The Gratitude Tree - 2017

Date: Nov 30th

November flew by WAY too fast this year!
But we still made time to work on building our

Gratitude Tree each day!

(or maybe we caught up every 3 days! lol)

I love that the kids still love doing this!

Taylee actually was the one that excitedly reminded me on Nov 1st

that it was time to start making the Gratitude Tree!

That first day alone her and Anden added like 10 leaves each! lol

So here's the finished Gratitude Tree!

We didn't get it quite as tall as ever years.

But considering we were gone part of November  and it was such a hectic month,

I consider this a success!

As each year passes I realize how much we have to be thankful for!

But I also realize that spelling is not one of our blessings.

Maybe we'll ask for a tutor for next year! lol

So here are some of my favorite "what the heck is this?!" leaves

(Church)

(Ebucation...but I'll give a free pass that maybe it's just a sloppy upper case D! Otherwise we really need to work on our eDucation!)

(Papa Nolie)

This one just made me laugh.  Why yes I guess we should be thankful for Poopys

You know those movies that just keep going on and on and never end

They surely are a different generation than my childhood!

(Body)

Then sweet Taylee wrote down her and all her siblings names.

I happened to be the one she asked to tape it up.

I quickly noticed that she spelled everyone's names wrong except Anden

and including her own name was spelled wrong!!

I just shook my head and laughed.

Honey at least add the L in your own dang name!

I wasn't even gonna start on teaching her how to spell her little sister's names! lol

So she snuck in the missing L in Taylee and we taped it on up!

And there you have it!

In it's raw unedited form! haha

The Gratitude Tree of 2017!

He's BAAAAAACK!

Date: Nov 27th

Elfy showed up early again this year!!!

The kids were SO excited!!

Ryan, not so much! haha

He even came with gifts too!!

Then he hurried and hid in the Stockings before the little hands could grab him!

The kids were so excited to see what Elfy brought them.

Taylee had been asking if he would please bring them new Christmas Jammies

again this year!

Oh Eastlie....don't give your older siblings a heart attack because you messed with the Elf! lol

And he DID bring them new Jammies!!

Even ones for Mom and Dad!!

(Ryan was especially not happy about that! hahahaha)

But don't you just love a festive family decked out in Christmas Jammies! :)

Welcome back Elfy!

Keep up your spying and tattling all month long! ;)

Bring on the Christmas Season!!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

Date: Nov 28th

I just LOVE this time of year!

Twinkling white lights just make me giddy inside!

Taylee was certain it was her year to put the Angel on top of the tree.

Anden didn't debate her (for once) so up she went!

I know!  I know!

This is not OSHA approved

and one day we're going to crush the ladder, the tree, the dining table

and their backs doing this!

I told them it was the last year we're lifting a big kid in the air

while balancing on a ladder!! lol omg

And the Tree is now complete!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Date: Nov 23rd

Well this year our Anniversary fell on 

Thanksgiving!

I hadn't even realized that would happen every so many years!

But I found it appropriate...

because I am forever thankful for Ryan

and all the love and joy he brought into my life!!

I figured our Anniversary would be low key this year with us
just returning from Idaho and then having it be Thanksgiving day.
But of course Ryan always spoils me.
We exchanged gifts and cards that morning.
Little did I know he had booked a resort for us for the weekend
and Grammie was coming to stay with the little girls!
Aaahhh he's the best! ;)

So Friday we took off for one of our favorite spots,
The Fairmont Princess

And lucky for me this is the same place we do the Christmas event each year!!
So we got an extra festive getaway!
I love holiday stuff, Ryan...not so much! lol
But hey at least I told him we could knock out 2 trips in one shot.
Maybe now we won't have to pay a fortune to drag the kids back here in a week! lol

Ryan had als0 booked me some spa time!
Ahhhhh how I love that.
But maybe he just really loved paying for his alone time too! lol

Chocolate Leg Treatment!

hhmm wonder how it tastes?

Then we had a yummy dinner
and walked around the resort grounds checking out the festivities!

 

Ice Skating

Finally my ankles were killing from the skates,

so we moved on to something else. 

(maybe I'm getting too old for ice skating?! lol)

We headed over to the village of rides.

At the top of the Ferris Wheel!

 Ryan was insistent we sat on the same side of the ferris wheel bucket.

 I was insistent that we were for sure gonna dump out of that thing.

Weight imbalance at it's finest! lol

After he purposely started rocking our bucket at the highest point...
he got booted to the other side of the bucket! punk!

His fake "we're gonna fall out" scared face.

And right then something so loud hit the top of our bucket roof

and fell all the way to the ground.

Which really did scare us it was so loud! lol

Yep...Daddy's not gonna be happy when he hears his teeny bopper dropped her new iPhone! lol

We got peppermint hot cocoa then made our way through the rest of the lights.
Eventually we headed back to our room to change and hit the hot tub.
Then we lounged in a cabana by the pool and called the kids to rub it in! ;)

On our way back to our room we ran into Santa getting off shift!
Yes Ryan did scream his name in pure Buddy the Elf excitement.
Yes I did duck for cover I was laughing so hard.
And not to draw more attention to ourselves as we were in our hotel robes
wandering around with all the fancy guests all dressed up! lol

The next day we just lounged, went Christmas shopping,
ate a yummy lunch and just enjoyed our kid free time.

Eventually we returned home to our babies
who were so anxious to see us!

Happy 4 years Babe!

I know, wait is that right?  It feels like 14 or maybe even 40!! lol
You're such a great Husband and Daddy!
I love you more each and every day!