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"a portrait of each of my children, once each week, in 2018"

Jaden, Brandon and Kaitlyn: Wrapping up this year of weekly portraits with pictures of you all with some of your favorite gifts received this past week.

And as far as plans for another year of portraits? I'm going to do my best to keep this thing going but it's getting harder and harder, folks. And since my resolution for 2019 involves grace - for myself and for others - I'm going to give myself a little more flexibility to let things go when I just can't do it all. So as far as this blog space is concerned, be patient with me. The pictures and stories will continue but only at a pace that is sustainable for me. And there may be changes in content, too. Jaden is getting to that age where he wants his picture taken less and shared less, too. So though I love all of my children dearly and equally, this blog spot might be heavily centered around baby girl moving forward. I'll do what I can. :)

...and a look back at our first portraits of 2018! I look at these pictures and can't believe how much has changed - and how much we've accomplished in a year! Especially when I look at this picture of Jaden laying on his bed in his old room - which is now Kaitlyn's room. A new job for Cody, a rough pregnancy for me, a crazy busy sports schedule, a new baby, Cody becoming head coach of the Junior Tiger football team, a basement bedroom build out... whew! I think when I have days when I feel like I accomplished nothing, I need to just look back at blog posts to see how productive I actually was! ;)

Happy New Year, everyone!

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"a portrait of each of my children, once each week, in 2018"

Jaden: Christmas isn't over for us just yet, as we have one more celebration coming up today, but so far your favorite gift has definitely been the gaming headset that Santa brought you. You have spent many, many hours this week playing games on your PS4 and chatting with your friends on your headset. Your reaction when you opened up that gift was priceless.

Brandon: Your favorite Christmas gift was the Nintendo Switch from Mommy and Daddy... and probably the medicine that you finally were prescribed at urgent care on Christmas Eve night! You came down with the an awful sinus infection right after your stomach flu leading up to Christmas, and it broke my heart to see my Christmas-loving boy feeling so rotten at the start of winter break. But your rallied just in time to enjoy Christmas morning, and you were such a trooper through it all.

Kaitlyn: You were an absolute gem at our candlelight service on Christmas Eve, and you looked so beautiful and adorable in your special little dress. You didn't cry one time, and even though you didn't allow me to actually sit down during the service, you were perfectly content to snuggle up with me as I stood in the back of the church with Papa Bob and watched those candles glow. Of course you didn't really care about any of your gifts, but your eyes did light up when you saw your new Minnie Mouse and over-sized stuffed pink owl from Papa Bob and Nana Nancy. :)

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"a portrait of each of my children, once each week, in 2018"

Jaden: You have been your own worst critic in  your third year of AAU basketball, struggling to see the positives in your own play and trying to feel comfortable in the role you have within your team. We see it as growing pains, as you sure are growing in so many ways lately. But after the first game in your last tournament of 2018, Daddy and I had a very serious heart to heart with you in the car on the way to game two. And of all the things we said to you, I'm not quite sure what stuck, but your attitude did a complete 180, and you remained positive and had fun in your remaining two games that day. We're falling deeper and deeper into these pre-teen years, and we're all learning to navigate them together.

Brandon: You love to push Kaitlyn in her stroller, brush her hair after baths, and be the first to greet her in her crib in the mornings. Many times you hear her wake up before we do, and you rush to be by her side so that she doesn't feel alone for even a minute. You're so good to her, buddy. She's so lucky you're hers.

Kaitlyn: You have been so funny lately! You're learning how your own voice works, but instead of quiet little babble, you love to squeal, shriek and yell! It's the cutest thing and so uniquely you. You are definitely wanting to be heard in this house of craziness!

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"a portrait of each of my children, once each week, in 2018"

Jaden: You have been fighting with us a lot lately about wanting to stay up later - on school nights and on weekends. The funny thing is that when we let you stay up later, you sleep in later, and then you're cranky that you wasted some of your morning away by sleeping in longer. ;)  You're definitely in need of the Christmas break that awaits you. I can tell school is tiring you out more now that your subjects are getting more challenging, and with it being the heart of basketball season also, I'm ready to give you some much needed r&r over the holidays.

