1 Family x 12 (December)

 

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!  I hope it's magical and filled with as much love and happiness we've surrounded ourselves with.

Christmas

 

It all goes so fast....too fast!  We work and prepare and sneak around making things special...all for this very special day filled with love and surprises and magic.  And, in the end, we can't wait to do it again next year.  That's exactly how I'm feeling as I sit here with the house mostly put back together and the majority of the toys and gifts tucked away in their new homes.  It's all so special and magical and I feel wrapped it up in love when I look back the photos from these days.  

I love nothing more than having our entire family surrounding us and making things special for the girls and this year we got just that.

The gift of the year was the go kart.  But for me, it was seeing everyone laughing and having fun.  We made our traditional Christmas breakfast full of all of Ellyn's recipes.  We added grinch mimoas for the kids - they were a hit!  

While the kids loved the go kart the best, I think one of my favorite parts of the day was the games I'd set up for us this year.  I'd been saving up ideas for a few months and collecting prizes and game supplies for weeks.  It took hours to put together, but seeing everyone enjoy them and making memories of us all laughing and competing made it all worth it.

We used one of the games to kick off a geocache hunt in our back yard that led to the keys for the big Christmas present...and, to add to the fun, Jamie and Zach got a matcher for Stella and Lucy.  They need some work, and some love, and some modifications to make them easier for the kids to drive (especially for Hazel) but it was the hit we'd hoped for!  Ryan is maybe even more excited than the kids though.  LOL! A gift for the whole family.

I always feel a little sad when it's all over and packed up until next year, but ahead is a time of rest, relaxation and hibernation.  We have another few days of holiday festivities ahead with New Years at the lake and then New Years Day with the Peso family.  January and February promise to be busy and filled with fun but for today, I rest.  Sitting in this strange in between time, between Christmas and New Years...between endings and beginnings.  

McGrath Christmas

 

You know I love a big family photo!  It's so easy to have a group of people together and feel like it's too much work to pull everyone away from their conversations to assemble a group photo...but you know what?  I never regret having them once we've done it.  What's even better!?  This one wasn't even organized by me.  

This photo makes me laugh, but it was too perfect not to include.  Silly faces and all. 

Sweet cousins!  These big kid cousins are always so kind and welcoming to our little ones!  They seem light years apart at this age, but in truth, there is only 2 grades between Abby and Will (the next oldest).  It's really nice to see them all gathered around playing bingo together...the best start to Christmas Eve!

Ritterbusch Christmas

 

We smashed so many holiday celebrations into such a short period of time - there are some of the best days of the entire year and I'm so thankful we get to spend them with our families.  We started Christmas break off with a bang!  I picked the kids up from school and we left straight away to Freeport for my parent's traditional Christmas Eve party.  

It's been a few years since we've had one (thanks Covid...) but this year we brought it back and it filled my heart with joy and love.  I love seeing all the old friends from Freeport.  I should really call them family, they are the adults and friends I grew up with my entire life.  

We even got a special guest this year!  Uncle Joe came down to spend the weekend with us.  It was so great to have him there and for the kids to get to know him better.   We opened presents, at pigs in a blanket and dumplings, drank fancy cocktails and laughed until our bellies hurt.  We watched football, decorated a tree for the outdoor cabin and generally enjoyed the weekend.

The gift of the year was the neon name signs Mom and Dad got for the big girls - Abby told me it was her third favorite gift of the season - LOL!  

One of my personal favorite parts of the weekend was when Santa surprised us all by visiting and fully decorating the cabin in the woods.  He had the whole thing decked out in lights and even brought stockings for everyone!  It was such a fun, cute way to end the evening.  I hope he does that every year!

Christmas Tree Cutting

 

And just like that, we move from Thanksgiving into Christmas!  Full speed ahead.  If I'm honest, we actually decorated a good bit of the house a few days before Thanksgiving.  Abby wasn't feeling well the Monday before the holiday so she stayed home.  To keep her busy while I jumped from call to call, I unpacked all of the inside decor and set Abby free.  She decorated the entire inside.  She picked out the mantel, set up the garland, decorated the steps down to the basement and put all the decorations in both her room and Hazel's.  It's really nice to have someone do all that for you!  And...it's also cool to see how someone else reuses the stuff you've been setting up for years.  She set some things up differently, and it looks great!

Tree cutting this year was a little big of a shenanigans!  After quite a few years of cutting at Williams Tree Farm, we decided we'd try a farm we'd ditched long ago, Oneys in Woodstock.  We thought we'd give it another go, to see if they'd gotten better trees after a few years of doing something else.  Turns out, after walking the fields for over an hour, we found out the farm was for sale.  My guess is that they've not been putting 100% into the farm for a few years now and you could totally tell!  Bummer, for sure.

We cut bait, packed up in the cars, drove about an hour up to Williams and honestly, it was the perfect choice.  We pulled up and got right to work.  Erin really wanted to watch the Michigan game and the extra time tromping around at Oney's set up behind.  We tried out a second whole field we'd never been to at Williams this year and I am certain we'll be back.  We jumped onto the big tractor trailer and were quickly out in the field surrounded by tons of great trees. 

We all found the perfect trees for our houses.  Abby picked ours out this year and she did great.  It might be one of my favorite trees.  It's a good size, full enough and doesn't have a lot of weird spots!  Decorated, it looks amazing. 

I've got a baby quilt for Liz and Bobby currently in the works, but as soon as that is finished and off to the quilter, I'm heading into making a homemade tree skirt.  It won't be ready to use this year but after nearly a year and a half of searching for just the right fabric, I've finally got it all pulled together and I'm excited to dive into that project.  The pattern uses dresdens (which involve curved piecing) and I've never tried them.  I'm a little nervous, but that's how you learn something new!

