allll December 2k18

Welcome to the conclusion of 2k18 on the ol' blog. Much like a fresh car wash, we will be clean and invigorated starting in on 2019!! 

Is it possible to leave the Discovery Center without climbing on this structure right outside? I mean, we've never been able to but it's good to have goals... 

We got to celebrate Leila's birthday with her since they were in town! We all hit up Chuck E. Cheese for a pretty dang good time:

 Carma loooooves Jethro. A lot.

Isaac and Jack thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

I mighta schooled my boys at skee-ball.

Lucky little birthday girl being sung to by lots of family from both sides!

Also I feel like Chuck E. Cheese has gotten less creepy over the years? Yes? No?

We love Chuck's cousin-in-law Kit! She's an incredibly talented artist (look for her on facebook and insta) and I love her sweet posts that remind us how vital it is for plasma to be donated:

My favorite part of moving rooms around in our house is figuring out stuff on the walls - so the new music room/library clearly needed some cool decor. I googled some 'library' quotes and picked this one!

Clyde's name needed to come down from his old room to move in with the boys, so I took this picture to remember the little additions he made:

The gift that keeps on giving - Chuck's parents sent this cool Christmas lego set a few years ago, and it's tradition to put it together every year on a Sunday in early December. 

Let's be honest: I have no idea what these pictures are from. Clearly Will and I were driving somewhere? At night? And felt the need to take some selfies? Who knows haha.

Santa and Mrs. Claus at the library!  

No idea what was going on here either, just cute brothers looking at Pokemon together I guess :).

I got talked in to taking the kids to the Boise library for Pokemon Club (usually a Grandma Pam or Dad activity) and it was cute and then I made them line up in the cool story time area from my youth.

Christmas tree decorating: Carma June was wayyy into it.

 Reminder of this brilliant life hack: I take pictures of alllll the crazy silly stuff my kids want to buy at stores so that we can show Chuck later and ponder if it's something we can't live without... aka they feel validated in the moment that I'm taking their 'want' seriously and then they generally forget about it and/or understand that we can't buy EVERYthing (even at thrift stores) and sometimes it's just that we found something fun we want to show Dad but don't need to actually purchase. It has cut down on millions of potential meltdowns.

This little girl wants to play piano SO much:

Party with all her friends at the dentist's office haha. 

Santa hats have been a pretty popular accessory at our house throughout the month, even for bedtime apparently:

 

So it's possible one night I went down the rabbit hole of Scary Mommy instagram and had much merriment taking screenshots. This one was pretty sweet.

 This one was pretty funny:

Yesssss.  

Okay, but seriously I loved this one. All three.

 

 I mean, while we're making Christmas lists...

 Ha, another example of photographing something instead of buying it. Thanks Studio C for convincing my kids we need to own Bop It!

Sure don't remember context, but for some reason the kids were doing formation one night? Looks like it went real well. 

Christmastime visit with Cody! I love him.

hahahahaha.

More pictures of the Caldwell lights on Christmas Eve:

We were a full car - the six of us plus Chuck's dad and my mama, so I sat in the very back with the big boys. Obviously some selfies were vital in those close quarters.

Random picture with my boyfriend one night:

Caption via insta:  Legit wanted one of these for a while so I could be cool and trendy like all y’all 🤩😎. Also, pondering this (or some variation) as a possible title for my eventual autobiography 🤔👩🏻‍💻📕#futurebestseller. ALSO: another pro-tip via the craft queen herself, Emily B: "I used nail clippers to clip all the little pointy parts off, worked awesome!"

I snuggle Carma to sleep every night. Oft times we take pictures because we're adorable.

I mean, I know this is a recurring joke/meme but it makes me laugh every single time. IT'S NOT THE SAME IF YOU HAVE TO PAUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF A SWEET MOTHERING MOMENT AND ASK HIM TO TAKE A PICTURE because then it just feels staged afterwards. Whatev, I clearly am super chill about this haha.

Quick family stop at the Scentsy lights one night:

Ohhh I love these yahoos and I love sparkly bright Christmas lights! 

Full confession: no idea what we did for New Year's - I'm guessing Chuck worked and the rest of us went to bed circa 8pm? Carma wore a cute holiday shirt so there ya go.

PEACE OUT 2018!!