"2019 was full of fun adventures, sweet memories & even a few surprises along the way! Looking forward to all God has for our family in 2020!"
We spent a quiet New Years Eve at home this year. The girls baked a cake & Madison spelled out "Happy New Year" with gold sprinkles! I can't even remember if we stayed up until midnight...my guess is that I definitely didn't.
I've gotta say, as hard as the last few months of 2019 had been for me, I wasn't sad to see it come to an end. Some of the highlights of 2019 were: Our Spring Break West/Disneyland trip, Mackenzie's 6th grade DC trip, completing our first year of school at CHA with Jonah's Kindergarten & Mackenzie's 6th grade Graduations, our 4th Falls Creek summer, the kids starting 1st, 5th & 7th grades, going to Branson with the Baldwins over Labor Day, my trips to Canada, Orlando & NYC with Brian, finding out I was pregnant at the end of October, and surviving the months of November and December! =0)
Madison has been begging for a new bed, and we've known it was way past time to get her one, for a while now. More than once, the boards underneath her mattress have fallen out while she's been laying in bed, and we've had to go rescue her! Haha! Yep, definitely time for a new bed!
She was so, so excited when we took her shopping for a new bed during the week between Christmas and New Years! Poppa Jim blessed us big time by giving us $300 to help buy her bed. (He gave us money for Mackenzie's bed a few years ago too!) I love the bed and dresser she picked out at Mathis Brothers, and we also got her a new mattress. It was interesting getting all of that furniture inside and upstairs, without me being able to help lift any of it. The girls managed to help Brian and they finally got it upstairs, without anyone getting hurt or anything getting broken!
I was definitely a little sad, taking the sweet little pastel bed and dressers out of her room. That was such a cute bedroom set for our girls for many years! We told Madison that she's going to have to get rid of some toys and stuffed animals if she can't keep her room picked up...she doesn't have nearly as much room in there now, with this bigger bed. So far, she's kept it pretty clean and it hasn't been much of a problem. I let her pick out a bedspread and sheets on Amazon and she picked this blush colored, ruffled set...it 100% looks exactly like "Madison" to me, and is completely opposite of anything Mackenzie would ever pick. I love how their personalities are each so unique and special!
We found some cute decorations at Hobby Lobby for her walls, including this pig picture...the second I saw that sweet pig, I knew she would love it! She named it "Pinky Jr!" Then a few days later, G-Ma found this bigger pig picture and got it for Madison too. That one is "Pinky!" LOL! We are still planning to paint her room at some point, but for now its great just the way it is.
A few weeks after we got Madison's room all set up, as we tucked her into bed, she said, "Mommy, I feel like a princess in this bed!" That made my heart so, so happy! I love that she has a room that she feels so happy, safe, loved and "like a princess" in!
Bye, bye sweet bed!
Can't forget to use the new crutches as a decoration too!
We were happy to have Christmas with Grandma Baldwin at the lake again this year. We didn't mind hosting it at our house last year at all, but this felt more "normal." I'm not sure how many more Christmases we will have at the lake cabin, so it was good to have these memories there this year.
The kids had a fun time playing with their cousins & Grandma Baldwin spoiled them all, as usual! Instead of a tradition Christmas dinner, she made all kinds of Chinese food this year, so that was something different and fun. I didn't take many pictures, because I didn't feel well at all. I pretty much went to bed as soon as the present opening was over. I was almost 14 weeks pregnant at Christmas and so ready for the nausea to go away! Despite not feeling well, it was a great Christmas, from start to finish! I already can't wait for next year, when we will have another little Baldwin baby to add to the mix!
Jonah was so funny about wanting a neck pillow, like the one Grandma Baldwin has! (Hers isn't a dinosaur!)
We had a relaxing, fun Christmas morning at home! We kept with our tradition of making the kids sit at the top of the stairs and sing Christmas songs to wake us up, before they can come downstairs to see what "Santa" brought. =0) I think this is just a genius idea...we get to sleep in this way & don't have to worry about missing their expressions when they come down. And I love waking up to their sweet, excited voices singing Jingle Bells and whatever else they come up with! They think it is a fun tradition too!
Santa got off easy this year, because all three kids really wanted an XBOX or PS4...so that was an easy, big sigh of relief! They were all so excited and happy to get this & I love that it is something they all three like to play together.
The most exciting part of Christmas for Mackenzie was that she got her first phone...her very own iPhone! We finally gave in...which I still have mixed feelings about...but ultimately, I feel better knowing that she has a way to get ahold of us at all times. Her expressions were completely priceless when she opened that phone...she wasn't expecting it at all, so it was a very fun surprise for her!
Jonah was very excited and full of funny expressions as he opened his presents! He is definitely most excited about playing Minecraft on the XBOX & he was very happy about his Avengers lego set too! One of the sweetest gifts of the morning was Jonah's present for the new baby...he picked out these little hard plastic bracelets...orange if its a boy and pink if its a girl, because he thought they would be good teething rings. I thought it was such a thoughtful, sweet gift!
Madison got a little extra bonus from the tooth fairy because she lost a tooth the day before! She didn't get the guinea pig that she had so desperately been begging for, but I think she still loved all of her presents. One of the things on her Christmas list was a pair of crutches...she keeps us laughing...thanks to Amazon, I found a cheap pair of crutches for her! I just hope she doesn't actually ever NEED them! She also picked out the sweetest gift for Brian and me...she found a set of goose salt and pepper shakers, one with a blue ribbon and one with a pink ribbon. She wrapped the blue one up for Brian and the pink one up for me. I absolutely loved this gift & I will keep it forever! Brian also got me a very pretty necklace, and his gift from us was to go shopping for a new mountain bike.
As always, we loved having G-Ma at our house with us to watch the kids open presents on Christmas morning! Once the presents were all unwrapped, we made our traditional Christmas morning breakfast...chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs & strawberries! Then we got ready & headed to Lake Eufaula for Christmas with the Baldwins.
It was a very Merry Christmas, indeed!
When Santa & the Tooth Fairy come on the same night, you get double the money, apparently!
Waiting (sort of) patiently for us to tell them they could come downstairs! It took a few minutes longer than normal, because I wasn't moving as fast I usually do. They were good sports about it though!
I love this picture!!
Yep, I think he was just a little excited about the xbox!!
We got Jonah some pop up soccer goals for the back yard.
Here is Mackenzie opening her phone! At first she just thought we put something else inside of an iPhone box, to throw her off. She didn't believe there was an actual phone for her in there!
This will always be one of my all time favorite Christmas morning pictures and memories of Mackenzie!
Madison was so excited to fake people out with her crutches, and make them think she broke her leg. This girl is funny!
Here are the baby's "teething rings"!
And the salt & pepper shakers! My favorite part about this gift was that she split it up and gave the boy to Brian and the girl to me. That's a pretty thrifty way to spend your money at the Christmas store too! =0)
One of Mackenzie's other gifts was a Kendra Scott necklace. I told her she should feel special, because I don't even have one of those!
All 3 of the kids got a bigger Lego set that they've been wanting!
She was very happy about this present!!
It took a while to figure out exactly how the Xbox worked.
Yummmm!!!
I love love love this picture!!
Shooting some hoops while we loaded up and got ready to leave.
Lookin' good in his new red/plaid hoodie from G-Ma & new shoes that match.
The girls were so excited about their written messages on the back of our dirty van windows! I'm always telling them not to write on the windows like this, because it just draws extra attention to how dirty our van is, but it was hard to get aggravated with them this time! =0)