And, my Christmas sign!  Isn't it great?  Erin always does such a nice job with these signs for us.  She changes them 4 or more times per year and they always turn out great.  I'm so lucky to be able to just order these up and within a few hours I've got something beautiful to display in the house.  I love this year's sign!

Thanksgiving

 

We had a great Thanksgiving surrounded by all of our favorite people.  Mom worked really hard to get the kids some adorable outfits for our fall family photos - don't we look great?  It's always nice when we take a few minutes out of the day to grab a big family photo.  And, how could I not post this photo of Hazel...priceless!  The sun was too bright for her, but her reaction is priceless.

Gotta love Ryan's face in this one.  Nearly 42 years old and still making the same silly faces I envision Ellyn yelling at him for.  He'll never learn.  But honestly, you can't change someone :)

Truthfully, the weather was hard to beat on Thanksgiving.  It wasn't warm but it was sunny and blue bird skies.  We started the day cutting a trailer of wood for Mom and Dad while the kids watched the Macy's Day Parade and helped Mom with a cheese tray.  When we got home from wood cutting, Erin was already there and Joey and Andy pulled in just as we arrived home.  Let the festivities begin!

Ryan fried the turkey again - this time with the perfect injection...and no eye trauma.  LOL!  I made Peggy's stuffing...Erin brought my favorite pie (Apple Cranberry Pear).  Dan brought pecan pies and salad and Joey took care of the potatoes.  Everything was delicious and we had a great day.

A pretty rare photo of just the 4 of us.   This one was Joey's idea and I'm glad we grabbed it quick as the kids were dashing off to try out the new zipline.  Oh!  And the cabin!  Isn't it cute?  Next time we're home I'll have to grab some more photos, I'm just now realizing I never posted about this project Dad and Ryan have been working on for nearly a year now.  Mom and Dad have worked really hard to make it cute and comfortable inside and the kids got to use it fully for the first time at Thanksgiving.  It was a real hit.  I'll grab some photos and do a full post maybe next time I'm hom.

Our Thanksgiving weekends aren't complete without gingerbread houses.  We have done them for years...I think since both the big girls were one.  Each year they get more self sufficient but there's still a good amount of prep to get them ready to decorate.  Joey did the majority of the prep this year, gluing all of the houses together and working to make sure all the pieces had little stands (made out of tootsie rolls) so they'd all stand up.  This year's version was actually gingerbread nativity scenes.  They are cute...lots of pieces.  

I'm not sure if the kids will still want to keep doing them, but they love tradition as much as I do...so I think we'll be doing these for quite some time.  

1 Family x 12 (November)

 Thanksgiving and our monthly family photo is in the books!  The next 5 weeks are jam packed with all kinds of family, fun and holiday cheer.  We're excited about the days and weeks ahead.  Also, isn't my family adorable?!  What happened to my little kids?

A Cabin in the Woods

Check out this amazing project my Dad, Bill (the neighbor with the saw mill) and Ryan have been working on for over a year...a little cabin down in the woods.  This is a much upgraded version of the cabin we had at the lake when I was a kid, but that's where the original idea started.  During COVID Dad had a dream about getting all the grandkids back together for a week and him, Ryan and Andy building this cabin for the kids.  It took way more time than a week, but it's so amazing.  

Bill milled all of the boards at his mill and even donated the windows he replaced in his real house for the build out.  He told Dad that he always had a dream of making something similar for his grandkids but they grew up before he could do it and so he wanted to help make it a reality for ours.  He's a great guy and he's really become a great friend of the family over the years since my parents moved to their house in Cedarville.  

Long before the cabin was close to being done the kids started building it out in their minds.  They had a TV, a bunk bed, a table with chairs, handmade curtains, maybe even a toilet planned for in here.  Their spatial awareness isn't great, but in the end, we really could fit a lot in here, especially when we decided to add a loft space in the peaked part of the roof.  You can see it in the picture below.

I'll have to grab some more pictures when we get it fully decorated and ready for the kids to play in, but they are so excited to have Kayden and Lincoln out and play in the cabin.  They'll all be together for Thanksgiving and Christmas so there are lots of fun times ahead!  And....I happen to know Mom and Dad have some surprises planned that they haven't unveiled yet.

Halloween

 

We went for a group costume again this year.  I can't take credit for the idea, this one was all Jamie.  We introduced them to Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza last November when we went on an adults only wine weekend in southern Illinois.  Jamie had the great idea that it could be our costume for the year and you know I'm all for a group costume where I get to wear a warm adult onesie!

Our costume made no sense until we were all together, and even then it only worked if people knew the game.  But honestly, I'm good.  Ryan love a clever costume that makes people stop and think, and this one was definitely that type of costume.

Beth and Patrick always knock it out of the park with their commitment to the family costume.  They let the kids pick and rotate each year which daughter gets to choose.  This year was Ellie's turn and she picked Nightmare Before Christmas.  Somehow I totally missed their group costume, but it was super cute.  They even had the dog in on it for awhile.

Everyone that grew up in the Midwest has stories about how bi-polar the weather can be this time of year.  It could be 80, it could be snowing.  This year we got the snowing option....though not nearly as much as a few years ago where there was probably 6 inches on the ground.  You can tell in these photos that the flakes are just starting to fly, but by the end of the night, there was probably an inch or two on the grassy surfaces.  I'm not ready for winter yet, but the first glimpse of flakes had everyone excited.  Hazel wanted to know if she should wear snow pants to school that day - sweet girl!

We always have a great time trick or treating with this group.  We don't get together the 12 of us very often - it's usually just on Halloween.  But we always have a good time and the Rasmussen's are so nice to host us every year.  

Until next year!