Beat The Boredom With Netflix!

I don't know about your school schedule, but Liam doesn't go back until January 9th and Liesl, the 10th. I love, love, love having all my babies under my roof during the week, and as much fun as going to park or playing with all their new Christmas presents is, I also just really want to snuggle them like little puppies 24/7 until I have to let them go again. 

However, I've also noticed that no matter how many new Christmas toys are in the playroom or activities/outings I prepare for my two big kids, 19 days off of school has led to, "Mommy, I'm bored" on a couple occasions now. 

With active kiddos, I have to be sly with my snuggles, and one way to do that while simultaneously combating the boredom blues is family movie time! Thanks to Netflix's awesome lineup and new shows, I've gotten in plenty of snuggle-fests over the break. The big kids and I have enjoyed episodes of  season 2 of Fuller House and the all-new DreamWorksTrollHunters! I love that both of these shows are kid-friendly but have adult humor that goes right over their precious little heads. 

Sometimes they even snuggle with each other -- usually when I leave to get snacks. 

I enjoyed season 1 of Fuller House, but I really feel like they got their groove back as a tv family in season 2 as it's even better! 

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Netflix sent us a FUN box of NYE goodies and even a nice little survival kit for tomorrow morning! We are going to our annual game night with friends tonight, including all 11 of our combined kids. They all made it to midnight last year, and I have a feeling that won't be changing this year. Since we also have a sweet new baby to boot, I can already tell you we won't be getting much (any) sleep. 

Now, if you happen to be blessed with children who actually sleep in, by all means ENJOY IT, but if you have little ones who wake up with the sun no matter how late they, (or you) went to bed, here's a helpful little tip from Netflix!

Netflix's list of 15 shows kids are most likely to watch back-to-back! 

Kids can watch these while you catch a few more Zzz’s: 1. Ask the StoryBots 2. Best Friends Whenever 3. Dragons: Race to the Edge 4. Ever After High 5. LEGO Friends: The Power of Friendship 6. Mako Mermaids 7. My Babysitter’s a Vampire 8. Pokemon: Indigo League 9. Project Mc2 10. Skylanders Academy 11. The Adventures of Puss in Boots 12. The Batman 13. The Deep 14. DreamWorks Trollhunters 15. Voltron: Legendary Defender

Brilliant! If you want a door hanger for yourself, you can download it HERE!

Enjoy your New Years Eve, friends! Be safe and have FUN! 

*This post is sponsored by Netflix as I am a member of their #StreamTeam, however all opinions expressed are my own!*

Christmas Wrap-Up!

I  posted individual blog posts on some of the Christmas activities we did this month, but they don't put a dent into what all we actually did! Here's a recap of our last month of 2016 before the new year rolls around! 

We continued with our Christmas book advent countdown. We have acquired so many Christmas books that I think I'm going to wrap two sets next year. 

I never got around to taking pictures of our Christmas decor this year, but here's one I snapped really quick on my phone to send my mom of our Christmas table. I've been transitioning it from silver and blue to silver and gold. Our decor was really similar to last year with a few additions, so you can see my Christmas tour from last year HERE. Next year hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures because I just love our house all decorated for Christmas! 

Liesl is so my daughter. She walked herself right over to the fireplace to sit and watch her Christmas movie so she could be warm. Will thinks it's ridiculous that I have to sit RIGHT NEXT to the fire to get warm, but now I'm not alone! 

I took a lot of pictures of Elias under various Christmas trees this year. Baby's First Christmas and all :) 

Our family ornament from this year! I always get a new one when a new family member is added! 

We went to see Santa with our good friends, and it's nice to have friends to keep you company in line. Kids and adults! 

After Santa pictures, we all ate dinner at Kona Grill. We were gushing over their little bento boxes for the kids meals, and my friend Tracey found them online and ordered them for our kids! Aren't they so fun?? 

And we had to stop and see the gingerbread house display at the mall before we left. It was London themed and had all the major landmarks. 

Mid-month was Griffin Christmas! We hosted 18 people from Will's side of the family and it was a great time! Will and I hosted which basically meant we just cleaned the house and brought out extra chairs because everyone pitched in with the food and activities! Grandmother always has bingo and dominoes to play, complete with prizes, and of course there are Christmas presents to open. Liam had been asking all day when the family was coming over, so he was SO excited when it was finally present time! 

Elias' hand-made stocking! I wish I would have remembered to take a picture of everyone's all lined up -- it always looks so neat because there are SO many! 

Family picture! 

One of our coordinated Christmas church outfits. I just can't help myself. Liam is so lucky he's too big for Jon-Jons. 

We attended our church's Sounds of Christmas production one evening and it was beautiful. It was a mixture of upbeat and slow songs with our choir and orchestra. I loved all the songs, but oh my word, some of the soloists were just incredible! 

I went the super easy route this year with teacher gifts. Gift cards, Christmas cards, and THESE instant downloads I found on Etsy. Easy, festive, and teachers love gift cards!  

Liesl also helped me stuff little goodie bags for her class Christmas party!

Baby playing under the tree! 

Will took off the week before Christmas as well as the week after, so he took Liesl up there with him one morning to deliver Christmas gifts to his team. She was excited to go with Daddy to work, and I was excited to get some wrapping done! 

Oh hey, baby under the tree :) 

All dressed up and ready for light-looking!

This year my family went on a horse-drawn carriage ride (wagon though for our large group) through Highland Park to look at lights. It was cold but oh so pretty!!! I definitely recommend this if you're local!

Liam's last day of school was a pajama day AND party day! We dropped him off and then headed right back up an hour later to party with his classmates. 

Since it was pajama day for the whole school, we kept the theme going with all our kiddos. Liam was a proud big brother to be matching with Elias! It was a fun little morning watching him with his friends in class, and then we decided to snag him out early and start our Christmas vacation! 

I took the kids to a playdate just a few days before Christmas. It was a busy day and we didn't get to stay long, but this sweet group of kiddos were some of the first friends Liam made growing up (and my first group of mommy friends!). We've been having playdates with them since Liam was only three months old, and my friend Tracey talked me into joining Meetup.com. Now we are all on kid number 2 or 3 (or more!) and our lives and schedule have all changed, but they are all so dear to me! We did our usual Christmas book exchange, but the kids mostly just played while we all caught up! 

And I have to end with a baby under the tree! :) 

Christmas Day!

After our morning at home, we headed to my MIL's house for Christmas lunch and more presents! I usually dress the kids up for this, but they looked so cute and comfy in their matching pjs that they ended up staying in them the entire day! You gotta be comfy to play with all those toys, right??

First up: stockings!

Elias' new stocking -- I still can't get over how detailed these are! I'm pretty sure I would end up with band-aids on every finger if I ever attempted one of these. I'll just leave that to my MIL and grandmother-in-law! :) 

Surprise, surprise, Elias slept through gifts! Liesl didn't have any trouble helping open his though. 

Liesl and I now have matching Ergo baby carriers!

Elias is set on baby toys until his first birthday! 

Family picture! 

My MIL made a delicious rib roast and all kinds of sides for lunch. We finally rolled ourselves home around 4. 

Later in the evening Will started his famous homemade noodles for Christmas fettucini. Of course we were stuffed by this point and only had small bowls, but we had leftovers for days!

My parents came over for dinner and to see what Santa had brought. We all watched A Christmas Story and just hung out with the toys scattered all over the floor. At one point Liam busted into his bath crayons and decided to make himself and Liesl lions. They had a little too much fun with it and into the bath they went! 

And that's a wrap on Christmas 2016!