Christmas in New Jersey

We had a pretty busy Christmas season this year. The day after Christmas, we got together with my dad's side of the family at my aunt Annette's. On Saturday, we headed into New Jersey to celebrate. 

The whole way in, Addison was a RASCAL. Figures that 10 minutes out from the restaurant where we were meeting Allie, she falls asleep (he fell asleep about 30 minutes out). Stinkers!! 

It was so awesome to see Allie--even if for a quick lunch. This year was a rarity. I got to see her last Christmas, April for a weekend visit in NJ, November in her hometown of Atlanta, and then again for this trip in when she was up visiting her family!! 

On Saturday night, we hung out at Ben and Salli's. The kids were able to burn some energy and we had dinner together.

On Sunday, Matt and Erin (and kids) arrived as well and we did our big celebration. The kids were super hyper and the space seems to be getting smaller and smaller every year! :) We did confetti poppers which went everywhere. Then, the true chaos began as we did gifts! 

Carter got his bedding set for his big boy room, some new clothes, LeapPad games, and some magnatile accessories. Addison got a new sleeping bag, clothes, and new LeapPad games. Here is the sweet boy showing off all the games he has now.

Then it was time for pictures...does this not look like a group of monkeys?! :) 

Oma and Opa wanted to recreate the Deep Creek Lake photo from summer of 2013. It's kind of funny because in that photo, Cooper was crying (and he was in this one as well). And, just like that one, Charlotte was calm and pretty while the others had to be wrangled. 

We were heading home yesterday, but Oma and Opa's neighbor was having trees cut down, so there were five interested little kids. :) They sat so still and interested for so long! 

Family pic

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! SURPRISE--we were up early! (Just kidding, that's not a surprise. It would have been more surprised if they slept in) :) I made a really awesome Taste of Home breakfast casserole before bed on Christmas Eve so I could just pop it in the oven Christmas morning. Then...we hit the gifts of course! It was a frenzy to say the least. Because I wrapped all Addison's gifts in Frozen paper and Carter's in TMNT, they could easily identify their gifts and wanted to just rip into them! 

Sweet boy -- he LOVED this TMNT sweatshirt I found at Target. Easy to please.

A sweet little baby carrier that she surprisingly hasn't been a huge fan of just yet. 

(Carter)

(Addison)

(Seth)

(Danielle)

(Bentley--can't forget him!)

Christmas was pretty awesome. We had NOWHERE to be for the first time in a long time, so we planned to stay in sweatpants ALL DAY. And it was amazing! I put dinner in the crockpot around lunchtime and we ate grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch...nice and simple! We let Carter stay up and watch one of his new movies, but we did put Addison down for a nap. She wanted someone to lay with her, so I did...and fell asleep with her--we slept for 2.5 hours. It was AWESOME!!!

We had a nice, relaxing afternoon baking with the Easy Bake Oven, playing new games and building legos, and then had beef stroganoff over noodles for dinner. By about 6:30 or 7:00, I was feeling a tinge of cabin fever (and the house was a mess). We remembered Sheetz was open on Christmas so we went and grabbed smoothies for the kids and coffee and a latte for Seth and I and then went to look at Christmas lights. We went to the ritzy neighborhood nearby and it was so, so beautiful. The entire neighborhood (and I do mean the entire neighborhood) had luminaries about every 2 feet the (like 14 blocks). It was stunningly beautiful and a great way to the end the day. 

I love my little family and the fact that we could chill to celebrate this year! 

Christmas Eve

In standard Ran fashion, we've had a busy few days leading up to Christmas. A few days ago, we went to my sister's house for a cookies and cocktails party that was really fun. The next day, we celebrated with my mom's side of the family--a weekend of Christmas parties. A couple days off (and finishing up at work for the awesome, long break) and we were back for more Christmas fun today. 

We went to my parent's house for lunch, gifts, hanging out. Let me tell you--there was a lot of chaos with that many very excited little kids!! And to think Bradley and Ashley don't even have any kids yet! 

We got many awesome things: 

Danielle - hair straightener, my blog book, exercise stuff, gift cards, a new purse, an awesome throw blanket, pizza kit, decorations for the house, a candle

Seth - hunting clothes, cross  bow supplies, a gift card for running shoes, Bass Pro gift cards, a sweatshirt, cologne, iPhone accessories, and more.

Carter - TMNT toys, Batcave accessories, a superhero pack, nerf bow and arrow, a transformer car, clothes and socks, Disney DVDs (and lots of them) LeapPad game, sports cones and more.

Addison - Easy Bake mixes, LeapPad and charger, LeapPad game, Elsa doll, Disney DVDs, clothing, socks, a doctor kit, sports cones 

Most years, we don't get to go to our own church for Christmas Eve because we are at my parent's church, but this year, with a new pastor, we really wanted to be at ours. It was nice and the kids were completely quiet. Afterwards, we went home and had the kids change into their new pajamas. I read the Jesus Storybook Bible Christmas story while we watched the Yule Log on TV. 

We bribed them to go to bed by saying the quicker they go to bed, the quicker it would be Christmas morning. 

Santa came before we even turned in for the night! :) (Well actually, the kids know that only a few things are from "Santa" and the rest are from mommy and daddy...he's not getting all the credit!)

Kids' Christmas Programs

The kids had their Christmas program at school last week. The pictures aren't really that good because it was PACKED. It usually isn't that full, but when I got there, I had to get seats near the back before there weren't even any left. 

 

Addison's class had little antlers on and sang Jingle Bells and (I think) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. She scanned the audience the whole time to make sure we were watching her. She would get the most precious cheesy little smile on her face when she saw us. 

