Yesterday was our day to decorate for Christmas!  We had such a lovely day at home.  Ricardo and the kids went to buy the tree in the morning while I cleaned up from breakfast and tidied up so we could focus on cooking and decorating.  I made a wonderful tomato soup from scratch and a massive batch of oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies to share with our neighbors.  The recipe made over 112 cookies!  

We had soup and grilled cheese for lunch and then enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate to celebrate the completion of the Christmas tree.  Ricardo chose a tree that is just about as perfect as they come.  It is so so beautiful!

I asked Lucia to smile and this was what she did - adorable!

Of course I was so wiped out from being on my feet the entire day on Thursday and washing dishes and cleaning the house after the party that I needed to crash on Friday!  Ricardo took the kids on a hike around 3:00pm and took them out to dinner so I could have a nice, long nap while Lucia napped.  We both slept almost 2 hours, until 5:00!  We put Marco to bed at 6:00 and Alexia to bed at 6:30 since they were wiped out from the late night on Thurs.  

Diego also went to bed early, at 8:00 and Ricardo and I enjoyed a fun date night in.

Here are his pics from their hike:

Thanksgiving!!

We had a super special Thanksgiving this year!  We had 25 people over for dinner, but of course that number includes 12 children!  I made the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing (which I forgot to bake and serve!!) and several people brought dishes to share.  We invited everyone for 3:00 so we could enjoy time of fellowship and then we ate around 5:00.  The day was absolutely glorious for which we were so very grateful!

As I was inside getting things ready, Ricardo cleaned the gutters and then took the kids on a roof adventure.  I was a bit nervous, but of course they thought it was amazing!

Sadly, I didn't get many pictures of everyone here, but managed to snap a few shots here and there...

The ladies enjoyed some fun time together while kids were busy playing on the trampoline (in the dark!!) and hubbies were hanging out.

Sweet Hartley and Alexia loving on Charlotte!

My kids had been counting down the days of the Halseys to arrive!  They came early on Thursday and spent the night - so fun!

The Coxes had dinner plans, but came at 6:00 for dessert.  Of course that just made the party that much more fun!  They left just before 10:30 and the Kings stayed pretty late, as well so we just had such a fun time with everyone staying up super late and enjoying the festivities.  Our children were just giddy!



We've had some puzzle mania around here. The 100-200 pc ones are in the dining room.

The pics above are forts that the kids made next to each of their beds. They were crazy about them, spending so much time playing house together, reading, having snacks, etc.
All last week they were so excited for Friday to come so they could sleep in their forts. Here they are sleeping: