I felt like I blinked and suddenly winter was upon us! This is the time of year, where our crazy schedule gets turned upside down with adding in more to max it out. This week, we started many of our traditions celebrating the holidays. I incorporated studying for my finals and completing final projects into our fun filled schedule. Sleep may have been missing but watching magic happen made it all worth it!
First, we decorated our Christmas tree and house.
This year, the kids really enjoyed helping us with every aspect of this! Wonder radiated off of them, and their giving hearts embraced all who was near them.
Each of our children has their own unique box of ornaments. One special ornament gets added to their box each year to commemorate where that child is in their journey of life. Grandma started this tradition and they really enjoyed decorating with their special decorations.
Second, the kids have really been enjoying attending both Grandma’s mega church and our little church multiple times a week. They light up at both churches and are learning so much.
Gideon is still hesitant about leaving Mom and the quints during the service though.
Third, Michael has been sick for about a month now. With our crazy schedule, it is hard to rest. He is in the middle of working 14 days straight, so we had some fun. The kids always love going to The Jerusalem Bakery. I’m not sure if they like the Shawarma or Baklava more. Either way, it always disappears before I even sit down.
Yoo Hoo! Guys! I’m over here! Um…I’m going to call it a win. At least, they are having fun and are all in the picture.
They all loved throwing coins into the wishing well and making wishes. I told them not to tell me what they wished. However, I still learned most of them wished to go swimming in the fountain. They did not attempt that today so another win!
Fourth, we went to Michael’s work for a surprise visitor!
Santa flew in and landed right in front of us on a C130, one of Michael’s planes. Sadly, he was stuck in a briefing at the time so didn’t get to see the kid’s amazement. They were screaming!
Gideon was not sure about going in the airplane at first.
The rest of the kids had mixed reviews as well. They had a lot of fantastic questions though.
Santa gave them presents and candy canes as he emerged from the aircraft. Pausing for a picture for Mom can not compete with that.
Gideon loved making elf hats.
All of the kids loved the hot cocoa, sweet treats, seeing their friends, cookies, art projects, bounce houses, and face painting.
Some of the kid’s before us had really long lists so we waited in line for Santa. They did really well at first visiting with our friends and had a dance party to the Christmas music. However, the wiggles came back in full force. With so many siblings, there is always mischief to be had.
Gideon and Conner refused to see Santa unless Mom came up too. The quint’s each told Santa their wish and gave him a hug. I told him my list consisted of Starbuck’s, sleep, and to be able to go potty without an audience #Momlife.
Meet the adventure team! The kids could keep going forever I think. Grandma and Mom, not so much.
Fifth, we had Michael’s work Christmas Party, after he got done meeting with a board at work. It felt great getting dressed up. I felt festive and ridiculous all in one outfit, but then I saw my husband. I may have napped with the kids this day to be able to hang with everybody.
We met up with some of Michael’s coworkers before heading to the venue.
We won the scavenger hunt, lost the tree decorating contest, met all of his friends, ate, danced, and had a lot of fun. Date nights out of the house are very rare around here so I embraced it!
The final bit of this week, consisted of 3 basketball practices for Conner, 2 basketball games, us being in charge of the concession stand, karate for the quints and Conner 3 times, and some errands.
The kids eat so much. For instance, just this one night they devoured: 9 chicken breasts stuffed with broccoli and asparagus, 3 lbs of broccoli on the side, 1 lb of cheese, 3 lbs of salad, sweet potatoes, 5 oranges, 6 apples with Greek Yogurt for their dessert. Grocery shopping and meal prepping is a must every week with our fast paced lifestyle!
xoxo,
Roxanna
The Hoffman Squadron 