Around here, the arrival of November 1st means all the holiday things. We do a mash up of all things Thanksgiving and Christmas and it is two months of cozy and twinkle lights. I have decided that I really love the days leading up to Christmas and not just Christmas day. It is the ordinary days mixed with just a little magic of the season that makes these days extra special and sweet. I am savoring the little moments in between the big celebrations because that is where the everyday beauty is often found.
Our little lady is growing so much. This was her monthly photo where she refused to put down her socks. She does not like me to try to pose her for pictures. She is just as strong and independent as her sister and mother! I am learning already to let go of so much to give these girls room to express themselves.
We have never had a tree topper before and I was content without one. Until all stars aligned and my dream tree topper came to fruition. Now I know bows are having a moment but I like to think I have loved bows and ribbons for a very long time. My other bow loving girl was also very happy about this Target find. It is pure love and I imagine we are going to use it for years to come.
Me saying, "pretend you are fixing the lights so I can take a picture!" Thankfully they are so excited for Christmas that they oblige.
Then these sweet girls do this on their own and I die of happiness.
This was just phase one of the tree. It is fun for me to do a little at a time so I enjoy the process.
Little gardening helper. These leaves are such a headache every fall but I try to remember to be grateful that we live in a forest.
I got most of my Christmas shopping done by December 1st and it was a very proud moment. I admit some stress at giving myself this deadline as a goal. But not having to worry about buying gifts the whole month of December was a true Christmas gift to myself.
Our sweet girl asked Jesus into her heart. We celebrated with cookies and a photo. We had a scary ocean incident on vacation. All ended up being fine but she got scared and started screaming, "I want to pray to God!" It was a very emotional and tender moment. Weeks later I wanted to follow up as she showed some greater understanding about God and her faith. She was ready to ask Jesus into her heart and we were so proud.
These girls and their matching beanies.
We have found a better rhythm with the oldest three all being interested in legos. Our oldest has his own stash of bigger sets. But we started a bin of legos that everyone could use. Everyone having their own tray and space is proving to help them play better together. Less fighting over pieces this way and more pretend play together. They play so well together when set up for success.
We love these trays and recently got this big lego set for them to share.
I got myself this zip up robe and I am officially accepting my middle aged years! It reminds me of my mom from growing up - she'd always put on a robe or trench coat to pick us up or if we had a friend over. But I got it for when our family comes to visit so I can wear my comfortable pj's around the house and still be fully covered. I actually really love it and was pleased to find this more modern style.
I wore this during our Seattle bomb cyclone where we had no power for a week (more about that another day). But it was so cold that I slept in it and then when I had to go out to get more wood (Brent was out of town for work) it was easy to throw on and go wandering into the woods in the dark with my flashlight! It was nuts but I am reserving a whole separate blog post to tell you all about it!
We have been talking about taking this wall out between our kitchen and living/dining room area for quite some time. I decided to start prepping the wall for removal by emptying the upper kitchen cabinets and moving the computer. Once I got everything moved Brent was very impressed and was motivated to start making it happen! I knew that I would be less stressed if I already knew everything had a place.
I made small little adjustments here and there. Purging and only keeping what was most necessary. The wall wasn't even out and I was already enjoying our home even more. I keep learning the less stuff we have, the more happy I am with our home!
Here are some different "before" pictures of the wall still up.
I decided to move some of our kid's art to the refrigerator. I love having a collection of their creations on display which also adds a nod to the season.
I love the little plates on the wall. This corner felt empty without the little cabinet that was there before. I love that the plates fill the space visually without taking up any room.
I started on some of our Christmas wrapping. I used a bunch of the brown paper that came stuffed in our packages.
A sweet little outing with these two. It has been so good to be able to give them more quality time while the older ones are at school. And I just always love seeing them carry their restaurant backpacks.
Little pumpkins and fall flowers are my favorite.
I get our Christmas stuff out in phases. This was after school one day that we got the Christmas books out. Look how dark it is when my kids get home! It is so gloomy and sad so having something fun to occupy them after school is so helpful.
I like to line up all the books on display for them to find. I need to work on a post with all our favorite Christmas books.
She has gotten more into playing with dolls and it is too cute. My mom saved my Cabbage Patch Kids and clothes from when I was little. I just love seeing my girls play with my old toys. So much nostalgia.
