Snow!

The kids played for three hours straight out in the white stuff (the little ones lasted an hour and a half)!  Playing in the snow is so much fun and I'm so happy my kids enjoy it as much as hubby and I do!  Emily won the prize for conquering her fear of sledding down our big hill all by herself, on her stomach no less; she also won the prize for being the closest to falling in the lake (thanks Dad for always being there to save the day)!  Hannah ate the most snow, Aidan built his fort, and Daniel loved sledding!

Tonight in 3 hours..........

I am in orientation for another job so the  husband and I both got home a little after 5 tonight.  We didn't have much family time (boo), but it was quite eventful, and all 4 were in bed asleep by 8!!!!  Oh and I am definitely not cut out for 8-5 work:)  I love a nurses schedule!

• Said our goodbyes to our nanny, April, who is graduating and moving this weekend:(
• Dinner:  Stuffed pork chops, this is what was said when dinner was ready, Me - Dad pork chops are ready if you want some dinner; Hannah - Daddy, evil Dr. Pork Chop is ready for dinner!  Mommy we gonna eat evil Dr. Pork Chop for dinner!?!
• Daniel busted his lip......lots o blood for such a small cut, his sisters were crying because they were scared for him......so sweet:)
• Meanwhile, Emily fell off the dinning room chair, lots more crying all at once
• Aidan lost his voice, but was able to practice the piano, Jingle Bells, 7 times for his recital on Saturday
• Then Aidan, Emily and Daniel all needed Motrin for cough and congestion
• Daniel would not stop emptying all the tissue boxes in the house and occasionally eating a tissue, gross
• Three books at bedtime = four stories read:)

Somewhere in all of this chaos, I find peace.  God's grace is amazing.

Girly things.....

E and H's favorite way to paint nails.

Christmas Tree!!

We are on our third year of going out and cutting down our Christmas tree!  We went out last weekend to this little tree farm, Starr Pines, about 30 minutes away.  The kids love the tractor ride, the hunt for the perfect tree, the cutting down the tree, and of course the hot apple cider!!

The final result!

It's a reflection of our family over the past seven years, and I look forward every year to see the new homemade ornaments make the tree.  Our Christmas tree is homemade, sometimes stands lopsided, and absolutely perfect!

Things I accomplished this weekend.........

While hubby was out of town.

1. Play date for Emily with her friend, they used a lot of Barbie makeup and decorated cookies
2. Finished hanging up Christmas Lights on the outside of the house.  My new fave toy.......Staple Gun:)
3. Bundled kids up and took them outside to play in the snow.
4. Made cookies.
5. Created a Disney parade and lined up all of the Barbies, Baby dolls and action figures as spectators, while the kids dressed up as Disney characters in the parade.
6. Took Emily to her classmates birthday party.
7. And the one thing I did for myself.....read the Sunday newspaper, end to end!

The house is a disaster, but the kids and I are having a blast!

THANKFUL......

This past week was spent with family in Arizona.  There were 8 kids, 6 adults, and 1 dog playing, laughing, screaming, eating, drinking, napping, crying, squealing, helping, and cooking all under one house.  Stressful at times?  Yes.  But I wouldn't change it for the world, it's what family is all about.  Coming together with all our similarities, our difference in opinions and lifestyles, brushing it all aside to BE a family.  Patrick brought up to me on our third day of driving back "that next trip we can easily drive it in two days."  My heart smiled because he loves being with and around family as much as I do, and we are both willing to drive 3000 miles to get there and back....again.  And that is exactly what I am most thankful for......FAMILY.

I just noticed in this pic, Daniel hiding under the red table in the far right hand corner....love it!!

(Side note, we literally drove 3000 miles that trip, I noticed it and we celebrated it as we pulled back into our neighborhood, Monday afternoon.  I can not wait to see what Christmas brings, bring on more family, more people, and more food!!)

Hair

Last week I broke down and bought this new curling iron for me and the girls. Totally worth the money!! Emily went to school with her hair looking like a million bucks!

Trick or Treat!!!!

Halloween is so much fun in this family!!  Unfortunately in Columbia not a single trick or treater tells a joke......a big boo on that one, but lucky for us we have some STL friends we hang with on Halloween so our kids get to share some jokes:) 

 Aidan's 1st grade fall party was on Friday!!  So much fun and I love how many parents were there to help out!  Hopefully I will have that much help for the Christmas party since I'm in charge of the Holiday party!

I was in charge of bringing fruit to the party and Aidan and I decided our centerpiece would be a Melon Brain!!

I had to take a pic of this...Aidan's desk had to be raised because his long legs wouldn't fit underneath!!

We started off Saturday morning with Aidan's piano recital, it was a Halloween costume recital.  I never thought I could have so much fun at a piano recital, and Aidan did amazing!!

 One of Aidan's performances required him to write a spooky story.  His dad read the story and Aidan incorporated his own spooky music to go along with the story.....so cool!!!

Party #2 was a birthday costume party hosted by Emily's friends from school.  As you can see a bounce house was involved and Emily had a blast!! 

We finished Saturday night off at a Pig Roast/Bon Fire party at our friends house.  Here are the two Hannah's, definitely double trouble, but they are so sweet together.  I remember when big Hana was 2!!!

 Sunday morning was slow to start, but we ended with a bang.  We cleaned house, grocery shopped, prepared for our guests, and attended our neighborhood Halloween get together all by 5pm!!  Our friends showed up and the Trick or Treating began!!  These are the only decent shots I could manage from all four of the kiddos.  D and H were not wanting to cooperate:)  Oh well, classic Ryan family style......complete chaos and disorder, but I wouldn't have it any other way! 

 Aidan: Bubba Fat (Star Wars bounty hunter who turned in Hans Solo to Jabba the Hutt, for those of you unfamiliar with Star Wars:)  Emily: Dorothy
Hannah: Elmo  Daniel: Cookie Monster

The Weekend Update......

As many of you all know, our family is huge on traditions, especially when it comes to Mizzou Homecoming weekend!  Friday night we attend House Decks with the Dietz family, followed by a backyard fire pit; this year ESPN game day was a huge highlight, the homecoming parade, margaritas and mexican food, and last but not least the FOOTBALL GAME!!  Seriously hands down we all agreed this was probably the most fun Mizzou Homecoming ever!!  Yes, I did miss my girls, but it was priceless spending it with the family!! Here are some highlights from the weekend!

And of course Patrick rushed the field with the other 70K plus people, I of course hesitated and once I saw women and children on the field, I rushed the field too.......hey it counts, right;)

We finished the weekend off by painting pumpkins this year!  We also decided to clean out and organize the garage, and move the piano into the basement.  Obviously mom and dad were still energized from the football game the night before:)

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Happy birthday to an incredible father and a loving husband! 

We, meaning adults in the family, keep our birthday's pretty low key.  For mom and dad birthday's are more about spending time with the family and our traditions, hence birthday cake for breakfast!  And anyone who knows us, our date nights are golden to us, so we are heading out to dinner in the near future:)