For the Love of Legos!

Jackson has a new found love for legos. Our pastor's wife at church got the kids a set to play with and every Sunday after service, they go straight to her office to play while we fellowship. It works out great! 

So for Christmas, Walmart was having a big sale on Black Friday on a large box of assorted legos that we decided to get Jackson for Christmas. I knew he would love them, but I don't think I realized just how much. 

He has not stop playing with them since Christmas morning. It's ALL. THE. TIME! From the time he gets up, until the time he goes to sleep... if he's home, he's playing with legos. They keep him very busy, which is great for me too!! I am looking forward to when we move and he can have his own room to play with them in, instead of our dining room table, but regardless I'm really happy with his new hobby!

He got a gift card to Toys R Us for Christmas so I took him there this past weekend and he got another set of legos. A "Cars" set. We also stopped by Walmart and got him a big tote with a lid that he can keep them all in. 

He's always so proud of all the things he can build with his legos and I'm really impressed with what he can build as well. I love seeing his imagination come to life. He can look at the pictures on the box and put that object together without any instructions!! 

Maybe he'll be an architect someday, or maybe it's just a lego phase, but nonetheless, he's having so much fun with his legos and I'm really happy with the developmental skills legos provide. We are loving legos at our house!!

Our First Snow of the Season

We had the first accumulative snow this past Saturday. We didn't get much, in fact some parts of St. Louis didn't get any at all. We were "lucky" enough to get about a half inch or so... just enough to put a nice thin blanket on the ground. Thankfully, it didn't even stick to the sidewalks or the roads. :-) 

To say Jackson and Avery were excited to see it snowing, would be an understatement. Jackson really wanted snow for Christmas, but it was in the 50's here for Christmas. I wasn't complaining but I know he really wanted a White Christmas. So needless to say, a 10-15 minute play date, with what little snow we got, was definitely in order.

I bundled the kids up and took them over into a big open field right across the street from our condo building. There was plenty of room for them to run around and throw snowballs!

We had a lot of fun with the little bit of snow we got. It was just the right amount in my opinion. Ha. :-)

Stoffel Family Christmas

Our last Christmas celebration was with my side of the family. We celebrated the day after Christmas. Unfortunately, that same morning Jake woke up with a pretty bad case of Strep Throat, so needless to say, he stayed in bed that whole weekend. :-( 

My parents always host, and we always have a big Breakfast at lunch time. This has been a tradition of ours for years!

Jackson and Avery brought a few of their new toys and the kids all played together quite well. We had lunch and then my parents had stockings for the kids! We also have a little bit of a tradition of wearing comfy clothes or even pajamas, so my kids both wore a new pair of pajamas that they had gotten for Christmas the day before. Avery was decked out in Minnie Mouse from the bow in her hair to the slippers on her feet. :-) She sure does love "Mimmie".

Papa showing baby Emerson a little toy he got in his stocking.

Then it was on to presents!!

Avery saying "cheese" with a couple of her gifts. Ha.

 

Mason was so excited to get this dump truck from Maw Maw and Papa! :-)

Maw Maw and Papa got Jackson the whole set of Paw Patrol characters for his Look-Out that he got from Santa.

Avery riding her pretty pink pony from Maw Maw and Papa. :-)

We got Landon a game similar to Twister. So the kids decided to try and play it. Avery was hilarious trying to copy what the bigger kids were doing. :-)

We spent the rest of the rainy afternoon just hanging out and chatting while the kids played with their new toys together. It was such a fun day for everyone!!

Our 15 Most Memorable Moments in 2015

I saw this done on another blog here and thought it was such a great idea that I'd do the same! 2015 had so many wonderful moments in it for us, with the exception of a couple not-so-wonderful moments mixed in. I felt like this was the perfect way to document our most memorable moments for 2015... so here goes!

#1

At the end of January, we took Jackson to Disneyland in California for the first time and it was just as magical as I dreamed it would be. Not only is this on my top list of favorites for 2015, but it is probably in my top 5 moments of my life! It was such a special little trip for us and to see Jackson light up when he saw Mickey for the first time was just amazing!

#2

In February we got a good sized snow-fall and Avery got to experience snow for the first time while Jackson got to make his first snow man! It was very exciting for both of them!

#3

Avery started taking her first steps at the end of February at around 9 months old.

#4

We surprised Jackson with a Big Boy bedroom re-do.

#5

We celebrated Avery's first Easter!

#6

We lost Jake's grandmother suddenly in early April. A very sad moment in 2015.

 #7

Avery turned One on April 28th and we had a party for her in early May!

#8

We said goodbye to our sweet dog, Libby, in late May. :-( One of the worst moments of 2015.

#9

Jackson played his first season of t-ball.

#10

We sold our first home in July!

#11

We closed on our new home in September!

#12

We celebrated Jackson's 4th Birthday with a Halloween Themed birthday party!

#13

We celebrated Jake turning 30 with a big 30th birthday party for him!

 

#14

I became an aunt again! Baby Emerson was born on November 17th!

#15

We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas together with family!

Christmas Eve 2015

We've always had a tradition since I was a child of getting together with my Mom's side of the family on Christmas Eve and this year was no different. This year, our Christmas Eve celebration was at my Aunt and Uncle's house. We all brought appetizers and desserts to eat and you would have thought we were feeding an army with the amount of food we had! It was all very yummy though! We ate dinner, opened presents, the kids decorated Christmas sugar cookies and we all just sat around and talked and enjoyed each others company! It was a great night! Another tradition of ours is that we always end our Christmas Eve celebration by going to our church's late night Christmas Eve service at 10:00 p.m. My mom gets the kids a pair of Christmas jammies and they wear them to church. It's the most beautiful candlelight service. Our kids fell asleep on the way there and remained asleep throughout the whole service (thankfully) but they did look awfully cute in their jammies. We took them home after church and tucked them in bed. We left their decorated sugar cookies, milk, orange juice and a carrot out for Santa and his reindeer and we assembled the kids "Santa" gifts for the next morning. :-) It was a great day/evening spent with family!

Jackson was very excited about his new legos from Uncle Mark and Aunt Karla!

Avery kissing her new Minnie Mouse! She's so funny!

Baby Emerson wearing one of Jackson's first Christmas outfits. I just love seeing Emerson in Jackson's baby clothes! ♥

Cookie Decorating!

 All 5 of my parents' grandkids in their cute Christmas PJ's!