Christmas Programs!

The kids were so excited for all of their special Christmas programs this year.  Here they are at the church program which was VERY cute.  Bennett gets super into it, and Eleanor just seemed to be floating along, lol. :)  She did not like when the boy next to her was misbehaving a bit...

Eleanor had a sweet little 3k program too!  She was so proud!

Bennett's 5K program was the same day, so Grandma and Grandpa made it to both.  So special!

Green Bay Christmas Lights!

Brad was in India for a week in December so I took the kids up to GB for the first weekend to have a change of pace and some help!  Casey and Amanda took us to see the GB Botanical Gardens - they do an awesome light set up each winter.  The kids loved it! :)

Then on Saturday Uncle Casey and Amanda took the bigs to Home Depot while I took Isla to run some Christmas shopping errands.

Ben, Isla and I drove back on Sunday morning but left Eleanor in GB because she got to have a special Eleanor night and go with them to see the Polar Express train.  She was so excited but once there they said she was quiet and shy/nervous.  She still was excited to tell me all about it! :)

Thanksgiving

Per our usual we got to see both of our families for Thanksgiving!  Went to Oostburg Wednesday night, church there on Thursday morning, then headed to GB Thursday night.  Kids love visiting our families and we do too! So thankful for our family, church, and friends!

Our 2018 Christmas Tree!

Over Thanksgiving weekend we again went with my family to Whispering Pines Tree Farm to cut down our tree.  Unfortunately although Saturday wasn't too cold, it was misty rain, so we didn't spend quite as much time choosing our tree as we normally do.  But it might be our prettiest tree ever!  It's a beauty!  The kids also loved grabbing some hot cocoa and meeting Santa (Only Bennett was brave enough to sit on his lap, the girls just high-fived him) & getting a candy cane.

Bennett is just so so fun and loves Christmas/traditions.  He was super excited to help me decorate the tree on Sunday afternoon.  Eleanor helped too, and I had to redo most of her ornaments.  She put like 10 on the same tree branch, lol. :)

Brad put up our lights too!  Even got to the second story although it was NOT easy! :)

Halloween 2018

We did Trick Or Treating in our new neighborhood with Missy, Kyle, & Della.  Our friends from church, the Clines, joined us for part of the night too.  The kids were very excited to T-or-T and Bennett loved helping hand out candy from 5-5:30 when Dad got home from work and we could leave to go get candy ourselves. 

Bennett was Aaron Rodgers thanks to a helmet, jersey, and shoulder pads Grandma found for him.  Eleanor was a ladybug, and Isla was a duck.  She was nice and warm and seemed to enjoy trick or treating with us for the first hour!  We pulled Della and Isla between houses and up driveways in the wagon.  Isla even said trick or treat "Treat!" and Thank you.  The bigs and I kept going for another 45 minutes after the babes went home, but they quickly tired out too.  :)  Our neighborhood was very active and will be so fun for the kids once they are older and can go more quickly.  :)

After school, we carved Bennett's pumpkin from his Pumpkin Farm field trip that day!

Duck, pig, ladybug, Aaron Rodgers :)

Trick or Treating in style...

"Trick or treat!!!"

Fourth of July!

Easter!

We had a nice Easter!  We went to church here - there was an 8:30 vigil service, light brunch, then Easter service.  After church we drove up to Oostburg for Easter lunch and had an Easter egg hunt there too, which the kids loved.  One other adorable thing was that Bennett can now tell all about the Easter story using the Resurrection eggs, so he went through and said the story for all of us.  I caught a little video of one of them - enjoy! :)

Our Valentines

I set up a little Valentine craft station at their craft table for making cards and Bennett really really loved it and got into it.  He made cards all week long!  This one just brought tears to my eyes! <3 nbsp="" p="">

Christmas in Green Bay!

This weekend we finally got to celebrate Christmas with my extended family!  We were supposed to have Christmas the weekend before with Elle's birthday party but we had to reschedule it since we were all sick.  So this weekend worked out great because my mom's family had a belated Christmas party and it's always really nice to see her brothers and sisters and some cousins.  They love seeing all our kids, too!  We did that Saturday night, and then Sunday did Christmas with my siblings.  We had gotten matching PJs for all the littles and it was really really cute!

A little glimpse of the Amenson Christmas party! Lots of people squished into one room.  Thankfully my kids are not super shy because my aunts and uncles LOVE seeing them and it's nice that the kids will go by everyone and play with them!

My brother got a new game, Secret Hitler, from Amanda for Christmas and it was super fun to play!  

Lots of littles = lots of gifts!

Sledding with Aunt Amanda!

Time to open presents!!!

They love their new sleeping bags!

Look at all of these cuties! (I'm biased) :)

Christmas!

We sort of rearranged our usual Christmas plans this year so that we could go to church on C
hristmas Eve here at our home church, and open gifts at home Christmas morning.  It was so nice!  Eleanor and Bennett both came to the candlelight service instead of nursery.  It did get a little long for them both but they LOVED the singing and candle part.  After church we had some Christmas cookies and the kids got to open their presents to each other.

Christmas morning we opened gifts, had a yummy breakfast, and then packed up and headed to Oostburg!  Each child got 5 gifts, which was a new thing I tried this year and really liked!  They all got an ornament, then something they need/to read/to wear/want.  It was a good thing I did it this way because Bennett counted the gifts and made sure they all had the same amount. :)  Bennett got some new art supplies, a camping ornament, a Packer winter hat (like dad!), a Look and Find book, and a mouse coding game (dad's pick!).  Eleanor got an Elsa/Frozen ornament, an outfit, a Princess magnetic doll book, a new water bottle, and a cabbage patch doll.  Isla got a 1st Christmas ornament, a sleeper, a new sippy cup, some new board books, and a carseat toy.  She was not really into opening gifts this year, so the kids opened hers for her.  Brad got Marquette tickets and I got an Instant Pot!  So fun!

Adorable baby in her Christmas jammies!!! <3 i="" nbsp="">

Playing Bennett's new game, Outfoxed.  It's a cooperative game which is so fun!

In Oostburg for Christmas we always open gifts and then do appetizer night, which I love and look forward to!  Brad's dad makes a delicious slush drink and hot ham/cheese sandwiches.  The always get the kids (and us!) too many presents but you can tell they love to do it.  Eleanor was very excited to get her own pink camera just like Bennett's!  They also both loved their new hooded bath towels.  Bennett got some Kid K'nex that he plays with a lot already.  He loves to look at the directions and make it exactly, and he also likes to make up his own things.

Visiting Great Grandma

Bennett was absolutely SO EXCITED for Christmas this year and it was just so fun.  He loved helping me decorate the house and tree, make Christmas cookies, and wrap presents.  He was a little sad when it was time to take everything down and is already asking when it'll be Christmas again.  He was so proud to do some crafts and coloring and wrap his own "gifts" for people.  He was VERY excited to find the pickle and has been practicing so he can beat Uncle Casey when we go to GB this weekend to celebrate.  Most mornings, Bennett would wake up, we'd turn the tree lights on, and he would just sit and look at it, or maybe sing Oh Christmas Tree.  It was so so adorable.  This boy gets very excited about special things.  Eleanor liked opening presents and decorating cookies, but she wasn't quite as into things as Bennett was.  Elle and Isla go to bed a little earlier than Bennett lately so we often play games/decorate/etc during his special time with us.

Such a nice Christmas!!!  And now we are all sick with colds/coughs/congestions.......