December fun

 We had a lot of fun going to many parties and activities in the community here. We've met some great people and are loving the xmas season! Here's Kai's letter to santa, notice, most of his letter is asking for things for other people. Sweet boy :)

 Bass pro is one of our favorite places, especially at christmastime!

 Meili also thought about Kai in her letter, I especially love her family photo :) At 4, she's so easy to please :)

 Tristan would have nothing to do with Mr. SC.... nothing at all!

 We finally got some snow and the kids love sledding in the backyard. It is seriously their new favorite thing! I love it because they are completely covered head to toe and do not even come in dirty! ha Fun for all :) They even made their first snowman :) Yey for frosty!

 There's a tree called the magic tree in columbia and we had to check it out! It's temple square, but only one tree. It was fabulous none the less!

 xmas attire :)

 I love xmas eve!  I'm sure santa and the reindeer will enjoy their treats!

Our Christmas letter :)

We are loving a new phase in our life here in Columbia, Missouri. Rich is a second year resident at Rusk Rehab and I am lucky enough to be able stay home with our 3 hoppin' kiddos! Kai is in 1st grade loving school, and writing and reading up a storm. Meili is also enjoying preschool, learning to read, and is getting to spend lots of quality time with Mom! Tristan is a busy 20 month old with a lot of energy and a little 'crazy' inside him. They are joys and we are blessed to have them! Hope you are all well this holiday season.

 

November

I wanted to do a gratitude post long ago, so here it goes.

 I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a mother. I'm grateful that I've been blessed with these 3 unique spirits. I hope I can help them be the best person they can and succeed on so many different levels in this world.

 I'm grateful for their creativity and passions. I love Kai's responsibility traits and cautiousness. I love Meili's bounciness and love her passion for learning and life. It's going to be tough to keep up with her.

 Grateful to be able to stay at home. Today I layed in bed with Meili and Tristan for 2 1/2 hours in our pajamas reading stories. Honestly, it does not get better than that.

 Grateful for Tristan's wild energy. He is fun and vivacious. He loves to be funny and crazy and I love it. I love his squishy cheeks and even his bad baby breath :) I love kissing his wet lips. He is fantastic :)

Grateful for a good husband that is so selfless, understanding, and such a fun dad. They love him so much!

 Life is good.

 oh so good :)

 Kai's so glad he finally lost his first tooth! $5 from the fairy and spent 2/3 of his $ on his sibilings. Grateful for such a generous boy :)

October

October was full of fall festivities and although this post will be mainly pics, I really wanted the memories of all the fun things we did. So, hang in there! We went to a couple of pumpkin patches/festivals. It has been so fun experiencing the culture here and the new people we have met along the way. Meili has a great preschool group and we enjoy lots of playgroups and play dates. Our life would be completely different if not for the church's network, it's awesome to have instant friends :)

 We had a couple of halloween parties and I even took Kai out of school for a trip to the fire station  which sadly enough was his first time! It was well worth the wait!

 Bre and her family drove down mid month and the girls did some serious crafting while the boys entertained themselves :) We made leg warmers, shirts, and monogrammed wall art. It was intense but sooo worth it! We hit up a local renaissance festival on saturday complete with knife and hatchet throwing and we even managed to squeeze in a little shopping and eating out. It was fabulous!

 Kai got this gem in the mail from uncle Daniel and was sooo excited to be a fireman for Halloween  Together we all made the dream come true. He was in HEAVEN! We loved tagging along for his school field trip  Meili loves going to his things. It's the highlight of her day :)

 Sometimes we do this while Kai's in school. SSsshhhh don't tell him... :)

 Another local festival complete with airsoft gun training :) Meili loved it and is so proud of herself. She really is such a tomboy!

  Sugar cookies for every holiday! It's tradition :)

 I just had to put this in. Tristan really loves Kailer. The bond these two boys have is just different. Even though there is such a huge age gap they gravitate toward eachother. Tristan just follows him around like his little shadow. It is precious :)

 Carving and painting! Meili carved a flower and painted every inch of her pumpkin. Kai carved a vampire bat on his and painted a vampire bat and a ghost on his. He's very into spooky things this year! Tristan just thinks he's a dog so kai/mei helped carve a dog into his pumpkin. T loved painting his pumpkin/body though. It was an awesome family night!

 Meili is quite the little momma and loves feeling big. I'm not sure how T feels about it...   And here we have fireman complete with dalmatian for T, which I made, and meili wanted to be tink, so I whipped up some shoes for her to complete the outfit. It was great fun for all :) LOVE HALLOWEEN!

 Plus, I made a few friends :) We had a dying party. Not like a cult thing, but like we dyed white items in our wardrobe. I now have a brand new pair of perfectly toned mint skinnies :) We did learn a few lessons along the way though. ;)

 Meili's made some too :)

Heck, even the Daddy has made some :)

 Definitely enjoying life right now and soooo aware that they are growing and changing way too quickly!