(a little advent and) Christmas

Ah, we start with the cranky Mlada from Gaudete Sunday. Were they all matching? Yep. Was Mlada happy about it? Apparently not. #shestartedthetwosearly

With Daniel off to see the new Star Wars with a friend, we trekked off to Boulder to visit a friend and have a coffee date.

Then there was decorating the tree (we rotate a bit on when this gets done, as my family always waited until Christmas Eve, and Daniel's did it earlier in the month).

Finally, finally, just a couple days before Christmas, we got some snow! It felt perfect to roll into Christmas Day with snow on the ground.

And, as my girls all know, with snow comes hot chocolate.

There was lots and lots of reading. Anni loved being out of school and having as much time as she wanted to read (though chores still existed much to her chagrin).

We also decided to dive into cookie baking (gingerbread). On the whole, we had a blast, but as anything with toddlers, we ran into some rough waters when one sister wanted to share the chair with the other.

We decided to try Polar Express while the cookies baked, and, honestly, the girls spent more time concerned or stressed than enjoying it, so I don't think it was quite a check in the win column.

Then came Christmas! I didn't get a photo of all three girls together, because, with the double Mass days, we decided to do Christmas Eve Mass, and Mlada woke up from her nap just in time to have clothes thrown on her (as she protested mightily) and hop in the car.

We had a relatively traditional (for my Czech/German family) dinner, at least in that it was vegetarian. We had creamy pasta, shrimp, a yummy salad, and bread.

Then it was time for the traditional Christmas jammie present (and they so sweetly posed for a photo! They were loving the snuggles.)

Finally, our Christmas Eve closed out with reading The Night Before Christmas. My dad always read us this poem, and Daniel continues the tradition when we aren't in Wichita for Christmas.

Christmas morning was such fun! We try to keep our gifts to a three gift maximum, but we really enjoyed trying to get something they would each love this year. Colette got a dollhouse, which she has spent every day since emptying, rearranging, and creating all kinds of wonderful stories.

Anni got an Our Generation Doll (Target's version of an American Girl doll), which was the one thing she reallllly wanted, and despite a tragic loss of one of Franny's shoes at Nonna and Papa's, she is quite enamored with her sweet doll.

We gave Mlada a doll to go with a big gift we knew she was getting from my mom (a darling doll pram!) and the sweetest doll quilt from my sister, Katie.

Then we were off to my lovely in-laws' for food, gifts, and lots of cozy time together.

It snowed softly all day the day after Christmas, which just made things seem all the cozier.

Then we faced down the hard part of our break: Daniel leaving. He headed off for SLS18, and we missed him awfully as we rolled into the year, but made it!

October

I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. 

- Lucy Maud Montgomery

October was a month of adventure for us. We welcomed friends whenever possible, and we flew across the country to see another dear friend marry her beloved. Our trip to New Jersey was filled with, well, lots of praying Daniel would make it on flights (he was flying standby), entertaining our darling third wheel, and soaking in time with my college roommates. We are so lucky to get time with almost all of them (one of our honorary roommates lives many countries away). We've all changed, but stayed the same even more.

Then came our first snow of the year! It was heavy and wet, and Mlada refuses to wear gloves. We had 95% of the necessary snow gear... so really not too bad! 

In the proper Colorado way, the weather almost immediately became lovely again... at least lovely enough to go wandering out in the almost-melted snow in jammies.

Our reading and snuggling time has also ramped up in a perfectly wonderful way. Emílie's quilt gets pulled off the back of the couch a hundred times a day, and I love it. 

 Oh, and of course: dance parties. Mlada has been breaking out the moves. The time change and lack of light in our day puts us all in a mood at least a few times a day, so books and music are our go-to mood lifters. If all else fails, it's naptime or an episode of Little Bear.

We also said good-bye, or rather, see you as soon as physically possible, to one of our favorite families. As hard as it always is to see friends move away, they are going somewhere so wonderful that makes it a bit easier. 

We attempted the traditional pumpkin patch visit, but oh my, it was cold! We waited a bit too late in the month, our early freeze had destroyed most of the poor pumpkins, and the wind went right through these little sweeties. We came home with one lovely misshapen guy and a little one for each kiddo.

Anni had a two day "autumn intermission", so Daniel took the same days off to give us some extra family time. We made it to the zoo and it was really the best time I've had there in a long time! We explored some areas we hadn't been to, and with Mlada's newfound recognition of animals, it was just all joy. 

And finally, the month closed out with Halloween. Anni gets to dress up for school as anything they had studied, so she was autumn. The tattoos were probably a poor choice since we are still trying to scrub them off a week later, but it was such fun at the time!

Miss Mlada spent the day dressed up as her Aunt Tinie in one of  her namesake's shirts from her own toddlerhood, which was just fun.

The crowning jewel! Our little Moana (dressed for a chilly evening in Colorado rather than a tropical climate), a wee little elephant, and our very own Space Cadette Colette. 

And that. is that. Here's to the next month of adventure!