Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent relaxing and having fun. 

i told myself that i was not going to get stressed this year and guess what...i didn't. 

yay!

we started off the day by making our annual gingerbread house
apparently ella was pretty excited.

while the girls were busy making their house this little guy was supposed to be napping (don't pay any attention to the fact he was still in his jammies at noon!)
but apparently he was too excited to take a nap...i hear ya little guy-mommy was excited too!

then the girls helped me make these yummy treats

oops...those big huge sodas in the background just reminded me that the day actually started off with a sonic run...i think i may have a problem! :)

here we are before heading to church. 

even this picture of all the littles didn't stress me out...
ok...so maybe it did just a tiny tiny bit. :)

these two are so cute together...they truly melt my heart!

after church the girls discovered new jammies that santa had left.
thanks santa!

and here is the whole clan right before heading off to bed

of course i can't end this post without sharing the story of this...



my poor little abbie pulled at a stocking that was hung from a very heavy iron stocking hanger on the mantle and the very heavy iron stocking hanger landed right on her big toe.  the poor thing was in so much pain.  she called it her "bleedin toe"...

poor baby can't cut a break on christmas eve. 
two years ago she was sick on christmas eve and we didn't know until this happened during the church service

oh my sweet little abbie.

december days...

so what did we do counting down the days before Christmas you ask?

we

saw snow for the first time

and was so excited that we had to share it with sissy...

and yet another sissy.

we

spent time reading books to our little brother

we 

found Glee in our candy dish

and was so happy that we wanted to
eat breakfast right next to Glee

we
spent time playing "rapunzel meets rudolph" with a cute lil cousin

we
took a bubble bath

with three giddy girlies

we
spent time just being cute

and being silly

and lovin our blankie

we
spent time in mommas lap when we weren't feeling well


we
started a new tradition
an ornament from mommy that reminds me of each child
Sophie-a starfish (reminds me of this past summer when she found one at the beach)
Ella-a guitar (she has been asking for a guitar all year!)
Abbie-a spunky little puppy dog (abbie has been FULL of spunk this year!)

and a car for levi because  my little boy loves his cars!

we
fell asleep watching polar express for the 1, 546th time

and this is how the whitacre's spent their days
up until Christmas eve.

Holiday weekend!

i love to enjoy all the fun things that go along with the Christmas season.  our village is just the cutest around Christmas time (well all the time...i love our village!) they even play Christmas music through the PA system all month long:) 

holiday weekend is just so much fun.  it starts on friday night with the tree lighting and welcoming mr. and mrs. clause.  sadly, i could not make it to this event because my dear abbie was sick but my sister sweetly offered to take the littles...thanks keekee!

then on saturday morning there is breakfast with santa.  my dear abbie was still sick so my mom stayed with her while we took the others for breakfast. 

levi was not having it.  sorry levi. 

we then headed over to the baptist church for some crafts. the girls had so much fun.

kenzie says ella is her bff...join the club kenzie...everybody loves ella! :)

sharing a story about the true meaning of Christmas..

sophie won this nose and was just sooo excited...look how cute they are!

we are so blessed to live in this village. i am so thankful that people around here still say 'Merry Christmas' and that we have a manger scene set up in the front lawn of the library.  may none of us forget the true meaning of Christmas!

Christmas tree hunt

in true whitacre fashion we set out to find the perfect christmas tree the saturday after thanksgiving. 

it was a beautiful day..a little too beautiful for my taste.  this momma needs some snow when hunting for a christmas tree! however, it was kind of nice not to have to bundle the littles. 

the girls were off as soon as we got there

as was levi. 



and he even found a couple trees that tickled his fancy.






as did abbie



soon the littles got bored with mommy who was saying no to all the trees they were picking out
so they started to play hide and seek 

and just when momma was getting bored and ready to settle for a small little dinky tree i caught a glimpse of the whitacre 2011 christmas tree.

sadly it was not this tree. this tree was our tree's stunt double since our tree was actually a precut tree that was leaning up against a big maple tree. i tried to get daddy to lay down and pretend he was cutting down our precut tree but he wasn't having it. poor sport.

 

and since i am not used to buying a precut tree i was quickly thrown into a tizzy and forgot to get a family picture at the tree farm.  apparently it doesn't take much to throw me off. 

i did remember to get some pictures of the littles enjoying their cocoa though.  










and don't you think for a second that i could close this post without pointing out the fact that abbie had the SAME boots on that the girls had worn three years in a row!! yes that's right...4 years of wear out of these boots!  the best part you ask?  i bought these emu boots for $10 four years ago!

year 1


year 2


year 3


year 4 (and this vest the same one Sophie was wearing in years 1 and 2!)  it's all about the hand-me-downs!

Thankgiving.

we had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year with lots of food and family and much to be thankful for. 

 i didn't really take any pictures but that's ok because it means I was able to enjoy the moment!  I did have to get my camera out to capture a cousins pic though. 

is this couch exploding with cuteness or what?  

  I love that all these littles are all 6 and under and i love that they all can be divided into BFF pairs...Kenzie and Abbie (3 months apart), sophie and ella (1 month apart), and levi and brayden (1 month apart).  how much fun!

and here are some things i am grateful for this year

-the fact that i have a God that loves me more than i will ever be able to comprehend

-my amazing hubby that will sometimes surprise me with a sonic soda  when i get home from work...and since i mentioned sonic i have to say i am thankful for happy hour at sonic where i can get huge flavored sodas for me and my hubby and slushies for each of the littles for under $5! oh yeah!

-thankful for my four little gifts from God

-thankful for our health

-thankful for our beautiful home

-thankful that my sister and her family live in the same village so we can visit on a daily basis

-thankful that my mom does so much for our family!

God is so good and i have to be better at giving thanks everyday for all the blessings He bestows upon us...

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