Christmas is Over

We had an amazing few days in Hickory visiting Oma and Opa-- but Wednesday night we made the long trip back home. When we arrived a little before midnight we simply dumped all our stuff in the house and went to bed. And unfortunately, the fairies didn't come overnight and clean up. So anyone have any guesses on what we did Thursday?! Oh yes, cleaned and purged and organized rooms! I banished the big two girls to their rooms while I worked on Kayla and Little Sunshine's room-- knowing that they couldn't conquer that job solo-- and about an hour later, this is what I found...

Madeline... I wish I had zoomed out more in my picture... but her room was perfectly organized at inspection time, but it always is. She quickly got her new presents in their proper place, organized her bookshelves, filled her trash can and donation box, and then laid down on the floor to start writing all her friends addresses in her new address book. (Yes! One of my 8 year old's top wants for Christmas was an address book!!)

Audrey... I'm not sure what she heard me say when I sent her to her room (which is really just a corner of the playroom because she is such a slob that we limit her disaster to one small area) but this is how I found her. Yes, wearing winter gloves and carrying a drum stick?!? And clearly you can see the DISASTER behind her. It was seriously CLEANER before I sent her to clean up. WOWSERS!!

People say all the time that Madeline is soooo much like her dad and Audrey like me... yet still... there are HUGE traits each girl has that definitely come from the other parent. This is just one example. Madeline loves organization, order, and lists-- like me. While Audrey thrives in spite of her chaos and confusion-- just like her dad. Oh, these girls. 

I spent another hour with Audrey organizing and cleaning and threatening her within an inch of her life not to make it messy again. Yea, it'll last maybe a week. And so, our house is almost back in order-- except for the fact that Christmas hasn't been touched-- but that can wait until two big kids go back to school. 

We have only two days left and I plan on enjoying every minute I've got enjoying having everyone home together. These days go so fast! 

Slivensky Christmas 2016

We made it to Hickory right around midnight last night. As much as I'd have rather driven during the day, with the littlest one HATING long car trips, traveling at night is so much better of an option. Of course my parents were still up waiting for hugs from all the girls at the back door. Once we got them all settled in their beds, I got to spend almost 1.5 hours catching up on the latest with my parents at their bar. I will admit, I am a horrible phone caller. I'm not a huge fan of talking on the phone but even if I was, these days I rarely have time except late at night. I appreciate that mom and dad understand and I was happy to just sit in person and talk last night. (Oh how I wish I lived closer than five hours away!)

And so, after a 2am bedtime, the morning shift came VERY early today, because a certain six kiddos were ready to make Christmas happen the minute their eyes saw light this morning. Unfortunately for them, we did breakfast and got cleaned up first... look at that table full...

As they patiently waited for the adults... I got my chance for a picture with all of them in it, they are getting so big: 

And finally, they got to open their presents! The kids got more stuff than they ever could have needed but they had a blast opening, sharing, and playing with their toys. 

And so for the rest of the day, they were entertained as they went through all the different toys each of them received and tried everything out.

Tonight after dinner, we got out the new Pie Face Challenge game that Aunt Rachel bought the girls. We set things up at the bar in the kitchen and had fun challenging each other. Audrey was definitely the kid winner-- she made Lucas cry and did a great job beating all the kids and even most of the adults. The mess and the faces were awesome! 

So at the close of the day, we all ate WAY too much food and cookies, snuck in some naps, and laughed SO much today. It was fun to be home, and to watch the girls play non-stop with their cousins. It was a crazy fun day, and I do believe we are ready to do it all again tomorrow. Thanks Om and Opa, for making room for our craziness, cooking crazy amounts of food, and putting up with us for a few days this week. We know our numbers (and noise level) are overwhelming a lot of times. 

Merry Christmas from all of us! I am one blessed girl. 

Christmas 2016

Even though we were all up SUPER late last night, the kids were up at their normal time. One of my favorite parts of Christmas morning is waking up to them singing Christmas carols in the baby monitor because they know they aren't allowed downstairs until we are up and ready. (A mom and her camera! LOL)

We do stockings first and they were loaded with the favorite goodies-- toothbrushes, socks, panties, chapstick, and a few games. I almost think they love their stockings as much as their three big gifts. 

