We started off the month with a trip to see the orthodontist! Brooke needed a few more "buttons" or nubs on her teeth, so they popped in that plastic expander and I couldn't stop laughing. I felt so immature, but I literally couldn't look at Brooke without cracking up. Then she started laughing and we were a mess, haha.
After dropping Brooke off at school, I enjoyed a 3 hour brunch with my besties. I love spending time with them and catching up on all the things.
We arrived home from school that afternoon to find Claudia, our elf, sitting on the mantle. Brooke was SO excited that she was here and came running back into the garage to tell me.
I received a voucher for 4 free tickets to Boulder Adventure Park, so we made a fun Friday night out of it. We picked up pizza, ate it at Certifit with Kevin, then headed over to the park.
We climbed all over the treehouse with the kids, checked out the ball pit, and rode down a few slides.
The kids loved the bumper cars...
But our favorite activity was probably the Blaster Zone!
When we arrived home that night, I saw the note that Colby left for Claudia. "If your wundiring where we are today we are at Bolder Adventure Park. From Colby."
Brooke also wrote a detailed note: "Could you maybe turn this lamb into an elf pet? It would be so cute to see you with it. Love, Brooke Meador. PS. I love you so much!!!!!!!!!"
We went thrifting after one of Brooke's volleyball games and found the cutest elf dresses! I bought the one for Brooke because they had an elf dress-up day for school, but I kind of regret not buying the one for myself. You never know when you need to dress like an elf :)
We drove to Dallas to attend the Reliant Lights Your Holiday show and it was even better than normal! The fireworks are always amazing, but the drone show was the coolest addition. I wasn't sure what to expect, but watching hundreds of drones choreographed to music was quite impressive. We also walked over to Clyde Warren park for a food truck dinner before the show. It really looked magical with all the lights.
After the show, we were able to get in to play with the fake snow. It was pretty icy by that time, but that didn't keep the kids from playing in it until their hands were literally frozen.
On Sunday, we were having the youth over for a planning meeting, so we made a big batch of our new favorite cookies. I never knew I liked gingersnaps so much!!
Lillard kicked off the "12 Days of Dress-Ups" with Elf Day, which Brooke was super pumped about. We found that amazing dress over the weekend, but as we pulled into the school parking lot and nobody was dressed up, she started feeling self-conscious. I encouraged her to own it and be confident in how awesome she looked. Turns out only 5 people on her team of 100 dressed up, but she certainly had the most fun!! I just love my girl and her excitement for everything.
I wanted to enjoy all the cute wrapping paper, ribbons, and gift tags I bought for the season, so I wrapped all the presents I had been stashing in the hall closet.
Colby ran in his last Daulton Dashers with Coach Stapp. I love that she started this running club and I hope it continues with whoever takes her place.
I stayed and ran with Colby, which was a good thing because he needed a lot of encouragement. He's been dealing with a lingering cough for weeks, so I felt pretty awful when I took him to the doctor that afternoon and found out that he has some wheezing going on. No wonder my boy was so tired and struggling to run! He now has an inhaler and a slew of meds to help remedy the situation.
As part of their 12 Days of Dress-Ups, the 5th and 6th graders had a color battle. I'm not sure who won, but Brooke was definitely rocking all the shades of green.
That night we played hockey with friends and Brooke's friend Claire joined us. The kids played hard and it was fun to see Brooke so engaged. She is usually the only girl, and although I know she is good at hockey, she rarely wants to join in since she's so outnumbered.
Colby had been complaining on and off about his big toe for a few weeks, so we asked his doctor about it and took him in for an x-ray. Turns out everything is fine, but it's always best to rule things out when there's unexplained swelling.
We spent Saturday night at Six Flags and rode Spiderman for the first time, which was kind of a big deal. Being 32 stories in the air before dropping straight down was equal parts beautiful at night and super terrifying. Then we followed it up with the Texas Giant.
I finally ordered the garland I wanted and I love how the mantle turned out. I purchased the large candlesticks in January and was looking for something equally tall for the other side. Hobby Lobby had the perfect trees to complete the balanced look.
Our trees dumped all their leaves mid-December, which meant a lot of raking. But the kids had a bit of fun before bagging them all up.
I love these kids so much!!
We are now super into thrifting and I scored BIG TIME at the 99 cent Kid's Sale. I couldn't believe what I found: Abercrombie jeans and jacket, Athleta leggings and hoody, Cat and Jack, and a few Columbia items.
My favorite outfit was probably the black and white ruffled skirt and mustard yellow sweater. (It was also Brooke's favorite, so I did well.)
One afternoon, Colby was determined to get across the monkey bars. It's never been easy for him, but he showed so much grit until he completed his goal.
The Fall leaves were amazing!!