Back to the Christmas books - I will often pick a day that we will be home more than normal like a school day off or early release day. This way they have lots of time to get lost in the seasonal books for the first time. It always provides such a sweet and quiet time that I look forward to.
Phase two of the tree - bows! I bought some beautiful satin ribbon that I wanted to try on our outdoor wreaths but then changed my mind. I had already cut and tied them all so I didn't want them to go to waste. They ended up being so lovely in the tree. It was about a week or so before we put the ornaments on and I just loved the simplicity of the bows by themselves.
Then I finally let the kids put their ornaments on. They love seeing their little collection.
And thankfully little miss was pretty good about not taking ornaments off the tree. We did keep any breakable ones up high though. The older kids love to make their own ornaments so we had lots of little paper surprises in the tree - like the elf, little Santa drawing, and gingerbread house.
Store bought cookie decorating kits are always a hit. I was talking to another mom the other day of repeating ourselves for the sake of simplicity. I love that! Same traditions over and over. Makes life simple but gives the kid's something to remember and look forward to. I also put some of our outdoor wreaths on the dining room doors this year and it brought me a lot of joy!
Another item on my list for awhile was to update our outdoor house lights. While Brent and I were on our little anniversary outing we hit up Home Depot and picked out these lights. I am so happy with how some bigger matching lights can make such a big difference. We also always seem to go shopping when we get time to ourselves. Shopping without children has become such a luxury!
I love seeing my oldest help out with his littlest sister. It brings a nurturing side out that I think we might not otherwise see.
Her favorite drawer.
Thanksgiving day parade and cinnamon rolls!
I found another small wall space on the side of the computer to hang more kid's art.
Thanksgiving morning crafting. Turkeys and Christmas trees!
We always have a charcuterie lunch for Thanksgiving and Christmas and it is so fun to spend the morning being cozy together.
And everyone loves the free for all snacking!
I try to remember to save a sprig of rosemary from the turkey for our charcuterie board.
I have started to regain some of my energy and desire for dressing up the table for the holidays. I finally realized I liked the look of a runner instead of a table cloth. Plus it takes up so much less room to store! So I got this blue and white striped runner (comes in different colors) and it works perfectly with our table and cloth napkins. My mom brought me my fancy silverware I bought years ago that I had her save for me. It felt really beautiful and special.
I also am still loving my candlestick set I got a few years ago.
My neighbor gifted me this beautiful real wreath. I have never had a real wreath before! It was such a treat. It looked so luxurious.
I added the ribbon from the trees and some bells. It was always so cheerful to hear the bells jingle when we opened and closed the door.
Marie Callendar's frozen chocolate pie and a cookie plate are all we need after a big meal! I love the Peppermint Milano's that come out at Christmas time. So good!
Another thing we kept talking about and finally did was dates with mommy for my big kids. Since they are in school full time I feel like I have so much less one on one time with them.
First I took my girl out to a fancy little brunch spot I love. We had the best time.
She looked so beautiful and grown up sitting there talking about what she saw outside.
She loves it when we wear matching boots and our grey scarves.
This cute little place serves you coffee cake at your table which is such a treat. And they do up their hot chocolate extra fancy. Yum!
We got our little deers out and they are so fun to see from inside the house.
Annual Christmas jammie picture.
This girl and her Santa hats! She wanted to wear them all the time.
These wild kids.
We always love the few Christmas outings we go to each year. Such a festive time of year!
Getting to see Santa is always a highlight.
The magic of Christmas!
We mostly stick to events that are close to home and tell the kids we can't do everything every year. Everyone looks forward to these special but simple activities and it is not a huge commitment. I know it will all get easier as our youngest gets older. But choosing to do less in an already busy season continues to serve us well. These kids are by no means deprived of an amazing childhood.
A Christmas season family photo. I don't usually buy holiday outfits for the kids but we somehow accumulated enough hand me downs that everyone matched this year. I am so glad we got a picture!
The kids' ornaments this year.
I put the ornaments out with their advent calendar and little Christmas finger puppets.
I really appreciate that Trader Joe's offers different calendar designs so that my kids remember which one is theirs.
So happy!
Brent let the kids put Christmas lights on their playhouse. It was so cute to watch them spend quite a bit of time getting it all decorated.
A magical and foggy night and day. Snacks in the stroller for the kids getting off the bus.
