Christmas Weekend Fun

Last weekend, my parents drove up for some Christmas weekend fun! They arrived Friday evening, and after a quick gym work out for me Saturday morning (and work for DJ), we split up and went to the movies in the afternoon. The boys headed to see Star Wars, and the girls headed to see The Star. 

The Star is the cutest little Christmas movie! I'm sure it will become as iconic as Home Alone and Elf, and be a must watch every Christmas season. 

The characters were the cutest and we loved that it told the story of Jesus' birth. 

We were big fans! 

After the movie, we headed home and made chocolate covered potato chips! I know, they sound strange, but they're SO good! I've been making them each Christmas since I was a little girl, and they're definitely a Christmas staple.

And the girls did a great job making them! 

I set them each up a little station, which kept it super clean, and I was happy! (I tend to put off things like this because I'm a neat freak.) But, it was a quick and easy clean up! 

Once the girls were done, they went outside to play, and I got to work making gifts for my co-workers.

I made a Coconut-Lime Sugar Scrub. 

And a Peppermint Foot Soak. 

Eventually, the girls came inside and played the most epic hide and seek game ever. Gretchen was hiding under the guest bathroom sink for at least 20 minutes before I finally had to give the girls clues to find her! 

On Sunday, we opened presents and had the best family time........ (stay tuned for that post tomorrow)!

Christmas Class Parties

We've been Christmas Partying it up at school since last Friday! I mean, our last three days of school was filled with parties, pajama days, and fun! 

We kicked off the parties last week with Gretchen's class party. Her class had lots and lots of food and the cutest little candy sleighs. 

These girls are the cutest little friends. I'm so thankful they have each other. 

Gretchen's class had a "guess how much candy" game, and Gretchen won! She brought home 51 pieces of chocolate! 

On Tuesday, both of the big girls had pajama day. Gretchen's class watched The BFG (they had read the chapter book) and Megan's class had Polar Express day. 

She also had her class party. Her class had rotations set up, and they only had cookies to eat, which was a total win! (I sorta loathe all the junk food at class parties.) Megan decorated her cookie. 

Played a candy cane fishing game. 

Signed her name on her teacher's gift. 

And then got to dress up photo booth style! 

She also has the sweetest little friends! 

These girls are besties! 

I'm so thankful that I'm able to be with the girls on party days! 

And then it was time for Adalyn's class party. She started off making little gingerbread houses. 

A quick selfie with mom. (I'm totally glad that the girls aren't too embarrassed by these yet!)

And then it was snack time with #allthejunkfood. We're talking cheetos, fruit roll ups, cookies, and cupcakes. I kept thinking that it was a good thing I was leaving her at school so she'd have all of the sugar energy burned off by the time I picked her up! 

Addy P has the best teachers!!!! We seriously love them and love that they put up with her crazy! 

Yup! We love them so much!!!!

We partied hard our last few days of school! In fact, we came home and settled in to my bed to watch t.v., and Adalyn and I were both asleep before 9 and we all slept in on our first day of break! 

A Little Bit of Life

We're just a few days away from Christmas, and we're trying to soak up every bit that we can. Family time, slow time, and just being together. We actually haven't "Christmassed" as much as we have in years past, but I can't tell you enough how wonderful it's been to slow down and just be together. 

We've had family game night, and the girls have all been getting along so well together! It makes my heart happy to see them playing and being friends. I know they'll be so close when they're older, and I love being able to watch their relationship grow. 

We went to church and snapped our weekly John Wesley picture. 

And then stayed up past bedtime to bake chocolate chip cookies. 

and enjoy them warm before going to bed! 

Gretchen had a research project due, and she worked several nights on it and even woke up super early one morning to finish it! She loves doing research and projects for school, and she is so not a procrastinator like her parents! DJ and I were both laughing because we have no idea where this personality came from. 

Why not climb on the counter for a drink. 

And when one sister does it, the other has to join in :)

I have recess duty every day at school, and last week, a little girl ran over to me letting me know that Megan was crying. I went over and found her at the top of the ladder too scared to move. So, I snapped a photo, because let's be honest, it was kind of funny. And then I helped her down and gave her lots of love. She even ate lunch in my office afterwards. 

Gretchen and I ran to Target one evening last week, and she was such a big helper. We had to pick up some last minute Christmas things, and I really enjoyed having some one on one time with her. 

This photo happened upon Facebook this week- can you guess who the baby is?!

That's me! Apparently, the preacher's son (who I don't remember because I was obviously a baby) had shared some photos of our church, and someone tagged me thinking it was me. And they were pretty good at guessing because it is me! I have such fond memories of my childhood church, and even rocked babies in that exact same room when I was old enough to help out in the nursery. 

And this past weekend, DJ and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. He surprised me with a dozen roses at work last week! 

Whew! That's a little bit of life and what we've been up to :) 

Hair Cuts!

Hair cuts aren't usually blog worthy, but last week, the girls had BIG hair cuts! Adalyn has been asking for months to donate her hair (she saw a video on You Tube of a little girl cutting & donating her hair) and I finally made appointments for all of the girls to have their hair cuts. 

