Christmas

We spent Christmas in Washington this year and as much as I missed my family, it was nice to stay home and relax. Chris had two glorious weeks off of work and it took me a full week to remember how on Earth I function without him. Then I looked at the dismal state of my house and the fact that I had taken a nap every afternoon that he had been gone and realized "hmmm...I guess we don't really function without him...tevs, let's take another nap, Britta."

Since we were going to be home for Christmas, being the young and naive girl that I am, I volunteered to host Christmas Eve dinner at our house. I couldn't understand why everyone jumped so quickly at the proposition. We had a feast and great fun reenacting the nativity, opening gifts, and playing games. And after the children went to bed, I let out a huge sigh of relief and gave silent props to my mom for doing this every year.

 How festive are these two?

 The adult table--stolen from the church with a dollar store tablecloth. We're classy people.

 We converted the basement into a playroom to try and entice the children downstairs. That lasted 2.5 minutes.

 Some angels and a baby Jesus. Baby Jesus is clearly the one with the doo rag. That's our interpretation anyways.

 Angel or devil? Hmm....

 Nifty gifties.

Christmas morning was wonderful.  We slept in until nine. Leisurely opened gifts and ate breakfast and spoiled Britta like any good parents of only one child should do. She was in a perpetual state of wonderment. Santa really came through with this stroller and baby doll, whom she promptly named Patty. I have no idea where she got that, but we like to call her "fatty Patty" -- Britta is not a fan of this nickname.

Birthday Girl

Twenty six never looked so good--I know you were all thinking it, so I 'll just go ahead and say it. The Dominican Republic was really my birthday present so it was a pretty low-key celebration this year. We had a nice family dinner of fish tacos (I could eat those every day) and a birthday cake that was really cheesecake. My husband knows me so well. Cake...pssh.

Chris did come through and get me some awesome new cookware as well. You know you're getting old when pots and pans are a desired birthday gift. Here's to 26!

Dress up

There is little in this world my child moves more than to dress up in Mom's clothes. They say imitation is the sincerest from of flattery, right? Her necessary accessories include: scarves, socks, and underwear around her neck. Everybody's doing it. 

She also loves to wear my shirts. She fashioned herself a robe out of one of my sweaters just yesterday--on the cutting edge of fashion, this one.

This was a particularly intriguing outfit from last week that included three pairs of underwear around her neck (all clean, thank goodness), a belt also around her neck, some socks pulled all the way up, and of course some red heels. This was all her, I was doing dishes when she clickety clacked her way out to show me. 

November

 We read "Hop on Pop" an easy 500 times in November and solidified it as Britta's favorite book. Of course, I can now no longer find it. 

The highlight of the month was Thanksgiving and our trip to Utah. It is really sad when Utah is ten degrees warmer in November than where you live, but it does make for a nice vacation. 

Here are the men showing their stuff at the Turkey Bowl.

Victory hip bump. 

We took some pretty amateur family pictures the next day--hello crazy bright sun that none of the children wanted to look at.

This picture brings me so much joy--it is the epitome of all the grandkids. 

So much love between these two.

I love me some siblings. I really needed that Caribbean vacation--I have never seen such a pasty white version of myself. 

Unfortunately, I didn't take more pictures of the actual feast of happenings throughout the week--I was too busy eating and soaking up my family.

October--better late than never, right?

I love everything about October. The changing colors on the trees, the crisp air, the built in excuse to put pumpkin flavoring in everything, and of course Halloween. We had a great October with two pumpkin patch visits, a quick visit from my sister, and lots of candy.

Fort building with Auntie Jasi.

We call this look "Rambo baby." Don't even ask me what that is on the front of her shirt. Let's just say, we took a much needed bath that night.

Britta was very helpful in the pumpkin carving department. At one point I looked over and she was wielding a butcher knife--not my proudest parenting moment. 

My little Halloween chicken. Her bucket was so full of candy she had to drag it on the ground behind her.

Punta Cana

Chris and I took a lovers getaway to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for our fifth anniversary/because we felt like it. People kept asking me if we were taking Britta to which I would politely respond "heck no." She had a blast being spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa and staying up way past her bedtime and we had a blast laying on the beach for hours everyday. The weather was perfect, the beaches were sandy white, and the food was delicious. It was basically all I could ask for in a vacation. 

I loved our cabanas. And as you can see, it wasn't overcrowded since it was the off-season. This meant I could sleep in until ten and still get prime beach real estate. Heaven.

Who doesn't love waking up to flamingos every morning?

Sometimes I forget how attractive we are and I have to take pictures like this to remind myself. 

Christmas lights everywhere. 

Crazy snail in the lobby--Chris was obsessed with it for some reason.

This picture about sums it up.