Christmas Traditions

One of my favorite childhood decorations is one I made in 3rd grade, a paper garland of Christmas lights.  I think I fell in love with holiday countdowns that year, after careful consideration on whether or not to recreate the paper strand of lights for the Nook I decided a traditional looped paper garland was in store for the boys.  Olaf is an amazing mind reader and brought all the supplies from the North Pole for us.

We had so much fun looking at all the cute Christmas themed strips of paper Olaf brought us.  Carter and Ethan did such an amazing job creating their garlands, I helped Dax with his.  And in the end the trees look amazing with the 23 loops signifying how many days until the big man arrives!

We hope everyone had a fabulous day!!

xoxo - j

He's Baaacccckkkk!!!

Our friendly family scout elf, Olaf, is back for the 2018 holiday season! Hooray!!  He flew in last night and worked his little elfin fingers to the bone preparing our 6th annual Snowflake Breakfast!

The pipsqueaks could not believe their eyes when they came down the hall expecting a quick breakfast before our first event of the day.  We turned on the light and low and behold Olaf was perched atop three tiers of breakfast confections on a Christmas themed table.

A gentle reminder not to touch was largely targeted at the youngest pipsqueak!  Alternating looks of confusion and pure excitement lit up those sweet faces.

While we ate, I did the honor of reading Olaf's book for the first time of the season.  There was lots of banter about what Olaf has up his sleeve this holiday season as well as whether or not Olaf hibernates during the summer.  A rare and memorable breakfast all together for sure!!

We had a full day of Santaland at the kid's school first thing and then Olaf brought us tickets to ride the Candycane Express in Virginia City (more to come on that later).  It was a day full of holiday cheer. 

The decorations are mostly up and Olaf has arrived...Christmas has now OFFICIALLY commenced in the Nook!!

xoxo - j

Hodge Podge Wednesday

We may have kicked off Christmas, but there are still two days left of November, two whole days before our actual Christmas shenanigans kick off in these parts.  Ethan, Carter, Dax and I gathered 'round the little red table to enjoy the remnants of the Thanksgiving leftovers and enjoy the first ever screening  of A Christmas Story.

I love days like these - coming home after a long day at work/school and just being able to relax and enjoy each other's company.  This all started when we noticed one of the houses by the school has a Ralphie in a bunny suit in the window and the kids had no point of reference to what that was, they just though it was creepy and weird...I thought it was hilarious and maybe a little creepy.  Overall I think the pipsqueaks really enjoyed it and thus it will be added to our extensive must-watch Christmas movie list.

After the boys were all snuggled in their beds, Trevor and I  had our annual date-night Christmas Vacation screening.  Hands down my favorite Christmas movie of all time.

It's been a memorable week of family fun so far!!

xoxo - j

Ten-Seven-Four

Today I held tight to my bright, precocious, somewhat silly and extremely strong-willed children.  As the years pass I try to ingrain in my memory the sheer essence of them.  Their long eyelashes, their quirky little dimples, their wiry frames, baby teeth, their unbounded energy, innocent compassion and theatrical antics.  They are certainly something else, and I love them with all my heart!

Mini pancakes and waffles seemed fitting for this overcast Tuesday morning.  We all talked about what the day held in store for us and I let a little cat out of the bag that I had surprise waiting again tonight after school!

The big boys played their requisite pre-school video game and chatted about what could possibly be in store for tonight, I mean we had already seen Santa and our scout elf hasn't arrived yet, so what could it even be?!

These are the faces of three very intrigued children waiting on baited breath and looking forward to an amazing day at school. 

After a fab day of school we wrapped up our day at Chuck E. Cheese, the hopping Tuesday night party locale of choice!

And last but  not least, we wrapped up our day with a couple of very tuckered out boys...one would monkey around all night if I let him.  There is no better end to a Tuesday than the sweet faces of a sleeping 10 year old.

This is Ten - Seven - and - Four!  I love you boys to infinity and beyond!!

xoxo - j

Commencing The Nook Christmas 2018

Cue the sounds of the season and haul out the red and green, it's officially time for The Nook Christmas 2018 to begin.

Our first stop, Santa's Workshop at Meadowood.  We checked our lists twice before paying a visit to the jolly old elf himself for a few memorable minutes of pure animated holiday chatter and the requisite photo taking.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas lean your ear this way...don't you tell a single sole what I'm about to say...

