Eliza and Karly

I love that my closest buddy (Annie Pickett) has Karly's closest buddy (Eliza Pickett).  We sure have a lot of fun together hanging out while the big kids are at school. 

New Christmas Ornaments

One of the most anticipated traditions of the year is opening their new Christmas ornaments.  It's fun to try to find just the right thing to represent their interests for the year.

Karly got to go first.  The picture was taken at just the right moment.  She was so excited about her singing Elsa ornament.

Eden and Olive opened theirs at the same time because of the theme for them.  They both got gymnast girls.  Eden's in red, and Olive's in pink.  They were very excited.

This year Bentley got a Lego ninja.  He loves legos and builds new sets so quickly I can't keep up with him.  He also loves everything ninja related.  He got to go see the new Lego Ninjago movie with one of his guy friends and he loved that.

As the picture shows, daddy was also very excited about his new Star Wars ornament.

Another successful year and 5 fun and new ornaments for our tree! Merry Christmas everyone!

Putting Up the Christmas Tree

Fall decorations are put away and it's time to bring out Christmas!  Decorating the tree with all our little helpers is one of my favorite times.

Going through the ornaments as we unwrap them is so exciting for the kids every year.  I love that they find their collection of special ornaments and create a section of the tree for their things. They fall in love with them again every year.

They are so excited to see what their new ornaments will be this year!  That post coming soon!

The Christmas tree coming out also means it's time for our tree advent calendar too!  This count down is always fun.  Thanks grandma Justice! 

Olive's Black Eye

Her first black eye - and I can't even remember what happened to cause it?!  Sorry Olive.  You look beautiful though, even with a purple eyelid.

Karly and all her sibling buddies

I've noticed it's pretty good to be the baby of the family.  Everyone likes to be helpful to Karly, and everyone likes to be her buddy.  She, of course, loves the attention.  Are we creating a monster???  She's just so cute.  We can't help it.

I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always.  As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

Pure Joy from Playing in the Leaves!

I've decided that these are some of my favorite candid pictures.  Looking through these pictures to decide which ones to post, I couldn't leave any out because I love them all.  The expressions on their faces are pure joy and delight.  I'm posting about this much later, but I vividly remember this afternoon when it happened.  I sat back with my camera and shot away as I enjoyed their squeals and laughter.  They were so happy, and I was so happy.  It was one of those experiences where you wish you could freeze time because everything seemed so perfect.  And now as I look through these pictures, I'm feeling those same feelings again.  It truly is the simple things in life, but really being present and soaking in all the emotions of the moment is what makes it all so special.  I love them so much.