I read the book The Miracle Morning and it really encouraged me to wake up early and spend some time being intentional. I am still so tired sometimes and need to allow myself to sleep in. But choosing to get up early when I can has significantly helped my mood and productivity. Getting some quiet time to myself is essential to my mental health.
Started getting the wreaths up on the outside of the house and trying out some new placements.
Watching things bake never seems to get old.
Figured now was the time to get myself a Mama sweatshirt before my baby grows up. It is oversized and so cozy. I love it.
Easy cookie baking memories.
Seeing these big kids all sitting there together makes me realize they are growing up fast.
It was fun to get out our wood Christmas cookies I repainted. They are still looking great!
Our sweet girl sure loves acting like one of the big kids!
Family pizza and movie night is especially fun at Christmas time.
I feel like kindergarten is the year of birthday parties! I love that everyone is so inclusive with inviting the whole class but it is a lot of parties! We unfortunately cannot attend them all but the kids are having fun getting to go to all these cool places.
Getting in the swing of my miracle morning routine. I made myself a morning basket and it makes me excited to dig in. I try to journal a bit which is usually just things the kids said or did that I want to remember along with any things I am processing. I also try to read a chapter of Proverbs and am reading through To Light Their Way and praying for my kids.
We love our advent wreath tradition.
In purging one of our cabinets to take the wall out in the kitchen, I condensed our serving dishes and put them with our everyday dishes. Having them now with our everyday stuff is encouraging me to use our pretty blue and white dishes all the time! What a treat to put someone's uneaten banana on a pretty dish! ha!
I really love the pops of blue in the cabinets and that I am actually using it all and not just storing it.
I stocked up on my favorite bath bombs during Black Friday. They smell amazing and already have come in handy for last minute gifts.
I used more of that ribbon to make a bow garland. I saw this idea online and was so impressed with how pretty it is yet easy to make.
A little going away bath bomb and mini notebook gift for my daughter's student teacher.
And a small snack and treat bag for our bus driver. I feel especially grateful for him this year with a kindergartner. I have to be present in order for him to let her off the bus and often he is passing me on the road as I am rushing with the stroller to get there. He always waves and is so understanding.
A few weeks later I took my oldest on his own mommy and me date. We went to a breakfast diner we love that serves m&m hot chocolate! Another big hit! I rarely get myself a hot chocolate and it was quite a treat for me as well. I tried really hard to not drill him with questions about school and just let him lead our conversation. I am learning with my big kids to meet them where they are at. I cannot and don't need to know every detail of their lives when they are not with me. It is hard though and I am still learning!
I got two Dash waffle maker sets for Christmas (and opened the Christmas set early!). They come with interchangeable plates for different holidays. They are so cute and work really well.
I got the Fall/Christmas set and the Spring set. They are adorable!
Making simple meals festive.
Love these little cuties and we got baby girl in some pigtails!
Some of my favorite holiday drink combos. I love this Cinnamon Apple Spice tea with the Gingerbread creamer. I put the creamer and oatmilk in the frother together and pour it over my tea. Yum!
Another combo I have been enjoying is mixing that same tea with a scoop of Trader Joe's chai tea mix. So amazing!!!
We always get one big rainy storm that really fills up our creek that flows down into a storm water pond. It is always so magical to have our own little running creek throughout the rainy season.
The yard looking magical at night with the Christmas lights up.
We call it our gingerbread house!
Our Christmas cookie platter gets filled with a mix of store bought and homemade cookies. Brent brought home some really pretty ones from work making it look very fancy!
I used the waffle maker to make cornbread which was also very fun. We all agreed it tasted like a waffle though. I suppose one of those mental games where you just feel like you are eating a waffle!
Waffle cornbread over chili!
I went all out on our candy spread this year for our gingerbread houses. It was so fun and the kids loved all the choices. I did forget to buy white melting chips for the house so I used chocolate chips instead. They turned out just fine and now gives me a reason to not have to buy one more extra thing.
Some photos after finally getting all the wreaths up on the windows.
I didn't love how the wreaths looked last year but then figured out it was the wreath to size of window ratio. I didn't put a wreath on our large kitchen window because the wreath looked so small. Plus I could still see out the window at the kitchen sink which was nice. And then I realized our two long stairway windows needed two wreaths instead of one to fill in the large space. It all came down to scale and I loved it so much better this year. Here I thought it was the wreaths but instead it was the scale.