I wasn't at all surprised that Brooke had an idea for "Dress Like a Present" day. Her team also won a Pajama Day, so she was looking all kinds of festive on a rainy Friday morning.
We met Kevin at work again to head up to the Giving Machines in Grapevine. This is the first time they've been so close to us, so the church organized for local wards to provide music and entertainment each night that the machine was in town. Several youth in our ward and GP1 were performing, so we went to support them as well.
This was such a cool experience for our family. It was basically like an ATM, but the item "card" drops to the bottom and donations go directly to global and local charities to help change lives. It's not often that you can purchase chickens or a hot shower/meal for someone.
We let the kids help us select the items we donated and we ended up with: Books For Girls, Four Chickens, Christmas Stocking Stuffer, Hot Shower and Lunch, and an Infant Care Kit.
After the Giving Machine, we wandered around downtown Grapevine, which is the self-proclaimed "Christmas Capital of Texas." There are so many photo ops, so we opted for them all :)
Our HOA hosted a fun ice skating event one weekend and although we missed Brooke who was at a birthday party, we had a fun time. Fun fact: Kimberly and I took an ice skating class at BYU and our final consisted of choreographing a routine to perform in front of our class. It was super embarrassing, but as I thought about that experience, I remembered being out of my comfort zone and decided that I should try a simple turn. Thankfully, I didn't fall on my face.
I love Kevin and the fun "challenges" he made up throughout the night. I'm sure we looked like fools trying to see who could skate longer on one foot. Spoiler alert: He smoked me on that one!
Sunday Selfies with my boy...
We invited our Arlington friends over for dinner one night, but decided to up the ante and plan "Elf Olympics" that we could all participate in. The first event was the "One Horse Open Sleigh" with a furniture dolly.
My personal favorite was watching Kevin in the "Abominable Snowman" jump roping contest with giant cardboard feet. He had the definite advantage since we used his boots, but we wanted to make sure that any size foot could participate.
Oh, and Colby won the hockey shot with the expert tip from Mike Sturgill, who plays on an adult hockey league.
The friends started joking that the games were rigged and that we'd been practicing, which wasn't true, but it started getting kind of embarrassing to win every event.
The we moved inside for a nerf gun target competition. I can't remember the fun name we used, but the kids enjoyed this one.
I wanted to stop keeping score since it was getting kind of awkward, but Colby, who is a stickler for things being "fair" wouldn't let anything slide. When Brooke tried to give another team a few extra points, he lost his mind. Again, I tried to quickly talk to him about being a good sport and relaxing on the rules when we were so far ahead, but it was a sore subject. Thankfully, it seemed like everyone still had a fun time, so there's that.
Hudson and Colby...
Pajama day for Daulton, which also meant they could bring a stuffed animal.
I always get a kick out of the kids playing after school in their pajamas :) Colby is loving the football time and the group is increasing!
I bought Ghirardelli chocolate bars for all the teachers this year, and I was so impressed that Colby wanted to write a personalized note to each teacher. He also muttered several complaints that it was taking forever, but when I told him he could write the same thing in each card, he wasn't interested. Such a sweet boy! I didn't get to read all of Brooke's notes, but I'm sure they were equally as sweet. This is what Christmas is all about!
Third Annual visit to the White's Chapel in Southlake to listen to the Fort Worth Symphony. They always end with a stand up sing-a-long (which is fun), but the best part for me is just being able to sit, relax, and allow the music to wash over me. Such a beautiful night with family, minus Emery who stayed home with Jeff.
The kids always love to check out the train display, so we made a quick stop over there...
Poor Brooke hasn't been feeling great, but she really wanted to go to the symphony, so we allowed it. She promptly fell asleep on the drive home.
She started feeling sick on Sunday night and was SO disappointed to miss school on Monday. She slept off and on all day because she did NOT want to miss Tuesday, and it worked because she was feeling a lot better on Tuesday morning. But after being sick for two days, she wasn't up for the basketball tryouts she was supposed to go to at 7 AM.
She felt great after school, but I could tell that she was fading during the symphony, fell asleep on the drive home, then started running a fever and hallucinating. This is a new trend for us whenever Brooke gets sick and I'm not a fan. I rocked her in my chair for a while, which totally took me back to her baby days and I had to take a picture. But eventually I took her up to bed where I slept by her for the rest of the night. Having sick kids is so hard on the mama heart!
When it's raining outside but your children need fresh air, you go outside anyway. We played monkey-in-the-middle for a while, then I challenged the kids to 100 consecutive rotations on the hula hoop and jump rope. They did that easily, so I jumped in to see if I could get 100 on the hula hoop. When I hit 200 and was feeling quite proud of myself, I let the hoop drop.
