My 4 Boys & Me

Just loving this time of year!  As always.  I know most people enjoy this time of year, but I really think my family may enjoy it more than the average... and I'm pretty sure my Grandma Barry is the reason for that.  Christmas & Grandma Barry are almost synonymous to me.  If we could do "Christmastime" all year long, I'm pretty sure she would!  She's just so good at it.  Here's a little recap of how we've spent the beginning of the season:

I got to put my tree upstairs up just before Thanksgiving!  It was a good compromise :)

My helpers!

 We were so blessed to have Kreg's mom, Carol & her husband, Craig come to visit us over the Thanksgiving holiday!  It was a short trip, Wednesday-Sunday, but we made use of every moment we had :) 

 We started by taking in an Air Force basketball game that Kreg was working on Wednesday night.  We had a great time, and Tucker even enjoyed himself & managed to NOT try climbing the bleachers this time!

Thursday morning, Kreg & I ran our first Turkey Trot 5K together.  It was SO fun. I'm totally hooked on races.  We're planning on running a half marathon together in May, so January 1 starts serious training for that :) Craig & Carol were gracious enough to babysit for us while we went.  

"Dinner" was at my mom's house as usual :) We had 30 people there this year, including kiddos & it was bustling!  After dinner, we all went to the movie theater & the boys & girls split up... girls went to Twilight & boys went to Skyfall.  Perfect.

Friday we did a little Christmas shopping-- I'll be honest, we did not go nearly as crazy "Black Friday" shopping this year as we have in years past... I'm not sure if that's because they typically all run the same sales year after year & we've already done them all... or if we're just getting too old to stay out all night/early morning!  It was very enjoyable this year-- not too crazy, just enjoyable!  Friday night, we ordered pizza & had "Christmas" with Pops & Nana.  SO FUN.  So glad I talked Kreg into letting me put up my tree in the front room so we could have Christmas a little early with Craig & Carol! The boys LOVED it, of course.  Westin is still excited about his Super Mickey shirt that Nana bought him at Disneyworld, and Tucker lovingly refers to his "Chuck" toy from Nana as "Nana."  It cracks me up every time.  I love that he knows where it came from and that he loves playing with it so much :)

 Also on Friday, our Elf on the Shelf, Polo, made his first appearance of the year.  I LOVE this tradition & so do the boys.  Their first thoughts every morning are "where did Polo land this morning!?" And I remind them both throughout the day that Polo WILL be reporting their behavior to Santa tonight... so ya better watch out! Magic how well that works :)

Have I mentioned I now have elk antlers mounted & hung in my living room?  That deserves a post all to itself! Maybe later.

Saturday we packed full of fun also!  After I finished an early "rise & shine" photo session with it'sallgood photography , we did a short hike at Garden of the Gods-- always a treat.  We are so thankful to live near such a marvelous display of God's workmanship. I got to test out my new BOB.  I'm a total convert!  Thanks, A Nation of Moms, for blessing me with the opportunity to review such an awesome stroller!

Then, we drove up to IKEA and spent the afternoon/evening shopping & eating.  You can seriously spend all day in that place and not even realize it! 

Sunday we finished putting up the Christmas decor.  I want to go through the house and document it all this year... hopefully I'll have time & it will make it on the blog :) it's a goal, anyway...

Downstairs Tree

This week, we went to my Grandma & Grandpa Barry's house to make gingerbread houses! This is the first year we've done it with the boys, but I hope to make it a tradition for many more years.  Everyone had a blast & it was so good to spend time together enjoying the Christmas Spirit that Grandma is so famous for! I'm just kicking myself that of all the pictures I took, none of them are of my kids & Grandma & Grandpa!

I can't believe how quickly the past week flew by us... this is my only complaint with the Holidays... they get SO busy that some days I forget to stop & enjoy.  Our photography business exploded last month and I am realizing I'm going to have to take a step back from it & let the other girls take over some of what I've been doing.  I've put a limit on how much I will take on during the week and I feel really, really good about that decision. Today we're doing some baking & writing letters to Santa :) more on that next time!