Thursday, December 20, 2018

Christmas Pictures 2018

For the last several years I've done a little Christmas mini session with my kiddos and this year may be my favorite yet. I decided to just do some pajama pictures on our bed and it turned out so cute!! Jackson and Max neither one wanted to really cooperate, but they humored me and went along with it. The cookies and milk idea helped persuade Jackson, and Avery was all on board even before I mentioned the cookies and milk. I just love these three so much!!







Pajamas and Pillow Fights!













Merry Christmas!!!

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Our 2018 Christmas Card

I decided to use some pictures from our recent Disneyland Trip for our Christmas Card this year and I just love the way it turned out. :-) All of our cards have gone out and have been delivered so I thought now would be a good time to share it here. I used snapfish.com this year for our cards and I was very pleased with the cards. They were on a nice cardstock and I was able to get 60% off when I ordered them back in November, which was a great deal since I ordered 80 cards this year!!!

Front of Christmas Card


Back of Christmas Card

 


Monday, December 3, 2018

Our November

In an attempt to play catch-up I thought I'd share a long post of our November, so here goes...

November was a fun month for us. We started off the first weekend with Jackson going to a Nerf War night that Friday night with his cousins Landon and Mason and while they were at that, Jake, Avery and I went to dinner with my sister and her husband and their 2 youngest kiddos. The boys had a great time at the Nerf War night!

That same weekend on Saturday, Jackson's school's Dad's Club sponsored a Casino Night to raise money for the school and Jake and I went to that. It was our second year to go and it was so much fun. Jake is part of the Dad's Club so he helped set everything up and tear everything down and then we went to another couple's house for an after party! It was such a fun night out.

Then that Sunday was the Harvest Fest at church. I didn't get any pictures as it had to be inside due to the weather being rainy.

I was super busy in November with photo sessions ad editing was something I was doing a lot of all month long!

The next weekend we went with our neighbors to Hermann, MO for a little day trip. We brought the kids along and they had fun too. We had lunch and went to a couple different wineries. It's always a great time with our neighbors! This was the only picture I got the whole day... the kids watching a train go by. Ha.

That Monday Avery had her bestie over after school and they had lunch and played. :-)

It snowed this same day. Nothing major but enough to get everyone excited. As I was waiting for Jackson's bus to bring him home from school, I snapped a quick picture of our neighbor's pretty rose bush covered with snow.


Thursday, the 15th, it snowed enough for Jackson to have his first ever snow day! I think we got around 6-7 inches. Jake came home early and took the kids sledding. I had to work and luckily the roads weren't too terribly bad!


The following Saturday was Thanksgiving with Jake's side of the family. I baked an apple pie and some mini pumpkin pies and I also made a sweet potato casserole and a cheese-ball! It was a great time at Jake's Aunt and Uncle's house.





Jackson got his Fall pictures back the week of Thanksgiving. They turned out really cute!

I was off work the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so the kids and I met my sister and her kiddos at her house to meet their new puppy Millie. She's an adorable Chocolate Lab and we also brought my nephew Emerson's birthday present over since we had to miss his 3rd birthday party the Saturday before. We went and had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and let the kids play for long time before heading back home to prepare for Thanksgiving the next day.

Thanksgiving day we met my sister and her family along with my parents at a park earlier in the day to get a few updated family pictures.





Then we went to my Aunt and Uncle's house for Thanksgiving Dinner. I also made all the same things, an Apple Pie, Mini Pumpkin Pies, a Sweet Potato Casserole and a Cheese Ball. All the food was amazing as usual! We had a great time. I only got one picture that day of my Dad with his two granddaughters relaxing on his lap. :-) (FYI Avery was hot in her dress and wanted it off and I unfortunately didn't bring her a change of clothes, so tights and a tank top is what she wore most of the afternoon. Ha)

The day after Thanksgiving was Jake's birthday, so we took the kids to see Wreck It Ralph 2 that morning and then took them to spend the night at Grandma's house.

After dropping them off, Jake and I went out to several different local restaurants and breweries and just tried different drinks and ate great food. It was a great night. Here's a list of places we went in case you're ever in the St. Louis area: Heavy Riff Brewing Company, Civil Life Brewery, Urban Chestnut Brewing Company, Gramophone and 4 Hands Brewing Company.

That Saturday, we went and got the kids from Grandma's and then put up our Christmas lights outside and got out our Christmas decorations for inside out. All but the Christmas Tree that is. Then I had a photo session that afternoon with some friends of ours and afterwards we met them for dinner at Mellow Mushroom. That evening the kids and I snuggled up and watched a Christmas movie to start off the Christmas season right!




That Sunday we went to church and then went to Six Flags for the first weekend of Holiday in the Park. We didn't get to stay long because it started storming less than 2 hours after us being there, but we had fun while it lasted.

Monday, many of our "black Friday" packages arrived on the doorstep that we had ordered on Thanksgiving! It's always fun when the Christmas presents begin to arrive on  your doorstep!

Tuesday evening Avery had dance class, just as she always does, but I had to snap a picture of her because they've been using the bar now and learning their demi plié's and grand plié's. It's so cute!

That Friday evening (the last day of November) there was a ladies craft night at church that I wanted to go to, so Jake and his mom took Jackson and Avery to Six Flags for the evening. They had a great time at Holiday in the Park, as always!

And that's a wrap for our November!!