A Small Snippet

one of these days we hope to have a mantel to hang our stockings with care, but for now, our game cabinet works just fine!
before church on Christmas Eve:
throwing Reindeer food onto the beach, because we all were sure that Santa would want to land his sleigh on the beach!!
Bella thought she saw Santa’s sleigh off in the distance. i think it was just a boat way out on the water, but you never know

setting out the treats:
i love to take a picture of the crazies right before bed on Christmas Eve, in their Christmas PJ’s, in front of the tree, because it always captures such pure joy and excitement!
this is how we found the kids Christmas morning when we went to get them up. they were already well awake, had made their beds, and were waiting for us with a loud, “Merry Christmas” in unison the moment we walked in. i guess when you share a room, you have time to coordinate surprise plans like that!
upon first site…there was too much excited movement to capture a crisp shot!
Santa unveiled a new wrapping style this year:
wonder if he checks out Pinterest?

exchanging sibling gifts was the very first thing that Canaan wanted to do, because he just couldn’t wait one more second to give Bella her much requested Rainbow Unicorn Mini Pillow Pet. needless to say, she was pretty darn happy!!

they loved the Angry Birds Game!

both boys got new surf fishing poles, which have yet to catch a fish, even though attempts have been made
this IKEA easel was a HUGE score!!! wooden, foldable, chalkboard on one side, dry erase board on the other, and a place to store their big roll of drawing paper. best part…it was only $15!

we had a blast Christmas Day, spending it with all our family eating lots of fun food!

like taking the kids ice skating for the very first time:



this pic just makes me laugh. not sure what the pout was for…
we spent an afternoon and evening in a historic town not far from us that is completely decked out in lights:
we played at a park:
picnic-ed:

(did you hear that Chick-fil-A is launching a new kids menu option? grilled chicken nuggets with all natural applesauce!! needless to say, i’m thrilled. we live very close to a Chick-fil-A, always have coupons, and love to go there for a quick meal. we are making some new and significant changes in the way we eat around here (i’ll tell you more about that at another time) and i was worried that it would eliminate most of our favorite places to eat out. but now with this new option, it’ll make it easier to find quick on the go meals that are still fun for the kids and that will still allow us to stick to our new food plan!)

and rolled down hills:



we stopped a few times at the crazies’ request, to take some “action shots”:

before watching the sunset over the bay:

we had an absolute ball during our break, taking a hiatus (as much as we could) from normal busy life, and just chilling as a family.

well…that feels good to be all caught up now! its been hanging over me! i’ll be back with some fun blogging material soon!

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i’m going to ask you to forgive me ahead of time.

this post is full of pictures, that most of you could probably care less about. that’s okay!

but one purpose of this blog is to document our life. and this is one of those moments that just simply must be documented!

and the real truth is that i just adore this little princess so much, and i pretty much think she’s the cutest little girl to ever walk this planet. and a problem arises when you put her in a costume, because it just ups her adorableness by so much i can hardly handle it!!

so there. i’m sorry. but read on if you want to see for yourself! and then watch the video if you’d like, cause it might melt your heart the way it does mine every stinkin’ time i see it!!

Bella’s first performance of the night was as a Raggedy Ann Doll:


and then she got to be a little Sugar Plum Fairy:

this was right before heading to the stage:
she was SO excited!!
now…let me just say…the photo capturing situation during the performance is quite the challenge. i mean really…how much can you really do when you are in a dark theater, not allowed to use a flash, without super fancy equipment, and are sitting quite a ways from the stage (even though one was buying tickets at the exact moment they became available!)

good thing i’ve got some massively talented peeps in my corner!!

the majority of these actions shots were taken by my dad (pictured below with my mom):
he’s got the REAL talent, crazies. for real. cause most of mine turned out like this:

thankfully he was able to capture some priceless shots!! thanks dad!!

Raggedy Ann:

not real sure what you call this move…

(photo cred on this one above goes to our sweet friend…thanks tim!)

Sugar Plum Fairy:




if you haven’t had your Nutcracker fill just yet, you can watch this video of Bella’s perfomances.

ENJOY!!

thanks for indulging me!!

be back soon,

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have y’all been as “busy” as we have? its a good kind of busy though…lots of family time, lazy mornings of sleeping in and breakfasts of leftover cinnamons rolls and hot peppermint tea, outings to see the city all lit up with lights, the ice skating rink (yes…even in 80 degree Florida!), the mall, birthday celebrations. i’m getting very sad that its all coming to an end!

this is the first i’ve sat down to sort through photos…and boy…do i have a lot!

i’m just gonna cap off our time with Eli today, and then i’ll come back with the full Christmas rundown!

(if you are interested in having fun with an Elf in your own house, you can order one here:  The Elf on the Shelf

we enjoyed our last week with our little friend, and soaked in his last attempts to surprise us with his antics:

we woke up Christmas Eve to him studying some Scripture. he had out all kinds of translations of the Bible:and had highlighted the same verse in every one. he sweetly gave a us a great reminder of what exactly we were celebrating!:
later that night, the crazies said goodbye to Eli, knowing that Santa was coming to pick him up, and gave him one last “grace” talk:
and woke up the next morning to this:
Elf Donuts:
from the best i can tell, i think he covered cheerios with powdered sugar and cinnamon sugar, and then dipped the tops of a few in chocolate and covered them in sprinkles.
that funny little fellow!

be back next year

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