke! Ahhhhh! 

When we came in we went to the right and did everything on that side and then as we came around to the middle I knew that the kids would want to eat. Ella Grace had already started to complain that she was "starving". That girl....once she's hungry there is no going on. I have learned that the entire trip will be a complete and utter disaster if we don't get her food when she wants it.

The nice thing is now that I'm working we have more money for our entertainment budget so buying food at the zoo wasn't a big deal. It still seemed ridiculous to pay $29 for two pretzels, a latte and a chicken strip basket, but at the same time that fed all 6 of us and it made everyone happy so we could continue with our nice evening so it was totally worth it! 

We invited Papa Martin to come along with us and we were so happy he did. It's been so much fun getting to spend time with him!!! 

Ga-Ga & Pa were there too! Pa did buy a box of popcorn that the kids helped him finish. He was more than happy to share of course! 

After looking at all lights it was time to head to the carousel! 

Jack and Ella got animals that were side by side. 

Ella got a pretty pony! 

Jack of course got a lion! He really wanted the tiger, but he got that last time and then realized that it doesn't go up and down. How lame!!! 

Zeke got a nice horse too! 

Owen was a little ways behind me. 

I stayed right next to Zeke while the ride was moving. 

Daddy and Pa taking picture of us riding around and around! 

I really love this action shot Pa got! 

I think in all we were only at the zoo 2 hours. I do not think that Zoolights is worth full price admission, but for $5 a person it was fun! The kids had a great time and so did we! The only major downside was trying to get home. Ga-Ga, Pa and Papa carpooled and they were able to get front row parking so they were out of the zoo in no time. We had to hop back on the bus and go back to Owen Beach. Thankfully we were the last people to get on a bus so we didn't wait very long. Plus Owen Beach was the first drop off point. The only thing was traffic was backed up so bad in that whole area. It literally took us the same amount of time we were at the zoo to get home. 2 hours!!! It was awful! Thankfully we have a van that has a DVD player and the kids had eaten or we would have had some grumpy kids on our hands. As it was we were exhausted!!! For next Christmas we want to try out someplace new....where do you and your family go during Christmas to look at lights?

Music Performances!

Early in December each of the kids had a musical performance. On December 7th, Ella and Zeke sang with their grade. 

Ella is in the bluish/green shirt right in the middle. It's so fun seeing her be more confident in herself and just her ability to remember things better. She loves to learn through music. 

Zeke is right in the front in the white shirt with black long sleeves. I was amazed by him! He's so shy normally, but he got right up there. He might not do all the actions at the correct time, but he has fun! 

A few days later on the 12th Owen and Jack were involved in a Recorder Jamboree. 

This was so much fun! The music teacher at school has a book with all the different levels of songs for a recorder. They are known as belts. He had all the kids play along with the different belts starting at the easiest and going to the more difficult. 

The kids would play the belt two times and then he'd move on. Once a kid got to a belt they hadn't passed yet they had to sit down. 

There are I believe 19 belts. Jackson knows a few and Owen knows I think 7 or 8. There was only one kid that knew all the way to Black Belt 3 or something like that. He was incredible. I never knew that recorders could actually sound quite beautiful! 

Mr. Watters also got the parents involved so we learned how to play Mary had a little lamb. I already pretty much knew how to play it...I always mess up at the end, but it was fun practicing. 

Celebration Sunday!

On Sunday November 29th we had Celebration Sunday at our church. It was in honor of the 9 weeks worth of classes we had for Financial Peace University. Michael and I had led a table every Sunday night since the middle of September. It was fun relearning the principles we had learned back in 2013. We had been following them mostly, but there were a few adjustments that we needed to make. It was a big commitment and I was happy we did it, but also happy we were finished. We definitely had something to celebrate! 

Ron the one spearheading this whole class, ordered these fun cakes from Costco. They were made to look like credit cards. He stabbed a pair of scissors into the cakes for fun. I can't remember how many credit cards were cut up during our class, but there were quite a few. I love the names that he had them put on the card cakes...Mr. Slave NoMore. 

And...Mr. I.B. Free!!! 

The sweetest thing happened to me at church that morning. I walk up to sit in the row I always sit in and there was this lovely blanket all folded nicely, wrapped in ribbon and it had my name on it. I was so overjoyed and super surprised!! See there is a lady named Gail at our church that make these wonderful blankets and she made one for me. I had mentioned to her husband in passing how I was sad that last year at our Women's Christmas Dinner they told the hostesses not to get gifts for the ladies sitting at their tables. Gail would always host a table and she always made a blanket for each of the ladies at her table. Well I was sitting at her table that year and because they said no to gifts I didn't get one of her famous blankets. I was so sad! Well she was just so sweet and made a blanket especially for me even though she wasn't even able to make it to the Christmas Dinner this year. I was seriously so surprised I almost started crying. I love my new blanket and I sit with it every night!!! 

While I was sitting there snuggled in my blanket Owen decided that he should try to teach Charlie how to sit. It was so cute and hilarious! 

Charlie Cat's Christmas!

I honestly think Charlie thinks we put the tree up just so he can sit under it!