North Pole Breakfast 2014

I was more excited than ever for our 3rd annual North Pole Breakfast, welcoming Rudolph the Elf back to our house for the Christmas season.  Rudolph prepares a special breakfast for Hadley and Canaan when he returns each year from the North Pole.  This year, he made one of Hadley's favorite breakfast dishes:  monkey bread.  He also tries to make the table look somewhat festive for the occasion.  That sneaky Rudolph ;)

Rudolph left Hadley and Canaan an ornament for each of their bedroom Christmas trees as well as a pair of Christmas socks.  Just a little something to get them excited about the Christmas season.

I scored these Elf on the Shelf pj's at consignment this year and thought I just had to have them for our North Pole Breakfast.  Amazing how we just happened to wear them to bed the night when Rudolph returned to our house.  Rudolph and I must be on the same page.  We are so excited about the Christmas season around here!!

Thanksgiving 2014

Count your blessings, name them one by one

Count your blessings, see what God hath done

Count your blessings, name them one by one

Count your many blessings see what God hath done.

God has blessed me far more than I deserve, but I am so very thankful for his love, mercy, and grace.  I am thankful most of all for my salvation.  I am thankful that God led me to an amazing, Godly man to be my mate in life.  I am thankful for my healthy, beautiful children.  I am thankful for our families (parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins).  I am thankful for friends who love and encourage me daily.  I am thankful for a job that I am passionate about.  I am thankful for a warm, comfortable home.  I am just so thankful to God for his many blessings.  Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

Hadley's 5th Birthday

I cannot believe our sweet first born is five years old.  Half a decade; how does that even happen?  We are Frozen crazy at our house right now.  I mean, who doesn't love Disney's newest amazing movie?  I really wanted to keep Hadley's birthday a little less stressful this year and take it to a fun venue for the kiddos.  Extreme Gymnastics, here in Glasgow, is such a fun place for birthday parties.  You can rent out the entire space, complete with inflatables, trampolines, beams, bars, and an awesome pit to dive into.  It seems that I wasn't the only one with the idea of booking a birthday party on that particular Saturday.  By the time I called, the only time available to rent was 9-11am.  As strange as that seemed, I actually thought it might be kind of nice for people to be able to get it out of the way and be able to go about their Saturday business.  So, I decided to roll with it and plan a breakfast themed Frozen party.

We decided to make Olaf waffles or "Olaffles" as we called them.  We set up an Olaffle Bar, complete with waffles, chocolate chips, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, cool whip, and bacon for the arms.  We also brought our coffee maker from home, and plenty of sugar and creamer for our grown-up guests.

The teacher in me had to lead our breakfast activity.  

Hadley had all her sweet cousins (even the ones who had to drive a long way so early in the morning) and plenty of friends and grandparents on hand to wish her a happy birthday.

Canaan sat with all the older kids and felt like such a big boy.  It amazes me how much he tries to keep up with his big sister.  I think it helps those little siblings develop faster, though.

The obstacle that I struggled with the most when planning this party was whether to have a traditional birthday cake or not.  I mean, I've always had either cupcakes or a real cake for my kids on their birthdays.  But waffles, orange juice, and birthday cake?  Really?  Then it dawned on me how much Hadley LOVES monkey bread.  I asked her if it would be alright with her if that served as her birthday cake at her party and she was totally cool with it.  So we put candles on the monkey bread and sang to our birthday girl.  Couldn't have worked out better.

Drum roll please.....our finished product.  Our very own Olaffle.

After breakfast and gift opening,the kids had a ball playing at Extreme.  I heard several adults say they wished they could run and dive into the pit.  We really had a wonderful time at our breakfast birthday party.  We loved getting to celebrate our big five year old and just how special she is to all of us.  We love you so much precious girl!   

Highland H.E.R.O.

Our school, Highland Elementary, implements a program sponsored by our Guidance Counselor called Highland H.E.R.O (Honesty, Effort, Respect, and Optimism).  We were so proud to find out that Hadley had been chosen as the Highland H.E.R.O. for her classroom in October.  Teachers are asked to notify parents a few days prior to the ceremony, so that parents and/or grandparents can attend if they would like to.  I asked if my co-teachers could cover my class for a few minutes so that I could make it downstairs to see my girl receive her award.  Justin's parents were able to come watch, as well.  Can you tell that we are just a little proud of her?  

We are so incredibly thankful for Ms. Brittney, and everything she does for all her students.  Having 3-5 year olds at extremely different learning levels must be incredibly hard.  Some of the barely three year olds still struggle with talking and pottying, while the five year olds are getting prepared for kindergarten.  I just can't imagine how hard it must be to reach all of the kids on their levels.  But Ms. Brittney does it all fabulously, while expecting baby number four nonetheless.  We appreciate all she has done to help our little Highland H.E.R.O. be successful this year.  Way to go, Hadley!

Happy Fall

Well, Canaan is officially two years old and Hadley will only be four for a few more days.  We are quickly approaching the busy-ness of Holiday season, but I'm trying to hold on to Fall's splendor for a bit longer.   



Happy Fall from the Stinson's!!!