Christmas at Home 2016

Once again, we had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior. 

Jon, Emily & Blake arrived Friday afternoon.  It was so fun having them here with us for Christmas.

Christmas Eve...We continued our tradition of our family advent calendar for December (the activities vary from year to year but some remain the same) and opening our Christmas Eve Box.  And once again, I had cones & frosting in the box for making Christmas trees, or a Santa hat.

Auntie Em & I (Meg) did one too.

#babyB decided to "eat?" most of his.

We even played a math game with Auntie Em.

Later that evening we went to our Christmas Eve Gathering at The Bridge.  

It was a great way to remember what Christmas is all about - THE greatest gift ever given.

"O what a Savior, wonderful JESUS!"

The girls even sang "Joy to the World" with a children's choir.

Christmas morning...we were up early.  But it's fun with kids. They are so excited.  We opened gifts from our immediate family, while the Hight's slept in.  Lily & Ella used their own money, from their piggy banks, and went shopping, with Daddy, for sibling presents.  They did a great job picking out thoughtful gifts for each of their siblings. Here is Benny opening one of his gifts. 

We enjoyed a leisurely brunch, while the babies napped.
Yes, we're still in our jammies!

Lily requested monkey bread. Ella requested scones.  Jake requested chocolate chip scones. We enjoyed some of our family favorites. After brunch, we Skyped with family and opened gifts from them. 

It was a beautiful day so we decided to walk to the park and burn off some energy (i.e. all that sugar).

These two are only 3 months apart...and lots of pounds, like 5+ pounds. 

We had an early Christmas dinner. Skyped with more family & opened more gifts. And then used Ella's new tea set for a tea party ("tea" and peppernuts) before bed.

M e r r y  C h r i s t m a s !

just in time for Christmas

She lost ONE of her front teeth.  
We've had to explain the "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth." She's heard that comment a lot!

miss katelyn

We have had THE BEST babysitter for years!  Initially, our girls had her as a teacher for 2-3 year old Sunday School.  She started babysitting for us when we were a family of four.  Unfortunately, I can't remember if Katelyn was in high school or college, either way, it's been a while. Our kids love her, we love her, and she is a sweet friend of mine.  She's spent many nights here with me and the kids when Jake was out of town for work.  This is such a help & blessing to me.

We had to say goodbye (or see ya later) to Katelyn this past weekend.  She just graduated from UNCW and is off to Oregon for an internship.  Tears were shed.  

 Friday night, was the last night Katelyn babysat for us.  The girls did the chalkboard for her. 

Katelyn made each of the kids these cute doggie pillows.  So sweet.

Our family loves Miss Katelyn.  We will miss her so much, but we are so proud of her and all of her accomplishments.  Katelyn, may God continue to guide you as you move to Oregon and begin your internship.  Whenever you're back in Wilmington, we want to see you!

We are praying Psalm 16:11 for you, "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

Merry Christmas

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.    Galatians 4:4-7

Merry Christmas, from the Flaming's

ONE

The first year...It's incredible to go from a completely dependent infant to an almost-walking and I-want-to-feed-myself toddler.  The first year is hard.  It's exhausting.  The days (and the nights) can be, i mean seem, long at times.  But boy did the year go quickly! Now when I think back to the first year with Lily, Ella and #babyB, I realize how quickly it does go and to try to enjoy each moment (the good, the bad & the ugly moments, ALL of them!). 

Monday #babyS turned ONE. She is smiley and sweet.  She giggles and babbles. She loves to feed herself, especially loves meat! She is walking more than crawling.  She is such a joy!

Opening gifts

About to dig in to the chocolate cupcake with Nutella frosting.

One year check up

Height 27.5" 

Weight 18lb 15oz

Head 17.5"

Thanksgiving in Indiana

We DROVE to Indiana to spend Thanksgiving with Aunt Anna and Aunt Bekah.  The drive out went pretty smoothly and quickly, despite 2 kids getting car sick in the mountains of West Virginia.

