December weeks 2 & 3

The middle of December wasn't nearly as full of festivities as the beginning of the month...

 ...clearly. :)

 On the Sunday before Christmas I dressed all the kids in their Christmas outfits and took some pictures before Church. I wasn't sure how crazy Christmas morning would be so I thought I should take the chance while I had it.

 I love this next one. Declan cheesing it up and squeezing Emry too tight, and Tatum checking on her little sister. Very typical.

 Tatum loves to try to hold Emry facing her and while standing up.

 They're mine! :)

 Declan enjoyed hanging out in a box with his friends "Dukey" and "Koalie".

 Poor Emry had a cold for much of December. Most mornings she woke up with a real crusty nose but this one takes the cake for sure. Check it out - crusted from her nose practically all the way to her upper lip.

We started a couple new traditions this year. The first one is one we did a couple years ago but with Singapore we have missed it the last couple of years. We popped popcorn, changed into pjs and headed to out to see Christmas lights. This year we headed to a large display set to music in a nearby town. There was a bit of a line up outside of the neighborhood and they had Santa and and elf out there saying hi to all the kids waiting in cars and handing out candy canes. The kids loved that. And the light show was good too.

 Waiting in line. Brennan will love me for posting this. :)

 We let the kids get out of their car seats so they could see better since the lights were on the opposite side of the car.

 We made sugar cookies and rice krispy peanut butter balls one day. The kids were all about wanting to help me. And then proceeded to bring a bunch of toys to the counter and inhale rice krispies while I did all the baking.

 Pretty proud of his mess.

A rare moment of calm from Declan.

 Horsey rides.

 Emry continued to be as cute as ever through the middle of December.



Declan loves to put his Hawkeye hat on and then demand that we all watch him play football...or soccer...or run super fast. It's kind of cute, but eventually the demands to cheer for him get a little old haha. 

 The kids went to the Lowe's workshop with Brennan again this month. They had a couple of picture frame ornaments for them to make. Brennan made one with them there and had them bring the others home. I never get to see them in action at these things so it was a treat to build them with Tatum.

And some pictures from the event.

We took the kids to see Trolls. Emry was mostly cooperative and the kids loved the show. 

This picture perfectly illustrates life right now. 

My mom traveled to Texas to visit my sister so we had my dad over for dinner one night. When Papa is around, wrestling is always necessary.

 Brennan took the kids sledding the day before Christmas Eve. They also played in their igloo in our yard.

There was a jump on the sledding hill and Brennan let Tatum try it. The first time she missed it and the second time she went off it and the landed on her face. She came home with a bit of a bruise but it healed quickly and she didn't seem too emotionally scarred.