New Year's Eve

We are a boring old married couple with 3 young kids, and the Officer often has to work New Year's Eve, so we don't usually have exciting NYE plans.  This year though, we had exciting plans. My dear friend and college roomie, Lauren and her husband had a big group of our college friends (10 adults and 7 kids under the age of 4) over for NYE. They made us a delicious dinner, complete with all kinds of options for lots of different food allergies.... these friends are so kind. The kids all played and laughed, and then they toasted a New Year of their short lives with sparkling cider.

We put all the kiddos to bed with minimal (or frequent) crying, waking up babies, and trips to the potty, but eventually they were all asleep for a few hours at a time.  Then the men smoked cigars in the freezing cold and the women stayed warm inside talking and drinking. We told stories, remembered college, anticipated unborn babies, told really good Catholic jokes (some were missing the punch lines) laughed, and laughed. At 11:58 we decided we should watch the ball drop, so we turned on the tv just in time to miss the ball drop, but we toasted, hugged, and kissed. Then we talked some more, played 7 Wonders, laughed some more, and eventually at some late hour that I usually reserve for late-night feedings, we all reluctantly wandered to bed, only to be woken up 4 hours later by energetic toddlers. It was a night I want to remember. Thank you Lauren for hosting such a fun night- I vote that we make this an annual tradition!

12 in 2014

I'm joining HouseUnseen for a link-up of 12 photos in 2014. This was my first year blogging, and I loved going back through the year and remembering all the fun we had this year. It was an incredible year, and I'm truly blessed. 

We started January with a new (to us) minivan so that we'd be able to fit our third baby, who would be arriving in the summer. We sold my old car in our first experience using Craigslist, and everyone was excited to make room for a new baby. We spent the rest of the month enjoying snow, and independent Belle turned 3. 

We spent February surviving more snow (and I was slightly dramatic about it). Our cheerful little Bug turned 2, and we had a Magic School Bus birthday party for both girls. 

March was a low-key month with some more snow and a lot of toddler illness. 

April is always my favorite month.  The Officer and I celebrated our 4th anniversary weekend at a beautiful resort and were both so grateful for this wonderful marriage. We spent my spring break visiting one of my sisters and had a prefect Easter. 

We had a hot May, and the Officer was able to refinish our  front porch. May was a big month, because my preschoolers had their last day of school, and then I became a SAHM. 

We spent June doing all kinds of fun things before the baby came. The Officer and I took the girls on an incredible weekend get-away to the beach, and we enjoyed some ice cream trips, time at the mall splash park, and lots and lots of outdoor time. It was a fun month to end our time as a family of 4, and it was topped off with some beloved family moving back from across the country! I honestly thought baby number 3 was going to arrive in June, so I spent the end of the month waiting and waiting.....

In July our third baby finally decided to make an appearance 10 days past her due date. It was a crazy, exciting day, and then we spent the rest of the month soaking in our newborn. She was a cute, sweet, happy newborn. July was a perfect month.

August was a month of firsts for our little lady. She went to her first wedding, she made her first day trip to the beach, she went on her first airplane, and she attended a 90th birthday party. The highlight of the month was when she was baptized and joyfully welcomed into the Catholic Church.

September was another busy month. The Officer finished our powder room renovation, we met a new baby cousin, we spent lots of evenings at the tennis court, the Officer had a birthday, the girls went to Frozen on Ice, we all enjoyed Oktoberfest, and everyone else went back to school, but all the Mik girls stayed home and played instead. 

I thought September was busy, but October turned out to be even crazier. The Officer and I went on a ziplining date, the Officer demolished our Master bathroom. That renovation got put on hold, and our schedules got out of control when I went back to work as a long-term sub, and the Officer and I juggled watching the 3 girls and working. We finished the month with a fantastic Halloween, and the girls loved their Frozen costumes their Aunt made them. 

Things calmed down with a pretty quiet November. SuperDad held down the fort easily while I worked part-time throughout all of November, and the month flew by. We were so happy that we got to visit all of our family for Thanksgiving and met another new baby cousin. 

