Thankful December 2016

 What better way to catch up on my blog than a "Thankful" post? I'll start with December and maybe work my way back hopefully in the next few weeks! Thankful for December Homeschool skating days! These littles have so much fun together! Sims here got skates for his birthday so I don't think he'll need this white walker thing next time!

 Thankful for Christmas tree decorating, gosh the kids have fun doing it! Christmas is new again every year. (like how they grouped the snowman all together?)

Thankful we have a fake tree, because we can put it up anytime and it doesn't dry out and die! I'll take it down this weekend, made it to Epiphany! I like a ton of lights, so I have white and multi-colored and it looks beautiful from the street!

 Thankful for St Nicholas Day celebrations! Thankful to still have littles that enjoy making fun cakes and all that comes along during Advent!

Thankful for little kid choir concerts Can you find my kiddos?

Thankful for big kid choir concerts! (it was combined with our homeschool band concert)
 My 3 oldest are in this choir but where I was sitting, I couldn't see my 2nd oldest daughter.

 Thankful these 2 love to puzzle with their daddy! They do 1000 piece puzzles all the time! This was one of the December ones! (1 of like 5)

 Thankful for Christmas book coloring! These 2 love to color! And they love to color with their mama! I love it too!

 Thankful for Christmas-time crafts!

Thankful Tom and I celebrated 20 years of marriage on the 20th!! I can't believe it's been 20 years!!

Thankful for our life together and all we've gone through together. It's been a really hard year for our family but we made it and I'm so very Thankful for the graces from our Sacrament of Matrimony. Gosh, sometimes I beg for those graces. We all have the graces we need in the Sacrament of Marriage, to get through anything that happens within the marriage, that includes our children, illnesses, good things and all the hard things.

 Thankful this sweet boy turned 5!!  My baby is 5!!  I say that with a little ache in my stomach. I'm happy and sad at the same time. Can you guess what kind of birthday it was?

Yep! A shark birthday!!

I'll try to post a birthday post and show you his fun birthday!

 Thankful for big brothers that help little brothers with Legos! So fun!

 Thankful my mom came to bake Christmas cookies with us this year! They got a little carried away with the flour!

 Thankful for cookie decorating! Our good friend Melissa and her fiancé' came to help decorate! (it's a tradition we've been decorating with Melissa and her family for years and years!)

 Thankful for quiet a Christmas Eve. My oldest had to work (Panera Bread) so we didn't go to Mass that night but Christmas morning instead. We celebrated with a special dinner and gift opening afterward!

 Thankful for our special guest Kylo Ren. He's this little boy's favorite!

 Thankful for cold Christmas mornings! I had to pay these kids a piece of candy to pose outside like this!

 Thankful for our beautiful, crazy family!

 Thankful for Christmas at my mom's!

 Thankful for my siblings! I'm the oldest, then my brother John, (right side) and then my sister Brenna, and my baby brother Jordan (left side)

 Thankful for Christmas at my in-laws! Grandma playing with the littles here! Liam has a blurry face because he wouldn't sit still!

 Thankful for Tom's parents!

 Thankful for Lego gifts! Sims here put this dragon together all by himself!! Seriously, he is amazing!

 These 2 girls also put their Lego sets together in record time!

 Thankful at least these kids like it outside, because I don't! They make it at least bearable!

 Thankful for sleep-outs under the Christmas tree! Such a fun tradition.  (There wasn't much sleeping though)

Thankful for another year filled with blessings. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!