Good Bye 2019

Well 2019 we say goodbye. Another year of awesome ups and downs. So so so so much good has happened this year and also a lot of scary, uncertain events that made us draw closer to each other. The kids have grown so much this year, June has blossomed into such a little lady that I can hardly take it. Owen has become this big brother who loves to bug the crap out of Kate but also help her beyond measure. Kate is Kate with all her sass and love. Gosh she is a ball of energy.

Our summer was incredible and we have loved all the things we were able to do with friends and family.

We say goodbye to another year but not in a sad way. We are so grateful for all we  have experienced this year and all that we have learned. It made us grateful for what we have and showed us how we are to plan for our future.

So, thanks 2019 for all the good, the bad and all the in-between.

New Years Eve

We always have a blast with our crew and we are so grateful for fiends that we can call family. We celebrated hard this New Years and started it all off at the trampoline park! 

Owen and little Charolette competing! They were so cute! 

Us adults kicked all the kids out of the knock out section and had a good battle! I was so sore the next day because of this! Haha 

After the trampoline park we hit up our usual spot at Chick Fil A and then gathered at our house for our annual New Years Eve bash! 

We played games galore, ate all the food and just laughed until we were sobbing! 

Dan and I hosted a "Newly Wed" game with all of us being married 12+ years. Turned into an ugly battle and truths came out. We learned a lot about each other that night! hahahahaha 

Outside getting ready for the big 2020 drop! 

We had fire works and sparklers and the kids were loving it! Our lawns was not as we set multiple spots on fire! 

Everyone made it past midnight, including all our babies. We couldn't believe it, but after midnight we put a movie on and all the little ones crashed on our bed. I wish I had gotten a picture. It was pretty cute! 

Melissa and I just about ready to start ourselves on fire! We weren't very smart that night! 

The night ended roughly around 4am. We partied until we literally couldn't keep our eyes open. It was an awesome way to ring in the new year! 

Christmas Break

Over Christmas break we had a fantastic time with friends and kiddos! We swam, we went to the movies a bunch and just played around in the neighborhood. It made me crave summer all that much more! 

A special thing I did with the girls is took them to the reveal of the 2020 American Girl Doll. It was a big surprise as to who it would be. The girls loved it and it was such a special time with them. 

The American Girl Doll is Joss and she is a surfer. 

The special brunch included them getting the American girl doll. This is June's 3rd doll and Kate's 1st. 

I really loved this special time with just the girls!

Over the break we also took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. A tradition for us and it was a lot of fun. 

June was ecstatic to get her first jack pot! And then she scored it two more times!! She was a big winner that day! 

Owen also had his fair share of wins and bonus wins! All in all the day was a success. 

We loved the time off and we definitely were not ready for school to start back up! WE WANT SUMMER!!!! 

Birthday & Christmas!

My parents came Sunday night and it was fun to have them to celebrate my birthday the next day! Dan had to go into work for a couple of hours so we went and played racquetball for a while and then came home and got ready. 

We had a babysitter for a couple of hours so Dan, myself and my parents all went out for lunch. 

We then came home and opened presents and had cake! No hair on fire this time!

We then spent the rest of the day at Six Flags. It was pretty packed but we still got to do all our favorite rides and the kids had a blast!

Birthday fun 

We even got to experience sledding!

Kate was tall enough to ride the Mini Mine Cart roller coaster! Her very first roller coaster and she loved it! She had her hands up majority of the time!! I hope she's a roller coaster lover like me, because as of right now no one in this family likes to ride them! Haha 

Of course it's not a trip to Six Flags without playing some games 

That night we got home, got kids to bed and my parents and us Lancaster's played Pinochle. 

The next morning was Christmas Eve and the excitement was in the air! We got dinner started and then the day was so nice so we went for a walk around the neighborhood! My Dad woke up and placed Christmas items throughout the walking paths and had the kids go on a scavenger hunt! My kids were in heaven! 

Getting ready for Christmas dinner! Prime Rib and all the fixings. Including our favorite things like Mac and Cheese, Peanut Butter and apples and mushrooms. 

After we downed all the food, got everything cleaned up and settled we did our big goodbye to P.J. our elf and we got ready for our Christmas Eve Traditions.

Including Dan reading Luke 2 from the bible. 

The kids and Nana and Papa acting out the Nativity! 

It then was time to open up pajamas and get ready for bed.

Lots of snuggly and warm pajamas plus new slippers for everyone! 

Then after we were all in our pajamas we headed out to the front yard and sprinkled our Reindeer food. Getting ready for Santa to come visit!

The kids had a big sleep over upstairs in Owen's room and while we waited for the kids to finally fall asleep, we played games and hung out. 

Then it was time to set everything up! Playing Santa is the very best!! 

The morning of was crazy! The kids were bouncing off the walls! All except Kate. She was not happy to have been woken up, but once she realized what was happening she sprang to life. 

We have a fun tradition to have lotto tickets in our stockings. I won $20 bucks which then led to us winning another $100!! It was awesome! 

We snuck a few surprises in my parents stocking this year and lotto tickets were one of those things. 

Owen got a fossil finder and he was so adorable in his little goggles!

Nana and June putting together their Christmas Lego's! 

We put so many puzzles together this Christmas! It was a lot of fun! 

Christmas morning chaos! I love it all! I love the crazy, the magic, the out pouring of love. We are so blessed to have all we do. We try to not take it for granted and we want our kids to know how lucky and fortunate they are, but at the same time they are such good kids and deserve to be spoiled sometimes! Christmas is just one of those moments!

Then my parents went home the next day and just like that Christmas was over! It always goes too fast but such fun memories and I try soaking it all in. I know I don't get many of these magic years with my children so I'm making sure to make every memory count and to try and have a magical Christmas!