December was fast and fun. In a desperate attempt to figure out the food allergies of my baby girl, the Officer and I started off the month deciding to go on the Whole30 diet (today is our last day!!!). We fit in all of our favorite Christmas traditions with a trip to see Santa, the tacky light tour, numerous Advent calendars, and a school Nativity play. I finished teaching and became a SAHM again, and we had a magical Christmas with both our families (and yet another new baby cousin!). 

Preparing for Christmas

One week until Christmas, and today was my last day of school! Our Advent has been pretty hectic, but wonderful, and hopefully the girls are feeling the great anticipation of Christ's birth. Today our beautiful Nativity finally made it out of the attic, and the Advent candles arrived last week, so it's looking a little like Christmas at our house. I love all of our Christmas traditions, and the girls seem to be enjoying them too.... 

We started Advent with a fun family evening decorating the tree and listening to Christmas music. This year the girls were old enough to really decorate the tree with only a few directions from me. I did the fragile ones and they took care of the rest with some reminders that it usually looks better when there aren't 3 ornaments on the same branch. I have so many fond memories of tree decorating with my family growing up, and I hope that my girls will some day too. 

Of course St. Nicholas arrived on his feast day with a few pieces of candy for the girls, and my mouth watered while they ate their Reese's. 

Then we made a surprisingly successful trip to visit St. Nicholas. Last year neither of the girls would sit on his lap, but look at the picture we got this year! I made a huge deal about them showing their baby sister how to do it, and man did they deliver. They happily walked up, sat on his lap, said cheese, and walked away. This is our 4th year going to this Santa at Bass Pro Shop, and he is the best. We also go on a weekday afternoon when everyone is in school... there was 1 person in front of us in line, the whole thing was free, and then we got to go visit the fish afterward. 

Some women collect shoes or purses, but I collect Advent calendars. Every year the Officer has to remind me that we don't need another one, but I always find an excuse to get a new one. We currently have 4 in our house that the girls get to do each morning. This is our new magnetic one that the girls like to use as a backdrop for their Nativity.  I'm obsessed. 

Another of our favorite traditions is the tacky light tour in our city. Every year after dinner we load up the car and spend 2 hours driving to different houses on the tacky light tour. Last night we got to do this with the girls, and they loved it! 

Tonight I'm taking the girls out individually to buy presents for their sisters, and then we are visiting family, wrapping presents, and relaxing until Christmas. It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

A Halloween worth melting for

We had such a fun Halloween this year... majorly improved from last year's Halloween when I failed in every way possible. Last year I planned our family's Pumpkin Day, and we drove 45 minutes to a fabulous pumpkin patch, only to find that it was closed for field trips during the week, and my two toddlers did not count as homeschooling.  Then on Halloween the Officer was working, so I took the girls trick-or-treating by myself. We walked out the front door, and I realized I had forgotten their candy baskets and (much more importantly) my keys to the house. I frantically called the Officer, who had to leave work and drive 30 minutes home to unlock the door for me. The girls were also wearing second-hand lame costumes that I chose for them. So last year Halloween was kinda not so great, but this year... this year was perfect.

this year the girls were old enough to help clean out their pumpkins

The Officer's awesome Papal flag pumpkin. Just in case anyone in the neighborhood was wondering how much we love being Catholic....

The week before Halloween we went to a really fun pumpkin patch 10 minutes from our house. We enjoyed the hayride, moon bounce, pumpkin launcher, straw maze, perfect weather, and found 5 good pumpkins. Then we easily drove 10 minutes home in time for lunch and naps. Pumpkin Day this year was a success! 

"Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs"

For the first time in years, the Officer was off for Halloween!! Weeks ago (right after we watched Frozen on Ice) the big girls asked if they could be Anna and Elsa for Halloween, and their Aunt Mantha delivered. Oh boy did she deliver. She sewed them beautiful dresses, and made a little Olaf hat for their little sister. She also made homemade costumes for all 4 of her boys. She is superwoman. I'm going to have to do an entire post just on the 7 costumes she made, because they were all awesome.

homemade Anna, Olaf, and Elsa costumes on some very excited little girls

We joined the Mikboys (Aunt Mantha's family), our friend Miesha, and a lot of other friends from our Church Mom's group at the Little Sister's of the Poor nursing home. I don't know who thought of this fantastic idea, but everyone with little kids needs to do it. We donate some candy a week early, and then we bring our children in their trick-or-treating at the nursing home (indoor, not dark, not cold, no streets, minimal walking...). The sweet elderly residents get hours of adorable little visitors, stopping by their rooms, saying "trick-or-treat", and showing off their costumes. It is perfect, and I hope we get to do it every year.

