We’re already into the New Year but I wanted to do a quick little holiday recap before January comes and goes. This year, Christmas literally FLEW BY! Not sure if that was because we went out of town the weekend before Christmas, because we had lots of family in town, or because we have a new baby (or maybe a combination of it all) but whatever the reason, it felt like we blinked, and the holiday season was over! We spent several days with my family at Seabrook, a little town on the Washington coast and one of our very favorite places. Then came home a few days before Christmas and did all the last-minute things, including the Christmas Eve service at church and my very favorite tradition of seeing It’s a Wonderful Life on the big screen at the theater! Seriously the best Christmas movie and sooooo magical on the big screen. I bawl my eyes out every time! The Big Day was spent at our house with Drew’s family and my parents. The kids woke up early and were SO EXCITED to see what Santa had left them! We spent a relaxing morning eating cinnamon rolls and coffee on repeat while opening presents. Then we made the best Christmas dinner of all time, filet of beef with gorgonzola cream sauce, our go to always and such a hit! The whole day was lovely, simple, and wonderful. The day after Christmas we woke up to the most gorgeous snowfall and had a day of sledding and playing in the snow to top it all off! Such a special treat!

I wanted to share a few photos from our Christmas, honestly, I felt like I barely took any photos but hooray for my sister-in-law, Danielle, who was visiting and a professional photographer! She got some great shots, and let’s be real, her pictures are better than mine any day of the week!

A beautiful, messy, busy holiday season! Hoping you had the merriest holidays and are off to magical (and more organized) January! XO

We have already taken down all our Halloween decorations and I’ve bought all my Christmas wrapping paper but I just couldn’t let the holidays come and go without a quick little Halloween recap. Halloween on a Sunday was so much fun! My parents were in town and we did all the things! We had plans all weekend long and were really able to soak in allllll the festivities before the big night! That being said, it felt like Halloween lasted for an entire week and this Mama is so. dang. tired. and quiet frankly, totally ready to say goodbye to Halloween for the year.

Our weather was beautiful and we spend Friday night hosting our homeschool friends for brisket and treats. We set up a movie on the projector complete with leaves, pumpkins, and twinkle lights. So fun! My Dad also set up a haunted house in the garage, something he used to do when I was a kid and the kids were sooooo into it! They totally loved it and it was so special to see my girls getting so into it! Saturday morning was soccer games and a day date for Mom and Dad finished off with tacos and Ted Lasso. (#goals) My sister and her husband came into town and it was so fun to get to share in the festivities together. Sunday morning we carved pumpkins and had our annual Halloween party complete with family costumes, homemade lasagna, wine, round two of the haunted house, and soooooo many treats.

We did two sets of costumes because why not make things really crazy and #gobigorgohome.

I would like to be clear that my family will never again participate in family costumes! So much freaking work and tears from almost everyone. This blog post is to prove that for one moment in time, I was a mom who had it all together (or was crazy enough) to make her kids dress up how she wanted them to. But NEVER AGAIN! As Drew would say, “the juice was not worth the squeeze.” 😉 Such a festive, fun weekend and now looking forward to savoring these last few weeks of fall colors and prepping our hearts for Thanksgiving and the magic of Christmas.

Hope you had the best Halloween, until next year! XO