Happy New Year!

I'm working on this post on New Year's Eve because Ricardo is out of town and the kids are asleep! We have so many fireworks nearby, it's only 10 pm and they are constant outside! Luckily Ana is used to sleeping through noise! 

We had a great and busy November/December. First we finished up the soccer season for the boys. It was funny on the last day of the games, since the World Cup was also going on, lots of the parents were watching it on their phones while also "watching" their kids play soccer. 

Here are the boys jousting with Russell's homemade swords after soccer games one day with their good friend.

Our Thankful Pumpkin. Love this fun and easy(!) tradition we got from a friend.

Getting ready for church with these cuties.

Caroline setting up a little bed for Ana while reading her stories. She loves to pretend to be her mom and constantly calls her "Sweetheart" or "sweetie."

She also loves cleaning the stainless steel appliances, it's so great when they think certain chores are fun!

They made this art of out of mortar from when Ricardo made the fireplace. Sometimes we have to take a picture before we can agree to throw things away! :) 

We hosted Ricardo's family for Thanksgiving this year and had a fun time! My dad also joined since my mom was in Utah helping her mom. 

Ana was a fan of Thanksgiving dinner.

It was so fun for the family to watch futbol on Thanksgiving this year, and Brazil played Thanksgiving day! It was a great game.

Black Friday activities:

We got some outdoor Christmas lights this year!

Planting blueberries with Dad:

Caroline inherited these fun PJs from an older cousin and was so excited.

On Ricardo's birthday the boys skipped school and we went to Busch Gardens. It was the best time to go ever and we will probably try to go in early December every year. It was empty, beautiful weather, and we got to enjoy the Christmas decor. It was a perfect day.

Stroller naps

Feeding these birds was a huge hit:

90 degree weather at the park in December:

Continuing the baby feet Christmas ornament tradition, courtesy of Ricardo's dental materials. Can you guess which is which?

Thomas had a cute Christmas concert at school one night, he did great!

Caroline is such a little ham, people are always commenting on her fun personality.

Our kind friends are raising monarch butterflies and they gifted us some to raise. The kids love watching the transformation.

Church Christmas party, meeting Santa. Ana usually has zero stranger danger, but she was not a fan of Santa and refused to let go of me for a picture.

There was even some snow there!

That same night we were invited to a golf cart Christmas parade. We were spectators but the kids got to go on a short ride in a cart before it started.

There were something like 150+ golfcarts and they all threw out so much candy and trinkets, it was like Halloween 2.0. The kids loved it.

Caroline is dressed as the little mermaid, because why not? 

First eggs from our chickens! They've been laying like crazy since then and we can barely keep up with eating them. The kids love collecting them every day.

Caroline's preschool is at a local church and I love that they have chapel time and learn Bible stories.

She clearly knows how to take care of babies:

Preschool Christmas performance, she's an angel in the back!

Caroline got to go with Ricardo to his work Christmas party and enjoyed her first karaoke. She LOVES Feliz Navidad and sings it all the time.

Ana is expanding her horizons with food and loves peanut butter a little too much. We are now at the age where each meal is a gigantic mess for everyone!

Resumed gymnastics lessons in December and she is so excited.

Probably didn't need to tack this on to the busy December schedule but Ricardo started part 1 of the treehouse construction. The kids love playing up there on their unfinished treehouse and they especially loved Ricardo moving the trampoline right next to it so they can jump off onto the trampoline. Hopefully he can find some time to put up the side railings very soon!

The boys and Ricardo also got to go to a lakeside Christmas boat parade one night. It was bedtime for the younger 2 but maybe we'll all make it next year! Lots of fun Christmas festivities in our town.

One night I found this googly eye glued to Caroline's hair by her ear. She told me not to remove it because it was her "earring." Haha, she purposely glued it there so she could have an earring. She got stick on earrings for Christmas after that. :)

Face off:

Christmas piano recital. The boys did so great! I didn't notice until Ricardo pointed it out that our boys were 2 of the only 3 boys in the bunch.

Fun at their friends' house on Christmas break while mom is at work. Only in Florida can you swim on December 20.

Ana puts up with all of their shenanigans:

We were able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with my family. My sister and brother were in town and we were just missing our littlest sister who just had a baby earlier in December.

Roaming around Grandma's house:

Christmas crafts with Grandma. Everyone loves her fun costume items. They came in handy when we did a nativity production later that night too-not the pirate hats of course, but other things from her collection.

Gingerbread house contest:

They made a treehouse gingebread house, so cute.

Christmas morning!

Caroline was a bit out of sorts on Christmas and I couldn't figure out why until she later spiked a fever and started throwing up. Poor girl. Russell also came down with the same virus so we headed home a bit early. Still got in some lego time with some meds on board. Ibuprofen is a wonder drug and we used a lot this week as everyone (except Ana!) eventually got sick. Still a great Christmas and we have so much to be grateful for.

I got my blog printed into some hardcover books for Ricardo for Christmas, I am so excited to have a hard copy of it. The kids love going back and reading about when they were younger. Ricardo was calculating how many more volumes we would order in our lifetime, so I guess I'm doing this blog forever. :)

We were able to squeeze in lots of cousin time this week despite the illnesses and the kids had so much fun.

Manatee boat ride!

Visiting Tarpon Springs-sponge capital of the world.

We actually had a very very cold Christmas but now we're back to beach weather.

Strawberry picking!

We picked this new white variety and the kids think it's so cool!

Florida hiking:

Mellow New Year's Eve playing Risk and watching the endless neighborhood fireworks from our front porch, with a side of french fries of course-per our tradition. Time for a salad tomorrow!

Grateful for a new year and the fresh start it brings. Especially grateful for these people who bring so much joy into my life. It's hard to believe Ana is almost 1!

Happy New Year to all!