The Coombs Family

I absolutely love Christmas time. I love to wrap gifts and leave them under the tree for weeks up to Christmas. I love to take gifts to people and the excitement that only a child can have this time of year. We stay up WAY too late every Christmas Eve making sure we didn't forget anything. This year was a little over the top from Santa. It's always pretty obvious when I am involved in the shopping for the kids and when Caleb is left to run to the store. He has a tendency to go a little overboard. Anyway, the kids always pass the tree on the way to our bedroom so I always try and wake up before they do so we can all have the surprise together. This year I heard Calvin coming upstairs because he walks so loudly that it's hard to miss. We waited for Shelby to wake up and then let the big kids open their Santa gift. And then Ronin came up and wanted nothing to do with his. Pretty funny, but he wakes up like Caleb, slow and cranky! After we shared gifts and breakfast we just...

Ronin had his birthday party two days after Christmas on his actual birthday. Each year I feel like I should do a half birthday, or maybe do it a week late. But the big kids always spoil it and this year they got Ronin so excited about it, that we couldn't wait. So I ripped Christmas down the day after again, cleaned my house, and then immediately decorated for Ronin's Paw Patrol party. We had family over, ate some cake, and had a great time. This boy loves his Paw Patrol, and all his cousins. Ronin talks all day long, every day. He says more words at 3 than any of my other kids. We have full conversations and he knows what he wants. He's obsessed with all construction vehicles just like Calvin was. He always points out trucks and trailers to me when we drive. He loves to watch Batman and Paw Patrol. He wants to read the same construction books every night, over and over. And he loves to snuggle. Every single morning he climbs into my bed and asks to "nuggle" ...

We went over to my sisters house for our party with our family the day before Christmas. I secretly bought Taylor Swift tickets for my sister and her girls, Shelby and myself. I wrapped up clues inside a box, one for each girl. They honestly had no idea! The last clue was tickets for each of them that I made with their names on it. The girls were laughing, crying, and completely shocked. Maybe one of the best Christmas memories I have ever had.

We got our Christmas tree early, the weekend of Thanksgiving as usual. It's enormous and we could not even get it into our house. Caleb and I both were pushing and pulling has hard as we could. We even took off more branches and it still wouldn't get inside. After adding tie down pull straps, blankets, and rope, we managed to get it in the house. We were sweating like crazy and scratched up our door, and the tree takes up half the room. It's so crazy and awesome! This year we had such a fun Christmas with the kids. We went to the Zoo lights for the first time with the kiddos. We've tried before but it was closed or too packed to even get in. This year it was also packed, but it did not rain on us. We visited Santa and the kids both asked for Kindles and Ronin wanted a motorcycle. Hope they aren't disappointed with what the big guy brings them! We had our gingerbread house making party. I wish I had a huge house so that I could invite more familie...

We went to my parents for Thanksgiving. It was pretty fun because my Grandma Walker was turning 80 so all her kids came to town. They threw her a party in Sweet Home and I haven't been there for years. It was great to see everyone and not as awkward as I thought it would be. I have social anxiety right now really bad so I get very nervous to go places. I love talking about Slater but only with people that I'm close to. It's very hard for me when I barely know the person and they don't know anything about the situation. Someday it will be easier but for now, I just don't want all the back story and details. It's pretty personal and  a lot of information. But my mother must have told everyone not to ask me, because nobody did at all. Which was honestly kid of weird too, but whatever. I guess I don't know what's better at this point. Here is the whole family standing in the rain to get a picture: My favorite part of Thanksgiving is not the food. I can...