This weeks Instagrams

Lilly is such a fashionista. She put this together all on her own.

She's getting so big!

Daddy- daughter time... One of my favorite pictures ever.

First real snow. It begins! There is nothing I hate more then driving in snow.

Lilly's are for sale. I totally bought one!

Lila's check-up stats

Tall and skinny! Weight- 12.9 (13%) Length- 26 inches (89%)

Lilly's check-up stats

Weight- 22.9 (4%) Length- 34 inches (45%) Super small and skinny again!

Lila's first time riding in the cart seat!

Lila's First Food

At Grandma's and Grandpa's tonight we decided to give Lila her first taste of food.

Although these pictures look contrary, she did actually like it.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

All of the kids love to decorate the tree, but Lilly was so happy!
She lovingly put every ornament on the tree.. in the same place. :)

Every year each child gets to pick out a special ornament.
Sometimes I don't really care for the ones they pick.
It's fun to see how they change and which one they pick every year.

Does it look a little tippy?! Yeah, it fell over about an hour after taking this picture.

Ryan didn't get it into the base very well... I'm happy only one ornament broke and it wasn't one I cared about. We are ready for Christmas!

Christmas Tree

Last year we got our first "real" tree since the first year Ryan and I were married.

The kids thought it was fun and Ryan loved the smell.

(I hated maintaining it and the huge mess!)

We thought we would try and real tree again this year.

My family has always had real trees. To them it's not Christmas with a plastic tree.

Mom drove all over trying to find the perfect tree. She ended up finding one in a little tree lot right down the street from our house. After seeing Santa and eating dinner, we grabbed some hot cocoa and the trailer and met her there.

Mom wanted a picture with the owner of the tree lot. He is over 80 years old and has been selling trees since he was 12 years old. He started out climbing the mountain, cutting down the trees himself and hauling them down on a little sled.

I'm not sure that my little sisters are the best example to Ella...

This sweet baby! It's her first Christmas and I couldn't be more excited!

Jack was thrilled to run around and look at all of the trees! 

He would run to one "how about this one Mom, it looks great to me!" But then run to another "Mom, this one is way better! We should get this one!"

He had been thinking for a while that he wanted to get a little tree for his bedroom.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye he saw this little stump of a tree (or the top of a very big tree) and HAD to have it!

Thanks for all of the pictures Sami!

Jack and Ryan finally settled on a tree.

At the end of the night we had a trailer filled with trees!

After delivering all of the other trees, we came home to set up ours.

Thanks for your help Dad.

I couldn't find Jack- he was out in the garage trying to trim the bottom of his tree.

So sweet. That boy loves Christmas!

So the tree is up, it smells so good! Christmas is coming!

Seeing Santa

Traverse Mountain Outlets has the cutest Santa house!

We had to go and check it out!

I love Lila's teddy bear coat!

She looks so warm and cozy.

The kids each took their turn talking to Santa, while the others wrote some letters and colored.

(Ella didn't really want to talk to Santa this year..... because, she knows ;)

Jack told Santa he wants a dirt-bike or an ATV.  Oh boy...

Lilly just said she wanted toys. Any toys. Sounds good to me!
It was such a nice time, I'm so excited for Christmas. It's going to be a good one.

Last Dirt Bike Trip of the Year

Towards the end of the season here, I've not been enjoying Ryan riding his dirt-bike every free second. But I know how much joy and happiness it brings him. It's been the best way he's ever found to relieve some of his stress. He's really needed a hobby since he sold his boat.. 5 years ago.

Poor Jack has watched his Dad ride all summer, wishing with all his heart he could ride too.

Jack has taken a little ride around our neighborhood, but nothing really fun.

Ryan couldn't take it anymore, seeing Jack's sad face.

So he took Jack out for a real ride.

Jack was in HEAVEN!

At one point Jack's hands were so cold. Good thing I had some gloves! He only rode for 15 minutes, but it was the "best day of his life!"