Christmas 2015 Festivities

Girlfriend's Brunch!

First up in our month of celebrating the wonderful holidays was my Christmas brunch with a few close girlfriends. It was so great to have everyone together again since I skipped it last year to host one for some neighborhood women. It never fails to be a wonderful time!

Candy sleds I made...

There's nothing like girl conversation around a table of food and drink!

Those two kiddos couldn't help but be a part of the action.

Helping Erin open her present.

Super pumped about my Starbucks gift card!!

Miss Kathy's Daycare Party!

As if she doesn't already do enough, Kathy goes and hosts a party for all of her daycare families. Santa even comes and we get to eat pizza and subs and eat cupcakes. She's just wonderful, and it's fun to catch up with the other parents.

The entire crew!

The kids with their toys from Kathy - she nailed it!

Gwendolyn and Serena - friends since they were just three months old!

This was the gift the kids made for all of their parent's...I always LOVE opening these up and seeing what Kathy comes up with.

Barntsen Family Christmas!

Unfortunately, Tom got sick two days before we were to leave for Christmas with his family and stayed sick almost the entire time we were there. :( It was a huge bummer, and he missed out on pretty much everything and really only started feeling better on our last day. Oh, the horrible timing sometimes! The kids however didn't miss a beat and had the time of their lives with their cousins.

I convinced daddy to turn Conrad's car seat around for our week of traveling. He loved the new view and ability to watch movies with Sissy!

BFFs playing with dolls and wearing their matching vests...

Grant is so loving and great with little kids...Conrad had a new buddy!

These two are hilarious together. Can't even handle it.

Me and my Tenny!

Papa and Mimi took all FIVE (minus the baby) kids to the ZOO by themselves. No easy feat!

Gwendolyn and Conrad enjoying the zoo...

The girls in their matching jam jams - adorable!

Who is pumped for Christmas pj's and movie night?!?!

THESE GUYS!

(I would have been too if you had seen their giant box of candy options!! So fun!) 

It's crazy to think that Conrad will be Lukey's age at Christmas next year.

Just a few presents...

#blessed

Reading the note left by Santa the next morning....

The wonder of being a child at Christmas...

Time to open PRESENTS!

Gwendolyn's cookie decorating skills greatly improved over the last 365 days...

(I was napping while they decorated, but I heard there was a lot of finger licking going on. Don't blame her one bit.)

Watching movies on Mimi and Papa's bed...

Merry Christmas from the Barntsen 4.5!!

Let's hit the road to Okobojiiiiiii!

Sinclair Family Christmas!

Upon unloading our hotel cart and settling into our room....we hit the pool!

He kills me in his swim diaper.

Conrad wasn't so sure about swimming UNTIL he met a little girl the same age and then the two of them kind of just followed each other around for awhile. He discovered that his body can float when he kept his hands on the ground in the kiddie section, which he thought was pretty cool. It was fun to see him learn something new and his whole demeanor changed when we were in the water park (he cried when we left, for instance.)

Mmmm.....grapefruit juice.

Homemade gift exchange time!

This year I gave away a mini family photography session stuffed in a jar filled with chocolate and Tom gave rein-beer. 

Get it?

Beer bottles decorated as reindeer.

Knowing the talent in the family from previous years, we had low expectations for how our gifts would be received, BUT they were both widely popular! :) Finally we nail it!

Dad's homemade gift this year was a fabulous coffee table made from an old trunk.

Scott and Nikki scored my gift cert!

Of course it HAD to be Noah who opened the beer of all gifts (and people!) It was pretty hilarious.

Here's what everyone made...

Nikki: homemade cards

Scott: homemade pottery

Dad: coffee table

Mom: a cooler filled with frozen meals

Brent and Sara: Mission style candle holder

Robert and Becca: two pieces of artwork made from old barn wood

Again, this may have been the best year yet....everyone's work was outstanding!

Here's what we all went home with...

Conrad had us up earlier than the rest of the condo crew so we hung out in our room for awhile watching cartoons, of course.

She is such a snuggler.

Playing with her new Polly Pockets from Aunt Becca

Love this boy!

Weston had told Conrad not to touch his guys and Conrad actually listened!

But he reeeeally wanted to play with just one....

Breakfast....

And then it's time to open presents!!

We decided to have each of the kiddos sit up front and each open one gift at a time so it was more controlled mass chaos. Worked out great because the adults could actually see what they all got! And they all waited so patiently for their turns. 

"I've always wanted this," she told me of her new (vintage) buggy and porcelain doll.

I think everyone looks pretty happy with what they got!

Their reactions to opening $50 from Grandma and Grandpa...

Merry Christmas from us!

