Date Night!

As Colton gets older, he's starting to get pretty opinionated on how he wants to spend his birthday.  Much to Evan's chagrin he's learning how to milk it, if you will.  I have no idea where he is learning this behavior from.  No idea.  Lucky for me, to celebrate his 7th birthday, he was pretty emphatic that he wanted to go on a date with yours truly.  I was more than thrilled to accommodate his request since I know the days are numbered that he's going to want to be seen with me in public, especially on a Friday night.  Pretty sure for his sweet 16 he's not going to be begging for a date with dear old mom.  I was also loving the fact that he chose me to go on a date with since my eldest worships the ground his father walks on.  Even when I was the sole source of nutrition for this kid, he still preferred the arms of his father.  So yay for our date!  Colton started out his birthday with a date to Taco Bell and Toys R Us with his Nana before she headed off to the airport.  When I got home from dropping her off, we headed to the bowling alley.
 

  

We had a good time, especially Colton, since he proceeded to beat me and this boy does love to win. 

Then it was off to Red Robin, which included some singing and a hot fudge sundae which Colt was gracious enough to share.

Finally, we were headed home to the rest of the fam, some carrot cake, and presents.

I love Cade's face here.  These boys can fight like nobody's business so I'm all for catching a little adoration here and there.  Happy birthday to my seven year old boy!  Colt is sweet, sensitive, a hard worker, a great date and a good example to his brother and sister.  We love him something fierce.

The most wonderful time of the year...

This holiday season was the first time since Evan and I got married that we decided to stay home (not including the year Colton was born, since he was due on Christmas day and slightly hampered our traveling plans).  We kicked off the Christmas season with a visit to Santa, to verify that Santa was up to speed on Christmas wish lists.

This picture cracks me up.  Is this the Christmas card, thug edition?  Seriously the boys' faces are too much.

And cue the classic Santa picture.  Oh Delaney, she was so miserable and devastated that we left her on this strange man's lap.  She's not a huge fan of men in general and one with a huge beard and red hat?  No thank you.

For Christmas Sunday, Evan's mom was nice enough to sew the kids matching outfits.  Delaney's dress was seriously too cute and as someone who struggles sewing on a button, I'm beyond grateful to Oma for using her skills to dress the kids up.  Not the best picture of Delaney but again, Colt and his GQ pose could not go unposted.

Since all of my siblings were at their in-laws or staying home this year, my parents decided to not spend Christmas alone and come to Chicago instead.  Lucky us!  I had a list of traditions I wanted to start for our family and my mom was nice enough to head up sugar cookies with the kids.  I used Our Best Bites recipe (I'm obsessed with their cookbooks lately) and they did not disappoint.  I have a lot of great memories of making sugar cookies when I was a kid so it was fun to pass that on to my family.

I also decided we should try gingerbread houses.  I was busy baking in the kitchen so I asked Evan to take charge with the construction.  After some failed attempts (something about watered down icing and collapsing houses) Evan announced that this tradition was off the list.  For the record, after a new batch of icing that did not include a drop of water, the houses turned out just fine.  We'll see if I can convince Evan to add it back to the list for next year.

How Delaney spent her house making time.  I'm not sure if the boys had any M&M's left to decorate with.

I can't remember the last time that Evan had time off and we didn't travel somewhere.  It made for some fun days hanging out around Naperville.  One of them was spent as Cade would say, "Climb rocking."

Christmas Eve dinner.  My parents were nice enough to buy a prime rib and I felt a tad bit of pressure not to mess up such an expensive cut of meat!  Another Best Bites recipe and a fancy meat thermometer and luckily for me, a success.

Here the kiddos are in their Christmas Eve pajamas, milk and cookies for Santa set out, Christmas story read, nativity scene acted out, and on their way to bed.  And my Christmas present?  Having all three kids looking at the camera at the same time smiling!  My own little Christmas miracle.