Riley's Celebration of life and Christmas

We had Riley's celebration of life (The Montissory birthday celebration)  at school on December 18th. It was PJ day so all the kids were in precious PJ's and before the celebration Santa Claus stopped by so the kids were beyond excited and ready to celebrate!

                                               Apen Room December 18, 2015

                                                             Miss April and Santa

                                                                 Riley during her celebration

                                                     Milalia, Riley and Ainsley

                                                               Riley, Knox and Rhys

                                                       Riley playing on the slide at school

Riley and I were invited to her friend London's house for a playdate. The night we went over her neighborhood had Santa come to visit on a firetruck. He drove through the neighborhood and stopped to visit all the kids and bring presents. Riley had a blast!

We hosted the Renton Family Christmas this year. We had Uncle Jeff, Nanny, Maggie, Uncle Billy and Caroline over for cookie decorating, presents and lots of cousin fun! Below are some photos of our celebration.

Uncle Jeff and Mags... Mags is wearing Riley's firstChristmas dress! 

 We love National Lampoons and had to have our own moose mug celebration! 

Carter loves his new disney movie Dumbo!

 Sweet Caroline opening presents

 Riley loved her new jacket from Nanny

 Eating cookies! 

This Christmas was a busy one! We had plenty of work to do at home so luckily Justin and I were able to take vacation and enjoy time at home to get lots of overdue projects complete. Given Carter is almost 3.. we knew it was time to bite the bullet and move him from his crib and into a big boy bed. We had to shift our entire upstairs around which was quite the task. Carter was going to move from the nursery to the room Riley was currently in, Riley was going to move into the guest bedroom and the guest bedroom was going to move into the old nursery. This process entailed painting three rooms, buying new furniture, three sets of new bedding, curtains, bathroom accessories, etc.. It was a ton of logistics and planning but we were able to pull it all off. The painting occurred while the kids were at school and they were surprised when they came home to see Frosty (our Elf on the Shelf) with a paintbrush. It all came together and the kids loved the new rooms. Justin and I were very nervous how Carter would do in the new bed and if he would be hard to keep in the bed but it all worked perfectly! He has stayed in his bed each night and sleeps very well. The kids had a very good Christmas and enjoyed all the presents.

                                 

Sneaky Frosty Painted the kids rooms while they were at school

                                                       Riley in her new room with all her dolls

                Cater in his new big boy bed with all his "friends" (George, Rex, Minnie, and red monkey)

                                      My big boy asleep in his new big boy bed!

                                              The kids in their new bathroom

 Carters classic sports bedroom

Ready for mass

 Mommy and the kiddos before Church

 Daddy and the kids

 Making and eating cookies for santa

 Kids leaving reindeer food in the yard 

 The kids loved spreading the food 

Riley testing out the new scooter

Carter got a new scooter too

Carter and Riley playing with his new train table

Carter got a new blower so he can help dad with yard work

Riley in front of the new trampoline