Carter's class sang Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? and Let it Go from Frozen. Carter looked adorable in his Olaf shirt but got a little nervous up there and didn't do much singing. He, too, scanned the audience to make sure we were watching.

It was adorable and chaotic, which made it funny of course!

A weekend in NJ (and becoming aunt and uncle again!)

On December 12, Seth and I became an aunt and uncle for the ELEVENTH time! WOW! Ben and Salli officially welcomed J & J into their family through adoption, and we were thrilled to be able to be there! The kids were well-behaved so we actually got to listen and enjoy it, too. :) WIN! 

After, we went to their house for a delicious dinner and then stayed in NJ for the weekend. On Saturday morning, the kids, mom, and I went to their church for a cookie exchange Salli was running while Seth went hunting. They had a blast building gingerbread houses...and Carter even got called up on stage to participate in a game! SO PRECIOUS! 

Later that night, everyone came over for Seth's birthday dinner and cake. Mom made Seth's favorite--chicken parm, pasta, delicious NJ bread (seriously. SO GOOD.), and salad.

On Sunday, we stopped at Chris and Jess's house on the way home for lunch and playing on the farm. The kids loved it (and their dog, Le-rye, whose real name is Leroy). :) 

When it rains, it pours

I swear, this time of year is always frustrating in terms of financial things that come up. You know the drill, I'm sure. Annual car insurance due. Need new tires. Both cars need their "big" regular maintenance. Christmas shopping. New home needs. All in one or two months. Stressful and frustrating.

And--on top of it all--Bentley has a little tumor of some sort (been there awhile; thankfully doesn't seem to be growing) on his shoulder and his ear hematoma is back. He gets blood-filled ear flaps from excessive shaking of his head. In the past, they've gone away naturally, but the one he's got now is kind of bad and worse than he's ever had. And...I'm sort of over it. WHY does this happen every year with excessive expenses? Sigh...

For now, I'll be praying (really hard) that his ear issue resolves itself ASAP. The tumor removal estimate was $1000 so we obviously opted to not do that right now. I'm sure the ear surgery would be just as much so I'd love to avoid that at all costs. 

When it rains, it pours.

Home improvement

So 2014 (and part of 2013) has been the year(s) of home improvement for us apparently. I'm not sure it was intentional; in fact, we had several things originally planned which we've tweaked a bit to accommodate some of the other things that have come up!

Since I love to look back on these things years down the road, I'm going to write down the things we've done this year to "change up" the house. Some are super simple but make things feel new, nonetheless. I'm thankful we've been able to do all these things to the house--we work and save to be able to freshen things up!

- (this was really 2013 but I'm going to count it) A new bow window in the living room.

- (also 2013 I think...maybe the fall?) Painted the shed doors and trim

- Painted the metal fence

- I cleaned our white siding and patched and painted an area in the front that looked a little rough. Thankfully, I did it so well you'd never know it was there! 

- A new grill

- New patio furniture to replace the stuff that was leaving seat remnants on people's butts when they stood up :)

- A new-to-us lawnmower, which unfortunately kind of sucks. Not so sure this is an "improvement" at this point. Grrrr.
- A new stainless stove (finally!!!)

- A new stainless microwave (our microwave worked perfectly fine but when we replaced the white stove with stainless, the white microwave looked awfully weird above it); we sold the old one on Craigslist too which helped!
- A new stainless dishwasher (see above. Half white and half stainless look isn't working for me; plus, the thing has been in DESPERATE need of replacement for well over a year now.)
- New-to-us kitchen table thanks to Mom and Dad Ran, who got the set from a friend who no longer wanted it.

- "New" rooms for the kids...we converted the crib to the double bed and moved the dark wood furniture to Carter's room. Oma and Opa got him new bedding and it looks PRECIOUS! Addison now has the white furniture and little toddler bed. Her room looks sweet and adorable. :)

- Touched up the baseboards and doors with fresh paint

- Painted an accent wall in the living room
- FINALLY upgraded to a new TV - a Samsung Smart TV, which we're loving!  

Things that didn't happen like we thought:
- New siding (see above. My cleaning job took care of it well enough that it wasn't necessary.)
- New quartz countertops. Yeahhhhh, we're going to need to hold on that for a little. :)

Thanksgiving 2014

This year, we spent Thanksgiving on the Lauver side. With a new "family" now in Bradley and Ashley, we were all miraculously available to be there this day. As strange as it sounds, we got a bunch of little things done around the house the morning of Thanksgiving. The kids were a little "off" (as they tend to be on holidays), but thankfully they shaped up by the time we headed out. (We've since learned this weekend that Addison has an ear infection and is getting two two-year molars, which explains a lot). 

What I'm thankful for: my parents decided to sit at the kids' table in the kitchen to allow us the option to eat in peace. Do you hear the Hallelujah chorus singing too or was that just Michelle, Jason, Seth and I? :)

The kids went a little crazy at first, running all over the house, hiding in the shower and whatnot. I quickly decided that obnoxiously loud but happy is worlds better than miserable!

It snowed the day before Thanksgiving so the kids got a kick out of being able to go sledding. Shockingly, it lasted more than 5 minutes, which is generally the length of time my kids last before they want to come back inside. They made a cute little snowman, too. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent with playing kids, watching football, eating too many desserts, etc. Even Owen got tuckered out. SO CUTE. #tryptophan

We headed home around 7:30 because Seth's parents were coming for the weekend. It was probably one of the chillest Thanksgivings in awhile and thankfully, our nap-less kids were happy (and fell immediately to sleep at 7:30 for a blissfully peaceful ride home)...can we be thankful for that too?

We are incredibly blessed. Some days are really hard and some days are less hard. But at the end of all of them, we've got more than we deserve or need and are surrounded by people we love.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, too!