Game night

The kids love playing “Go fish” and “War” (Cuatro thinks that he’s playing too)

Gingerbread Houses

Pudge’s 

Pequeño’s

Little Bear & Cuatro’s shared gingerbread house

Santa on the Firetruck

The kids were really excited to find out that Santa rides his Firetruck to our new house too. Unlike the previous years, we didn’t  know when he would be driving through so when Little Bear heard the siren and Christmas music playing, he yelled and they ran outside in what they were wearing so they wouldn’t miss it. (They put on their boots but Pequeño was wearing pajama pants and a short sleeve shirt). Unfortunately, Pudge was at a doctor appointment so he wasn’t able to see him but they did give the kids a candy cane for him. 

DARE Graduation

Little Bear was one of the students chosen to say the Pledge of Allegiance for his 5th grade DARE Graduation.

5th Grade Holiday Band Concert

This year, Little Bear will get to participate in a few concerts through his school band (last year there was only one). He had been excited to find out that they would be having a holiday themed concert in December. Earlier today, they performed it for the rest of the grades and it was broadcast by the school so I was able to watch it from home during the day. Tonight is their evening performance which Papa and Pudge went to. (Pudge had enjoyed it at school and wanted to hear them play the Grinch song again.)

The students were told to leave their instruments at school for tonight so I didn’t get a picture of him with it.

Before leaving, he decided to add a suit jacket

I can’t believe that in a few short weeks/days, this Little Bear will be turning 11.

Putting up the Christmas tree

Getting the tree up and decorated was it’s own adventure...

The trunk was a little bigger than expected...

But we got it into the house and standing easily. We didn’t have nearly enough lights so the decorating is a multi-day process. 

Papa put the star on from the loft

The stockings  were hung before the kids went to bed and they will be adding ornaments on the tree all throughout the week

Snowy days

The kids were so excited to find deer prints in the front yard and driveway 

They played outside and only came in for dry gloves, hats, scarves

Christmas Tree Hunting 2017

This year, our first snow of the season happened on a Saturday that Papa was home so we bundled up and headed out to get our Christmas Tree a week earlier than planned. We went to the tree farm that we always do. 

Sadly, Santa wasn’t there this year so they did not get a picture with him. We don’t know why he wasn’t there but we hope that he is okay. The kids always love chatting with him. 

Much like every year before this, we spent hours searching for the tree that Papa and the kids could agree upon.

This year, they wanted a very tall one since we have the high ceiling in the living room. 

Papa and Little Bear did most of the searching while the younger three and I followed along. Pudge and Pequeño were more interested in playing in the snow and Cuatro was in the front carrier until we found the tree. 

Found it!

It took quite a while to cut down so the kids played in the snow and took turns helping. One glove was lost in the fun...

The kids didn’t think that it would fit in the machine to bundle it...

Thankfully it did. 

On our way home, we got stuck on a hill. We were lucky to be able to back into a driveway and remain safely off of the road. While there, we saw many other cars become stuck and others sliding all over the road. We sat for a little over an hour (luckily the youngest two were asleep the whole time) and then a plow truck went by and also salted the road. They were clearing the opposite way than we were going so we decided to go that way and go to dinner before going home. 

We went to the same restaurant that we always go to after getting our tree.

Appetizers:

Advent/ Getting ready for Christmas

The kids Advent book countdown:
They decorated one of the little trees outside... (It’s currently our only outdoor decoration)

Pudge turns 7!

Pudge looks forward to having a surprise at his door every year when he wakes up. This year, we decided to make it even more of a surprise and used giant Jenga blocks. He thought that it was great and we could hear his laughter from the other side of the house when it fell. 

After lunch, we gave him his gifts. Pequeño had wrapped a few of his toys and gave them to him to open (he later asked for them back) 

One of his gifts was a little monkey that makes noise and interacts. It burps and toots which he thinks is hilarious. He loves it and has set up a little bed for it in his room.

He also recieved this game which we all loved. It’s a relay game and we had a blast playing it as a family. 

In the afternoon, we went to see the movie Coco. The little boy’s name is Miguel which is Pudge’s middle name so he has been begging to see it. They LOVED it! There was also a 20 minute short for Frozen before the movie which the kids also really liked. 

Afterwards, we went to Torre for dinner (Pudge’s favorite)

Happy Birthday, Pudge! We love you so much. You are a sweet, caring, sensitive, determined, rambunctious, strong, animal-loving, smart, excited about every day, boy and we can’t wait to see what this next year brings for you!