Merry Christmas in November! :)

  I had bought these adorable matching outfits for the kiddos this year, hoping they could wear them to church and our family Christmas party. I wanted everyone to see how incredibly cute they all look and to get some adorable pictures for our Christmas cards this year. However, both our family Christmas party AND church have been cancelled this year, so I am having to settle for just some cute pictures to send out as Christmas cards.... such is 2020. Despite the fact that nobody will ever see us in person, I am so damn proud of this cute family of mine! I am so in awe of my beautiful babies and the fact that Josh and I made them! I am so grateful that Josh and I never gave up on each other and are still happily married and keeping each other afloat. I am so grateful to be celebrating the Christmas season early so we can enjoy it's special spirit and the joy it ensues. I have a beautiful life and praise God for every day I get to live it.

 Now, BRING ON CHRISTMAS!!!!! :) :) :)

LaFeber Life Lately: Doing our best to enjoy November during trying times :).

Christmas in November? You bet'cha!! :)

 This month we have been doing our homeschooling but adding in the spirit of the holidays! All of our crafts have been holiday related and we all had a blast decorating the Christmas tree in the middle of November to gain some Christmas cheer! Isla was in awe of that whole process and is constantly trying to get at all the ornaments the second she isn't being watched carefully ;). She's already broken a few... I will let the pictures do the talking, but I just wanted to say how grateful I am for this special time of year that brings a higher level of joy and excitement to the dull, monotony of pandemic quarantine. 

Fun Friday is always full of crafts and fun!

Isla's first experience with decorating the Christmas tree! :)

My little Elves happily at work!

I can't believe how big Austin is getting. He is so helpful with his sisters and is so smart! He makes homeschooling easy because he catches onto everything so fast!

We couldn't visit Santa this year because of quarantine, so we were happy to discover that one of our neighbors up the street had set out a mailbox for letters to Santa!! It was so cute and came with the whole crew from the Nightmare Before Christmas which the kids adored! God bless people like this during this difficult year. I am so grateful to be living in such a wonderful community.

The kids got to have their own little tree in their room this year! Evie sleeps with Austin on the bottom bunk because Isla is still getting the hang of sleeping and I don't want the older kids bothering her. It has been hard for them to be around each other ALL. THE. TIME. But it has also been comforting to have their special bond during this hard year and all of its changes.

We NEEDED to get out of the house and found ourselves at POP for some treats!! :) After that, we all felt like we could survive another day of homeschool.

Evie has become obsessed with doing yoga everyday with this fun lady on YouTube! It has been such a positive moment for all of us as we watch her, or flow right beside her. :)

I am trying to teach the kids how to play the piano and Isla never misses an opportunity to keep it real! hehe ;).

We discovered that Isla is a HUGE fan of pancakes!

Watching 7 Brides for 7 Brothers while we all cuddle on the bean bag. It's moments like this that make my heart melt and bring peace to my soul :). Happy music, silly giggles, and lots of positive energy.

Making fingerprint Christmas trees for Fun Friday!!

The one good thing about this pandemic is it has left me with plenty of time to do all the crafts I've wanted to do with the kids over the years!

Each kid has a hand-print ornament on our Christmas tree so we had to make sure Isla does too! It was NOT easy, but it was definitely hilarious! :)

Making Christmas Tree pancakes with my girl for Sunday brunch :). She loves to cook and we both love these lazy Sunday mornings where we can get creative and spend some quality time together while Isla runs rampant and destroys the house :).

I love this picture of Isla in the background ;). She got into the plastic bags and scattered them all around the house, along with ALL of our tupperware! It's definitely not easy giving each kid their quality time and trying to keep Isla alive, along with a clean house. But I love these moments all the same :).

 

Milestones: Isla 11 Months Old!!

 

Oh beautiful girl, how we ever lived without you is beyond me!!

I can't believe this is her last month before her first birthday!!! Like my mind is seriously blown away by that. This year has been the best of times and it has been the worst of times, but the one thing that remains constant is our obsession with this little girl!! She is teething, which could possibly be why she was having head cold symptoms over Thanksgiving, and it has made her rather clingy and sad. So on the days that I am homeschooling, I feel like I am going to lose my mind. But we are getting through it and every night as I rock my sweet baby to sleep, we exchange smiles and I know that there is nowhere else in the world that I would rather be :).