We love spending time with Anna & Bekah.  Here are some photo highlights:

Breakfast with Aunt Anna's crew at Carmel PD.

Lots of snuggle time.

We met some sweet friends, The Wetterlund's, for lunch on Saturday.

We visited a friend's farm. Currently, Ella wants to be a horse rider so this was great!

Decorating Aunt Anna's home for Christmas, while watching White Christmas.

Pulling his weight.

We had such a fun time in Indiana.  Thanks for having our crew, Anna.

The drive home was LONG, but we made it home safely Sunday night.  We're planning to stay home for a while. No future road trips planned, yet.

San Diego for two

Last week Jake was in San Diego for the Adobe MAX conference.  Last Friday I flew, BY MYSELF, to join him. I am 99% sure I have not flown by myself in over 8 years, when I would fly to NC to visit Jake.  I have not flown without kids in 5 years.  It was amazing and also really weird. I am used to flying with my Mary Poppins bag that is chuck full of play dough, books, toys, crayons and every snack imaginable! So back to San Deigo....I got in around 6pm and we enjoyed dinner at Union Kitchen in the Gaslamp District. We stayed at The Sofia Hotel, where Jake had been all week.  

The next morning we were up early...like 5:15! So we hit St Tropaz Bakery & Bistro at 7am when it opened.  We then took Uber over to Coronado for most of the day. It was beautiful.

It was pretty foggy, but when the fog burned off it was so pretty.  We saw the Hotel Coronado, some amazing sand castles, and walked all over the place (like 8+ miles).

Lunch at Miguel's on Coronado. 

It was so fun (probably the most fun thing) to see my cousins, Greta and Mark, and their sweet families.  We had so much fun catching up and meeting the kids.  Although, once again, it was rather odd to be there with all their kids and have NONE of our kids in tow.  Hopefully soon west coast cousins can meet east coast cousins!

 Sunday morning we slept a little bit longer, not much with Daylight Savings Time, and then headed to Richard Walker's Pancake House. The line was long....

 ...but the baked apple pancake was worth it.

We then took Uber out to La Jolla.  It was beautiful.  The seals were so cool.  We wished the kids were with us to see them in person.  Instead, we sent them a video.

We walked all over La Jolla.  Another 8+ miles.  It was beautiful.  That is Jake on the very tip of that cliff in the below picture.  

We enjoyed a late lunch at The Cottage. That evening we headed out for dessert at Extraordinary Desserts.  

The only redeeming factor for how much food we ate, was how far we walked in San Diego, Coronado & La Jolla. 

Monday morning we grabbed some coffee & pastries at Du-par's and then headed to the airport. It was so nice to getaway and have some uninterrupted time together.   

A HUGE THANKS to two sets of friends who took our kids.  Thank you! Jake & I hadn't done a trip together in 5 years, back when we only had one child. I'm sure it's a contentment issue...when you're with our kids you just want a break and then when you're without them you just want them with you.

pumpkins

This past Saturday we headed over to our local Lowe's Foods for free pumpkins + painting.  We did this last year too and loved it. Plus who doesn't love not having to pay $12+ dollars for a pumpkin!

Lily decided to paint Easter eggs on hers.  

(Whose kid is this? Don't ask, I don't know why.)

Ella painted blue lines on hers.  

#babyB drew with markers and applied stickers.  

#babyS just drank her bottle.

Then Sunday afternoon we decided to carve #babyB's pumpkin (he said it was okay).  We had fun with the whole process, including roasting the seeds and eating them all up. 

Our pumpkin 

Who knows, we may decide to carve another one this weekend.

Aaaarrrrgh!

This morning was Grandparent's Day at Lily's school.  There was a pirate themed program and this is "Pirate Lily." Aaaarrrrgh!

Lily also had a Charlotte's Web project due this week.  It was a diorama of Zuckerman's Farm. She had so much fun creating it. Lily loves art projects, crafts and drawing.