FLORIDA!

 At the end of January we left for the kids Christmas gift- a trip to FLORIDA! We had the best time! We stayed in a fun house with the whole family and the kids loved swimming in the pool, playing games, and spending time together. Davis didn't bring any sort of ball along, so he improvised with an empty sprite bottle which he proceeded to drop kick over and over in the pool the entire trip. At one point we lost the Sprite bottle and when my dad offered a Coke bottle Davis looked with complete disgust and said "NO!" Then settled for a coke bottle.

Our first day was at Animal Kingdom! This is our favorite park. Highlights of the day were:

• Heidi and Halie taking Chase, Hudson and Davis on Everest! (Their parents were very thankful!)
• Nate and Halie took the boys to do Passage of Flight- apparently an incredible ride with a long wait. They all loved it.
• Lila loved meeting characters- meeting Moana was the highlight of the day
• Riding Dinosaur many, many times
• Seeing the Lion King show as a family

The next day we did Epcot! Highlights of the day-

• Soaring over the world! Everyone loved this ride
• Lila getting to meet Anna and Elsa- she still believes she met the real deal. Elsa's hands were even cold!
• The Ratotouille ride- the line was actually comically terrible. It was so hot at that point. The line was supposed to be about an hour but ended up being much longer. Lila fell asleep in my arms and I didn't dare move her because she was so tired, so I ended up holding her while she napped most of the time. The weird and very tatted Disney adults behind us literally growled at Ben at one point. Then we finally rode the ride and it was amazing!

We had an off day from parks and decided to split our time between Kennedy Space Center and the beach! The boys loved Kennedy Space Center!

Then we headed to Cocoa Beach- it was Davis and Lila's first time to the ocean! We only had a few hours but we made the most of it and had the best time!

Then we headed back to Disney for a magical day at the Magic Kingdom! I have almost no pictures of the big boys but they had a great time! Highlights of the day were:

• Big boys got to ride Tron twice! They went there first thing in the morning and then again while the rest of us did the parade.
• Lila, Heidi, Nana and I hit up Fantasyland first thing in the morning and got Lila on all the little kid rides with zero wait. She was darling!
• We rode Tiana's Bayou with everyone and it was a total highlight. Nora and Lila played "little buddies" and that got them both through their nerves. They rode the ride together and it was the highlight of the whole trip for Lila!
• Pirates and Jungle cruise with the whole family
• The most incredible fireworks show
• When the three fairies came floating through on the parade, Lila sweetly said "Yes! I KNEW fairies were real!"

Our last day, Ben, Nate and Halie graciously stayed back with the little girls and the rest of us headed to Universal for Harry Potter World! This day was full of magic! We spent almost the entire day in Harry Potter world, rode the train twice, ate a lot of butterbeer ice cream, had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, and just had a magical day!

This was the most magical trip! The kids all had a great time with their cousins, grandparents and aunts and uncles.  Memories to last a lifetime!

January

We kicked off January by celebrating Chase's 14th birthday! This kid is everything good in the world. He loves people and is so kind and thoughtful. He works hard at school worked diligently all year of 8th grade to get perfect grades. He practices his piano without even being asked. He looks out for his siblings. We all just love him so much! 

For his birthday party we got a group of his friends together and did an escape room. Apparently it was a big hit and the boys had the best time! They got out with literally 1 second to spare and many great stories to tell!

In January Hudson got ordained a deacon and Chase was ordained a teacher by Ben. It was a super sweet and special little meeting with all their grandparents there. 

All three boys just heading off to school- I love how much Davis loves being part of this trio. He is so much smaller and younger than them and they never make him feel like it- he's one of the boys!

No one loves losing a tooth quite as much as Davis!

We started experimenting with heart hair to get ready for Valentines day and it was honestly a real highlight during drab winter months for both of us. 

The big boys had a winter campout (no pics, but they had a blast!) so Ben and I took the younger two out to breakfast at a crepe place for a sweet little morning. 

Sunday quiet time- Davis and Lila have "thrones".

On Inauguration Day we had to do something to get Davis's mind out of his despair of the election results, so we headed to the Natural History Museum for some family fun. I don't think Lila even really knew dinosaurs were real until she was looking at the gigantic bones! Also- it worked, Davis's mood improved greatly. 

This darling vintage piece made it's appearance on the snowiest days of winter! My mom made this for Heidi back in like 1995.

Baking with Nana- this is one of Lila's favorite activities.

Hudson turned 12! We had a fun night with his friends at our house. Teenage boys are so easy to please! Pizza, a movie, hanging out, and Hudson's favorite brownies- I didn't even have paper plates so my plan was to just have them use paper towels but my dad ran to the store for me at the last minute :)

Hudson is such a gem. He's creative and inquisitive. Whatever he is interested he dives in deep. He's been learning all about building and architecture and frequently comments on buildings and houses we pass using all kinds of jargon I don't fully understand. He is inclusive and kind and makes us all laugh. He's so uniquely himself and isn't afraid to explore "uncool" stuff. He spent most of that 12th year really trying all kinds of hair stuff and loving his long locks. 12 year old Hudson is just a delight!

The next day he had a robotics competition and they really cleaned up! They took 1st place in the teamwork challenge which gave them an invite to the State meet! They also got the design award- which was really for Hudson. He designed a very unique robot and spent hours and hours perfecting it- it paid off! His was one of the only bots with a unique design and it really stood out. He was so excited!