Brandon: You battled a short stomach bug and a very low grade fever this week, but you were so mature about it and handled it all so well! The night that you threw up, you completely took care of yourself until you came into our bedroom to tell us that you'd been getting sick. You never cried, you made sure to clean up after yourself and wash your hands a lot... but the hardest part for you was keeping your distance from your baby sis. I love watching you care for her.

Kaitlyn: You are such a little stinker! The more your personality blossoms, the more we see the sugar and spice in you. :) You are sweet as can be most of the time - happy and content and actually pretty quiet when all is well with your world. But when you want something or you're upset? Watch out! You have gotten quite bossy, but it's pretty funny to watch and listen to! You don't cry, you just yell at us, and I'm pretty sure you would be stomping your feet, too if you could. ;) We just laugh and shake our heads in awe of you and your ways. God broke the mold with you, baby girl! I'm off work for almost the next two weeks, and I'm ready to cuddle and play and cuddle some more!

Wordless Wednesday || It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

When it comes to Christmas season, I'm no minimalist. I love turning our home into a festive, cozy gingerbread house full of lots of lights, lots of green and silver, lots of trees. We have a tree in our living room, a tree in our four seasons room, a tree in each of the kids' bedrooms... and even a tiny little skinny tree in our basement family room. Although, once that family room gets remodeled, I'm ready to put a big ol' tree down there next Christmas, too. And because the amount of decorating I do seems to increase each year, we started decorating this year in early November with Kaitlyn's beautiful white tree in her bedroom. I was so excited to have a little girl's room to decorate for the season that I couldn't wait too long past Halloween. ;)

Images of home. I wish December lasted longer.

Sweet story about this little nativity scene. Cody's mom gifted it to me for my birthday a month after Cody and I started dating.

I've gotten really into the flocked tree look this year and added this little piece to my work desk. Next year? More tiny flocked trees. ;)

And this little pink winter house? The first nursery item I bought last year on Small Business Saturday just a week and a half after finding out I was pregnant. I didn't know we'd be having a girl... but I bought it just in case. And it might be my favorite Christmas decoration now. It's especially pretty at night when all the little windows light up. I'm very thankful to Target for putting these sweet bottle brush trees in their dollar section this year. ;)

Thanksgiving 2018

It was a quiet Thanksgiving this year. I spent much of the holiday reflecting back on Thanksgiving 2017 - when we shared the news of our new baby with our family and when my morning sickness kicked in promptly on Black Friday morning. ;) This year - our beautiful baby girl, our family completed, and a whole lot to be thankful for.

We had all of our Christmas decorating completed before the holiday because really, I just wanted to be slow and be still during our time away from work and school and daycare. I took Wednesday off from work, dropped Kaitlyn off at daycare just for the morning, and took the boys to see Wreck It Ralph 2, enjoying our theater's new luxury recliner seats and some warm mini donuts to share. That's a great way to watch a movie! We went to lunch at Noodles & Company afterwards, made a quick stop at Target for some fun items and then picked up our baby girl on the way home that afternoon. We spent Thanksgiving eve quietly with hot cocoa, our new Home Alone board game... and twinkle lights.

Thanksgiving day was slow and easy. With nowhere to be until noon, we lingered over coffee and the Macy's parade and admired our sweet Kaitlyn in her adorable little Thanksgiving outfit. She is a beauty, our girl. And sweet as can be.

Those eyes, those cheeks, those lips, that face. She melts us on the regular.

We went to Cassi and James's for a big family Thanksgiving at noon, but Kaitlyn and I only stayed for a couple of hours. She became instantly overwhelmed with all the new faces, all the loud noises, and all the attention from strangers that she didn't particularly want. ;)  After settling her back in at our own house for the afternoon, the five of us ventured over to Mom and Dad's for a bit that evening - for appetizers, desserts... and old home movies of me that my dad had recently gotten transferred from VHS to DVD format.

It was a slower day of celebration than we're used to, but I had everything I'd ever prayed for. And that's enough for me.