Not to be outdone, Brooke jumped back up and did 1,000 rotations on the hula hoop without stopping. I instantly regretted stopping at 200, haha. My girl has abs of steel!!
We held a Combined Activity Day Girls/Boys event and despite it being a little chaotic, the kids had a lot of fun. So grateful for these kids and the friendships they have.
I was dealing with the worst dry hands I've ever experienced, so I had to drag the crew to the dermatologist with me one day. As I sat there watching them, I just couldn't believe how old they looked. Time needs to seriously slow down.
I learned an important lesson one afternoon: Set your mind to something and don't give up!! Three days prior, Colby had a hard time getting from one side of the monkey bars to the other. On this day, he easily made it across, turned back the other direction, and made it back to his starting place. Twenty minutes later, he commented that he wished he could go "there, back, and there again." I assured him that it was a great goal to work towards, and as we were about to leave the park, he went and did it! He's learning that he can do hard things if he believes he can.
We love our annual outing to see the Prairie Lights as a family. Even though the kids are getting bigger, they are still very interested in riding the "free" carnival rides. I think they rode the carousel at least 4 times.
Kevin and I even joined in on the last run :) Just don't judge my dark eyebrows that were tinted earlier that day, haha. It fades quickly.
They had so many new displays throughout the drive-through portion, but we also love the walk-through forest in the middle. Something about it just feels magical.
But our favorite part is still the lighted tunnel at the end. Colby has been obsessed with his old digital camera the last few days, so he was mega disappointed when he accidentally deleted the long video he took. I was just grateful for the cool pic.
We've started having a "Sugar Cookie" day in preparation for Christmas Eve since making the cookies takes quite a while. We made the dough the night before and Colby expressed frustration that I was doing too much, so I stepped back and literally let them finish the whole process. They hardly needed my help the next day either, so my sugar cookie training is nearly complete.
We let them exchange brother/sister gifts that evening since they asked about a thousand times. Brooke already knew what Colby bought for her (a Barbie Jeep), but she was still pumped to actually get it. And Colby loved his surprise (a fancy compass) from Brooke. I love this tradition and adore their excitement for it.
Day-after Christmas hockey with friends...
Brooke and I played with the jump rope forever, but did join in for the last game of kids vs adults. She was on the adult team and although she wasn't consistent in her efforts, she had a few awesome assists. (It's hard being the only girl that comes to play.)
We celebrated Kevin's birthday with dinner at Loop 9 BBQ and a light/water show at Epic. The whole show was synchronized to Christmas music, so it was a fun holiday outing. When your birthday falls on the day after Christmas, you have to expect some overlap. right??
We sat on a blanket for the majority of the show, but when the wind picked up, we were getting sprayed with a lot of water and had to move.
We love and adore this guy!! The kids wrote him the sweetest notes and when I commented that we were the luckiest, Colby said, "We ARE the luckiest."
We finally had Brooke's triplet friends (London, Camden, and Brooklyn) over for a playdate and it was a big success. As soon as they were out the door, both kids were asking when we could do it again. Their mom, Stacy, also stayed and I was able to get to know her a little better.
Colby received the whole Dogman Series for Christmas and it has been a BIG hit. I love walking into a room and seeing him with a book in his hands.
Uncle Tom (their Great Uncle) treated the kids to popcorn and the Wonka movie for Christmas. It was such a fun outing!
We had one more hockey outing before the year came to a close and we quite possibly had the best turnout we've ever had! We had to leave after 2+ hours (we had tickets to the Gaylord), but they were still going strong so we left our goals and sticks so they could finish up. I absolutely love that these kids can all just jump in and play together.
Right after hockey, we picked Kevin up at work and headed to the Gaylord in Grapevine. After living in Texas for 11 years, we finally made it to the ICE exhibit there. Not sure if we'll do it again because it's expensive, but it was super cool to experience.
Stats for those that care: 35 ice artisans from Heilongjiang, China, nearly 12,000 man hours needed, and 3 ice factories used to produce 6,000 blocks of ice. Oh, and it's kept at a chilly 9 degrees, which is maintained by 7 air handlers.
The ice slide looked so cool, but it was actually pretty slow, especially for Kevin and I.
They even had a beautiful nativity carved out of ice, which was one of my favorite parts.
Sunday pics with Jingles...
Brooke was looking SO cute in her thrift store outfit. It's crazy that I bought the skirt and sweater for 99 cents each, as well as the brand new silver flats!
We delivered some New Year's Eve salsa to a few neighbors and ended up staying outside to enjoy the afternoon sun. Brooke and Marlie took Gertie for a spin in the dog stroller, and Colby went for a ride on Carter's dirt bike. Kevin even took it for a solo ride, which was comical to watch.
The month was a busy one with holiday celebrations and lots of family time!