Big enough for our toddler balance bike and she is loving it!
Here is my final Christmas wrapping for the year. I really loved how it all came out. And even though no one else will truly care as much as I do, it made me so happy.
I decided I really like these big fluffy bows. I had a handful of Christmas ones and decided I would rather get a collection of ones I can use for birthdays as well. So I got rid of my Christmas ones and got some new ones in colors I would use year around. They are so beautiful! I love them so much. They are all from Target that I purchased throughout the year.
The black and white paper is from the Stendig calendar that I used for monthly pictures with my babies. I also realized that we are on our final set of paper with our last baby. I still have quite a bit left but one of these days I am going to have to start buying wrapping paper again! I will miss this beautiful paper.
Sorry a few more pictures. ;) All the tags I found on Pinterest as free downloads. They are darling!
Christmas break was so nice to have endless time at home to play outside and be together. It is my favorite.
I also purchased some different Christmas plates for the waffle maker. You might say I am slightly obsessed. I also have these and these on my wish list.
Christmas Eve service - it is always crazy keeping our kids under control during Christmas Eve service but sweet memories nonetheless. I am just usually sweating by the end!
The house all ready on Christmas Eve! Being a parent sure can be fun and magical.
Christmas day was so lovely this year. Last year was hard and I have to remind myself that we had a baby then. But I really cut back on some of the spoiling, filtered the kids' wish lists for extended family better, and made some intentional decisions about the pace of our day. And it was SO much better. We let our littlest sleep in which allowed us to have a sweet moment with our big kids while they opened stockings. Then we ate our cinnamon rolls before jumping in to the rest of the gifts.
The kids get so excited about the little things in their stockings and I always think to myself - this is all that they need! Slowing them down and letting us linger over the magic of the first gifts was really special. They played with their new toys and then all helped their little sister when we got her up. It was really special for me as a mom to feel like I could savor it this year. I think in the future we will continue this slow beginning to the day with a break for breakfast. It was such a delight.
I remember it being slow like this when we just had a baby and toddler. But the big kids know better. They know more is coming and get so excited. Can you blame them? But it has been a learning curve as they have gotten older that I imagine will continue to change even more in the future. So I continue to learn to be fluid.
Cupcakes to celebrate Jesus' birthday.
We also painted rocks in the afternoon which was a good break in the day. We collected rocks from the yard ahead of time and used paint pens to color on them. We are going to use them in our outdoor mud kitchen.
After Christmas while Brent and the kids still had time off, we decided to start work on our kitchen! Brent took the cabinets down and started cutting into the wall! So exciting!
With each little step of progress we started seeing the openness and light come to life! It is so dark in Western Washington plus we are surrounded by trees. Opening up this space will be a game changer.
We took a break to meet up with my friend from high school who was in town. We went to the zoo in Seattle for the first time and it was so much fun.
They had their zoo lights display up from Christmas which made it even more magical. I suppose going any other time now might be a letdown!
Back at it and letting the littles help out a bit.
This is about where we have landed for now. We moved some of our existing lights to have three over where an island will be. The two walls that are up are load bearing so those unfortunately have to stay. We already love it so much and it makes our whole downstairs feel so much more open and bright.
Last year I got this beautiful glass photo storage box (size large) that I now use to store our holiday photos in. I also place any hard copy photos we have from special events as well. It looks beautiful on the shelf and has been a good way for me to keep inventory of our photos.
New Year's Eve gang!
We went out to dinner and made our New Year's Even crowns while we waited for our food. A fun and simple tradition that we all love. I literally pack scissors and a stapler in my purse!
And a toast and dessert when we got home.
This is how it was set up before so we still have all our counter space. The plan is to build a cabinet where the cart is to extend it into one big kitchen island.
Brent also put in some recessed lighting which looks so nice and is so much brighter! It is like we can all finally see!
This pipe runs up to the bathroom upstairs and is the next big project before we can work on the island.
There is plenty of work still to be done but we are enjoying our open and bright living space so much already!
And I made sure to fill in our Christmas book with memories from this year.
Looking back I am so thankful for our slow yet memorable holiday season. We chose to stay home during winter break and it was a time of rest and slow days that I needed. Projects and memory making filled in our in between. I am so grateful for the beauty of the everyday.
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