December Highlights

We've had a lot of fun doing Christmasy things this month.  We have loved doing things with family and friends to celebrate the Christmas season.  I wanted to share all the fun things we've been up to before I go on a Christmas blog break.  Kevin and Olive both have off a couple weeks from school so we are going to soak up all the family time we can.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!  See you back here in January!!

Our church is decorated so pretty for Christmas.  We're loving the sermon series right now and looking forward to the Christmas services.

Kevin surprised Olive with a box set of Ramona books to read together at night.  He actually surprised me, too.  He always puts her to bed and decided it was the perfect time to start reading chapter books with her.  This teacher mom was so proud!

I walked into the play room to find the kids like this... snuggling and watching a Christmas movie!!  Makes me so happy to see them being sweet to each other.  Especially since they definitely have their moments when they are not best buds.

We went to Kevin's Christmas party and had a good time.  Our kids are the only ones there so we definitely stand out.  The kids don't seem to mind and they loved that the house was fully decorated for Christmas.  Who knew there were unicorn decorations instead of deer this year!!?!

I made a couple boxes of Christmas Funfetti this week!  It was so fun and festive!

We had some friends in town for Christmas and I decided to do a PANINI BAR for lunch.

It was so much fun!  Everyone picked their bread, meats, cheese and sauces.  I grilled them all and then everyone went through the line to pick their own chips and fruit.  It was such an easy, fun way to feed friends.  I'd highly recommend it for any holiday gathering!

Cupcakes for dessert!

Topher was feeling extra friendly.

 Fun with friends!

 The weather in Indiana has been SO NICE this week!  We've gone on walks in the evening almost every night, played outside, did some yard work and enjoyed the fresh air.  There are definite perks to being on Eastern Time :)  Gorgeous!! 

 I just love coordinating sibling outfits for the holidays :)  This was for church on Sunday.

We've been baking a lot this week - chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, cupcakes and more.  Fletcher loves to help and sample everything we make.

This year we tried hard to learn the names of our favorite people at our favorite stores.  For example, Fletcher loves the ladies who work in the bakery at Meijer, the teachers at story time and his science class, the cashiers at Sams, the local firemen, etc.  We asked their names, talked to them every week and dropped off Christmas cards and cookies this week.  It was so fun to give them a handwritten note of appreciation and cookies.  We'll definitely be doing this again next year.

Olive's art teacher took the time to make a hand print ornament with each of the kindergartners.  They turned out so cute!!  I love having her hand print on our Christmas tree!

We went on a train ride through a local park to see the Christmas lights.  It just so happened to work out that we were going through the park when the train was open so we hurried and jumped on!  The kids loved it.  They were in no hurry to get off.  Can't wait to do this again next year.

Did you catch all the cute unicorn things that I posed about on IG stories this week??  This sweater was a really fun find!  It was just $1299, came with a headband and was so soft.  I love the look of it and can't wait for Olive to wear it.

Both of my kids seem to be much more musical than I am.  My dad's family was very musical, but it seems to have skipped me.  Both kids gravitate towards all instruments and music.  It'll be fun to see how that plays out as they get older.  This is Fletcher singing Christmas carols at our friend's house this week.

 Hope you've had a great week full of Christmas cheer!!  Merry Christmas to you!!

It's time to link up with my H54F ladies -- me, Becky, Della, Tif and Whitney P

Join us with some current blog posts and look around to find some new blog friends.

An InLinkz Link-up