December

^^ December first means...Christmas tree! Coincidentally, ours was from Corvallis, Oregon! Ha! Felt a little like home ;) Getting our Christmas tree is probably one of my favorite days of the year - 2018 was no exception! ^^

^^ December 1st also means Christmas jammies! It's our tradition to get and decorate our tree as early in the month as we can, and whatever day that is, the kids are gifted an ornament and Christmas jammies. It has always made me cry, putting my babies in matching jammies. It really is one of my favorite days of the year! ^^

^^ Judah and his buddy Brooks at church (and Billy!) Judah is a few months shy of Brooks in age and I have loved watching their friendship grow since meeting this family shortly after moving here! ^^

^^ LIFE! Cute babies (obsessed with outside and birds), sweet big brothers, pretty Christmas decorations, Ezra being, well, Ezra, and tired babies. The stuff our days are filled with! Wouldn't have it any other way. ^^

^^ Date night! We got a babysitter (first ever paid babysitter! Is that crazy!? We've been so lucky to have friends willing to swap, friends simply willing! or family coming to town craving some time with our kids) and got all dressed up for the Cardiology department Christmas dinner. Yummy food, free drinks, a photobooth, dancing and lots of good company, namely, the tall handsome man on my arm! ^^

^^ Lots of time outside in December (I will never tire of these California winters!) and lots of time just us, mom and kids, siblings, being cozy and lazy and most importantly, together! ^^

^^ Miss Shawna had a December birthday and Ezra was perfectly pleased to surprise her with cupcake ice cream cones on their usual Wednesday visit! ^^

^^ Then I got to surprise Shawna and show up at her doorstep with another friend of her's I'd never met - sneaky, sneaky! We brought over wine and dessert and sat around her living room talking into the night ^^

^^ The highlight of our month was easily having Jon and the boys (and Angie and her boys!) come and visit! Nothing beats cousin time! ^^

^^ Sweet little moments with my bigs - Gosh I love them so much! ^^

^^ Zoo day! Outnumbered 6:1 and I don't think Ezra had any complaints! ;) ^^

^^ So many boys and so many Legos! I loved watching them all interact together (and I loved that Angie was able to find all the pink Legos in a see of gray and black! Ha! She quickly won over Ezra's heart with a little pink Lego house and some pretty nail polish!) ^^

^^ I think most of my favorite moments from their visit were ones like these - seeing these brothers be dads and uncles together and watching these kids be cousins... I love them all so very much! ^^

 ^^ Jon and I loaded up our crew to visit Stephen at work and make him pay for our lunch ;) And then took the kids to Land Park to run wild. People definitely assumed (and asked!) if they were all siblings and we certainly looked like a (not so) little family out and about...! Officially convinced I could have a 7 year old, 5 year old twins, a 3 year old and a 1 year old. No prob. ^^

^^ Sweet morning moments captured by Stephen. Judah has never been one to fall asleep nursing or snuggling and has not once spent the night in our bed. It was a little slice of heaven to pull him in early in the morning and have him fall back asleep with me. Precious, precious moments. ^^

 ^^ Mornings with Jon and the boys around were pretty sweet - slow and easy and FUN! Lots of coloring, worship, Legos and trampoline jumping. ^^

 ^^ Oh my sweet Ezra Lee. So much joy, so much sass, so much silliness, sweetness, gentleness, fiesty-ness, so much love. ^^

^^ Babies in a Costco shopping cart will always be one of my favorite things. So grateful that I get to spend all my ordinary days doing ordinary things with these kids I love most. ^^

^^ Stephen was gifted an unexpected day off in his 35 day stretch of work and it *happened* to be December 23rd so he was able to attend church with us and watch the kids participate in the Nativity play as shepherds! It was such a big deal for Uriah to get up on stage in front of our church, never mind the fact that he didn't have any lines! He got dressed up and walked out on stage and that is HUGE for my (not so little) little man. We were proud and excited and it was just so cute and fun! We loved the family time we got that day - such a sweet treat as we headed into the Christmas week! ^^

^^ How we spent our Christmas Eve! Felt very much like a parent! Ha! It took a lot less time than we thought and honestly, it was a blast! (Though really, I mostly just watched ;)) We pulled off a pretty great surprise on Christmas morning! ^^

^^ Christmas! Stephen had to work on Christmas Day (and Christmas Eve and all the other days before and after the holiday... haha!) but because he was on rotation at the VA, he didn't have to go in super early. We had to wake the kids up (totally backwards!) in order to get our Christmas morning "done" before he left, but it was as close to perfect as it could get. And they were so surprised by the trampoline! ^^

^^ We got in some more snuggles and park time with Jon, Angie and all the boys before they took off to see some more family. It was such a treat to have them and we are so grateful they spent their time with us! ^^

^^ MY BABIES! All the heart eyes for these three! ^^

^^ A Sunday at church in matching shoes. The little ones were originally Uriah's, as were the pair now on Ezra's feet. I have a picture of 3 year old Uriah and 1 year old Ezra lined up after church in these black converse too... Thinking I need to buy one more pair and make them all match! ^^