Nutcracker 2016

We had tickets to see the Nutcracker in Wausau on Sunday afternoon. Lucy was feeling much better and had not thrown up in 24 hours so we decided to make the trip to Wausau to see the ballet. The boys ended up coming with us, I was so thankful for this because the roads ended up being pretty rotten! A big shout to Dan who drove us down to Wausau and chauffeured us to the front door of the Grand Theater. 

Lucy was so excited to go see the ballet. She asked her Dad if she looked like a 6 year old in this picture. :)

We made it to the show and admired the holiday decorations! Daddy and Roman went Christmas shopping while the girls went to the performance. 

Enjoying a Christmas cookie at intermission! It was a beautiful show - so glad that our little peanut was feeling well enough to go.

Fun with Jake and Evelyn

Our good friends Jacob and Evelyn spent a Saturday at our house in early December. We had lots of plans for fun but, unfortunately, Lucy ended up being sick so we had to improvise a bit.

 

Daniel stayed at home with our sick girl while I took these three monkeys to music class. We had a great time with Ms. Joanne and the crew! :)

 

 

We tried to quarantine Lucy as best we could - she slept in the guest room while the other kiddos ate lunch.

 

Evelyn is such a sweetheart!

 

Jacob was goofing around during lunch. :)

 

Love this little guy!

 

After lots of playing, the three kids settled in to watch the Grinch. We have 3 rocking chairs so it was perfect.

 

While the healthy kids played upstairs, Lucy Goose was feeling good enough to do some crafting. We busted out the perler beads and she got started on a Santa Claus.

 

She asked me to make it into a necklace! Here is the finished product -

I felt so bad for Lucy on this day! She wanted to play with the other kiddos so badly but was just too sick. Thankfully no one else came down with this illness!

 

 

This was Roman at like 600pm. Haha! After a full day of playing with his buddies, he was out cold! :)

 

Thanks for spending the day with us Jake and Evelyn!

 

Holiday Carnival at the YMCA

The kids were so excited to attend the holiday carnival at the YMCA this year. Lucy quickly got to work decorating Christmas cookies.

 

 

Roman loves this bounce house with all his heart.

 

It was not pretty when we had to forcibly extract him from the bouncy house at the end of the evening!

 

There were lots of games including this fun one where the children knocked down the snowman with a ball.

 

There were lots of opportunities to craft Christmas ornaments.

 

Roman managed to leave the bouncy house long enough to decorate a Christmas cookie!

 

What a fun evening!

Early December Happenings

Here is a glimpse of the Storm Household happenings in early December. This Mama actually got it together this year and filled our advent calendar full of little activities, stickers, and treats on time!

 

 

There is something about crafting with cotton balls that is so much fun!! Here is Lucy making an igloo/snow scene complete with cotton balls and lots of glue.

 

Here is Roman holding one of our Advent slips. The plan for this day was to wear Christmas shirts and socks to school. Ninja Turtle Christmas shirt - check! Santa socks - check!

 

Ugh! Roman was on Santa's naughty list in early December. He was using the bathroom when he plugged up the sink, turned the hot water on full blast and happily skipped away. Mama did not notice for about 10 minutes and it was.a.mess!!!

 

Water had filled all of the drawers in the bathroom and was covering the floor. Here is what it looked like:

 

It took Dan and I some serious time with the wet vac/towels/fans/etc to clean this up. Ai yi yi!

James' Baptism

On the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend we celebrated sweet baby James' baptism!

 

 

Look at this sweet little guy!

 

Dan and I were so honored to be sponsors.

 

We love this little family so much!

 

Here is Baby James with his Mama and Dad and sponsors.

 

Here is the Storm crew! I am happy to report that all of the kids were on their best behavior during the service! I always get a little bit nervous when we sit up front in church! Haha! 

 

 

We love you, James! We can't wait to watch you grow up!  

 

 

After services we headed to the same park/community center where we held Amelia's baby shower. The kids were eager to play.

 

We had a lovely brunch!

 

How great are these little quiche? They were delicious.

 

I just love this picture of James' cousins - here are Lucy, Abby, Roman and Drew sharing the swing at the park. It will be so fun to see James join this pack of kids when he is big enough to run and play.

 

 

What a wonderful day!

Family Time

We had such a great time with the Storm crew over Thanksgiving. Saturday morning was beautiful so we took some family photos at a park.

Here are Ken and Nola and their grandbabies.

 

On Saturday night we went bowling! Lucy was so excited to hold baby James for a minute.

 

Daniel was too! :)

 

There were party lights so these two were pumped!

 

 

Roman and Lucy made use of this cool slide to assist their bowling game. 

 

 

Brian's family was in town because baby James' baptism was on Sunday morning. Our children absolutely love James' other cousins, Abby and Drew. :)

 

Roman, Drew, and Lucy chowed down on pizza and a great night bowling.

Black Friday

We kicked off Black Friday by celebrating Uncle Brad's birthday. :) Lucy, Dan, and Amelia grabbed donuts for breakfast.

 

 

Breakfast of champions!

 

We skipped the mall and headed to the thrift store for some deals. This Salvation Army is the best spot ever because the basement is full of Target clearance. :) We found lots of great stuff. We are training Lucy on the fine art of thrifting. :)

 

Since it was officially post-Thankgiving, the children put on some of their Christmas shirts for the first time.

In the evening we headed to Holidazzle in Minneapolis. The children pretended to be Vikings.

 

They had some interactive animal art on display. This one was a giant wolf.

 

Lucy and Romy were so excited to pull the rope and make his head bob up and down.

 

The highlight of the event was the fireworks show! The kids had great seats on Dad's shoulders and Uncle Brad's arms.

 

Fireworks!

 

 The kids were mesmerized. A great way to kick off the holiday season!

 

 

Look at sweet baby James! Snuggled in nice and cozy with his mama. :)

 

We broke out the Christmas jammies that evening!

 

How sweet are these two boys?

 

Happy Holidays!