Better late than never. :)

December in Pictures

Next up in the "I'm so behind" line-up....December! I may be due with a baby tomorrow, but there's nothing like that as motivation.

-------------------

Family pictures:

They play so well together most of the time, and it's a huge blessing so mama can do things like MAKE DINNER! Here they are coloring while waiting for daddy to get home.

I'm guessing she may have been saying something like, "Brother! Don't eat that crayon!"

Miss Kathy does a Parent's Night Out so moms and dad can get last minute shopping done or like us, go on a date. It's amazing of her. She has a full house all day, and then keeps half of the kids until 8 pm one night and the rest of the kiddos the next time. They change into their jam jams, make a craft, eat pizza and popcorn, and watch a movie. That's the life!

Notice Gwendolyn's expression when she realizes we've arrived. Love her. Conrad is sitting on Emma's lap with his blankie. Squish.

Not planned and didn't notice until we were finished with breakfast, but it was a strip kind of day for the three of us apparently!

We had a great time at a neighborhood winter progressive dinner. Yes, we're sitting on straw bales in the back of a pick-up. Thankfully it was a pretty nice night for such adventure. We like to live life on the edge, ya know.

"Brother, come sit on my lap."

And he actually does.

My friend Ashley hosted a "favorite things" party and we all brought five of our favorite things (all the same). It was so fun and we all went home with five new things. I took five dish drying mats because they've changed my life and I use them daily. If you don't already have one, you probably need one. Or two. Like me.

"Be careful with these things, they're very special."

At least she's sharing her precious dolls. Lord knows she has plenty.

We stopped in Des Moines for a little pit stop on our way to Omaha and got to see Amanda and fam!

Playing with Christmas presents. It was a glorious couple of weeks of complete new fun.

I feel like I go go go all day. They were sitting contently at the table, yet the moment I have lunch cleared and sit down to put my feet up for 5 minutes before heading upstairs for books and nap time, they've flocked to me and are all up in my business.

I don't really care though because it's good to be loved so much.

Story time at the library with Gavin and Hailey. Everybody is getting so big!

We hosted Hudson overnight on NYE's so his mommy and daddy could get away.

Gwendolyn's face kills me. She was literally embarrassed that I was taking a picture.

"Mooooooom."

That's a lot of empty couch...

Cinnamon rolls for breakfast at our house!

I asked her if she'd always let Conrad play with her and her friends and she said yes. :)

This will definitely be coming out at their graduation parties.

Seriously. My heart melts daily.

(Also, can we talk about how Gwendolyn looks 10 in these pics?!)

Gwendolyn:

She's my little snuggle bug and always has been.

We've been working on tracing and she did all those letters SO well! I was so proud of her.

She was one of the only girls at Hudson's 4th birthday party.

That guy in the green shirt is a hired BREAK DANCER. (How fun is that?!)

Can you spot Gwendolyn sitting contently on Miss Rosa's lap watching from a distance? 

Apparently break dancing is not her thing. (Cake and ice cream definitely is though.)

We're never home home for Christmas as we're either at my parent's house or at Mimi and Papa's, so since we don't do presents here, I decided to try stockings for the first time this year since that was one of my absolute favorite parts of Christmas growing up. (My parent's jammed those things super full of all sorts of goodies.)

She got things she "needed" as well as a few fun things.

She thought it a bit odd that Santa brought her fruit though. 

Not fifteen minutes after opening her stocking she was throwing up and basically stayed in this exact position for 4 straight hours. Bless her heart. She's such a trooper when sick.

Playing with her new porcelain doll and buggy from Grandma and Grandpa Sinclair.

Conrad:

I've cut his hair quite a few times but this time was definitely not my best work. Thankfully it grows very quickly, because I completely botched this side over his ear. The other side was perfect because I learned what I did wrong on this side. Ha. Poor boy. 

It just looks so tempting...

He transferred from the car, to the recliner where I took his coat and shoes off, up to his crib and proceeded to sleep another two hours. That's one tired baby.

Singing along at our ECFE music class.

Doing school with one while holding the other...

Another big milestone......turning his car seat so it's forward facing!

Daddy was hesitant, but it made our Christmas travels SO nice. He loved being able to watch out the window and see the movie.

Progression of facial expressions doing something he knows he shouldn't be doing (getting into daddy's chocolate protein powder...)

...as I watched, laughed, and took pictures. Which basically cancelled any sort of disciplinary action I attempted to take.

Playing with Gwendolyn's new "Reese" doll who I basically bought because he looked exactly like Conrad (blue instead of brown eyes, but we still love him.)

He's got a lot of great expressions.....

They both need snuggles after waking up.

Don't mind if I do...

More December Christmas pictures to come!