Then we went over to the Mikboy house for some dinner and some neighborhood trick-or-treating.... their neighborhood gives out the good candy. You know... king size bars, snickers, skittles.... only one pack of pretzels and no candy corn. I got to watch Belle run through the yards holding hands with her Godmama singing "Let it go". I got to watch Bug smiling from ear to ear in her pink cape that she waited and waited to wear. I got to push a chubby cheek Olaf in the stroller all night, and she never cried once, even though I didn't let her have a single piece of candy :). I got to watch so much joy from my girls, my nephews, our "frezins", and every little child I saw along the way. Oh I also saw an incredible Transformer costume on a friend (complete with sound effects as he "transformed")... it was worth remembering! Then we had a big sleepover and were ever so thankful that the Mikboys moved back from the West coast.

The girls are blessed with some incredible "Frezins"

This Halloween was a good one. Holidays can't always be magical, but this one was.

Fall Fun

I'm linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary, and I'm finally writing down what we've been up to this fall. I've been in denial that summer is actually over. Fall means winter is coming and winter is just the worst, but we've been having so much fun the last few weeks.

1. Belle has been asking the Officer to teach her how to play tennis for months, but we never had the time. So the last few weeks we've all gone out a few times to play, and she has loved it!

2. We've also hit up our favorite playground a few times and walked to the neighborhood slide on beautiful fall evenings.

3. Frozen on Ice. What an amazing night. Aunt Mantha wanted to take her Goddaughter (Belle) to it, and Bug and I tagged along for a super fun girls night out. The girls squealed and laughed and smiled the entire time. It was so magical to watch their joy!

4. Every fall our church has an awesome Oktoberfest that raises money for some of the local Catholic schools. We always have a great time at Oktoberfest. I hear that the beer is excellent (ew I hate beer). I can vouch for the delicious food, and there is a kidzone that my kids love. The KidZone had a moon bounce and a huge blow-up slide, different bean bag toss games, and face painting. We all had a great afternoon at Oktoberfest, and my sweet little baby just napped in her stroller the whole time.

Belle wanted her face paint to be "scary", and that's what it was. Bug's was worse though, because it didn't come off well, and the next morning she had blue circles around her eyes at Mass.

5. The following weekend our little town had a fall festival, which was packed and FREE. You park at the local High School and a trolley takes you down to "The Village Green" where they have tons and tons of tents full of different vendors, food trucks, and a kidzone that I wish I was small enough to play in! They had face painting, bull riding, a dunk booth, moon bounce, a blow-up maze, dancing, and more.... Did I mention that all of that was FREE?!?! We packed lunches, and the only money we spent the whole day was buying the girls ice cream at the end.

6. Also, this fall we have decided to tackle a few more home renovations. The Officer spent a week renovating our powder room, and this week he did the demo on our master bathroom. The master bath reno is going to be a long project I'm sure....

Here is the finished powder room. Hard to get a good picture of such a small bathroom, but I love it! 

7. So this season is off to a great start for us, and now we get to start doing all the fun Halloween activities! Next year when I get all depressed that summer is ending, someone remind me that fall is pretty incredible too. And here is a picture of the littlest Mik (and all of her chins) hanging out with one of her buddies. She is always so chill for all of our family adventures.

Baptism

I never posted about Third little girl's Baptism that occurred a month ago. Life is so busy, but I definitely don't want to forget her special day. Her Baptism was absolutely beautiful, and we got to share it with so many wonderful friends and family. We had a joint Baptism with one of our friends from Church, whose adorable baby boy is just 2 weeks younger than our lady.

We asked our dear friends Lauren and Patrick to be the Godparents of our Third little girl. The Officer and I were in CCM with them in College, and Lauren and I were roommates for a few wonderful years. I still remember very fondly the first double date that we went on with this amazing couple. Their marriage is beautiful, and they are incredible parents to two young boys, so we knew they would be perfect Godparents. I know they will be praying fiercely for our little lady as she grows, and be great Catholic role models- plus it means they are forced to remain friends with us for the rest of their lives- and now I can give Lauren a guilt trip any time she doesn't answer her phone ;)

We did the Baptism in the Old Rite, which was beautiful and means the Godparents hold the baby the entire time. I don't think they minded....

