It's Christmas Time in the Wilke House......

We try and do traditions with the kids b/c we want holidays to be fun for them - and their childhood for that matter. There's a few that we do during Christmastime.

Every year - their Oma gives them an advent calendar filled w/chocolate. Which they LOVE! They could not wait to start it up. Although, they weren't real excited about this picture : )


Thank you OMA!

The second one is our "Elf on the Shelf." Every year our Elf returns during Christmas. If you don't know the story - you should check it out. It's really fun for the kids. http://www.elfontheshelf.com./ Our Elf's name is Frosty. And the kids LOVE him! Will talks to him, apologizes when he's been bad and asks for forgiveness. Ben races to find him first. And Andy .... well he looks for him - but he wants the chocolate from the Advent Calendar - so that's the priority with him. : ) You know, I am beginning to think I should have a cupid for Valentines, a bunny for Easter, a surfer for summer .... you know - if it makes these kids mind - I am all for it.

Hi, Frosty!

And the third one - is to decorate the tree and the house. We dragged our tubs of decorations out of the attic and decorated the house first. We actually didn't have a tree. Ours broke last year and we had to throw it away. So - I found this one on sale at Target - score! I got a slim tree this year, pre-lit. Which I really like. It doesn't take up much run, which is fantastic.

Here's William putting on the ornaments : )

We put up the tree and decided it would look better by the fireplace, so we moved it : )

And here's my sweet husband getting in the Christmas spirit : )

I hope your holiday is fantastic.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Happy 4th of July!

On the 4th of July we went over to Misty and Nacho's house. They had a cook-out, we swam and popped lots of fireworks. We had a great time this year! The boys have never lit fireworks or even seen them close-up. They were so excited about being able to pop fireworks and swim : )

Will playing w/a swim toy

Andy playing w/the fish

Ben : )

Will playing w/kids....

David and Andy on the stairs and Misty's family all in the pool.

Greg's brother, Greg, Shannon, Courtney, and Zach

Nacho and David : )

David and my boys eating.

My niece, Chelsea, was staying w/me for the weekend so she came along too : )

Me and my BFF, Misty.

I love LOVE her!

Misty & Nacho's house and pool (from the other direction)

Their home is so beautiful!

A group photo. Took me awhile to convince everyone they had to be in the photo and that I wouldn't take no for an answer : ) They should know, anytime there's a party and I am around - there will be a group photo :) You can see everyone except Andy. He's on the 2nd row, behind Misty's daughter.

David popping fireworks w/the boys.

Misty helping Ben and Andy w/the sparklers.

The house next door to Misty & Nacho's shot off huge amounts of fireworks. It was really pretty spectacular! Everyone loved it! We had so much fun! So glad we got to spend this time w/our dear friends. Thanks for having us over guys! We love you! We can't wait for next year and to make this as one of our traditions!

Happy Independence Day!