FIVE!!!!!!

Today was my baby's 5th birthday, very hard to believe how fast the past 5 years have gone by.

They have been filled with so much joy, and this little(big) guy has had a lot to do with it :) He makes us laugh SO hard sometimes, he is the sweetest boy you will ever meet. He cares about people's feelings and can immediately tell when something is wrong. And, he still tells me countless times a day "I love you mommy"! I will absolutely NEVER get tired of hearing those words come out of his sweet mouth. Just today he told me he wanted to live with me and Daddy forever, when I asked him what he'll do when he gets married and has a family of his own he said he'd live in the house next door to ours {I'll keep my fingers crossed for that one}. He is ALL boy and is can play rough, really rough! I am continually wondering how nothing in our house has gotten broken lately due to his boyish ways. He loves preschool and his teacher, he's pretty smart and likes learning a lot! He is reading a little and is finally starting to enjoy some artwork. He can write his name very neatly, when he wants to and he knows almost all the letters and what sounds they make. He loves our pets and has a special bond with our cat Stella that none of us understand. She really loves him too, but isn't to fond of anyone else. He is getting pretty good at swimming and will be on his first basketball team starting this month! He loves his sissy and they are usually the best of friends, with only little fighting spurts here and there. He is my little cuddler and still a mommas boy ♥ We love him to pieces and he has definitely completed our little fam!

 Brand new!

 One

 Two

 Three

Four

We sure do love you Nolan. You are an amazing little boy with a very bright future ahead of you. Mommy and Daddy couldn't be prouder of the little boy you're becoming. 

♥

Christmas recap....

Christmas 2012 was pretty great! I had Christmas Eve night off so I got to enjoy being awake and alert Christmas morning! And, since I was off we got to attend Christmas Eve service with my family.

Christmas morning started off with Norah joining us in bed for a few minutes, announcing to us that Santa had come and waiting for Nolan to wake up. Watching the kids open their gifts and seeing the excitement and magic in their eyes made my heart happy! Casey & I exchanged stockings and I got breakfast going while he set up the Wii that Santa brought the kids ;) For breakfast we had a yummy French toast casserole and mimosas! We a perfectly lazy, relaxing morning at home.

Around 2ish we headed to my Dads to spend the rest of the day with the fam! We exchanged gifts and of course the littles got spoiled! We had a great dinner and then headed home so I could get ready for work. By 6 I was headed to work and Casey got to hang with the kids and play with all their Christmas gifts. I wasn't upset about having to leave on Christmas to go to work, it had already been such a fulfilling day. I got to work and spent the next 16 hours with two tiny precious little girls, and some amazing coworkers. I love my job and feel very blessed by it!

The Friday after Christmas we wrapped up our Christmas season with dinner and gifts with Casey's parents. It was a great night and they took the kids home with them for 4 nights of grandma & grandpa time.

We hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas as much as we did! We are now looking forward to what 2013 will bring us :)

Goodbye Angel

We had SO much fun with our elf over the past couple of weeks! The kids ( and me ) can't wait for next December to roll around so she can join our family again!!! There were a few tears shed when it was getting close to it being time for her to leave but it ended well and she wrote the kids a special letter letting them touch her and say goodbye, it was sweet! I'm so glad we added this new Christmas tradition to our family. Till next year Angel, XO from the Suettas!

Gettin' Christmasy

I'm finally feeling pretty ready for Christmas, minus ALL of the wrapping that hasn't been done yet! The cards were mailed this week, the lights went up on the house, Christmas cookies were handed out and all the gifts have been purchased! This is a pretty big accomplishment for a procrastinator like me ;)

We decorated sugar cookies on Thursday with my brother & Danielle. Norah was very into it (as I knew she would be) and Nolan decorated a few but was mostly participating so he could sneak frosting and sprinkles. I'm pretty sure we had to separate out his cookies due to contamination from licking!

Today Casey and I are off to White Pass to do some skiing!!!!! I am super stoked to try out my new skis and gear I got this year for my birthday. The kids are with my dad all day ( thank you Dad) and they are planning to make snowflakes to send to Sandy Hook Elementary where the tragedy took place last week. The kids are on winter break through the first week in January and I am so happy to have them home and all to myself!

The next few days are gonna be a good kind of busy! Watching the hawks game with friends, going to my sis & bro in-laws for Christmas Eve church service and an early dinner is set for Christmas Day with my fam before I head to work for the night.

With all if that being said and all the fun and exciting stuff going on I'm still feeling like something is off/missing this season! That something ( actually those people) would be our best friends! The kids are missing their buddies and ask about them daily and ask when we can visit! I'm asking the same thing, when can we visit?? And I just plain, flat out miss my bestie!!! I really hope a trip to HI will be in our family's not too distant future!!

Week 1 with our elf

Here's a review of what Angle our elf was up to during her first week with us......

Day one she showed up at Grandma & Grandpas in the Christmas tree with a book explaining all about her.

Day two she made a snow angel in powdered sugar on the kitchen counter,
messy :)

Day three she sat up next to our nativity scene with letters to the kids from Santa himself!

Day four she had a tea party with 2 Barbie friends and a transformer.

Day five she spelled out a message for the kids in red and green M&M's saying "be good"

Day six she flew up to daddy's hang board with an ornament to help decorate our tree. The kids said now daddy can't do pull ups today ;)

Day 7 she was a naughty little elf and snuck into Norah's lipstick and wrote "only 10 days till Christmas!!!" On the bathroom mirror.

Angel the Elf

The kids' elf came this morning while we are at the inlaws for the weekend! She flew up into the Christmas tree and left the book explaining her Christmas tradition for them! The kids(especially Norah) are super excited she is here. Just last night while Skyping the Newgards the kids got to meet their Elf AJ and wondered where theirs was. Our elf had perfect timing coming this morning ;) Norah quickly named her Angel and Nolan was agreeable to that. They've been super well behaved today, coincidence??? The kids are wondering how she's gonna get home with us since we can't touch her, I assured them she'll find her way home in the morning!!! I think this is gonna be a really fun tradition. Better late than never :)

Love my littles!

Just a little post about my little loves! My little lady has been making us pretty proud parents over the last month. She had a great patent teacher conference in November, then got an award for responsibility at a school assembly and she came home with an outstanding report card this week :) I've also been volunteering in her classroom on Thursday mornings and her teacher can't say enough nice things about her! Just the kind of things every momma wants to hear. She is doing great in her swimming lessons and is just so fun to spend time with!

Mr. Nolan is doing great things as well! He's learning tons of new things in preschool and has been reading a few sight words and learning his alphabet and letter sounds really quickly. He brings home lovely seasonal artwork for me to display and next week I get to go decorate gingerbread houses with him at school! He's my little buddy and he and I get to spend a lot of time together when daddy is at work and sissy's at school. He is also doing great at swim lessons and can swim all on his own now, no floatation devices needed ;)