After the Baptism we had a fun reception full of so many family and friends. Our little girls are very loved, and I hope they always know that.

My Mom of course was there for yet another Baptism- she has been to so many Sacraments over the years for her 29 grandchildren. She and my Dad are awesome Grandparents. My sister D came just one week after moving back home from across country, and we are so happy to have her and her family nearby now!

It was such a joyful day to welcome another little girl into the Catholic Church, and I hope she grows to appreciate this incredible faith.

I hope we can help get these 3 little souls to Heaven some day. Thank goodness we also have so many friends and family praying for them!

Babymoon?

So I have heard of these things people go on called Babymoons.  I thought we should go on a little mini-vacation before this baby comes.  I think a babymoon is supposed to be a romantic get away just for Mom and Dad, but ours was a family vacation, and it was perfect. 

We live about 2 hours from the beach, so we packed up and headed to the beach with two very excited girls. We got an oceanfront hotel room for a night and spent 2 days hanging out on the beach. Every second was magical for my little toddlers. Neither of them had ever stayed in a hotel room, so they thought the hotel was just incredible. Belle got a huge comfy queen bed all to herself and looked like a little princess. Each ride on the elevator was just as exciting as the last, and getting to push the button for the floor was thrilling. These were all the little exciting things the girls loved in addition to the actual beach!

The beach was pure Heaven for them. I don't know why we haven't done this little trip more often. Both girls are at the perfect ages to enjoy a full day on the beach. Neither of them are at the crawling/eating sand stage, and they both did just fine staying on the beach all day and skipping naps (though I was shocked sleepy Bug was still walking at the end of the day). 

So like most little girls in 2014 Belle loves to sing "Let it go"(well her made-up version mashed together with "Do you want to build a snowman"), but she always sings it as loud as humanly possible. I've tried so many times to get her to sing it quietly, but she has informed me that Elsa sings it loudly in Frozen. The song is literally banned in my house before 8:30 am. So during the 2 hour car trip to the beach she was singing it at full volume, and mean Mom over here insisted that it stop. The conversation went like this:

Me: "Belle you can only sing in a nice quiet singing voice in the car."

Belle: "Mom, Elsa sings it loudly in Frozen."

Me: "I know she does, but that's because she is on a mountain, not in a car."

Belle: "Well I need to sing it loudly like Elsa does."

Me: "No. If Elsa were in a car I'm sure she'd sing quietly, and the next time you are on top of a mountain you can sing it as loudly as you want."

When I made that last statement the Officer gave me a little sideways glance from the driver's seat and questioned the promise I had just made to my 3-year-old about singing as loudly as she wants.

I shrugged and asked him how often are we ever on mountains, and the conversation with Belle ended. 

Fast forward a few hours and we were all happily sitting on the beach. The Officer and I were lounging in our beach chairs chatting about our beautiful day while the girls were digging a huge hole in the sand. All of a sudden Belle jumps on the pile of sand she has created from her digging and at the very top of her lungs for all the nice sunbathers to enjoy she screamed "LET IT GO! LET IT GO......." When I finished laughing hysterically I said, "Why are you screaming?!?!", and she very matter-of-factly pointed to the mound of sand she was standing on and said, "This is a mountain, so I can sing loudly". Touché my clever girl. Touché. 

We spent 2 wonderful days playing in the sand and jumping in the waves. I just love this age when they are happy to spend entire days on the beach with Mommy and Daddy. They found joy in every tiny detail of our trip, and I love seeing the world through their eyes. 

I couldn't possibly love these 3 people more =)

We've been back for two weeks, and of course every day they have pretended to be at the beach. They lay blankets down on the floor and pretend they are on the sand, and the kitchen is the ocean where they jump over waves. 

It wasn't quite the romantic get-away that you might think a Babymoon is supposed to be, but for us it was perfection.  I think it's pretty romantic to spend time with my husband watching our little children have two absolutely magical days. It's funny how vacations change when you're a parent :) Now we are ready to meet our little baby and add even more joy to our family!