New Posts!

Sorry it's taken so long to update the blog, but it's been a busy month with the holidays! I had a bit of down time today, so be sure to go back and check out all FIFTEEN entries I posted tonight (everything under the month of December heading)! Just didn't want anyone missing anything! Our family prays that yours had a wonderful Christmas season, and that this new year ahead brings you MANY blessings!

We love you,
Karin

Don’t blink…

Don’t blink, because if you do, this is what happens… Your baby all of a sudden isn’t a baby anymore!

Still our Santa Baby…

It may be six years later, and a little tighter in the basket, but Ben will always be our Santa baby!

 

Christmas at home

This is the first year we’ve ever spent Christmas alone, and while we missed our extended family, we really enjoyed a quiet day together, celebrating Jesus’ birth and family. We finished the day off with a Christmas dinner in our home for our friends who were also spending the holiday alone. What a wonderful time of fun, games, good food & fellowship with our “NC family” on Christmas!

We couldn’t wait to see what Santa left behind on his visit, and we even let Mom & Dad wait until almost 7am!

Abby & Emily got a beautiful desk for their room…

…and Ben got a gaming chair and a Minecraft controller for his Xbox! Everyone was thrilled!

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As much as we loved our big gifts, the stockings were still (and always are) our favorite!

 

Splat balls were definitely the hit of the stockings!

Ben loved his new chair, and Mom & Dad loved the quiet coming from the playroom with Ben’s new headphones in use!

With our stockings empty, our hearts were full on this Christmas Day! Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve night

After our family celebration in the morning, we headed off to the candlelight service at our church, went out for sushi together for dinner, and headed home to get ready for Santa!

We couldn’t believe that they made it snow INSIDE church!

When we got back from church, we got on our jammies, put out cookies & milk for Santa (and carrots for the reindeer and cheese for Santa Mouse), and got ready for our long winters nap!

 

Emily read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” this year and did an awesome job!

And Ben was done by the time Abby finished our other favorite Christmas Eve story, “Santa’s Favorite Story”…

As we were all off to bed, Mom decided to have a latte because she WOULDN’T be getting that long winter’s nap…

After Santa came, Pinocchio said his farewells to the Beach house for another season… and left Mom & Dad with a little bit more peace in their lives

Christmas Eve celebration!

Our family tradition is to exchange our family gifts to each other on Christmas Eve morning, and this year was an awesome time of gift-giving and time spent together!

Ben wasn’t too sure when he opened his Red Ryder BB gun… maybe he thought he’d shoot his eye out (Mommy did too!)

He came around on the idea though…

Mor-Mor gave each of us some money in mazes… It took us some patience, but we got it!

 

Minecraft Legos were at the top of Ben’s list…

…and he was super thankful for them!

Emily loved her disco lights from Abby… It’s like a party here now all the time!

 

Abby got a glow in the dark capture the flag game that we can play outside with all the neighbors this summer!

Emily loved all of her pencils from her cousins!

Abby’s favorite gift this year was her FitBit… Mom won’t be doing any challenges with her though, since Abby can do 3x what she can in a day!

The hot item this year were Fingerling monkeys, and Ben and Emily loved getting them from Mor-Mor!

 

Emily’s big gift this year was her Chromebook, so now she can do even MORE homework!

But her FAVORITE gift was her Hatchimal twins…

She had to keep them warm so they would hatch from their egg, and she did a great job!

 

It was finally time!

Emily could be a doula when she grows up!

 

Success!

Ben couldn’t wait to get to building his Legos…

 

… and Daddy couldn’t wait to show him how to shoot his gun!

 

He learned all about the parts of the gun, safety, and how to aim and shoot without shooting your eye out!

He was a little nervous though when Dad was giving him a Demo!

But he did great with a little bit of help!

He still prefers his NERF gun though (and so does Mom)!

Abby, on the other hand, is an awesome shot! Confident and precise!

 

Emily loved taking a “shot” at it too!

The best part of the day was the roller-skating disco party in the basement!

What an awesome day celebrating together!