Jack The Artist

Jack has always been so into art and writing. I have loved watching his abilities develop over the years and now in Kindergarten he has just taken off! His teacher has commented to me a few times how impressed she is with his writing and drawing. I had to capture a few pictures he brought home last week

I love the details he adds - the flowers and the lightening coming from the dark clouds and the smoke coming from the chimneys 

The other week he surprised me with this picture that he drew and wrote all by himself. He did not ask me how to spell a single word and I was so impressed! He was very proud

Neighborhood Cookie Exchange

I decided to start a cookie exchange party for all the ladies in our neighborhood (the surrounding streets Kincaid, harvest, Delphos and Beredith). This will be an annual thing and the first year was a great start!! Everyone was so excited about the event. It was difficult to pick a date because so many people have busy evenings this month but we still had a great showing! 20 woman came and brought cookies and wine and we had a blast! My house was all lit up for Christmas and we all enjoyed exchanging cookies and drinking wine until after midnight! I couldn’t believe how great it turned out! Already looking forward to hosting again next year!  We feel so blessed with this amazing neighborhood we moved into and how welcoming everyone has been! 

We all came home with an awesome assortment of goodies!! 

My house felt so festive and cozy that night!

Saint Nicholas Day!

St. Nicholas Day might as well be Christmas! So much excitement around our house for that special day! This year was even better because our new parish (Nativity) does a beautiful St. Nicholas Eve celebration at the church. The children all come with their families and sing and pray with St. Nicholas and then receive a gift from him (prayer card, saint medal, orange and a chocolate coin). I was at work that evening but joe was able to bring the 4 kids and he said it was soo sweet! 

Saint Nicholas visited our house that night as well and the kids were so excited to wake up to their shoes filled! 

Omi and Opa also dropped off an adorable tray of St. Nicholas treats!

Sewing with Omi!

Omi has always been such an amazing sewer and the kids had a great time learning from her how to make a bag! We headed to the fabric store and I let the kids pick out whatever fabric they wanted. We then went to Omi’s house to start sewing. Omi took turns with each kid cutting out the pattern, sewing the fabric and then attaching the strap. A very quick and simple project for Omi but the kids just thought it was the coolest thing ever! They have been using their bags to carry around all their special things the last few weeks 

Sewing break to feed her baby 😍

Thank you Omi!! You are so talented! 

One Month!

Charlotte Marie (quite some time ago) turned one month old! What a blessing you are to our family! You had a quiet first month sleeping soo much and being snuggled around the clock. You are cuddly and tiny and oh so perfect! 

You met a lot of our friends this month, took a ton of walks, opened your eyes a few times, took a bath, went on a few outings, slept through your siblings silliness, and somehow (for the 4th time around) managed to completely shock your Mama and Papa about how much their hearts can grow to love another child. You are absolutely perfect little Charlotte! 

Thanksgiving

We had such a relaxing thanksgiving weekend this year! No traveling, no visitors, no plans! It was the best long weekend with joe off work and jack home from school! 

Thanksgiving day we went to a turkey trot in the morning and it felt so great to get out in the crisp weather for some exercise. We then built a fire, drank coffee, made a delicious brunch and played board games and napped until heading to Aunt Theresa’s for a huge feast with the Ricke clan. 

The young cousins were showing some hilarious face swapping things on their phones making us older people laugh so hard! 

Lots of singing with Aunt Lisa, snuggles with the cousins and treats snuck in their mouths by Oma!

The weekend was also spent hiking with the Meyers and sharing a homemade thanksgiving feast with them, decorating for Christmas, having cousins over for a wine night, and I got to run and get coffee with a few Xu teammates!

I have so many different types of pine around my yard and a big holly tree so was able to get creative and make a few things for around the house