Christmas-ing

It's hard to even know how to begin these Christmas posts, over three months after the Christmas season and already about to celebrate Easter, with so many events that happened in between...

While time has certainly been getting away from me lately, a big part of me just hasn't wanted to start the Christmas blog-posting given the reality that I've lost one of the most special people to me in my holiday memories... And with my sweet Too-Daddy in the hospital for a lot of December, I was definitely feeling a lot less merry & bright this year, so being able to introduce Ollie to all of our Christmas festivities and traditions brought some much needed jolly and joy!

We loved being able to share so many of our favorite holiday activities with our sweet boy, and one of the best parts was having my brother back for almost 2 weeks to join in!

So without further ado, here's a slew of pictures from some of our pre-Christmas holiday fun!

Starting with the Shirlington Tree Lighting!

We enjoyed hot cocoa and a horse and carriage ride with friends, and even got to see Santa!

Lilee asked for some "ice skaters" for her doll, Camille; Ollie asked for a digger (thus his digger- themed birthday celebration!); and Maelee asked for a pet dog for her dolls. :)

Decorating the tree!

My little goofballs:)

Another favorite holiday tradition:

Zoo Lights!

And even better this year spent with our closest pals!

Ollie especially loved the carousel and train ride!

 Advent candle!

Finishing up a delicious malva pudding dessert with our supper club for our South African themed dinner!

Snowman pancakes for the snowy day!

Somebody liked the snow flurries:)

Adorable Christmas sing-along at Lilee's preschool!

Fun day that contained cookie baking, gingerbread house making, and watching a real house decked out in lights set to music!

Uncle Dan's back!!!

So fun introducing him to Ollie.

The girls wasted no time getting silly with him.

After Ollie's eye surgery, he was very ready for the playground!

Since Maelee and I weren't able to make our live Nutcracker performance this year, we found a beautiful production to watch in our pjs while Ollie was in surgery.

On Daniel's birthday, we enjoyed one of our favorite holiday traditions of lunch at Old Ebbitt Grill in DC, followed by a stroll around the National Tree. Ollie was absolutely memorized by the trains and villages surrounding the tree, and Maelee even landed a coin in one of the moving trains! It was a pretty special day.

And that pretty much sums up some of our activities leading up to Christmas Day! I'll have another post up soon with all of our Christmas celebrations. Despite the heartaches this year, there was also lots of sweetness and merriment. It was a season where we were especially grateful for what Advent represents and the HOPE in Jesus!

Birthday Boy!

It is so hard to believe that our sweet Ollie boy turned five over a month ago, and our little Lilee pie is only days away from turning four! And in-between the two birthdays, we had 4 Christmases and lots of other happenings, many joyous, some not... BUT for now, it's time to focus on our big boy and the sweet day we had celebrating him back on December 19!

We'll probably never know what his birthdays were like prior to becoming our son, but we didn't want to overwhelm with a big party or too many presents.  Well... we probably still went overboard with the presents, but we kept it low-key with some morning fun at a new local play space (where Lilee's party will be tomorrow!), and celebrated over cake that evening with Nana & Pop-Pop, Uncle Dan (!), and some neighbors. He seemed pretty tickled over it all. :)

We had the car track waiting downstairs for him when he woke up and he was pretty excited!

Our handsome birthday boy :)

Time to PLAY!

WHEEE!

This sweet son of ours LOVES to play, so a couple hours at a huge, indoor play area was definitely the perfect way for him to celebrate his special day.  For his special birthday cake, I had been asking him for weeks what kind of cake he wanted (initially just assuming he'd want a Spiderman or Cars theme), and each time he confidently said, "digger."  So, a digger cake is what he got!  While in South Africa, we noticed he would point out excitedly every time he saw construction on the side of the road, so we went with it.  He seemed to absolutely love it!

After admiring the cake, it was time for presents!

Giving his new cheetah from Uncle Dan a big hug :)

So sharp with his new sweater vest outfit from Mee-Maw & Grandpa!

Digger puzzle!

So excited for some car racing from Nana & Pop-Pop's cool gift!

Time to make a wish!

And time to DIG in :)

So grateful for these neighbor/friends of ours who were 

so happy to help us celebrate our sweet boy!

And SOOOO grateful Uncle Dan could be there!!!

One loved little boy!

Happy Birthday to our awesome little man!!!

In his five short years, we've only had the blessing of knowing him for 3 short months, but we learn new things about him every day.  He is about as shy as it gets around other people and barely says a word, but he is a little chatterbox with us and can get just as loud and animated as his sisters!  We are constantly amazed and so grateful at how comfortable he is in his new home. One of our biggest prayers over the years!  Our sweet Ollie has such a kind heart, and fun spirit, that despite his stubborn streak (he fits right in! Haha), he has brought more joy into our family than we could've imagined.  As we celebrated him and his big 5th birthday, we were reminded of what an incredible GIFT he is to us!!!