letlovebesincere: The things that went down....

...over Christmas break.

Remember how I told you Aaron had two weeks off for Christmas Break? Remember how I told you I was intentionally not going to make plans? That was an INCREDIBLY hard thing to do, and it was hard to decline visits with people who were only in town for a short period of time. At the same time, I really felt our family needed some slowing down and collecting ourselves before the new year. Wanna know how we spent it? We kicked it off with a Christmas party- friends style...it was deeeelightful.

I wanna warn you, there are far too many pictures in this post. Probably more than I have ever put in a post before... because editing them down was tough for me!

Getting crafty in our pictures

They always hook our boys up. This year was no exception

This makes me happy. Friendships are important

That led to our next great adventure... Frankenmuth, MI! Frankenmuth, for those of you who don't know, is a Christmas town in overdrive. It might not have been the smartest idea in the world to take a 3, 2, and 1 year old to such a busy town a few days before Christmas, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless (except for our first experience of having to leave a restaurant before we ate due to meltdowns and dirty diapers...the ONE time I forget the diaper bag!).

Look at that happy bunch

It's how we roll

The boy was obsessed with his hot coco. It was really cute.

5 years ago this man asked me to marry him in this city. regrets?!?!

After that delightful fun, Aaron surprised us with a groupon to a bounce house place. It took lil' A almost an hour to warm up to the idea, but all the boys loved it!

I LOVE this picture so much

Slow down on the whole growing up thing little man

he finally tried a slide.

Christmas Eve was a bit Crazy 'round these parts. We made some cookies, we made a 'Peppa Pig' birthday cake for Jesus (because my kids watch too much TV and request weird things), we went to my parents for Wigilia, annnnnnd then we went to Mass. Mass was a fiasco, as 'fake midnight Masses at 9:00 pm' tend to be- then we got home and assembled the toys for the boys visit from Santa (and Jesus and presents from mom and dad).

cooking. Don't get excited- its the prepackaged stuff

Joey got in on the action

proud of their work

I don't care who you are...this is a darn cute pig

I was so excited to give them this present from Rakstar Designs

Joey's absolute favorite person in the world is his Har Har

Santa's treat

We are those parents, who set up those things on Christmas Eve

Then, it was our Christmas morning. I love LOVE LOVE our Christmas day. We sang to Jesus, the boys did presents, Aaron's parents came over for breakfast and then we just enjoy the day. It's so cool to not have to 'run' a million places. To just be together, celebrating our Lord's birth in peaceful tranquility. Well, I mean, we do have three kids... so, more like- not total insanity.

They were so excited

John Paul opening books from Jesus

Playing together

My lucky boys surrounded by love

Their excitement and curiosity was awesome

The sleeping bags were a MAJOR win by Grammy and Papa. They stayed in them all day.

New racetrack from the uncle

In crazy spontaneity, my sisters and I decided we needed some time together. So, sisters weekend in a lovely little place called Dublin, Ohio was thrown together. Thank God for Embassy Suites and short-ish drives to be able to see each other.

Bathroom selfie at the mall we met at

Day drankin'? Why not.

Well all except the one cookin' a kid

Embassy Suites cause we so fancy

This was an AWESOME irish pub in Dublin, Ohio.

We went to a fancy place with nice waitresses for breakfast one morning. Our boys charmed the heck outta the whole place- but they were in their jammies. Is it weird to take your kids to a restaurant in jammies? probs.

I mean, with all the cute...come on?

Chocolate Chip Pancakes is where it's at

Our Bacon Lover

JP getting in on the action

After a terribly dramatic fight with my husband that began with whether or not he'd make beef stew without potatoes... and built into me crying at my parent's table about my mean old husband (seriously, that happened) we ended up having a super fun night at our friend's New Year's Eve Party. Someone might have indulged a bit too much (which took a full 24 hours to recover from)- but the pictures show we had a blast!