Daryl's 32nd Birthday

Happy 32nd Birthday, Daryl!  His birthday (which was actually yesterday) was pretty low key this year . . . just like mine will be.  Our birthday presents to each other are finishing our basement since we have poured so much money into that this year.  Daryl did request angel food cake for his birthday cake so I made that and we had a little party for him over at my parent's house this afternoon.  We had another little party at our house later in the afternoon when Daryl's Mom and Neil stopped by on their way home from Chicago.  Daryl and I will be going out on Monday night for dinner (40% off at Mangia Mangia!) and a movie.  I think we are going to go and watch "The Life of Pi".  So excited to have a date night with my hubby!  I love you, Daryl!  I am praying that God blesses you with many more years!  The kids and I are so thankful to have you as a Daddy and a husband!

Decorating the Tree

We decorated our Christmas tree this afternoon!  Samuel did the honors by placing the star on top. We have gone 4 years without a tree topper . . . but now our oldest child is 4 and told us that we need to have a star for the top of our tree!!  Target helped us out by having this star on sale for $5!  The kids all loved helping us decorate the tree and they did a great job too.  Hope's preferred method for decorating the tree was to hang all of her ornaments as close together as she possibly could.  We kept reminding her to put them in lots of different places all over the tree!

(**I'm trying not to write under the pictures anymore because when I have my blog printed into a book, the captions under pictures don't line up with the pictures that they belong to.  I just got 2009-2020 printed into a book and that's how I found out!)

Family Fun Day

Samuel had the chance go to to our Church this afternoon for family fun day.  My Mom was taking Savannah and she asked if Samuel could come along.  It was during the girls' naptime and Daryl and I had things we wanted to get done at home, so it all worked out really well!  He had a great time!  Savannah and Samuel both enjoyed the petting zoo, pony rides, a carriage ride, and the bubble machine.  It sounds like their highlight was the bubble machine!!  Savannah sat on Santa's lap but Samuel only wanted to give him a high-five!  I love Samuel's big huge smile when he is riding on the pony.  He came home with lots of stories to share!  I can't believe how big my boy is getting!!

Picking Out Our Christmas Tree!

Today (to celebrate Daryl's 32nd birthday! ;), we headed out to Wahmhoff Farms to find our Christmas tree!  We haven't had any snow (except for a dusting or two) yet this year.  The day was in the 30s and windy so it was still pretty cold.  Aliyah was not impressed that she had to wear mittens . . . this is a hard age for mittens - both for trying to get them on the right way and for convincing them to keep them on after you finally get their thumb in the right spot!!

 Hope is really excited to be out in cold weather.  Today was no different.  She gets cold quickly and then doesn't want to move.  We keep trying to explain to her that if she would move and run around with the other kids, she'd warm up!

 I love my little girl so much!!

 Dad, Mom, and Savannah found their Christmas tree!!

 Watching Grandpa cut down the tree.

 Our Christmas tree!  We picked out a couple but ended up going back to the one that we stuck Samuel's hat on top of.  Samuel is the total opposite of Hope - he is always hot and is always asking if he can take his coat, hat, and/or mittens off!

 Family picture in front of the tree

 Samuel and Hope watching intently as Daryl cut down the tree.

 Carrying them back to the building to be shaken and bundled up!

Me and my girls :)

And the best part?  At least according to my kids?  The free popcorn that is available at the building where you pay for your tree!  It was a good morning and the tree looks beautiful in our sunroom!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARYL!!

New Christmas Pajamas!

My Mom got all 4 kids (Savannah is pretty much like a sister to my kids and we like pretending that she really is!) matching pajamas for Christmas this year.  Oh - actually all 5!  She got Ben and Anna's little girl (who has yet to be born!) a little matching sleeper.  She gave the pjs to them early so that they could enjoy wearing them for the month of December.  Savannah was over this evening while my parent's went to a visitation (not the best place for Savannah to be after the past couple of weeks, so we gladly offered to have her here) for an elderly lady from Church that passed away.  There are a mix of smiley pictures and silly pictures and one sad picture followed by a celebration picture (b/c Jesus was born!).  The pictures of them all on the floor with their heads close together brought about lots of squealing, giggling, and laughter.  The photo session quickly turned into a wrestling session.  I love how Aliyah just piled right on the top of everyone.  I love all 4 of these precious children so much!

Christmas Preparations at the Huinink House!

I got my act together today and I worked hard at making the house look a little more like Christmas!  The kids were great helpers!  We got out the nativity sets, made a big Frosty the Snowman for our back door and switched out our Thankful Tree with a Christmas Tree that the kids fingerpainted.  Oh - and we got out our little Christmas tree and hung the stockings.  The kids loved making Frosty and they insisted that he have red boots and a "corncob" pipe just like the Frosty on TV.  I got in a little bit of trouble when I made the pipe out of brown paper and Hope reminded me that Frosty's pipe is yellow.

Fingerpainting the Christmas tree was also a big hit with all three of them, but especially with Aliyah.  She loved it.  She was such a mess by the time she was done (green paint on her legs, feet, tummy, arms, face, etc!) that I decided a bath was a must!  The other kids joined her and they all played in the bathtub for probably 45 minutes!

Aliyah is in love with the nativity sets this year.  Especially with Baby Jesus, which is no surprise, because of how much she loves babies.  She climbed up on that little chair so many times today to just stand and gaze (and sometimes touch with just one finger, b/c that is our rule!) at Baby Jesus and the rest of the nativity set.  So precious!

I've done a lot of my Christmas shopping online this year.  I especially did a lot of it the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I found some great deals that way!  This has meant that the UPS man has stopped at our house every. single. day. this week.  I kind of wish I was kidding because that's a little embarrassing to admit!  I started feeling sorry for him (he usually gets to our house between 7 and 8pm at night!) but also very thankful for his hard work . . . and he's a super nice guy!  I asked Samuel if he wanted to draw a picture for the UPS man as a "thank you" for delivering so many packages to us.  Samuel readily agreed and the picture I posted below is the picture that he drew for him.  Almost too cute to give away!!  We also baked some cookies and gave some of them to the UPS man along with the picture.

I feel like it is starting to look and feel like Christmas around our house!!  The only thing we are missing is our Christmas tree (going out on Saturday for that!) and some snow outside!