We had an amazing holiday season. Work was busy. Life is busy. Everyone got sick. But we tried very hard to slow down as much as possible and soak in all of the sweet moment. We also cut way, way down on Christmas shopping and presents and focused more on the memories.
We also did a lot of fun family activities, including the old fashion Christmas at the Heritage Center and taking all of our families to the Hosanna Christmas Concert.
Traveling to WI a bunch with kiddos was hard, and we may stay home a bit more in the future, but overall, this Holiday season was incredible.
I feel like I say this in every post, but we are so, so, so blessed.
Also, since I knew I'd be writing this post late (yup, it's Feb. 18 as I type this), I kept a list of memories on my phone so it would still be fresh whenever I got around to posting the pictures. The blog can be a challenge to keep up with but I look at it as a family journal that I hope we will all enjoy looking back on for years to come!
Best memories/moments of
Christmas 2018
1) Watching Brinley enjoying the one room school house at Dakota City
2) Singing Christmas carols at the church at Dakota City and Matt and I smiling
at each other in a moment pure joy (Hallmark moment!)
3) Seeing Brinley’s excited face on the horse carriage ride at Dakota City
4) Another amazing Hosanna Christmas concert and crying during the beginning
from the sheer joy of remembering to focus on what really matters (Jesus!) And
the awesomeness of Little Drummer Boy
5) Making cookies with my mom :)
6) Making kuchen with my dad and Alexa
7) Watching my mom and Brinley put up the manager scene and her telling Brinley
about the history of it
8) watching Brinley play with her uncles, and snuggling up with her favorite,
Uncle Eldon
9) Christmas charades and getting my mom and Garry to play too!
10) Not getting to church early enough and being so disappointed to sit in over
flow. But getting over it and remembering the real reason for the season (Jesus!!)
11) Christmas chick fil a and not having to clean up the mess!
12) Giving Matt his Christmas movie gift and not being able to finish it due to
sickness/bedtime
13) Me trying to put the paci in the wrong kids mouth because I was so out of it! (And then laughing hysterically afterwards!)
14) “whew, I’m getting really smart about this Jesus thing” Brinley after she
explained the Christmas story to us and how Jesus was crucified, raised from
the dead and forgives us for our sins
15) Me saying “come over here everyone, so daddy can read the nightmare before Christmas, I
mean night before Christmas!”
Christmas Day
16) Becca sick and sleeping most of the day, Matt with strep and having a virtual
dr appt
17) Magic moment having a Christmas dinner in spite of it all
18) Fun skating with Brinley, you’re a great teacher mom :)
19) Giggles with Becca during bath and bedtime. Sweet hugs and snuggles.
20) Ending the night with a new Christmas movie (when calls the heart) and a
beautiful perspective on what really matters. Believe it or not, I wouldn’t
change a thing! (Except maybe my family feeling better and me not losing my patience
so many times with Brinley!)
After Christmas
21) Magic moment at Fat Lorenzo’s during appetizers. Everyone content and happy!
22) Tons of fun with Brinley at the jumping place!
23) Magic of the night trains exhibit and watching Becca have a ball!
What a perfectly imperfect Christmas. We are so incredibly blessed! Thank you Lord!!!
And of course, there are more pictures than we can count!
