Christmas

 We opened presents on Christmas Eve morning, since Ryan and Michelle's family was going to be coming to stay with us that night. We got two full days of Christmas! 

We went over to G&G Arnold's after our morning was finished, so they could give the kids their gifts, and we saw Blake and Lindsay for a bit that morning, too. 

I had time to do a little bit of food prep before it was time to go to the Christmas Eve service. The service was really nice! We did a combined event with Gresham Bible, and it was great to see so many friends there, too. I loved the candlelight service and the way we were able to take some time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Afterwards, we went back over for dinner and birthday cake for Jesus with the Arnolds.

Ryan and Michelle got in late that night, and we headed over to G&G Moffat's for Christmas Day. Lots of great family time. The kids had a great time playing games all day long. It was a happy, full, and loud house!

Ryan and Michelle's family took off the next morning to spend the day with her side of the family, and Greg and I took down the tree and decorations, trying to get our house back in order.

The next day we went to see Sing 2 in the theater together and had dinner with everyone over at Eric and Leah's. 

In the days following Christmas, it snowed off and on, which was fun. It was just enough to be pretty but not so much that it kept us from doing things.

Christmas at Church

 Our community group had a Christmas party early in December and kids were invited. I thought it was funny that the oldest girls chose the smallest chairs.

I requested a family photo after the Christmas service the Sunday before Christmas. The kids reluctantly obliged, and I'm so glad. :-) 

We went over to the Wilson's and played games that Sunday night. The week ahead got full with sports and work, and activities. We had to squeeze in an evening before they headed off to Maine the next week. The girls were matching in their TCBC sweatshirts, so I needed a photo.

Greg and I visited Grandma a couple days before Christmas. It's always good to see her. We always end up laughing, too. Her friend Dorsha was there, as well, keeping the conversation entertaining.

Joel's Party

 Joel asked a while ago if he could have a Christmas party at our house. We said yes, and got ready to host a bunch of kids. It ended up being 22 of them, and he had had to limit his guest list since we couldn't fit 45 people in here! It was a lot of fun hosting. He has great friends.

Kari's 18th Birthday

 Kari requested salsa verde enchiladas for dinner and a movie and sleepover with Katelin and Kylee. First, she went to the Christmas choir rehearsal as the piano accompanist. We enjoyed a family dinner when they got back, and girls enjoyed seeing Spiderman later that night. 

It's hard to believe she's 18 years old! 

My social media post on that day:

"I really don’t know how this happened, but our baby turned 18 today. If you see me, I might be a little teary (or a puddle on the floor), but they are happy tears. I am so proud of this daughter of ours. I love you, Kari Lynn! Happy birthday!"

I had fun posting many, many photos of Kari from all her 18 years in "stories" throughout the day. So fun to look back.

Spirit week

Grant dressed up and participated in all the spirit week days last week. I only got photos of two, but he wore a Barlow water polo shirt for sports day, wore his Elf Christmas shirt with elf socks and pj pants for pajama day, wore Joel’s wig for crazy hair day, wore two different shoes for mismatch day, and brought a big squishmallow for stuffed animal day. 

Aubrey dressed up on the last day of school before break, and I drove her and Aubrey H. to school.

Kari and Joel participated in some of the dress-up days at school, too. Joel wore the "jammeralls" I found online and twinned with Sam for the day. They had fun with the silliness.

One of the days was festive hat and sock day. Kari and Joel were both dressed up in their Christmasy attire, and as they were heading out the door to drive off to school together, I had another heart-wrenching moment of mourning the changes coming next year and thinking about how this is their last full year of being at school together.