iPhone Unload {November 2015}

 

Pictures (top to bottom, L to R): a new love for popsicles, Kolter loves to read his books, Sawyer made a new bed, check out Sawyer's prayer request in Sunday school (sorry buddy, not going to happen), Kolter being indoctrinated into the Royals nation, Kolter working on his football skills

 Pictures (top to bottom, L to R): flying super girl, selfie time and miracle of all miracles we are all smiling, "look it's my Mom" Nora says to every mannequin, a girl's night requirement…ice cream, some days we have figurative mountains to climb other days it's literal mountains…if anyone needs me I will be folding laundry until the end of time #laundryday #atleastitisclean #waisthighlaundry, selfie at game night, snuggles with my sick kiddies, sweet sibling love, my Spider/Super/Football man…Kolter's a jack of all trades ;)

Friendsgiving & a Feast

The Lord has blessed me with some great friend groups in Ohio. This was our 2nd annual Friendsgiving with some of my favorite people!

This year instead of traditional Thanksgiving food we had a Mexican fiesta.

our attempt at a selfie

After the wonderful meal we played our own version of Celebrity Game Night. The girls totally won, both in score and in life because we got to see all the guys wear animal print night masks ;)

A few days later we had our monthly girls night. We meet at someone's house at 8 pm each month and we stay up into the wee hours talking, laughing and crying together. On this particular evening we were celebrating my birthday, Jen's birthday and Christmas. We decided to do a "favorite things" gift exchange.

It was so much fun to see what everyone brought. The parameters were a $5 price limit and something that was your favorite thing. It was so fun to see everyone's gifts and how it fit their personality.

The gifts included a favorite type of Apple (Johnnie Gold), Advent calendar, peanut M&M's, a special family cookie recipe (plus cookies), roses, tulip bulbs, gloves and no-crease hair ties.

Speaking of friends because we stayed in Ohio for Thanksgiving the kids were able to participate in the Feast at their school. The feast is a school potluck where the kids get to select their dish. Nora chose PB&J's and Sawyer chose pasta with cheese (as in plain pasta with parmesan cheese ;)

Their school doesn't have a holiday concert, so they put on a little show at the feast! As Sawyer was walking up to sing he came running back with a look of panic. He was scared to stand in front of everyone. When we explained he was going to sing the praise songs he loved he lit up and ran to the stage. So thankful he was able to overcome his fear so he could sing some of his favorite songs. He even did the actions, which is unprecedented for our big guy! Have I mentioned I love his school!?

My little guy singing his heart out

Nora picked a difficult spot to photograph, but she too sang with her class

These kids are all part of the Malone football family and have been friends since birth! So thankful for all their lives!

My little fish

While we were in CO we went swimming. Papa captured some shots that were too cute not to post.

Here's to swimming in the winter…always a special treat!

Kolter was a bit timid at first

But once Nora showed him how to splash, he was all smiles

During a break we managed to get all the cousins in the same frame

Sawyer surprised me! He was pretty fearless…mostly because he could touch the bottom, but he was a busy bee going down all the slides, getting splashed and doggy paddling.

Kolter taking a little break (can you tell he is our ham?) before attempting...

slides! Yes, this 1 year old went down the slides by himself (of course he was supervised :)

Brave little thing!

Group Hug {Christmas Card Outtakes}

This year I decided to take on the Christmas card pictures myself. We got the kids all dolled up, took them to a field during the golden hour and tried to capture their personality on film.

After we subjected the kids to a whole 10 minutes of picture taking the sweetest thing happened…they went in for a totally unprompted group hug.

Oh, how sweet!

However, it quickly turned into a choke hold on the littlest one.

Who then fought back ;)

Oh, the sweet ups and downs of raising these 3 blessings!

Thankful Thanksgiving

We had a low-key, family focused turkey day. After all the traveling Kyle and I have been doing over the last 2 months we decided to forgo our trip to Kansas and spend the holiday at home. It was a tough decision because we've always traveled to family for Thanksgiving, but it was a much needed break!

We decided since it was our 1st Thanksgiving with just our family of 5 we would do something very low key. Kyle made a turkey tenderloin, stuffing and bacon wrapped green beans. My only request was black olives. The kids and I made dessert. It was delicious and just perfect for our family.

During dinner we went around the table to say what we were thankful for:

Sawyer-milk, pickles and Christ coming to earth (he then broke out into song, He comes from heaven to earth to show the way, from the earth to the sky, my debt to pay...)
Nora: Lambie
Kyle: a job to provide for our family
Kristen: our home and health
Kolter: he pled the 5th ;)

It was a beautiful fall day with temperatures in the '60's so after dinner we took a walk around the neighborhood.

After the walk it was rest/nap time. After sleeping off the turkey coma we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening decorating for Christmas. The kids had a blast unpacking the Christmas decorations and finding the perfect place for each piece. They did a great job decorating the tree too.

It was a low key day and we are so thankful for the rest and quality time with one another.  And don't worry we weren't too lonely the rest of the break we spent eating with friends and family (Wednesday we went to a friends house, Saturday we had Schenksgiving with Cliff and Jess and Saturday night we had a friend over to our house for dinner).

Having a slower break has helped us remember to stop and thank the Lord for all his many blessings. We are especially joyous as we enter this holiday season!