Little Sunshine was ALL about opening! Oh the fun of a kiddo this age and experiencing things for the first time. But look at Kayla's face... over bathtime color drops... so hilarious! 

We slow down all the excitement at our house by breaking things up a bit. After opening stockings, we leave the kids to play with their new stuff while Mark and I make a big breakfast. It's what our kids know, so they don't question it. They are so patient. Here they are sipping milk from their new fun flavored straws while waiting on food. 

I have the best co-cook and dishwasher-- except when he tried to screw up the scrambled egg and I yelled at him. Merry Christmas... LOL... just keeping it real! 

And so THEN, we got to open presents. We only buy the girls three things, but I forget that we have FOUR girls this year, and they buy each other gifts and so our present opening took a lot longer than I expected. I LOVED watching them open each others gifts and the giant smiles and hugs that ensued. Precious moments I will forever treasure as long as I live. Gratefulness is something my girls show BIG-- most of the time. 

The kids got busy with all their toys and I got busy on a nap. So glad Mark pulled out my camera and shot a few pictures of that too. To all the moms out there-- I hope you got a nap today too. December has been LONG!! 

By this time it was time for lunch and making our Baby Jesus Birthday Cake... 

And then we had to get outside! It was a beautiful day today on the coast-- so of course we hit the beach! We got nice and sandy and had a great time enjoying the sun. 

It really was a good day with a few typical tantrums thrown in (the kids and me) just to keep us on our toes. We finished out the evening packing the car and steaming up our favorite oyster dinner. (The kids ate chicken nuggets!!) We are now en route to Hickory to see my family for a few days. The girls are SO excited to be with their cousins for the next few days and we guarantee crazy fun when the Slivenskys get together, so stay tuned. 

We hope that all of you had a beautiful day celebrating with your families the birth of Jesus, we most certainly did.  

Christmas Eve 2016

It was another Christmas Eve full of our favorite traditions!

We started off at the Holiday Inn pool in Leland. Yes, we call ahead and ask to swim for a few hours and they always say yes. Definitely one of our weird things we do, but the girls loved it that first time we did it, so we've been doing it for 5 years now!

We ate lunch out and then came home for naps and did final prepping for Christmas. We always go to a candlelight Christmas Eve service because I love it and grew up doing it and now the girls love the candles and the carols too. So at 7 we were at one of our favorite churches on Oak Island for a beautiful little service to celebrate Jesus. The girls did so good with their little candles, even Little Sunshine who was convinced she could do it herself!! 

Our 5th Annual Beach Bonfire tonight brought out a big crowd, somewhere between 40-50 people. It was so good to see friends from all places gather together (and bring other friends and family) just for some time to gather and enjoy a change of pace and the beauty of the beach at night. My favorite part besides the people-- we saw a HUGE shooting star/meteor and it lit up the sky. The kids (and all us adults) were amazed. 

And last but not least, we got home about 10:30, just in time for the girls to open their Christmas Eve pajamas, grab a shower and jump into bed. They were exhausted, and I can't say I  blame them, it was a pretty busy day. 

Matching girls in their sweet new pajamas. 

And finally, the girls could barely keep eyes open, but they listened intently as Mark read two of our favorite Christmas books. (Little Sunshine didn't make it for this, it was just too late!) 

I can't really think of anything that could have made our day more perfect. Being with the ones you love-- remembering the true reason for Christmas-- and just enjoying the blessings that God's given--- THAT is what I was able to do today. And my heart is warm. My heart is happy. And I can't help but think I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Merry Christmas friends-- I hope it's been a great season of preparation for you all too!

Christmas with Gramma and Grampa

Gramma and Grampa Blevins were in town to celebrate Christmas the last few days. We normally do Christmas with them the weekend before Christmas but due to a prior commitment they had, we shifted plans this year. Although it was a short visit, we filled it up with plenty of fun.

Last night we tackled our annual graham cracker houses. We pre-make the houses using my hot glue gun because it is too hard for the girls to do frosting and not collapse the roofs and walls when they stack their candies on top. We always do this project with Gramma and Grampa Blevins because it is right before Christmas and we have a HUGE stash of candy from all the Christmas parades that needs to GET OUT of the house. What better use of candy than using it to decorate non-edible houses made of glue and then throw them in the garbage??! I think it's a brilliant plan really. (I think Grandpa might have gained 10 lbs while decorating, but he had fun too.)

