Abigail’s Birthday Week

Abigail’s FOURTEENTH birthday was on Tuesday, January 12.  She went off to school just like any other day, but after a yummy birthday cinnamon roll for breakfast.  Birthdays tend to require a lot of time in the kitchen for me.  We enjoy good food and I’m realizing that food might just be my love language.  Abigail requested a three flavor cake with white frosting.  I had a little buddy hanging out with me in the kitchen.

Abigail has AWESOME friends.  They made her day so special.  She came home with her backpack all decked out.

She requested gnocchi soup for her birthday dinner – a close second was spinach enchiladas.

Her birthday cake met her approval and tasted delicious.

I posted this picture on Instagram that evening - my teenage daughter clearly digs me.  The girl’s not a hugger.

Friday, January 15 was Abigail’s birthday party.  She’s been planning her party for months and had a tough time deciding if she wanted to keep it small or invite a lot of friends.  She said it would either be 6 or 12+.  In the end she decided to keep it small so that everyone was friends and they could just comfortably hangout, low pressure and less crazy.  One of her best friends couldn’t make it so it was just Abigail and 5 of her besties – PERFECT! 

I hadn’t planned on shipping the other kids off, but as we were getting everything ready it became clear that it would be much better if Justin and the kids just disappeared for the night.  So as soon as Justin got home from work he loaded everyone up and they met his parents and sister at a new burger joint and then hung out at Grandma and Grandpas – WIN/WIN!

There was no party theme – just FOOD and FRIENDS.  We had PLENTY of food!

Abigail picked out some fun minute-to-win-it GAMES to play.

Hanky Panky

A Bit Dicey

Junk in the Trunk

Scoop it Up

Toilet Roll

The girls enjoyed repurposing the mess

More FOOD! Pizza rolls, enchilada dip, sundae bar…

Kaylee dropped ice cream on the floor

Such a fun group of girls!

Just days after her birthday she was able to attend her first tri- or quad- stake dance following our stake’s Best of the Northwest event.  She had a great time and is excited to have more of her friends turn 14 over the next few months so they can join the fun.

Abigail had one final birthday celebration on Sunday, January 17 when we had the Fletcher family over for dinner and dessert.

We had a dessert throwback to her birthday dessert of choice (Oreo Madness) from back in the day when she couldn’t eat anything with egg in it.  Yummy, but so glad those days are behind us!

Happy Birthday to my Abigail!  Love you!

Winter Break

Our first day of winter break (Dec 21) started quite perfectly with SNOW!  I love me a little snow as long as we don’t have to drive in it and it doesn’t stick around too long.

By late afternoon there was plenty to keep the kids entertained (Abigail was at a Christmas party and Drew was napping).

Katie and Carly built an impressive snowman in the backyard.    

That evening we introduced the three big kids to one of the original Star Wars movies – Abigail apparently felt the need to take a few selfies while we got the movie started.

Carly also enjoys taking selfies on my phone.

Doing puzzles over Christmas break is a pastime I remember fondly growing up and something I enjoying doing with my family as well.  We bought the kids a BYU puzzle while we were visiting the campus in October and it was fun to put that together for the first time.

The girls and I stayed up late one evening working on another puzzle but Drew destroyed it early the next morning.  Boo.

With Christmas sneaking up on us so quickly we missed doing some of our usual December traditions including visiting Snowflake Lane in Bellevue.  The week after Christmas they change it to Celebration Lane – it’s not as big of an event, but we decided it would still be fun to do.  Instead of peppermint suckers they pass out Americana blowhorns.

And instead of ‘snow’ falling from the sky there are bubbles (i.e. soap suds)

Thanks to Santa we went to our first movie as an entire family of seven.  The Good Dinosaur was cute and entertaining to all.

Mid-way through December we found out that our Bishop had set a goal for our ward to index 30,000 records that month.  Our ward has been pushing indexing all year and we have amazing stats, but 30,000 is an incredibly ambitious goal.  Each Sunday the wards indexing stats are included in the ward bulletin and things weren’t looking good.   I decided that it wasn’t going to be the Fletcher’s fault if the ward goal wasn’t met. We borrowed a laptop from a friend and Justin used his work laptop so we could have an indexing marathon after the three youngest went to bed.  My goal was for us to hit 1,000 records before we could call it a night.  It took us nearly 4 hours – 16 man-hours – to reach our goal, but we did it.  We actually had a good time with it and ate plenty of yummy snacks to keep us awake and motivated.

We were without a babysitter on New Year’s Eve – Abigail tagged along overnight to Ensign Ranch with a friend’s family.  She had a blast staying up late playing games and sledding in all the fresh snow.  Carly spent the evening hanging out with her friend Chloe at another ward member’s house.  I can’t remember what Justin and I did – which further validates my need to continue blogging because my memory is terrible.  Perhaps we watched the third Star Wars movie in preparation for seeing the new movie the next day?  Oh well, must not have been too exciting of an evening.

2016 began with breakfast at Georgia’s Bakery.  Ever since our first visit on Veteran’s Day I’d been wanting to return and get the ‘Giant Donut’ with chocolate frosting.  I actually called ahead so they would have one ready for me.  ‘Texas Donuts’ were a special treat from my Dad when I was young and this beauty was amazingly delicious!

Welcome 2016!  We had a great winter break.  The kids hung out with friends on several occasions, we had some fun family outings, and there was some productivity happening at home (always a win for me!).

Christmas with the Fletchers

The Fletcher family gathered at Justin’s parents later on Christmas Day.   We enjoyed lots of yummy appetizers and pizza and then there was much gift giving to be had.

These two planned on wearing matching shirts and were thrilled to both receive instax cameras.

This look says, “I really hope this is what I think it is!?!”

Her own sewing machine!

Grandma rarely wraps just one thing in a box – often it’s a whole stack of goodies like this!

Drew loaded up many of his gifts into the shopping cart the Baumgartners gave him.

The kids went home with lots of fun and exciting things – Grandma and Grandpa are always so generous and we’re so grateful.  These are some lucky kiddos!