Isla is adventurous and has discovered how much she loves the park! I am always torn between taking the kids to the park and possibly exposing them to COVID-19 or possibly going insane if we spend one more minute trapped indoors!! 3 kids in a tiny townhouse during a global pandemic has not been easy by any means. But the park days are always the best days, and Isla has gotten very good at exploring and climbing! She climbs up the stairs to the slide, and everything else she can find! Nothing stops this little girl, and I fear that's a trait that is going to come in useful many times in her life as the world just keeps getting more and more insane...

I am always surprised by Isla's love and understanding of routine. She puts the same foot out each morning to get her pants on, she knows exactly when bed time is, and she seems to know what time she should be watching her Baby Einstein shows each day as I try to keep her entertained and simultaneously homeschool the others. But she is a Capricorn and those traits are very fitting for that Astro-sign. 

Isla can say "Bath", "Yes", she shakes her head "No", "Mama", "Dada", "Pease" (please), and "Up". She is extremely intelligent, there is no doubt about that. I just hope all the times she has fallen and bonked her head on our hard wooden floor hasn't damaged any of those brains! Ugh...

We love you baby girl! You are the light in our days and my happy thoughts in the night :).

Completely in her element at the park!

This shirt was Evie's and it is just as adorable (and relevant) now as it was back then!! ;)

She loves her "Dada"

Just keeping us entertained (and distracted) while we attempt to homeschool...

This was a beautiful day. These days of sunshine and fresh air are something we no longer take for granted.

 

Happy Thanksgiving 2020!!!

A beautiful day with some beautiful people :).

        

     As with everything this year, Thanksgiving was difficult to pull off. Our governor ordered that, because of the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases, nobody is allowed to have more than 10 people in their households during the holidays. At first I was devastated by this, but after talking to Grandma Wiegel, I realized that most of my family (on my side) are total shipwrecks and I really don't want to be around them this year anyway. For example, the week before Thanksgiving, my Mom decided to drive down to the gas station at 1:00am. For what reason? I have no idea because I have stayed out of it, and I'm sure I wouldn't get the truth even if I asked. Anyways, she drove her car through the gas station. You heard me right. She literally crashed her car INTO the gas station!!!! She broke her arm, and thankfully nobody else got hurt! It just knocked the power out. Yes, this is the kind of crap I have been dealing with on my side of the family and both Grandma and I decided we didn't want to host a big get together to celebrate all of these idiots. Because of course my Mom isn't the only insane one in the bunch... So we invited Josh's parents over! I was actually shocked they accepted our invitation because they have been super cautious with the pandemic, but Janis already got COVID-19 a couple of months ago, so that could be part of it. All I cared about was that someone was coming to our house and I was determined to make it a beautiful holiday! I lost 5 pounds that week from all the stress of homeschooling, cleaning, prepping, Isla caught a cold the week before, etc., but it was all totally worth it to have some semblance of normalcy and happiness during this very depressing time... 

    Janis and Steve were the PERFECT people to invite over because they are ALWAYS happy (which I love), and they always come bearing gifts (which the kids loved)!! Because of the pandemic, we didn't leave the house the entire time they were here, and I desperately cleaned the house so they would feel comfortable (the pandemic has made everyone extremely leery of germs), but we had ourselves a great time! I didn't feel I had the energy to cook an entire Thanksgiving meal for everyone, so we ordered a pre-made Thanksgiving Feast from Cracker Barrel and then I added sides to it that were missing from our traditional meal. I still had to cook it all up for about 2 hours, but it was sooooo nice to have everything pre-made for me! You just slide it into the oven!! :) Evie and Grandma Janis helped me with the other sides, while Grandpa Steve set the table, and Austin lit the candles. I planned the meal time perfectly with Isla's nap so I could actually enjoy my food and enjoy it I did!! I had second helpings while we all talked over the beautiful table about what we are thankful for and how much we love each other. It was the perfect meal, and for that I am so grateful. I needed that. 

