Saturday Morning Breakfast Guests

I love how the relaxed nature of Saturday mornings lend themselves to fun and creative times with the kids. What started as dressing up stuffed animals led to inviting these animals to breakfast. After breakfast the animals stayed for a tea party and seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves!

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Snow Day!!!

Making snow ice cream!

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Christmas Vacation Part 2 - With the Seilback side

After a few days with Kelli's family in PA, we headed to Maryland to spend some time with Matt's family. All of his siblings live close to his parents so we got to see them all on a few occasions during our time there. Thanks everyone for making time for us and we look forward to our next time together.

The Seilback cousins (Jonathon, Victoria, Ethan, Maia and Caden)

A patient Daddy giving his little girl some shooting lessons.

Caden enjoying a toasted marshmallow. He enjoyed all parts of a smore independently but not as a sandwich.

"TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!!" The past few days Caden and I have spent a fair amont of time playing Buzz and Woody. Any guesses on who is always Buzz????

We spent part of New Year's Eve around a campfire. Here are Jason, Ethan and Victoria roasting some hotdogs.

Enjoying a campfire with my kids. . .I could have sat there all night.

Maia learning the ropes of Poppi's tractor.

A little boy's dream!

No trip to Gran and Poppi's would be complete without a visit to Annie's playground. Here are two of my monkey's just hanging out.

After spending some time running around and swinging, we played some hide and go seek with the kids on this vast playground.

Matt's parents live close to a beautiful park so one morning we took the kids for a little hike. Caden was happiest on his Daddy's shoulders.

Mommy and her little hiker.

This girl could just hike all day.

Matt and Caden on the trail.

And of course there were some presents at Gran and Poppi's too!

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Christmas Part 1 - Celebrating with the Huzzard side

We headed back East again this year to celebrate Christmas with both our families. First stop, Pennsylvania, to celebrate with my (Kelli) side of the family. 13 people (5 of which are 5 and under) in a cozy log cabin in the woods = lots of good times and laughter. It was a bit bittersweet as this will be our last time together for a while as my sister Lynn, her husband Nate and their little girl Abigail are headed overseas in February for mission work. While we are so exicted for them and grateful for their obedience to God's call on their lives, we will greatly miss having them around.

celebrating Abigail's 2nd birthday. . .she's wearing a dress my sister wore when she was 2!

Maia and Mitch - cousins and buddies

Aunt Lynn reading the Christmas story

Christmas morn

These lego-man headlamps were a hit with all the kids and provided lots of fun playing hide and go seek in the dark for both the kids and adults!

Maia and Abigail - the only 2 girl cousins need to stick together!

Nate, Lynn, and Abigail

Maia got this bug catcher vacuum/magnifier and vest for Christmas. . .this is her reaction to looking at the head of a walking stick that my Mom "saved" for her from the fall. Now that is a dedicated grandmother.

Our little clay nativity that most of the kids helped to create. . .I think that big orange giant is Joseph.

Caden and Mitch enjoying the snow!

Maia and Aunt Lynn making snow angels.

sledding fun!

My Mom and Dad with all their grandkids!

Maia with a captive audience for storytime.

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"MOMMMMYYY, I NEED YOU"

One of the hardest things for me to deal with as a Mom is the sometimes frequent episodes of being called back into my kids rooms after they have been put to bed. The reasons are many. . .needing a drink, needing to go potty, the hall light needs to be turned off, my desk needs to be closed up, or I had a bad dream (when in fact no one had even gone to sleep yet). I think part of what makes this so challenging for me is that my introverted self has felt so starved during the course of the day that once the kids have been put to bed, I just relish the quiet and opportunity to process the day. So when I hear that "MOMMMMMMMYYYY, I NEED YOU!", it is like being yanked out of bed in the middle of the night (well, kind of). I'll be honest and say that there have been times, I have stormed into the kids' rooms after the second or third episode and VERY FIRMLY said "this is enough, now what do you need." But there are times like tonight, when I take a deep breath and say a quick prayer for the Lord to grant me more grace and head in calmly to find a little girl claiming she had a bad dream but who really just wants her mommy to lay next to her for a bit. Once there, she wraps her arm around mine and whispers, " I love you Mommy. . .is my hair tickling you?" She then goes on to tell me what boys chased her on the playground today and also to inform me that when she was younger her finger was only "this" long. I know the day will come when I'll miss these episodes, so I'll continue to pray for the grace to extend grace and enjoy the rich moments that often follow.

Knock, Knock

Knock, Knock. . .Who's there?. . .Ghost. . .Ghost who?. . .BOO!!!! Yep, this was Maia's very own made up joke that she told LOTS of time on Halloween to score some great loot. And yes, we've learned that St. Louisans are pretty serious about kids telling a joke in order to get some candy. Matt stuck with Caden and some friends who had younger kids while I took off running to keep up with Maia and her friends as they flew from house to house. It really was a great night and Caden's first words to Matt the next morning upon waking up were. . ."I had fun trick-or-treating with you last night, Daddy."

Caden sorting through his loot and looking like he has a bit of a sugar high already

Maia and her good friend and neighbor Julianna heading back home with buckets and bags full. They don't even look one bit tired!

Matt the Mummy and his little pumpkin.

Maia, Caden and our elephant, I mean buddy, Tripp getting ready to head out.

One cute little pumpkin!