HAPPY 4TH!

happy 4th! hope you had a wonderful holiday! we had a blast! monday morning, our ward had a breakfast with water games, and luc was the first one to get soaked, though he was quickly joined by papa and the rest of the kids. he didn't even eat breakfast haha, he was having too much fun! lia was very apprehensive, and stayed dry with mama the entire time. 

   later, we swam and bbq'd with our friends, and it was so fun to get all the kids together and play! the food was delicious and the kids LOVED the fireworks, even lia, which was a big surprise! she clapped the entire time and did not want help holding her sparkler haha :) we made such happy memories with our little family, and i loved the entire day. 

YOU'RE OUR BEST PAPA

happy father's day to our very favorite person! when he's home, we're all attached to him like glue, because he's the best. he makes the kids laugh, takes time to play with them, tells them freely how much he loves them, gets up with them in the night, and is always putting us first, happily. he truly loves being a father, and i love him all the more for it. our kids don't know how lucky they are, but i do, and i'm grateful everyday for him. when i asked luc what he wanted to put on orlando's card he said 'YOU'RE OUR BEST PAPA!' and i think he said it perfectly :)

we celebrated him with german oven pancakes and puzzle {orlando's favorites!}, presents before church, lots of 'anaconda squeeze!' hugs, and we {attempted to} let him watch the cavaliers win game 7 uninterrupted. it was a wonderful day and we hope he knows how loved he is!

EASTER 2016

happy {very late} easter! our easter this year was really different from our norm. we'd just gotten home from mexico friday, and on saturday, i got the worst toothache i've ever had and spent the entire night awake in terrible pain. blessedly, my dentist was able to call in a prescription for some painkillers on sunday morning, and i got two root canals on tuesday, so i'm feeling much better. it did sideline our holiday quite a bit though!

we missed church, so none of us wore our easter sunday best, and orlando took amazing care of the kids and i all day sunday- i was pretty out of it- so we didn't do anything festive that day. but we did manage to dye some easter eggs, have a little backyard easter egg hunt, and have an FHE lesson on easter and the savior on monday. good thing the kiddos don't know the difference! it was a crazy weekend, but our lesson on easter and the savior was really sweet, luc had lots of questions and was super attentive, and the spirit was very strong. i love teaching moments like that, where you really feel like they are grasping the importance of it.

 

lia wanted to eat EVERY chocolate egg the moment she found it, and luc was an egg hunting champ! it was adorable, and super fun watching them!

PAID HOLIDAY

orlando is now a full-time employee at jp morgan chase {hooray!} which means he gets paid holidays! and to celebrate his first, we played all day on monday. orlando, who knows the way to my heart, suggested breakfast at butters {only the best breakfast EVER!} followed by a day at the zoo. it was warm and sunny and perfect! luc loved the zoo, lia loved being outside all day, and i love love loved breakfast. an all-around fantastic holiday with my family!

{strawberry cheesecake french toast. you can't see it, but in between each slice of perfectly fluffy bread is a layer of strawberry cheesecake. oh. my. heaven.}

MERRY CHRISTMAS LEÓNS

we had such a fun christmas this year! luc was really into it. he was so excited to meet santa, he told him he wanted a semi-truck, and we made reindeer food to sprinkle on the front lawn, and cookies for santa to eat on christmas eve. every night we added to our nativity advent calendar, and we talked about the story of jesus's birth, and every night luc asked if it was time to put jesus in the manger yet {the last night of the nativity}, he was so excited about it. we sang 'away in a manger' each night before bed, and it was such a sweet experience for our family to feel that christmas spirit in our home. luc was very curious about why jesus wasn't born in a hospital, and lia LOVED it when we sang.

on christmas morning, the kids were up super early {6:30} and of course luc was thrilled to see santa had come. {though he was sad that santa didn't stay to see his presents, haha!} lia loved her dolly and shopping cart immediately, and then contentedly sat and ate crackers while we opened presents. she had zero interest in opening anything, but she loved being in the middle of the action, just watching everything. luc was a happy whirlwind, he wanted to open it all at once! we had to pace him, and he was still completely done in under 30 minutes.

it was a hundred times more fun experiencing the magic of christmas through these two cuties!