Christmas with the Browns

We usually do Christmas Eve with TJ's family, but this year we celebrated together on Sunday. We had dinner, play time, gift exchange (cousins pull names and then all the adults do too), and then games. It was a fun night!

The girl table

The boy table

 Wrestle time with Uncle Zac

 And Uncle Caleb couldn't stay out of it

 Gift exchange: Mollie had Sophia, Kenton had Miles, Miles had Kenton, Jackson had Mollie, Averie had Jackson, Quincy had Averie and Sophia had Quincy.

 Here's their loot:

 Then...We all went over to GG and GGpa's house for the big surprise. They got them ALL new bikes. Talk about being spoiled, holy cow. They were in heaven and immediately rode them around the driveway.  GG was not feeling well, so I felt bad that the kids couldn't give her a hug.

Kenton got on Averie's bike at first because it's like the one he already has. He didn't care about he pink, ha!

 This was a great night to start the Christmas festivities with family! Love you Brown's and GG and GGpa. We are blessed to have you as family:)!

Sophia's Music Program

TWAS THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS AT  BELFAIR ELEMENTARY!

It was the annual kindergarten/1st grade Christmas program and Sophia got to be a part of it and my 1st grade class. It was fun to have both them in the program! Sophia knew all the songs and did a great job.

 Each Kindergarten teacher picked 1 responsible student to be a gingerbread  man to come in front during the "Gingerbread Cookie" song. Sophia was brave and smiled while doing it. So proud of her!

 Good job Sophia!

More Christmas Fun

SANTA LETTERS...

I love how she's using finger spaces...so proud, hehe.

 And Gingerbread Tree and House Making...

Oh Christmas Tree...

We did our annual Christmas tree chopping at Bacon's Tree Farm. It generally takes me a quite awhile to find "THE" tree, but it was a little easier this year.

We always put a tissue to tag our possible picks so we know where to come back to, This was the first find and Sophia was placing the tissue, but in the end it didn't make the cut.

 Although I loved the first tree, this one was skinnier and would fit better in our living room, so TJ did the honors of cutting it down. It ended up being 9.5 ft tall and our ceilings are only 9ft, so we had to do some extra chopping.

 And of course the kids needed to help too...

 Look at that buff guy:)

 And TA-DA!!! The final product!

This is by far the year that both Sophia and Kenton got into decorating the tree the most. Again, the music blared and the ornaments were laid out. I love how each ornament has a memory and even Sophia started sharing what she knew about the ones she hung. Even Kenton stayed into it until the last ornament was hung. I think knowing that the train came next helped his motivation. He was cute and hung the ornaments off the light bulbs. I loved how Sophia's ornaments all ended up in the front. I kept telling her, "Remember to go all the way around the tree!" I'm not gonna lie, I did have to move some around!

Then, it was train time! I had one happy boy in this moment. He was so excited:)

 And Priceless...

Deck the House With Christmas Decorations!

I absolutely love decorating for Christmas. The Christmas music blares loudly, the house becomes a mess while doing so, but I am happy the whole time. And with the kids getting into it, I got lots of help (sometimes too much, ha!). 

Sophia decorated her own little tree. Notice she starts off precise.

Kenton also took his job very seriously, but his stamina is not as high as his sisters. He put a couple ornaments on and that was enough for him.

They worked together to set up the Little People Nativity

 Do you remember what Sophia's tree looked like at the beginning? Well, as I was decorating, I would put things out and then go look for them and they would be missing. I found my culprit! Sophia was taking decorations that she found and putting them on her tree. I cracked up when I saw it. Isn't it beautiful? 

End of November

Soccer has ended and all in all Sophia had a good season. I think her favorite was defense, but also did a good job scoring goals. It was fun to see her get better each practice and game. She had a low key end of season party at a pizza place where they got pizza, cupcakes, and their trophies. Sophia was shy all of a sudden when her coach called her up!

We also finished our "Thankful Tree". This was something that I definitely want to do every year. It was interesting because I learned that people are really important to Sophia. The majority of her thankful leaves were people that meant a lot to hear, which was nice. Kenton was thankful for race cars, more race cars, and fruit snacks, haha. Thank you thankful Novemeber...Now it's time for December:)

Start to November

 I'm doing the thankful a day posts on Facebook, which is cheesy but also helps me be reflective at the same time and then got to thinking that my kids need to be thinking of this as well to make Thanksgiving a little more meaningful and help them think of all they have and be grateful for it. Sophia and I made the thankful tree and everyday we will put up a leaf that tells what we are thankful for. Sophia is excited about it and Kenton can't wait to pull a leaf off and do another one tomorrow!

Um, and can I say I'm trying to contain myself of my excitement of things to come...I'm trying to keep myself calm, but tonight the kids and I watched Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas movie while TJ was at a church meeting and I am watching a cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie as I'm typing...EEEKKK!!!! So exciting...I'm trying to hold off on Christmas music, but we will see how long that lasts! Love this time of year, especially the spirit it puts me in and family time:)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Sophia wanted to be a cheerleader this year. I was thinking to myself.."You better enjoy it now because you'll be too tall when you're older, unless you want to be a base and that's no fun, ha!" Anyway, because she was the cheerleader, it would only make sense to have the football player. Kenton doesn't have an opinion yet so he was okay with it.

 We did trunk or treat with our church which is perfect for the kids because it works nicely with their stamina and they still get lots of candy. Kenton had to practice with daddy first.

 After, we went trick or treating at Grandpa and Grandma Uffens house and they got more little treats and trinkets. 

 The dumping out of candy is a must. Sophia remembered doing this last year, so she kept asking, "Are we going to go to grandma's to dump out our candy?"

 This was my favorite because Kenton just dived bombed into his candy! True boy style!

And then Sophia nicely organized hers. 

 This was her final product.

 We actually had an earlier night which was fine by me because I started to feel achy and really tired (2 days later I found out I had strep throat). 

Happy Halloween to all! Bring on November fun next:)