December 2023

We had our ward Christmas party really early in December. They weren't planning on doing Santa at the party but there was a sweet woman with special needs who wrote a letter to Santa and had been so excited to give it to him. So at the last minute they were looking for someone who would be Santa. Richard normally would but he had lost his voice from being sick and could barely whisper so Ryan Martin stepped in. It was really cute to see how excited this woman got when she saw Santa and then she got nervous and it took her a few minutes to work up the courage to go over and read him the letter she wrote.

We also had our annual couples Christmas party where we eat yummy food, play a few games, and do a White Elephant gift exchange. We got a burrito blanket that came with taco socks and a super cute reindeer that has a removable heat pad in it's stomach. 

Kaylee had her Christmas orchestra concert and I think this music teacher does an amazing job making it fun for the kids and also for those watching the concert. She will let the kids wear Santa hats or other holiday themed things and then she gets creative with the lights or props for just about every song. One of the classes played "You're A Mean One, Mr Grinch" and they had a student dress up as the Grinch and go around and steal things throughout the song.

The girls will randomly ask if we can do a spa day and I try to oblige when I can. We cut up cucumbers for our eyes and soaked our feet in the tub with epsom salt and then Kaylee and Brooklyn got their nails painted. Even though spa-type things are my most favorite activity, I do love spending time with the girls!

We made our usual Oreo "gingerbread" houses and this time I think there was more eating than decorating... McKenna usually gives up on hers and just makes a big pile of goodies :) 

We have loved exploring uses for Brooklyn's paint markers, which have made projects so fun. Kaylee and I did a gingerbread house contest and I think both of them ended up looking very cool.

I talked the family into going to see Christmas lights with me, first at the Zoo. On the way home, we stopped off at the new Dublin park where they had a few lights set up and Kaylee, Brooklyn and I had fun taking pics and running around that area. 

I also talked them into going to the super cool house that puts on a light show that we found a few years ago. Something just seemed off about this whole holiday season. We tried to do all of our traditions but nobody seemed to really want to do them and there was a whole lot of complaining and fighting... I think it was partly because we had nothing to look forward to- we knew we were going to be spending Christmas alone and nobody was very excited about that. 

For Christmas, Kaylee got a cake decorating set and she wasted no time practicing with her new set. I thought she did an amazing job for her very first time decorating!

One super fun thing we did do over the break was another Murder Mystery over Zoom with my family. I was a worn out mom, Richard and Brooklyn were conspiracy theorists, and Kaylee was a teenager with a bad attitude. We all had a lot of fun playing our parts!

A not as fun thing we did over the break was to paint McKenna's room. I absolutely love the color of her accent wall and it feels like we kind of know what we're doing now and can get it done pretty quickly with minimal touchups. It has been so satisying to make this house our own!

On New Years Eve, Kaylee went to her first church dance! She was really excited about it and had a ton of fun. It was 80's themed and she went all out to be on theme. It's crazy to see how fast she's growing up!

Richard started a new tradition for New Years Eve that is one of the girl's favorite things. He goes to the store and buys a whole ton of things that we don't normally eat, usually a bunch of frozen appetizers, and then he makes a mystery menu so we don't know what we are ordering. He also buys one thing that is completely disgusting, just to see their reaction! We had some winners but a lot of this year's dinner was pretty disgusting- ha ha! But it is something that sticks out so much to our girls and they never seem to get tired of doing these mystery dinners!

November 2023

 I finished all of my little Harry potter felt characters! This project was just what I needed and I thought they all turned out very cute!

Kaylee was chosen again for the Panther Pride award (every teacher picks one student per quarter to give it to)! We got to go with her before school and meet Mr Dameron, who had nominated her. I love seeing how much other people see the good in her and appreciate her hard work and goodness. 

We went on a group date night to an escape room with 3 other couples from our ward. It was honestly so much fun! I never get enough of escape rooms. 

