SNOW DAY!!!

We were hit with a snow storm here in the South and the whole family has had a ball!

 I am so thrilled that this all went down during Christmas break, so the kiddos could really enjoy every moment.  

 I forget how beautiful snow is... I am not a fan of the cold so I can usually do without the stuff, but what a beautiful mess, it was worth all the soggy mittens and boot tracks through the house for sure.

 We had some mighty fine snowball fights in our back yard:) 

 Hopefully we will get at least one more snowfall this winter, as this one only lasted one day.  

     Is it okay to eat new fallen snow?  

all the kiddos were eating it like it was ice-cream?  I didn't tell them to stop, but it kinda turned my stomach.. I grew up in South Florida so I have no idea about such things.  Here's wishing you a White Christmas!!!!  

A very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

The whole fam before heading out to Christmas Eve Service last night.

 When we got back from church the kiddos had hot chocolate in special mugs rimmed with chocolate and crushed up candy cane's, while Papa read the story of Jesus' birth from the bible.  

 Finn kinda liked hers :)

 They all got to open one present that was already under the tree.  Ty was psyched.. and made sure he kept his stash close by :)

 Then all the kids got into their Christmas jammies and Jackson read 'Twas the night before Christmas.  It was quite a magical evening.

 I was reminded that although sometimes things get a bit hairy around here,  I am never alone as God is always with me and blessing me in miraculous ways.

 I snuck in a snapped a photo after santa did his damage, before the kiddos got their mitts on it...(see the after photo a few shots down)

 So much excitement

 The notorious orange tic tacs make their appearance in everyones stocking.

 I'm getting crazy sentimental about this one lately... next year will not be the same as he will surely have to travel home for the holidays.  He's my true bud...

 Papa has already taken this toy and called it his own :)

 I've made Mina and Finn storybooks filled with photos about their time in China and coming home, so I just finished Ty's...They all love them and Ty has already wanted to read his several times.

 My little rockstar...  he actually had a ball this morning and took no time jumping in with the rest speeding through the gifts.

 I need to think of a new Christmas morning tradition,, the free for all method isn't working for me... I could barely see any of the gifts they open..and seriously I want a payoff for all the work that is put into it all...I want to see every stinkin' smile!!! is that too much to ask.. i mean seriously i wrap every last thing, even the pack of gum in the stocking and it is all over in 20 minutes??  ok, rant over, back to the fun stuff.

 Here is the aftermath!

 My most precious gift this year!  What an amazing blessing

 All the kiddos got big super comfy stuffed animals... they love them!

So here it is 4:00 Christmas day, I'm still in my jammies.  We've played tons of games and made a lot of memories.  Dinner is going and in the oven, I even had a moment to steal away and post Christmas to the blog.  What a wonderful day!  We will be singing Happy birthday to Jesus and remembering that he is the reason we celebrate!  We are so blessed.

Merry Christmas EVE!!!

My Finnley, my baby turned 3 yesterday....  This child is an absolute joy.  

She is never in a hurry, not even for presents...she would have been thrilled with one gift....last year it took her over a week to get through her Christmas loot.  I'm guessing this year will be the same and it will drive the other kiddos bonkers to see unwrapped gifts under the tree, but not Finn.  She is the most content little love muffin ever.  And with that I am done with the birthday posts for 5 months!!!YIPPPEEEE.  3 birthdays the week of Christmas,  Chaos x 3 :)

Here are some of the fun Christmas photos that have been bumped to the back burner with all the B-day excitement.  When we went to the mountains for Thanksgiving we brought a bunch of paper to start on our Christmas decor... the kiddos and I made a mess and had a ball doing it. 

Paper chains and snowflakes! A fun decoration that the kids feel a big part of and love showing off,  best of all it was FREE....  we love it and don't mind that our sitting room looks like a preschool classroom :) It's a bit magical, don't ya think?

We also had a cookie making extravaganza!!  Here is our list...all the old favs and a few new ones.

 

Mess? What Mess? 

 We went nuts and made dozens and dozens of cookies...Santa is going to be sooo happy tonight.

 The kids here are headed out to share the calories love with the neighbors.

We are giddy with excitement for the festivities of the evening and wild with anticipation to see what santa brings in the morning.... I just can't wait to see their little faces in the morning, especially Ty.  He has suffered through the 3 birthdays this week and has been totally confused by the attention showered on one kiddo at a time, he needs a turn with a pile of presents :)  He is going to be overwhelmed and ecstatic.....  Have a wonderful night everyone!

Happy birthday my sweet boy!

Oh how I love boys, the simplicity, the sweetness, the love! My little man turned 7, the shock and horror... he is growing up way too fast.  2 1/2 years ago he was my baby and he played the part well.  

The last few years have been a whirlwind around here and now he finds himself holding tight with the "middle child" title.  Except he doesn't have middle child qualities...he is quiet, shy, uncomplicated, and a complete rule follower/perfectionist....  He may need to get the message that the middle child needs to make some noise to get their much deserved attention...especially in this house of chaos.    