Thanks to that You Tube video, Adalyn knew every detail of how she wanted her hair cut. The day that we cut it, she wanted it worn in two pony tails, knowing they would be cut off, and she even told me how short she wanted it. We compromised a bit there :) 

I didn't get a picture of her hair before we cut it, because I just wasn't thinking. But this is one from just a few weeks ago. 

And this is actually the day we cut it. She had had braids the day before, and she wanted Moana hair, so we left it down and wavy. Now, I know that I said she asked to wear it in two ponytails the day of her hair cut, but that was actually on the day her appointment was scheduled, and that original appointment got cancelled, and she was MAD! She threw a big kicking and screaming fit because she was determined she'd get her hair cut that day and had been looking forward to it! So, on the day that we had to reschedule the appointment for, I didn't even tell her. Just in case it was cancelled again, I did not want her to flip. 

Here's a little video of her getting her hair cut. 

And since I was busy taking video of her getting her hair cut, I only have a picture of right after it was washed :) 

She was a hot mes trying to cut her hair. She kept wanting to look up, and we needed her to look down, so I finally gave her my phone so she could watch a video and keep her head in the right position. Afterwards, she told us that she didn't like her hair :( She wanted it shorter!!!! But, I'm happy with the length ;) 

And here's another cute after picture from the next day. 

While Adalyn had her hair cut, Gretchen was debating donating her hair too. She finally decided she would, and while I was proud of her, I wanted her to be happy. She absolutely loves having long hair, but she's also donated her hair twice before. 

Here's a before picture (that was a few weeks before) 

Here's a little video of Gretchen getting her hair cut.

And, an after! We had to put her hair in 4 pony tails because she had so much! 

An after at the salon :) 

And one from this weekend

I'm so proud of these girls! They were both willing to donate without any push from me. They have such sweet hearts.

Megan didn't donate her hair, but she's asking to. We were originally planning on getting a trim for Megan and Gretchen, and we let Megan go first. But once she found out that Gretchen was cutting her hair, she decided she wanted to as well. But, I couldn't ask our hair dresser to cut Megan's hair again. So, we'll make an appointment for sometime in January and let Megan donate her hair (for the 2nd time) then :) 

The Welte Home: Christmas Tour

Our halls are decked and our stockings are hung.... we're ready for Christmas!

We welcome you in for a quick little Christmas home tour. This year, I wanted the feeling of Christmas, but I didn't want to go overboard with the decorations. I'm very much in to a minimalist feel right now, and I know that if I over did it on Christmas decor, that I would feel cramped and crowded, and it would just be more to take down later. 

I wanted our Christmas tree to be one of the first things you noticed when you walked in to our home. 

In the entry way, I kept it simple with garland, lights, ribbon, and burlap ornaments. I added my grandmother's candlesticks (you can't really see them because of the lamp), and our little Christmas tree that served as our hotel Christmas tree while we were at the Camping World Bowl in Shreveport, La, one year. 

Over in our dining room, I added some little holly bushes, that I've had from when we lived in Louisiana, and little wooden trees that I purchased last year at Hobby Lobby. Behind our table, is our new advent for the season. 

Each bag has a Christmas activity for us to do each day. The girls take turns opening the bag each morning and sharing what our excitement will be. Some days it's "bake cookies, family movie night, or look at lights", and other days, it's as simple as "wear a Christmas shirt." I tried to plan out each activity based on what our schedule looks like, so Monday activities, are super simple, whereas weekend activities have a little more fun ;) 

I tried to keep our console table in our living room simple, and then I kept adding a bit more to it :) The wooden Santa's were my mom's when I was growing up, and I still love them. I added in burlap ornaments and pheasant feathers to the garland, and sat our Christmas books on the corner, so the girls could have easy access to them. 

I added some little antlers to the garland as well. 

Each little space has a little Christmas touch. 

The Santa with the list even has Gretchen's name on it! It was a wedding shower gift, and it's kind of fun that it has our oldest daughter's name. I've promised she can have the decoration when she has her own house. 

And behind our sofa, is our little hand/foot print Christmas gallery. We need to make a new canvas for this year. 

Just a few Christmas touches here and there. 

This year, I added a strand of garland with lights to our mantle, and I love it. I added some sparkle ornaments and more feathers, and I love our traditional stockings. 

I filled the bookcases with Santa pictures and little jolly touches. 

And hung up my favorite Santa on the wall. 

This year, I added no extra fluff to our tree. A simple star, a new tree skirt, and our favorite memories from the years. 

We did add this fun little diffuser ornament. 

And I love these little Shutterfly ornaments. I've started having one made each year for us. 

I put up a few Christmas decorations in our kitchen and just now realized I didn't take a single picture of it! So, I'll have to share those sometime soon :) 

Christmas is just full of pomp and circumstance, but really, it should just be about Jesus and family and I'm craving the simplicity of it this year.