The newborn days of life are tough for many reasons (mainly the lack of SLEEP) but I always look back on these days with such fond memories. They are filled with LOTS and LOTS of quality time as a family and a lot of extra focus on making sure the older kids feel special while adjusting to a new baby in the house 🙂
This month Zach and I took Britt and Kye to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This was Britt’s first Star Wars movie in theaters and we watched ALL the Star Wars films leading up to going to see the movie! We were ALL super pumped to see it and LOVED it. It’s really been adorable to see how into Star Wars Britt has become. It’s been a great way for her and Kye to bond as their at ages where they tend to drive each other a bit crazy most of the time 😉 Britt has felt very “grown up” to be allowed to watch the films and has handled herself very well with them. She tends to be a bit on the dramatic side so we let her know if she had any fears or anything with the movies that we’d stop watching them but she was GREAT and LOVED them all!
Had to do some Rey style hair for the movie!
Sweet Tess wanted to be in on the picture too!
Movie snacks. Duh.
She was PUMPED!
We had the kids bring their tablets to the theater to use during the previews. Last Jedi has a PG13 rating so a LOT of the previews weren’t kid friendly. I was thankful someone else suggested having a distraction for the kids!
Another thing with a new baby is we have lots of playdates! I’m so thankful we were mindful when building our house to make it a FUN place for friends to gather. I LOVE that my friends’ kids all WANT to come over and it makes it SO much easier for me to have people come to us rather than have to try to make plans around a baby’s schedule!
Robyn’s crew came to play!
Our tradition the past few years with Katie has been to get together on New Year’s Day to exchange gifts! We love our Auntie Katie time!
Tess loves her new BB8 costume she got for Christmas 🙂
and it just so happened she was wearing it when Auntie Katie came over and happened to have a BB8 gift for Tessie!!!
The girls loved their purses she got them too!
Our local area puts on many events on the weekends but we don’t often participate in many of them because we tend to make a lot of weekend plans as a family. With a new baby Zach tends to enjoy downtime just hanging at the house and I use the weekends to GET OUT. Since I’m cooped up all week with the baby’s schedule it’s a relief to get a bit of a break and gives the big kids and I something fun to do!
Daddy and Spear stayed home and the big three and I hit up the Tunes for Tots event!
(And duh, we all loved hearing the Star Wars theme song!)
Casey and Carter met us there but didn’t last long as sweet Carter wasn’t feeling good
Kye always surprises me how into stuff he is! He LOVED trying out all the instruments and remembered this event from a few years ago and was excited to attend again!
Tessie: The Pro
Tess’s face is epic haha
Here are all the videos from the instrument playing:
Kye
Britt
Tess
The kids may have also been pumped for the snacks 😉
Love quality fun time together!
We met up with so many sweet friends there and had a blast!!!
These girls! Too adorable for words!
Zach was promoted to a management position in October and as a coordinator he has a team who works with him. We wanted to host a get together to kick of the new year and give out gifts to celebrate the holiday season too. We planned it for the same day as Spear’s first post placement visit. I figured if I was gonna hardcore clean the house for the post placement, we might as well have company over too!
Both events went GREAT! I loved getting to know some of the new people on Zach’s team and am so encouraged and excited for 2018!
Gotta love Aflac swag for gifts 😉
It felt SO GOOD to be back at Book Club this month! We read It Ends With Us. It wasn’t my personal favorite but I was SO happy to be able to be there with everyone to discuss it and catch up!
I love when Zach takes pics on his phone! We sync our pics together and I wish he’d take them more often! He goes golfing with his dad almost weekly and these are the types of memories he’ll be glad he captured 🙂
A new baby at home means LOTS of movie watching!
We had a family movie night this month and watched The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was the first time Zach, Kye, Britt and Tess had ever seen it. Zach didn’t like it (too boring) but Tess LOVED it and literally watched it on repeat whenever she was allowed to watch a movie. She just loves spooky stuff which is so funny!
Ugh we also dealt with some sickness this month. Everyone felt sick and I was like super mega hardcore about protecting Spear from it! Thankfully none of it stuck for long and he was fine!
Big kid sleep overs make every weekend fun!
Kye and Britt rode the morning bus for the first time this month! When Zach has to work early it’s the ONLY solution since Spear eats during the time when I’d need to be driving the kids to school! I hate that the bus arrives SO EARLY but it’s a blessing to have it when we need it!
(They ride the bus home everyday together and this is a typical afternoon haha)
The girls got super into painting each other’s nails this month!
Brother may have had a hand in helping too 🙂 Sweet boy is gonna be such an awesome daddy!
These two are BEST FRIENDS. It’s seriously beyond adorable to watch them together!
Of course the BIG NEWS from this month was…
WE BOUGHT A VACATION RENTAL INVESTMENT HOME!!!
(If you missed it…read more here! And rent from us here!)
Something I really want to work on in 2018 is focusing on friendships. Make deeper bonds. Seek out true friendships that will both give and take and help me be a better me! Sometimes I think God really helps us out and guides us if we let Him! I randomly felt like I wanted to go grab lunch (which is something I NEVER do) on a weekend and randomly thought of Tiffany who I knew through social media but didn’t really meet until our boys played football together this last season. It was all SO random and I went for it and put myself out there and asked if she could meet up. It was VERY last minute but she could and omg we had THE best talk. We instantly connected and dug super deep especially for like a first time hanging out situation. I truly felt like it was such a “God Moment” and I’m hopeful that she and I can become closer this year (if our kids will quit getting sick every time we’ve made plans since!).
Here are some of my outfits from this month:
Tunic: Amazon
Jeans: Rockstar from Old Navy
Boots: Macy’s
Bag: Amazon
Necklace: Ali Express (yes, it was $2!)
Dress: Old Navy
Cuff: Mudpie
Necklace: Kendra Scott
Boots: Crocs
Sweater: Loft
T-Shirt: Old Navy
Leggings: Old Navy
Boots: Amazon
Tunic: Old Navy
Velvet Pants: Old Navy
Necklace: Ali Express
Flats: TJMaxx
Top: Belk
Pants: Rockstar By Old Navy
Shoes: Toms
Tunic: Amazon
Leggings: Old Navy
Boots: Macy’s
Dress: H&M
Vest: Old Navy
Boots: Kmart
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My work has been featured on Love What Matters, Today Parenting and Babywise.Life. I'm also honored to be a member of the Babywise Friendly Blog Network.
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For the puzzles, check Amazon for a puzzle mat. They roll up but don’t break the pieces of a puzzle already put together. It lets you store puzzles away and out of sight until someone wants to work on it again. They’re awesome and made of a felt-type material but more solid.