This morning after a big breakfast we opened Christmas presents. The girls had fun watching Gramma and Grandpa open all the gifts they had picked out for them...

 THEN it was their turn...

Last year Gramma and Grampa (with the help of our favorite Christmas elf/Mark's cousin Denise) gave the girls American Girl dolls for Christmas. And this year they outdid themselves again. The girls were beyond excited to open their gifts and find new AG outifts and accessories but even more excited to find matching dresses in their sizes with doll dresses to match! In less than five minutes of opening the girls were having a fashion show with themselves and their dolls. How adorable are they? 

And since Little Sunshine didn't have a doll, she got a Bitty Baby with all the accessories for her gift and she LOVED it. All day long she has carried her baby around under her right arm. So sweet.

I so love that this picture caught the excitement of the moment. 

The girls so enjoyed all the festivities and fun we had while Gramma and Grandpa were here and we were glad to share some Christmas time together, even as short as it was. 

Thanks Gramma and Grampa Blevins--- Merry Christmas!! 

Christmas with the Chesneys

Up until last year, we didn't see the Chesneys from the beginning of November until January. Our families are the bestest of friends, but the holidays are just busy and we didn't want to add extra pressure and stress of figuring out when to meet and what to do. But last year, we changed our minds. But we still didn't want meeting up to be another thing we "had" to do during the month of December, so began our "meet in the middle kinda" tradition.

What is there to do in December halfway between Holly Springs and Southport with 7 kids?! A whole lot of nothing honestly. We decided that going to see the light display-- Meadow Lights near Dunn was our best bet.

We met up at our same random park in Dunn around 3pm and the kids had a BLAST playing together and catching up.

And these three are just plain crazy! And getting so big. (Little Sunshine is two days younger than the boys but she is mammoth compared to them. But Liam and Oliver do just fine standing there ground!) 

We timed it right and got to Meadow Lights right when they opened at 5pm. A definite necessity for parking and avoiding the line for the train ride.

Here we are in the candy store where Shannon promised them candy but then changed her mind when it was all the nasty kinds left. My girls KNOW... if they want a special treat... Shannon is the SUCKER!! (They got their candy at dinner!) 

And finally we ended up at Cracker Barrel for dinner. It's close and everyone can get what they like and we got our group picture! 

Do you have these kinds of friends in your life? 

The ones that have seen your best and your worse? The ones you get together with at Christmas and don't even consider buying a gift? The ones who are hands on with all the kids and don't hesitate to smack your kids around if they need it? The ones who don't judge (yet completely mock) when you change the baby in the parking lot on a giant coloring book? The ones who take bathroom duty for big kids and tag team like a well oiled machine? Yup. The Chesneys are our people. If you don't have a family in your life like this. Find one. It is necessary, it is fun, and life is just better with people like this!! 

We love you Chesneys!! Thanks for squeezing in a visit with us during this crazy month. We are grateful and already looking forward to our next fun gathering.  

Our Little Gymnast

All three big girls have been taking gymnastics since September at our local kids' gym, and Kayla has indeed been the one to excel and find her niche. If you've ever seen this girl's build, she has athlete arms and legs, it's really kind of crazy, and she has all kinds of athletic skill to go with it. (And this is about the only way you can tell she's the adopted one-- since Mark and I don't have a bit of that going for us-- as seen in her two big sisters!! LOL!) 

Kayla LOVES her class and spends all her time at home flipping and jumping around. Well, today she got to show off all our hardwork at her end of year showcase for all of us, and we LOVED it! My favorite part of watching her today besides watching her shine was listening to Madeline and Audrey sitting on each side of me saying "She does that better than we do!!" And indeed she does! 

We are super proud of you Kayla Hope-- and hope you continue doing what you love! 

Big shout out to Miss Alex-- you have taught her SO much and she just loves you and coming to class each week. Thanks for all the work you have put into developing her skills, focus, and confidence; we are grateful.