Being that his bday is just a few days before Christmas, we forgo the party (which I think we will be doing mostly from now on)  and he had his first ever sleep over with a good buddy from school..  Such super sweet boys...they spent the majority of their time in the back playing football, or playing football video games. 

We did have a night bonfire...our family favorite weekend activity and the kids ran around like mad...  We also took the whole crew bowling the next morning... oh that was a barrel of laughs.  Fun stuff.  

I've been an emotional mess lately...  I think I am finally coming off the craziness of the past few years and starting to settle into our new rhythm.  We have been either in the process of adopting or just adjusting to a new groove constantly over the past couple years and it has been really hard to find my mama bearings.  I can't believe we adopted 3 times in 2 1/2 years...  that just seems wild!  Especially since the hubby and I never really started out to have a big family... I have been quite sentimental lately and looking through old pics... I think it is funny because we all look so different...

I had all my hair chopped off as a gut reaction to finding out we were going to have THREE children.. I didn't know how I was going to handle being the mom of three...ha ha ha ha ha.  Little did I know :)  We feel so blessed as we truly feel like we have the coolest and best group of kiddos on earth, our hearts could pop with love and gratitude for each one of them...but reality..we are far from finding our groove for perfecting this parenting gig... We do have a load of fun though.  

Happy 4th Birthday Baby

This has been such an amazing year and my girl has grown up so much.

We even threw her a curve ball when we brought another child into the mix to vie for attention... we had figured it would mess her up.. but our girl has taken it all in stride and is actually Ty's favorite playmate.  

This one keeps me on my toes like no other.She is way too smart for her own good...and funny!  Oh my can she crack me up...

she also has this serious side that scares the be-geezers outta me.  Oh this girl is gonna give us a run for our money.  I love her with every bit of my soul... but I am ridiculously a bit skeered of the teenage years. 

  On another note... never saw this one coming but Mina's little birthday celebration was pretty hard to explain to our new little man.  He is always aware of who his getting the attention of the moment...

apparently he has not seen too many birthday parties because he was a bit confused and sad while Mina was being showered with attention, songs, and presents.  How do you explain birthdays when you have very limited language...better yet how do we explain that we still have 2 more kiddos with birthdays this week?

He obviously has no concept of Christmas either.  I don't know how he is going to handle the overwhelming excitement of Christmas morning... he will likely pop.  As the simple things like hot cocoa with marshmallows or a pez dispenser are enough to elicit hours of joy and excitement....  Oh goodness it's gonna be a fun few weeks :)

Here comes Santa...

What a week, is it just me or do the days in December go by faster than normal?  It must be part of that Christmas magic :)    We went to have breakfast with Santa this past weekend, a good time was had by all....  See my silly girls here... I realize...we don't do the norm and ask our kids what they want for Christmas all that often...  When Santa asked them, Kobi said, "Uhh, I would love some tic-tacs."  And then my little Finn says " Ci-tsh-ma TEEEE (translated: A Christmas Tree)"  

 Truth be told my Christmas shopping was done and wrapped before Thanksgiving... no not because I am organized, because I vowed last year that I would be done before Thanksgiving when the stress of the holidays sent me into a tail spin.  So asking the kids now what they want for Christmas is a bad idea...you just may find yourself fighting through the aisles of T@rget..  I am determined to enjoy the holidays this year, and so far my little plan worked... We also celebrate 3 of the little ones birthdays the week before Christmas...  Yeah,,, Chaos is our new normal :) 

We did get all 5 littles  sitting on Santas lap, all with somewhat pleasant looks on their faces... I wouldn't have put money on those odds..they just always keep me on my toes.    And this photo cracks me up... they had a man giving out Christmas tatoo's and the kids got to pick from several designs... He put one on Finn and then made a comment that no  kid had ever picked that design before...  it was a  Christmas HAM!!  I know the pic is hard to tell, but so stinkin' funny, that's our girl. 

My little man Ty.. loves to be a helper.. We did a 2nd Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and this little guy LOVED helping.. He rather help me cook and clean than play or watch TV... Watching TV is probably his very least favorite thing to do, he hates it and refuses to even look at the screen. 

We also busted out this Christmas tradition...  and I learned a lesson.  We waited for Collin to be home because he still has to be a part of certain traditions, I think he would have been heartbroken if he came home and saw this done without him.  But this is the last year that one Gingerbread house will be enough for this crew.

  When the candy and icing came out it was more like a free-for-all of who can apply the most candy the fastest.  Collin and Kobi could have spent hours making it perfect, but it just wasn't happening.  6 kids, 12 hands, 60 little fingers all clamoring at this poor little house...not pretty... next year I will need to either break it up by boys and girls... or by personality type..those who want it pretty and those who want it done...   

Here is Finn after she got busted for the third time with a mouthful of candy...

And here is our finished product....looks like hansel and gretel got sick all over it.

Hope you all are enjoying the Holiday season,  bundle up and have some cocoa...it's cold out there :)