Christmas Recap - part 1

Time for the Christmas 2016 recap! So that everything prints out nicer in my blog book, I'll do some summarizing and then post lots of pics! On December 23, we went to Haucks to celebrate with the Lauver/Hauck crew. We had an amazing dinner, followed by gifts. Minus baby Caleb Ray, we managed to get a pic of Maw Maw with all the great-grandkids! It's hard to believe this was the second Christmas without Papa already. 

On Christmas eve day, we headed to Millersburg. We had monkey bread and fruit for breakfast and, as you can imagine, the kids were ready to dive into the gifts. They were very excited to see the stacks of gifts when we headed downstairs! It was sheer chaos but the kids were SO excited to play with their new toys. Carter and Eli each got huge new Lego sets and were already underway with them within 15 minutes of opening gifts. We had lunch and hung out for the afternoon, before we headed back to our church for the 5 p.m. Christmas eve service. Normally, we go to the 6:30 service, but this year, Oma and Opa were going to be at our house for Christmas so we wanted to go to an earlier one. After, we came back and had a yummy cooked dinner, gave the kids their yearly Christmas eve PJs and got them to bed (harder than usual on Christmas eve!).

CHECK OUT THAT HAIR! She had braids in for Christmas eve day, so she had quite the hairdo when we took them out! 

Christmas morning was LIVELY, especially with Oma and Opa here (they weren't overly hyper; I mean the kids) ;) We put a breakfast casserole in for after gifts, turned on the OnDemand yule log and dug in. We all got great things, and the kids were very excited to get Kindle Fires AND confirmation that they are going to Disney World!! 

The 2017 gifts (in order) for Addison, Carter, Oma and Opa, me, and Seth!

The rest of Christmas day was just very laid back. The kids played with toys, we watched a movie, had a light lunch, played some more, relaxed and then had a big, delicious dinner. My parents came down for a visit and stayed for Christmas dinner, too. We had amazing filet made by Oma, roasted potatoes, garlic sauteed green beans, homemade bread and pie. After dinner, we headed to Sheetz for free coffee and drove around and looked at Christmas lights. It was a wonderful Christmas and we are super blessed!

Getting in the Christmas spirit (the season so far!)

It's been a fun season of getting into the Christmas spirit. As always, we decorated the night before Thanksgiving so that when we came home Thanksgiving evening, we were 100% IN for celebrating Christmas! There's something about a glowing tree that makes early mornings so much better!

 

We went to Candylane at Hersheypark and got to meet Santa. Both kids were so excited the whole time we were in the line, but Addison REFUSED to sit on his lap when it was our turn. And Carter had a near breakdown when the "Nice List" decoration on the wall (complete with some kids' names) did not have "Carter" OR "Addison" on it. We had to let him know that this was just PART of the list for him to bring that lower lip back up. ;)

One sweet little boy likes to sleep with his Santa hat on.

 Addison had her program at school. Her class sang the 12 days of Christmas and that little angel in red was #6 (sometimes 9 when she held it upside down!). She smiled like this the whole time and watched us intently.

 A trip to Bass Pro to see Santa (again). However, they changed up the way they do things and you basically have to get a "fast pass" to return some other time to see Santa. So strange. So we looked at him from afar, played the games and did crafts, and jetted. We got them hot chocolate from Starbucks which they loved. Carter promptly dropped his about 5 seconds after this picture.

While Seth was hunting one day, me and the kids went to my parents and my mom and I made cookies. We made four kinds. The kids enjoyed putting the sugar on the sugar cookies. Addison enjoyed decorating the cut outs (Carter said "no thanks"). There were A LOT of sprinkles on some of them. Part of the experience I guess. :)

 

 We also had our small group Christmas party on December 11. We had yummy food, did a white elephant exchange, the kids exchanged gifts and then we played games--specifically the new "Watch Yo Mouth" game where you where mouth guards while trying to describe phrases to your teammates. HYSTERICAL! 

 

 And don't forget our good friend, Berrence. He's watching the kids like he always does, moving when he remembers, and staying just where he is when he forgets (ahem, cough). Last night, he even built a snowman out of marshmallows and pretzels and I know two little blondies who thought it was the coolest thing ever! He wrote them a message with Carter's Lego pieces last week. I love experiencing the Christmas spirit through their eyes! 

 

Hunting with daddy

Well, hunting season is officially over for us! Seth didn't have any luck in archery season, but got this 9 point buck on the first day of rifle! Needless to say, he was a little bit excited. (And if you ever want to see it in person, don't fret. It's being mounted in our house. Sigh...HA!)

 

 

The next weekend, Seth went up to the hunting land again because he still had a doe tag. He took Carter along with him, and well that is just the cutest little hunter I've ever seen!

