Bullet points for a catch up.

It is so hard to write a post after getting out of the habit of it. How do I fill you in on everything that has happened lately? it doesn't seem possible, so bullet points it is.

• We had a good Thanksgiving. Unfortunately I can't say great, because we have three toddlers that are all in challenging phases and two tired parents, but it was still good. We went to the lake to celebrate with my side of the family. We spent a lot of time in the chilly outdoors, went to town to see my grandparents, and ate a lot of food. That pretty much sums it up!
• We came back on Saturday, so that night, hubby and I went to town cleaning up the house and getting as many Christmas decorations up as we could while the kids were asleep. It was relaxing and fun. We had a fire going and Christmas music on. We each had our projects and the house was relatively quiet. Honestly, it was just what my heart needed.
• The next morning, Sunday, our little fb woke up with a stomach bug and the day kind of went downhill from there. The excitement of Christmas!decorations!everywhere! just caused problems all day and like I said earlier, the challenging phase we are in with the three of them just escalated. It was a long day and not the best way to end the weekend.
• This week is nuts for me. Absolutely nuts. There is way too much squeezed into way too little of time and I can hardly breathe waiting for Thursday to be done. Since I'm super scatterbrained because of it, thank you to those who are helping us out this week (and just lately in general). I do so appreciate it!
• Despite being busy, I so want to enjoy this Christmas season. I have to keep telling myself to keep it simple for the kids. I can already tell that they are in a "me me me" mindset with gifts and new toys coming in left and right, so I want to minimize that as much as possible and spend more time on our Advent calendars, reading books that aren't about Santa (good grief, we have way too many of these), and singing Christmas carols that have real meaning (along with the fun ones too of course). I want good moments, not just good presents. Does that make sense? They don't have to be perfectly staged, but I want this season to be special for the kids in a simple, pure, Jesus-centered way. 
• It is snowing here, yesterday, today, and I'm sure tomorrow, so it looks like winter is here to stay. I love how pretty it looks but I don't love how hard my hubby has to work to clear our driveway (so huge compared to our old one). I also don't love how hard it is to play outside with a one year old that can't walk in her snow pants. We all suffer because of that! If she can't walk, she's unhappy, then we have to come back inside, and the older two are sad that they can't play longer. It is so much work to even get outside in the first place, I'm not sure we'll make many more attempts. 
• Whew I needed this post. So much swirling around my brain and writing this out just helps. Thanks for reading my mind dump. :)

A little blurry, but yet so fabulous. These two are quite the pair.

My mama and me.

Found this on our nature walk (one of many).

These look photoshopped, don't they? They aren't though. I made that pretty hat myself. :)