December happenings

Oh December. This month feels like it has dragged on forever, but flew by in the blink of an eye all at the same time! Eric has worked every. single. day. (hence the dragging) but our babies are growing and only 2 more sleeps until Christmas (what?!) We've missed out on some of the festive fun due to Eric's crazy work schedule right now, but I've done my best to make the most of this month and I think Mia has been having the best time :)

We survived holiday shopping with a nursing newborn and newly potty trained Mia... that was an adventure every time we tackled the malls, ha ha! My best friend came and stayed with us for a few days and we had the best time! It was just what I needed! The kids played so well together and Mia talks about them every day!

We have done a couple festive things like our church Christmas party and a local "snow" day. They had snow (aka a big pile of ice) for the kids to play on, face painting (Mia was thrilled with her reindeer! I was expecting her to choose the Frozen snowflakes... I should have known better, ha ha!) food trucks, games for the little ones and Santa!!

Mia got to see Santa twice this year! My best friend braved the mall with me (5 kids under age 5 is not for the weak, guys!) and we took the kids to visit Santa. Mia was SO excited... until it was her turn to talk to him. She quickly turned around and started walking away, ha ha! I held her the whole time she talked to him and barely got her to take a photo while sitting on my lap next to him. That warmed her up for our next Santa meeting I guess because she actually sat on his lap! And while she's obviously very weary of the situation, she didn't scream (like the past 2 years, and I adore those pictures, ha!) and even waved for the camera. No smiling though. Of course as we walked away she excitedly told me all about seeing Santa :) 

We celebrated Mia's THIRD birthday! I threw a simple birthday party for her at the park with cupcakes and she LOVED it! I just wasn't up to throwing a big party with Eric being gone and, you know, trying to survive each day with two kids ;) It was so nice to only have to "worry" about baking the cupcakes! I won't have an excuse as to why I need to keep it simple next year, but I'm definitely going to keep it simple for as many years as she lets me :) (I wish I was a party planner but it's just not my talent and ends up stressing me to the max!) On Mia's actual birthday we went to church (she was thrilled to see all of her friends on her actual birthday as well!) then Eric got home from work the same time we did! I can't even tell you how nice it was to have him home before bed time, definitely Mia's favorite thing about her big day! We ate pizza, opened gifts and played with every single one of them and dug into her princess cake that she'd been requesting for weeks. Eric made her dreams come true with a pretty awesome princess cake (which I forgot to take pictures of in good lighting, I'm so bummed!) and she has asked every day since if it's her birthday again and where is her princess cake? ha ha! Mia was so, so happy and even though it was such a simple celebration, it was everything she wanted it to be! My very favorite part was that we were all in bed an asleep before 8pm, HA! I love my little family so much!

I've had a hard time keeping up with the blog this past month but I don't hold back on Instagram ;), so be sure to find me, @courtbrink, if you want to keep up with our Christmas fun! Two more sleeps, guys. Two more sleeps!!