They did not get anything that day, but on Dec. 10, Seth went out with my dad and brother while we were making cookies, and he got another one--this time a doe. My dad and brother each got one that day as well. 

So Seth had a very productive hunting season and is one happy husband! After some frustrating hunting seasons, I'm glad to see him happy. But the best news is that he's exhausted all his deer tags this year, so we don't need to deal with late-season archery!! WOO HOO!!

Fall(ing behind in my blogging)

 

As tends to be the practice these days, I got a bit behind--so I'm playing catch up! This fall has been busy though thankfully not as busy as it has been in past years. Aside from Seth hunting, most of our weekends have at least one free day in them which is nice! We got to carve pumpkins one night, which the kids enjoyed. 

 

 

We went trick-or-treating where the kids got a FULL two gallon bag of candy in about 45 minutes. Wowza. Addison went as a pirate (again...she did when she was 2, same costume even) and a ninja. It worked perfectly because we did not spend one cent on Halloween since these were costumes the kids already had anyway.

 ...and we had another incident in the van. Seth hit a deer one morning on his way to work in a 45 mph zone. So...it did some damage! We're thankful Seth is okay and that we have great insurance. Someone also hit us from behind back in August (also in the van...UGH!) -- we are still waiting for that claim to be settled with the at-fault party. So basically, the back of the van was rebuilt in August and the front is being done now. 

I'm not going to lie...I'm getting pretty excited to decorate for Christmas in two weeks!!! 

Peanut's surgery

Well, we can check that off the list. Little Miss A had tubes put in her ears when she was 9 months old. It was time for them to come out. I hate when my kids have to go under anesthesia for anything but it was probably harder on me than her. 

We arrived to the Children's Hospital bright and early -- 6:15 a.m. They checked us in immediately, which meant we had a good long while to wait. Super. 

Isn't she precious in her little scrubs? She actually never asked for food or drink which was impressive. The Child Life team did a good job of chatting with her at a 4-year old level, giving her things to do, showing her the playroom, and helping her decorate her anesthesia mask. 

She found this little green tractor toy which thankfully kept her busy for probably an hour. The surgical floor of the Children's Hospital is one big circle so she just rode around and around and around...I thought for sure she'd freak when it was time for her to leave Seth and me, but they told her she could ride her little tractor back, and she happily obliged.

The surgery wasn't very long--maybe 30 minutes total? It was enough time for me to grab a Starbucks from the lobby and sit back down before they called us. One of her eardrums was perforated from having the tubes in so long, so they had to place a patch on one of the eardrums. She has a follow up visit with ENT in a couple weeks, but we've noticed less "What did you say?" from her. :) 

The poor little thing was downright pitiful after the surgery. She doesn't seem to tolerate anesthesia super well. She was agitated as she began to wake, ripping at her cords, pulling the cotton out of her ears, and generally screaming loud enough that people in post-op in New Jersey could hear. Thankfully, after about 30 minutes of freaking out, she suddenly "snapped back," asked for her slushy they promised her and that was that. We dressed her and she grabbed a snack and walked to the car herself.

We even went out for lunch after we got home and girlfriend was hyper. I think THAT may be the other reaction to anesthesia. HA! Nonetheless, it all went well and those tubes are out. Now praying the infections stay away!!

Carter's first stitches

We made it six years--that's gotta count for something, RIGHT? :) For Labor Day weekend, Carter and Addison were camping with Michelle, Jason and the kids. Seth and I were in NJ for a wedding. We got home on Sunday evening and they were planning to come home Monday around lunchtime. At about 8:45 a.m. or so, I see Michelle calling me. 

When I picked up the phone, she said "So, what hospital should we take Carter to?" HA. Turns out, he was balancing on a curb and lost his balance and fell and hit his face. At first, there was some confusion because we thought the bike was involved but Carter says it was not.

Seth and I met Michelle and Carter at the Emergency Room in the town they were camping in. They beat us by quite a bit and Carter was straight-jacketed (SO SAD!) on the table when I walked in. So that he wouldn't cry when he saw me, I stayed back where he couldn't see until they were done. 

Three stitches later, he was good as new. But of course it happened on the day of the Labor Day picnic at my parents, so he couldn't swim, which was a bummer. We're just thankful his first "injury" was something this minor. 

Summer catch up

So, it was a busy summer (hence the barely blogging). Here is a quick catch-up summary! :) 

Addison got a big girl room--new bed, new bedding, still waking up a lot during the night. ;) 

Lots of Hersheypark! 

Field trips for Miss A at preschool

Pedicures with mommy! 

Saturdays at Monkey Joes

Sweaty (no seriously, holy HOT summer) hang outs with friends!