We decided to stop by Jungle Jim's on the way to Holly's house for Thanksgiving. We told the kids about the trick bathroom where it shows an outhouse on the outside, but when you open it up, it leads to the nicest public bathrooms I've ever been in. They also have an outhouse photo booth that we HAD to get the kids pictures in.

Brooklyn was so thoughtful and wanted to make a gift for all of the Andreason's. She printed off a photo of Chase holding Mio and put it in a picture frame, she made a disco ball decoration for Madsy, she made a light saber and she even made pig earrings out of hot glue for Holly! 

A lot of times when we come, Emery is so outnumbered, both in the amount of girls he is around and the things the group wants to do. Richard was very kind and took him out to lunch at IHOP one day so that he could have some guy time away from all the girls. 

Later that day, we all went shopping to get gifts to take to an organization Holly had researched called Isaiah 117 House. It is kind of a halfway stop for kids who are waiting to be placed into foster care. It was really fun to go shopping and see the kids get excited about things that weren't even for them. We went to drop it off and they offered to give us a tour of the house. They had done such an amazing job making it feel like a cozy home and making the kids feel loved when they are going through such a hard transition time. Everyone talked about how they felt really good as we left- I love being able to do these kinds of service with our kids!

Unfortunately, McKenna wasn't feeling good for a big chunk of our trip and she took naps almost every day and could play for a little bit but then she would have to go upstairs and sleep or read or watch. It made me sad that she missed out on so much! 

Brooklyn liked being Madeline's little model and she tried out different makeup and hairstyles on her every day. 

Mio really loved Kaylee this trip. Pretty much whenever she would sit down, he would plop down on top of her and be completely content.

We did our annual Turkey Trot in the morning and it was the most amazing weather! It was still chilly but nice enough that when we got back to Holly's, they got out their kayaks and paddle boats and we spent the afternoon out on the lake. It felt amazing to be out in the sunshine!

The sister missionaries joined us for Thanksgiving dinner and a quick game before they had to leave. That night, we did a Thanksgiving themed murder mystery game. It was a little too detailed which made it hard to know what was relevant for our characters but we got into it and had fun. Richard was a turkey farmer and he ended up being the murderer!

The next day we went to Marengo Cave. There were two different tours in different parts of the cave and we did them both. It was actually really cool! They said this cave was discovered by two young kids who crawled through a sinkhole with only a candle to guide them. In one part of the cave, they turned off all the lights so we could see how completely dark it gets. Then they lit one tiny little candle and it was shocking how much light that small candle provided for us to be able to see. It was a great Gospel analogy! The stalagmites and stalactites had a lot of cool formations and the little ponds tricked our eyes because they looked like they went on forever but were actually very shallow. We also let the kids pick one activity to do outside the cave. Emery and Chase tried the pedal go-karts but Emery could only do one lap and then had Richard take over and Chase had to walk his back some of the way because they were SO hard to pedal. Kaylee, McKenna and Brooklyn chose to pan for gems and Brooklyn, Holly and I went through a fun maze that also had a scavenger hunt.

On Saturday, the kids really wanted to go play laser tag so we went to their arcade and everyone played, except Brooklyn. So I stayed out with her and let her play a few arcade games while we waited for everyone else. We mostly just had the best time playing games, hanging out at the lake, going on walks, and soaking up our cousin time.

And of course we had to make our annual trip to Trader Bakker's, our favorite creepy thrift store! It's because our favorite tradition!

On the way home we stopped at a gas station to go to the bathroom and got such a fun surprise! Apparently this gas station is known for having this button in every bathroom that says "Do not push this button!" When you push it, the lights go down, a disco light starts up and music plays. Our song was Dancing Queen. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever and we had to push it multiple times before we were ready to leave!

We had McKenna's birthday the day after we got home. She was kind of funny about her friend party and I kept telling her to pick a day and we could plan something but she never did. On her birthday, she also seemed pretty worn out and didn't want to do a big thing but of course she wanted to go to the pet store! And then Richard and her went out to dinner and we did presents and treats. It maybe wasn't the most exciting birthday but hopefully it was more of what she needed. We love our Kenna girl!