The Wissinks: Good-Bye 2017!

We kept very busy in this last month of 2017! Lots of fun activities plus Christmas, of course!

December 1 was the Christmas Walk in Fulton, which is always fun. Where else can you see both Santa and Sinterklaas in one shot?😄

Santa was in the windmill so it was kind of dark in there. J asked for a Lego set, so the little parrot Hope asked for a Lego set, too. She really had no idea what was going on. 🤣 Sinterklaas recognized Jeremiah and called him Mr. Wissink, so I think that shocked J a bit! I’m guessing he was someone from our church, but it was hard to tell! We also had cocoa and cookies, saw the live Nativity, and the kids made these cute Rudolph hats! So nice that there was no snow and the weather was mild- not too cold to have Norah out in the stroller.

A couple weeks shy of 6 months, we gave baby cereal a try with Norah (hoping it might keep her full and help her sleep better at night 😂😂😂). She liked it and did really well!! I was expecting ALL the gagging, so I was pleasantly surprised. And no, it didn’t help the sleeping.

I’m going to try to add a video— Hope has been ALL about “Away in a Manger” since I sang it to her at bedtime once. And we’re still singing it now! Ok I can’t figure out how to add a video so

HERE is a link to it on YouTube.

December 15 was Jeremiah’s school Christmas concert. He did a great job (I recognized all the songs he’s been singing around the house the past months!). And he looked so grown up!!

All my little people- love them!

December 17 was Adam’s birthday! And miraculously he had the weekend off! Ok it wasn’t a miracle, but it was his first days off in more than 2 weeks, plus it wasn’t really “off” because both Saturday and Sunday we had volunteering hours set for our required hours for Jeremiah’s school.... but he wasn’t at work, so that was nice!!

Birthday boy, uncooperative children, and teeny tiny birthday dessert. 😂 I thought I was buying a Reese’s jello no-bake dessert for like 9x9 pan. Nope. Found out it came with it’s “own convenient baking tray!” Also it was child sized and looked like something for an easy bake oven! 🤣

We took advantage of Adam being home that weekend and did some of our other favorite Christmas activities. We hopped in the car with popcorn and Starbucks (🙌🏻) to go look at Christmas lights!

N was thrilled to be along for the ride! 😄

J and H decorated a gingerbread house with daddy, too. They really like doing this with Adam and really would rather I not be involved- I’m ok with that! I take the pictures.

December 21 Norah turned 6 months old!! Half-way to a year! 😭

Man she’s cute!

On Christmas Eve (or the night before?) we finally got enough snow to warrant getting the shovel out. J was thrilled! ❄️❄️❄️ Me, not so much.

Adam’s parents came for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Since Christmas Eve was a Sunday, we did morning church and then went and had brunch at Rastrelli’s (J has been longing for ham since Thanksgiving and he finally got it! I don’t make ham. 🤣). We gave the girls naps in the afternoon and then had appetizers for dinner. The kids opened 1 present- Christmas jammies! Then we went to our church’s Christmas Eve candlelight service. I ❤️❤️❤️ candlight services! So special. After church the kids threw on their new Christmas jammies and then we let them open their stockings.

Christmas morning we awoke bright and early, of course! Adam and I made breakfast and after his parents got here, we ate and then the kids opened the presents from their grandparents!

Patiently waiting. 🤣

The kids spent the rest of the morning playing with their new toys. J got his very first BIG Lego set, and learned a valuable lesson: with a big set with multiple bags of Lego’s, DON’T open all the bags and dump all the pieces together! 🤦🏼‍♀️ He made a big project even bigger!

That’s not even all the pieces! But thankfully, with help from Daddy, he got all the different things built.

We did soup and chili for lunch and while Norah napped, Adam took J and H to see “Ferdinand”- they gave rave reviews when they got home! And then it was time for our own little family Christmas- more presents!

Happiness 😊

We both love our coffee!

We’ve been trying to keep busy over Jeremiah’s Christmas break. J and H and I decorated Christmas cookies one day (after Christmas, but whatever).

Hope was ALL about the sprinkles!

Adam was off one day so we decided to take advantage of the membership to the Bettendorf Family Museum that we got for Christmas. Super cute and fun place!