December

Going into December this year, like every other month, I knew it would be different. I was kind of worried it wouldn't end up being fun enough or magical enough, but actually I think we pulled through it just fine! I'd say we even enjoyed it!

Right before Thanksgiving, I floated an idea to Ben to put a huge desk in this space. Our family room is a little long and narrow, so there was definitely space there (the piano was there before, but we moved it to the front room). Mostly, I wanted another workspace for the kids to use. Since we don't have a bar or any extra counter space, our kitchen table has become the homework/homeschool station, where we eat every meal, and any extra projects. Keeping it clear for the next activity was a little exhausting. Also, as our kids grow we wanted a good spot for computers to be that are in a family area. Ben was immediately on board with the idea (I'd been toying around with this for like 2 years!) and the day after Thanksgiving we found ourselves at Home Depot looking at desktop options! We found this butcher block, bought it and we were off!

I stained the butcher block and it turned out so pretty! We had a little issue with applying polyurethane- lesson learned! The garage was too cold and a little too dusty. So we sanded some more, heated up the garage, and the last coat went on as smooth as can be! 

Then finding bases for this was a pain- the ones I wanted and conceptualized the idea around were from IKEA and no one longer in stock! We toyed around with doing just normal legs- but I really wanted storage space for all their art supplies. We found these on IKEA's website and after verifying that there were a few in stock we immediately threw the kids in the car and drove the hour to IKEA to get them! We put them together that very night (Davis was super helpful with his little tools) and within just a few days- we had this beautiful desk! Ben wired the top with an outlet, so it's easy access for computers and iPads to charge. The boys spent the rest of the month doing all their school work here and at least once a month Ben and I pat ourselves on the back at how great it turned out! 

Just two friendly neighborhood Spidermen running around! These two are so funny- Davis is going to be so sad next year when Will is in school all day! Almost every morning all fall/winter these two (plus Ollie if it's a day we are watching him) run around and play and have such a great time outside. Since Halloween we've gone back to only outdoor playdates, and while it's been cold, the kids have done really well.

Babysitting the Joseph boys on a distance learning Friday- Davis made them all scoot down so he could put his "computer" up on the desk too and get his "work" done.

Little Lila angel made all our spirits bright all month long. I am not sure what it is, a baby's first Christmas is magical. Not maybe so much for the baby, who doesn't care about presents at all. It is so magical for me to have a sweet, innocent, perfect baby at Christmas time. This year was no exception.

We did our Christmas kick-off party back mid-November. On such a weird year, putting up the tree early seemed like a good idea! I love my house all decorated for Christmas! The kids opened their jammies (don't tell Lila, but hers were Davis's old jammies- she didn't seem to mind). We snuggled up at watched "The Santa Clause" together. I love this tradition so much! 

Our usual gingerbread house party was a no-go this year, but I picked up this fun kit at Target and the boys decorated it together. After we pretty quickly determined that Davis was a huge pain during this activity and just wanted to shove candy into his mouth as quickly as possible, he got a show and the big kids got to decorate in peace. It turned out so cute! They did a lot of "landscaping" the front and backyard and I just loved it! They picked the candy off it for about a week before we finally just smashed it and threw it away!

Ben and I love sitting in these chairs at night, in the glow of the tree, to just relax and chat. Davis was up this night and laid on Ben's legs like this for a solid 20 minutes (he is watching something on Ben's phone). Davis obviously loves his dad so so much.

6:26 am- my boys. Chase is a good 20 minutes into his piano practicing. Hudson is reading for school. I love them so much! (But shortly after this we had to make Chase move his practice time to 7:00- much to his chagrin- it's too loud upstairs and we don't want it to wake the little guys!)

He's my little charmer! He delights in a long, relaxing, warm bath after the big kids are in bed. This kid owns us.

Although I don't give into everything he demands. This particular morning he really wanted cookies for breakfast. This is him lying on the floor in protest.

My big kids are such amazing helpers with sweet Lila! Hudson loves to play with her and is so good at getting little games going!

Hudson got another week of quarantine! His buddy Hyrum came down with Covid and since Hudson sits by him at lunch, he got a 10 day quarantine. He was bummed, but was a good sport about doing his work and getting everything done. 

Lila's teeth! During November and December she had the funniest little smile- her laterals on the top (without her front teeth!) and just one on the bottom. Ben called this her "Jackie-lantern" look. Right before Christmas her top two teeth came in, making four on top, one of the bottom. 

I took so many pictures of them all working at the desk! What can I say, I'm so proud. Of the desk, and the boys.

Lila loved hanging by the tree, but thankfully never tried to pull herself up on it! She did love using boxes of presents to cruise around. And she occasionally tore the paper off.

Our church schedule right now is every other week, and then we zoom in on the other weeks. So this was our last time going before Christmas, even though it was mid-month. It's weird to go with everyone sitting far apart, wearing masks, only like 60 people there (instead of normal 200+) but in some ways really nice to go too.

This is what happens when Davis dresses himself. Always red. 

These two! Despite how adamant Davis was a year ago that this baby sister was NOT coming, he's sure taken to her in a sweet way. He's already getting great delight out of teasing her, which I probably should have expected. He loves her so much- I think she finds him kind of fun and interesting and a little scary.

We call this double airplane. They both like to do it at the same time! 

The season of giving- Ben had a little secret Santa this year! Our sweet neighbor Blaine did the 12 days of Christmas for Ben and it was sweet and thoughtful and funny! Every day "Pierre the Penguin" delivered little gifts with poems attached- mostly treats, but also a book, DVD, scarf, a tie, a shirt, shave gel and man soap. It was seriously the sweetest. I knew Blaine was doing it (Lindsay told me), but by about day 7 Ben had figured it out. It definitely was a sweet part of Christmas this year.

Also, my friend Katelyn nominated our family for a Secret-Santa giveaway that a local influencer was doing. She said she just felt like she should- and we were selected! They gave us $500 cash! It was incredible. I felt so touched and humbled, and also a little weird about it. Our budget is tight, but doable, and I know so many other people are probably in need right now. But we graciously accepted it and plan to use it to travel a little with the kids next year. And it helped free up some money to use to serve others this season as well. 

This Christmas season, while our world is suffering so much, also seemed like a time of so much giving and generosity! These two examples of truly exceptional ways our little family felt loved during this season brought so much light into my world at the end of a hard, weird year. There is so much good in the world.

We did our daily acts of service to Light the World as we always do. So many of our usual service activities aren't COVID safe- playdates, homemade treats, the gingerbread house party, to name a few. But we got creative and did a few more store-bought things, did more acts of service around our home, and it was still very sweet and memorable. A few days before Christmas Hudson told me he really wanted us to take treats to the Code Enforcement Officers again. The boys made these sweet cards and we picked up a dozen donuts. The two officers who came out to get them from us were so sweet and touched. We told them about Jill (they knew the story already) and our connection to her and were very sweet and thankful.

We made sugar cookies- initially I thought we may take them to a few neighbors, but after seeing the amount of finger licking that was happening during the process we decided to just keep them all. Davis loved using sprinkles and took a "more is more" approach.

Hudson made this one look like the Liberty Bell, he was very proud of it!