And . . . December

After getting back from Utah for Thanksgiving, December just flew by.  This was one year that I was actually grateful for the quick Holiday season because I did not particularly enjoy it (I know, I'm a scrooge).  I was feeling just as sick as ever, and felt so sad that I couldn't jump on board with Brizzy's enthusiasm about everything Christmas related.  I had my moments of trying to do something fun and Christmasy, only for it to wipe me out completely.  

But we didn't do all Christmas stuff . . . 

Briz finished her season of basketball.  She had a blast, and finally learned the concept of selfish basketball, with the intent to show off and score as many baskets as possible.  We specifically told her, when the coach tells you to pass it, ignore him and just shoot.  We're excellent parents.

Apparently there is this like famous tree farm that in all of my years living in Oregon I never knew about.  We decided to go with the Papworths to try it out.  It was a beautiful sunny Saturday, but did I mention it was 28 degrees!  That is FREEZING here.  I wore like 7 layers to keep warm and it did the trick.  

These kids are so cute together, I can hardly stand it.  I love watching them play.

And our Christmas tree pick.  It's a big deal because I'm fairly picky.  It looked beautiful all decorated and lit, and it helped me feel a little more Christmasy in my home.

Most of Brizzy's babysitters know that I do a sticker and/or number chart for Brizzy's behavior.  I try to catch her doing good as much as possible, and for which she earns a sticker/number.  She gets one taken away as Strike One, which is sort of like a warning for either not obeying or whining.  What Brizzy's babysitters don't know is that I am a really bad Mom when I am pregnant and those charts basically go to pot.  Here I am actually following through on something and giving her surprise jar surprise after earning all of her numbers.  She was so excited to have breakfast in bed.

Megan and I took Piper and Briz to their first real rock concert: Portugal the Man.  It was ridiculously short, but that was probably a good thing cause I'm not sure how long Briz would have lasted (and I'm not sure how long I would have lasted either).  They were WAY into it, and did Megan and I proud.

Nick turned the big 32.  Truthfully we both kind of forget how old he is, it took us a while to find the right number.  We did a few things for his bday, but one of which was take him out to breakfast at the classy Denny's.  

During Christmas, cousins came!   Briz loved having kids to play with all day long.  She particularly worships Portia, if you can't tell from this picture.  

The "big girls" took Briz and Portia to see the Nutcracker.  Loved watching their sweet faces during the ballet.  Briz asked A LOT of questions which got old real quick, so we had to institute our no questions policy.  She wanted to know if it everything was "real."  I never know how to answer that question.

Palmer took a lot of selfies with my phone.

The kids were excited Christmas Eve in their cute Christmas PJ's.  This is pretty much the only Christmas picture I took.  But even with being sick, it was tough with all of the mayhem of Christmas morning.

Portia took a lot of selfies.

And she taught Briz how to take random pictures of objects around the house.

Briz made up a story of hurting her knee and Portia wanted to capture it.  Those two scare me a bit sometimes.



I was excited to have Christmas over with, thinking that my pregnancy sickness/migraines would come to a close, and I could start the new year off right.  Not so much (see upcoming post).