They stayed for three days and the night before they left, Evie and I both cried our eyes out. Evie had to keep going downstairs to get more hugs from them because she was so sad. I just felt sad that the only two people in my life who are semi-helpful and actually care were going to leave me and life would go back to the way it has been. Tons of stress and never enough energy, with me constantly working to provide happiness for everyone while never getting enough help to fill up my own cup :(. Supposedly there is a vaccine that is coming out next year that will make this all go away but I'm not going to get my hopes up yet. I'm hearing that even with the vacccine, we will still be mandated to wear masks everywhere and to stay 6 feet apart from other people at all times. Which means the next school year will be just as ridiculous as this one has been :(. Don't get me wrong, we are all loving homeschooling and are doing our best to make a terrible situation into a wonderful one! But sometimes I would really love it if life could just be normal for a day. However, our prophet in his last address has urged us all to remember gratitude during this tough time and it really has helped! I am so incredibly grateful that my family hasn't gotten sick from this disease, and that Josh's job can sustain us so I can work only once a month and we still have enough money to stay afloat! I am so grateful I have a job that is allowing me to work Per Diem so I can homeschool my children and be here for my family during this tough time. It could always be worse, and as I am hearing about little elementary school kids who are committing suicide, or the man down the street who threw his 3 month old baby off the apartment balcony, or the people who's loved ones are struggling to breathe in the ICU because of COVID, I remember how trivial my problems really are. Thank you Lord for that.

In homeschool, we have been doing all sorts of fun Thanksgiving crafts! Here are their pumpkin pies we made! :)

Opening up Grandma and Grandpa's gifts!!

Austin got the big army cargo truck he had been asking for!!

And Evie got her Cry Baby doll that actually cries real tears!!

I got a super softs Minky Couture blanket that I had asked for to cuddle with during these long, cold winter days.

And Isla got a little Minky baby blanket herself!

It was so incredibly helpful to have extra sets of hands to help out with Isla!!

Poor baby didn't feel so great, but there were plenty of loves from Grandma to make up for it :).

Happy Thanksgiving 2020!! Isla's first! :)

The cooking crew :)

Austin got to be the honorary candle lighter :)

It's no wonder we all cried when they left us! It was too good to be true :)!

Happy Halloween Pandemic Style!

 

Happy Halloween 2020 from: A Pirate, a Witch, a Baby Cow, a Storm Trooper, and a Cheetah!

 Halloween was bound to be different this year due to the pandemic, but we did our best to keep traditions alive and to still go trick-or-treating with the kids despite government warnings. I am so sick of being told what to do and how to live my life. It feels like Communism and I won't have it! If I want to take my kids trick-or-treating, you can't stop me! COVID be damned!! Of course we wore masks though because we aren't complete idiots....

Evie helped me make my traditional pumpkin bisque and ham dinner and it was delicious! I tried to make it fun by setting a fancy table and drinking Martinelli's out of wine glasses. The kids always love that! Briana and her family was supposed to come over for the dinner but she was 3 hours late (insert major eye roll here) and I did my best to ignore that and just keep the joyful festivities rolling! 

Once Briana's clan DID get here, we all got dressed up and went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood! I was impressed with how many houses still put out candy for the kids, even if it was just left in bowls on the porch, and how wonderful it was to feel like a community again! We all social distanced and wore masks, but we still showed up for each other and made the best of the situation and that is all anyone can ask for! The kids SCORED in the candy department because we only had half the amount of trick or treaters and after 2 hours of walking around the neighborhood, they were begging to go home and rest hahaha! :) It was a wonderful day full of sweet treats and happy smiles and I couldn't be more grateful for that.

And on another note, Isla wore Austin's Baby Cow costume from when he was a baby and it was so dang adorable I wanted to die!!!! Plus, it was really fun comparing baby photos in the same costume :). Oh how I love my kiddos and the joy they bring to my life! 

Evie helping me make our famous Pumpkin Bisque!

Such a yummy dinner!! Now it's time to get dressed up for trick or treating!!

Isla made such an adorable baby cow! and the weather that night was a little chilly so it was perfect!

I am so glad I saved this costume from when Austin was a baby!!

Just look at that cute little tail!

A little comparison photo. Left: Austin, Right: Isla. Both so dang cute!!

Masks were not fun, but I figured we should at least TRY to follow the rules...

Making the rounds around the neighborhood!

There were some really neatly decorated houses! It made everything that much more exciting! I am so grateful for days like this when we can feel normal for a little while.