Holidays

It's hard to believe 2017 is already here! The last seven weeks have been a blur as we packed in so much activity and time with family.

A rare moment when Micah and I were both home WITHOUT the kids. I dropped the kids off at preschool and he had stayed home that morning so that he could go to the preschool Thanksgiving performance with me.

The preschool Thanksgiving performance was quite entertaining, although Faith didn't even attempt to sing a single word and she started picking her nose at the end when announcements were being made. Everyone contributed to a potluck "feast" afterwards (and now Micah and I have vowed to find a way not to eat at these large group events ever again as we both ended up with the stomach bug days later!).

We went to Denver for the week of Thanksgiving, but we decided to take our time getting there since Micah's parents' house is only slightly out of the way and it nicely broke up our drive. We stopped at this tiny cafe for pizza on our way to Monte Vista.

Unfortunately Jack was sick with the stomach bug the first evening we were at Micah's parents' and Micah felt quite sick for about 24 hours as well, so our drive up to Denver was delayed another night so that the boys could recover. Jack felt great the next morning (kids recover so much more quickly than adults!) so he and the girls enjoyed playing outside at Grammy and Grandpa's house.

We stayed at Micah's sister's house in Denver Monday evening through Saturday morning, and it was fun to see the kids play with their cousins. Sadly, I came down with the stomach bug on Tuesday night (I was vomited on when Jack got sick so it was hard to avoid getting sick) so I was just starting to feel better on Thanksgiving day. We spent Thanksgiving afternoon and evening with some of Micah's old high school friends in Denver. We hoped to spend more of our trip doing fun things as a family, but my being sick put a damper on our plans.

Originally we were going to drive back through Monte Vista on our way home from Denver, but it had been a long week with three of us being sick so we decided to attempt the seven hour drive in one day. It went surprisingly well as we learned that frequent, short breaks are key to keeping our kids comfortable and happy. We did the seven hour drive in only eight hours with stops! The extra day at home over the weekend allowed us to decorate for Christmas as a family and the kids were actually quite helpful this year.

We also did a little yard work as our tree out front had dropped all of its leaves when we were in Denver. Again, the kids were surprisingly helpful.

Micah had to travel for work the week after Thanksgiving, so my mom came to town to help me with the kids. Her first night in town we went to the River of Lights at the Botanic Garden. It was cold, but everyone enjoyed it.

The entire week my mom was in town was quite cold, but we got outside a little bit as it helps the kids burn off some of their crazy energy.

Micah came home on Thursday night and my mom left late Friday morning, but my 20 week ultrasound was scheduled for early Friday morning so she was able to babysit while we went to the ultrasound. We were all very excited to find out that we are adding a boy to the family!

We started a new family tradition this year of opening a Christmas book every day in December leading up to Christmas day. It didn't take long for the kids to understand that they had to take turns opening books each day, and they seemed to look forward to the new books.

We did a lot of baking during December as I think my sweet tooth has been even more out of control during this pregnancy. The kids enjoy helping, although I honestly don't let them do much yet as I'm quite a germ-a-phobe. 

One afternoon I decided to get crafty and the kids made some very simple Christmas ornaments for our tree. We had some random supplies in the house and I kept it very simple...all they had to do was glue, but they were quite proud.

Micah had to travel for work again, so his mom came to town to help me with the kids (I feel very fortunate that the grandmas are so willing to help with the kids... especially since I'm pregnant and lacking some energy!). We took the kids to see Santa and although they were excited about going, they all panicked when they saw him. I had already decided we would buy the photos since we made the effort to get to the mall, so Karen and I sat down with Santa and the kids. At least it was memorable!

Faith and Jack smiled a bit by the tree near Santa, but Lexi just pouted.

The preschool Christmas performance was in the evening and it started at 7:00, which is normally our kids' bedtime so they were quite tired by the time they got on stage. This time Faith attempted to sing along to some of the songs, but Jack and Lexi were not into it at all. Micah missed this concert since he was out of town for work, but Karen was able to go with me.

Grammy, the kids, and I made spritz cookies for our church Community Group Christmas party. Micah made it back in time for this event.

The last day of school before break was pajama day, and all three kids thought this was great! Both girls wanted to wear the pink pajamas, so we compromised and split the pair between them.

Micah's mom actually flew down to Albuquerque from Alamosa, so his dad drove to ABQ for the weekend and then they drove back to CO together. We decided to take advantage of having grandparents in town and go car shopping. This is one of the few things we need to do in preparation for our new baby, and we knew that the end of the year is usually the best time to buy a car. We ended up getting a great deal on a Yukon XL. The kids are very excited to now be forward facing (our goal was to make it to age 4, but the third row of the Yukon is actually too small for rear facing car seats, so we turned everyone around). The first time they rode forward facing they were extreme backseat drivers telling me to turn, to slow down, speed up, and oohing when going downhill. I didn't realize how much they missed by rear facing!