Ethan wants a Red Sox Wold Series hat; Carter wants Michael Jackson everything and Daxton wants a Power Wheels police car...

After whispering our most desired wishes to the big man, we had to snap a photo behind the gigantic tree before heading home for an evening of giggles and the start of all the Christmas magic this season has to offer.

It is THE most wonderful time of the year!!

xoxo - j

Thankful

Thanksgiving is three days past and our weekend was bursting with blessings.  Of all the countdowns we do around these parts, writing out our thankful leaves each day leading up to Thanksgiving is by far one of my favorites.  We've put away our Thankful Tree, but today I am so thankful for our family and the bonds we have with each other.  I am so thankful we got to be a part of a very special girl's baptism day, it was such a special moment and one I will cherish forever.

After spending our morning at SCF and being part of such a special moment for their cousin the boys were chalk full of questions about being baptized and we talked at great length about whether or not they would want to be baptized.  I think these are questions I will pass along to my very good friend and their Sunday School/Kids Club teacher!!  Congratulations Isabella, we are so proud of you and love you so so much!!

Thankful today & every day!!

xoxo - j

Thanksgiving Break Fun

The kids have been out of school since Wednesday, and though I had to work the full day before Thanksgiving I have spent the majority of our holiday weekend making sure it was NON-STOP fun around these parts!

We saw Ralph Wrecks the Internet and ate the appropriate amount of popcorn and candy!!

We Youtubed and Fortnite-d...even the littlest little got involved!

And last but not least we hosted Team Brunch before the State Semi-Final game.  Manogue vs. Arbor View was certainly a nail-biter, but after a hard fought game Manogue came away victorious!!  Las Vegas here we come!!

Before the weekend is over we still have a baptism and a live nativity to attend.  Not to mention packing up fall decor and pulling down Christmas!!!!  I LOVE HOLIDAYS!!

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to you and yours!!

xoxo - j

First Day of School 2018

The much anticipated first day of school went off without a hitch!  As soon as the alarm buzzed I was down the hall, gently waking the boys for their first day of the new school year.  Not two seconds later I had three boys bounding down the hall excitedly chattering about what their first days in the Lions Pre-K, Mrs. B & Mr. C's 1st Grade and Mrs. M's 4th Grade had in store for them this school year.  Good heavens!!! (I was picturing notes home that my kids just couldn't stop talking and who could these irresponsible parents be?!)

All dressed with faces washed, teeth brushed, hair combed and chores done in record time it was finally time for breakfast.  It's tradition in The Nook to have pancakes and chocolate milk for the first day of school each year.  Our little students were all smiles!

Afterwards we headed out to start our morning rounds of dropping off the littlest pipsqueak first and working our way back to the elementary school.  We got to Lion & Lamb and Dax, to my tearful wave and "I love you" bounded off with one of his little friends and didn't even look back.  My heart actually hurt at this point!

So what does any crazy first day of school mom do?! Why, I relied on the other two to be a little sad I was dropping them off at their first day of course!  No such luck, and in reality I'm glad my kids love to go to school and were excited for today.  I was able to help Carter and Ethan both find their seats in the classrooms, unpack their back packs and plant one more kiss on their sweet little faces.  I'm SO glad I did that!!  Behold the faces of pure bliss...

Though we are 5 years in to this whole school thing the first day of school is always a day of new beginnings for us.  The smartest, funniest kids I know get to embrace a new experience.  I am SO unabashedly proud of my boys for bravely and happily heading off to another great year of school.  And we are all eager to do it again tomorrow!!

Sweet dreams are in order in The Nook tonight!

xoxo - j

Back to School Eve

Well, it's the night before school around these parts.  All at the request of the boys we had Lucky Charms for breakfast, went to church, then had a mellow afternoon around the house, made cookies, jumped on the trampoline and had spaghetti for dinner.

We took the boys up to the school this evening to snap a few pics since I'm quite sure tomorrow will be too crazy or I will be blinded by my own tears (quite likely both).

And now I've packed the backpacks, made tomorrow's lunches and snacks, laid out our first day outfits, chatted and tucked the littles into bed.

Everything is ready for tomorrow...except me =)

xoxo - j