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| We all got to go to my work party in early December and the girls loved seeing Santa and Mrs. Claus |
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| The next day we ventured out to the Heritage Center in Farmington for a wonderful old-fashioned family Christmas in the 1900's village. It was super cool and we can't wait to bring family back next year! Here is a pic of Brinley in the jail, lol. |
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| It was a bit chilly but we bundled up and all had a great time going in and out of the buildings and talking to the historical characters. It was a great first Christmas weekend. |
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| Mommy and Brinley on the sleigh |
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| The schoolhouse was probably Brinley's favorite part. She didn't want to leave! She still says she wants to be a teacher someday. I hope she does! She'd be great. Kind, compassionate and very creative and fun! |
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| Mommy and Brinley on the horse drawn sleigh |
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| I also spent a lot of time in December perfecting my molasses cookie recipe. So fun! I think I got it perfect, finally! |
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| If this isn't just the cutest thing you ever saw... |
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| Visiting Santa at school |
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| Nana came up for the weekend and we got the put up the special Nativity scene from Grandma GG (Grandma Mum). It was so cool to watch Brinley and my mom doing that together. Special memory for sure! |
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| I love our annual Hosanna Christmas concert tradition. And it was so special for us to treat everyone to tickets this year as their Christmas present. Experiences > Stuff |
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| Nana and her grand babies |
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| I took a day off and we went to the Swedish museum. It was super cool and they did a great job decorating it for Christmas! |
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| It also happened to be the weekend that Brinley had her winter dance recital. It was so fun to watch her and it was crazy how much of a difference 3 to 5 was in terms of her ability and performance style. She loves the stage! |
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| Sitting on Daddy's lap and watching the big kids after her. |
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| Proud of our special dancer! |
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| Being a reindeer |
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| Early in December we had Christmas at my Dad's house. Christmas itself was fun but Becca puked all over that night and we were up for over an hour cleaning everything up. We didn't get much sleep and we realized that traveling with littles is really, really hard (or I realized, Matt already knew, ha!) |
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| Special moment teaching my Dad and Alexa how to make kuchen |
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| She was very proud of her gingerbread house |
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| And loved hanging out with her uncles, especially Uncle Eldon! |
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| And of course, Uncle James |
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| Sister bath time! |
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| Daddy even got in on the action! |
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| My baby sleeps on a cot! Where has the time gone??? |
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| Officially welcoming Becca to the toddler room. Mommy had a really hard time with the transition but she is loving it! |
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| Those eyes! |
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| She even got to be a part of the Veteran's card that the daycare sent overseas tot he troops at Christmas! |
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| Brinley and her good friend Aubriana |
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| Brinley loves Travel Tots! Such a fun program where they learn about the world |
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| Christmas at Grandma Ann and Grandpa Rob's, Becca liked the village under Grandma's tree |
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| Last official firefighter engagement. Matt didn't like me taking pictures, ha! |
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| "Jess, stop, I've got to go!" |
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| Proud of myself for this gift idea for the 4 Square teachers |
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| Brinley and her new hat from Grandma Ann! |
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| She did so great at the dentist! Growing up, for sure. |
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| The kids praying for Nana Betty and Ms. Carrie's Grandma. So sweet and wonderful that they pray at school! |
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| Mommy also got to come to the Holiday party at the girls school. Lots of fun with my girls! |
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| Becca kept being afraid I was going to leave but she loved seeing me! |
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| Brinley got called up on stage at the magic show to be a helper. It was awesome! |
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| Grandparents gifts! |
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| She had a blast! |
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| Enjoying Christmas and snacks at Nana's! |
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| Sister love! And yes, Brinley is wearing a jammie shirt under her dress as "it was itchy." We rolled with it! |
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| Me and my girls! |
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| She loves Nana! |
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| Having Alexa and Mason join us this year was awesome! Love them! |
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| Love seeing Matt play with his girls. Best Daddy ever! |
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| Well look who got the fancy Elsa dress! |
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| Working on her computer, just like Mom! |
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| Chillin in their new living room! |
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| Matt knows the secret to my heart, an organized pantry! |
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| A picture perfect moment on Christmas Eve! |
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| Reading the Night Before Christmas. This lasted about 2 seconds but I caught in on camera! |
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| Sicky baby and Daddy on Christmas day. Momma was worn out taking care of everyone! |
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| Poor Daddy! |
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| But we managed to pull it together and still have a wonderful Christmas dinner@ |
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| The girls also enjoyed a bit of playtime at school during break. We had a lot of plans but alas, someone was out sick every day of break so plans got changed a bit. Such is life! :) |
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| Our Christmas decorations! I love our house decorated for Christmas. I also wanted to take pics as I never seem to remember exactly how I put them! |
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| And this year when I took down the decorations I was a bit sad, so we decided to try something new and decorate for "winter." I loved how the sparkle and silver lines looked great with the teal in our house and it was also fun to keep some decorations a bit longer. |
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| Sister time is the best time! |
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| Another highlight of this break was a big girl hair cut for Brinley! |
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| She looked great! So proud of her! |
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| Day 1 workout on New Year's day was rough, but I did it! Here's the a healthier 2019!! |
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| We ended 2018 with a late night steak dinner, just Matt and I (although Brinley ended up crashing it, ha!) |
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