Our new car. It's going to take me awhile to get used to parking this in tight spots, but it doesn't feel that different to drive than our 4Runner.

My birthday was the 22nd, so Micah took the morning off so that I could sleep in and we could go out to breakfast as a family. The kids are getting better at restaurants and it was actually quite enjoyable!

My annual birthday pic. I look tired, but I am almost 23 weeks pregnant in this pic, plus I take care of three 3-year-olds every day, so I think I have reason to feel and look tired.

The kids helped me bring the presents down to the tree on thee 23rd so that they would be ready to open on the 24th. We still haven't decided how much we want to incorporate Santa into our family traditions, so we didn't pretend Santa came to our house to drop off presents.

Christmas Eve morning. We opened presents with the five of us on Christmas Eve since we left that afternoon for Micah's parents' house and we wanted to make sure we had our own family celebration.

Faith seriously talked about the cash register she wanted for Christmas every day since the beginning of November when they had one in their classroom, so they all wanted to play with it as soon as they opened it. We don't give our kids that many gifts (we figure they get plenty when family gifts are added into the mix, plus they are only 3-years-old), but it took us over an hour to open everything since they wanted to thoroughly play with it all immediately. It was fun to see their excitement and enthusiasm for their gifts.

We drove up to Monte Vista on Christmas Eve afternoon and the drive went very smoothly. Again, we stopped frequently and we enjoyed the fact that the kids could get up and move around (and use our travel potty) without even leaving the car since there is so much space in our new vehicle! There was a little snow on the grass but not the road, but we did encounter some intense fog as we got closer to Monte Vista (it looks like a low lying cloud in the pic and then we drove right into it).

Christmas morning in Monte Vista. Jack and Lexi were not in the mood for a pic.

Christmas doggies

We had a white Christmas, and the kids enjoyed playing in the snow and "helping" their grandparents clear the driveway and sidewalk.

Their new Christmas toys kept everyone very entertained for the few days were in Monte Vista.

Our kids love the snow, but it's even better when Daddy is playing out there with them!

We drove back to ABQ on Tuesday, Dec. 27th and my brother's family arrived from Michigan that day in time for dinner! We were excited to have them in town since it had been three years since they had last come for a visit, and the kids are a great age for playing with their older cousins. On their first full day here we enjoyed the aquarium and Botanic Garden.

Unfortunately, I came down with the stomach bug AGAIN only five weeks after I got it the first time, so I missed out on the trip to the zoo. But it sounded like everyone had a great time.

Although I was still weak and tired on Friday, I joined everyone at the Petroglyphs for a little hiking and honestly I think the fresh air, sunshine, and walking helped me feel a little better. Thankfully, no one else caught the bug that I had.

Saturday was colder and a little rainy, so we didn't do much. We had an appetizer dinner in celebration of New Year's Eve, we played a game after our three kids went to bed, and then we watched the NYE's coverage on TV, but we were sad to find out that they didn't show the ball drop on EST this year! We had no intention of staying up to midnight on MST, so it was a bit of a letdown to miss the ball drop. Although it was an anticlimactic NYE, it was nice to not be super tired on New Year's Day. The weather was pleasant so we went to the foothills for a short hike. The top of the Sandias in the background have snow on top.

Adelle loved reading to the kids and it was nice for us to have a break from reading. Faith and Adelle were buddies during this trip as Faith was always sitting on her lap, holding her hand, or having Adelle carry her.

My brother's family left very early on Monday morning as they had a 22 hour drive back to Michigan. Micah had the day off of work (his last day of Winter Shut Down), so after doing some stuff around the house in the morning we drove to the back side of the Sandias and found snow to play in. I thought I had an original idea when I suggested it, so I was shocked to see so many people playing in the snow at the different points along the road. We had to go quite a ways up to find an open spot in a parking lot. The kids enjoyed playing in the snow, but they loved watching the older kids sled down the hills.

We packed in so much since mid November, but we aren't done yet! My parents arrive in a couple of days and we are going to do a small Christmas celebration with them when they get here. Micah then has to travel for work yet again, so my parents will be here to help me with the kids. It will feel weird to not have any plans with family once my parents leave ABQ since we've been lucky to see so much of our family in the last couple of months. The next time we spend this much time with family there will be another baby in the mix!