Merry Christmas 2016

The Christmas season was hustle, bustle, and Christ-centered this year. A little easier to do because Christmas day actually fell on a Sunday. I love when that happens! We enjoyed family and friends throughout the holiday season. Jared and I decided this was probably our favorite Christmas we have ever had. It was just low-key and full of family. 

Decorating the tree!

Our beautiful Nativity!

We let the children watch Home Alone for the first time this Christmas season. Pretty much the best movie they have ever watched. They were laughing so hard which made Jared and I laugh even harder! Such a classic!

Christmas Eve! We read Christmas stories with the children around the Christmas tree and tucked them into their beds. Santa came and spoiled all of us! 

My favorite people in the world! Merry Christmas to ALL!

Enjoying our tree and my new slippers on Christmas night. 

Our First Christmas in Sorrento

I love my new house! I love my new neighborhood! I love the name of my new town! We thoroughly enjoyed our first Christmas here. In fact, Jared and I agree it is one of our most favorite Christmases we've had in awhile. I was a little nervous about hosting, but it went off splendidly. The food was great! The company was better! The children loved being with cousins and really were in the Christmas Spirit. Ethan made me proud when he asked if he could purchase gifts for his siblings with some leftover birthday money. He thoughtfully chose something for each of them.It was so sweet.

I was so busy cooking and hosting I didn't snap a single picture. Thankfully, Rachel got a few!

Enjoying Lyla's Karaoke Machine!

I love my nephews! 

Here's Logan putting up with as per usual. and Owen being the super cute baby he is.

More babies! Grayson, Baby Devin, and Uncle Brad

Happy First Christmas Weston!

Merry Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! It is an especially exciting Christmas for us this year. First Christmas in our new house. First Christmas for baby Weston. We have had many blessings in the past year and are so grateful for our greatest blessing of all, our Savior, Jesus Christ. He brings us joy and heals our sorrows. He brings us peace and gives us strength. He brings us comfort and fills us with love.

Our second greatest blessing is our family! In early Fall, we were privileged with being photographed by Davina Fear (www.davinafear.com). Our good friends, the Dawson's, entered us into a contest and we WON! Davina came and spent two hours with us documenting "normal" life. Below are some of my favorite shots. I told Davina, after sobbing through my slide show, that I didn't have the words to thank her for this gift. I spent most of the last year feeling inadequate in my roles of mother and wife.   These photos showed me that I am doing better than I think I am! 

Enjoy a day in the life of Krause Haus!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I think 2016 is going to be fabulous!

Rounding out November

November was an extremely busy month. We partied hard in November! Here's a quick photo update to round out the month.

Jared and I attended the wedding reception of Sabella and Michael.  Sabella was in my Sunday school class 10 years ago! She was only 12 and I was 25.  I'm so proud of the beautiful woman she has become. It was a very special day.

Weston was sick, so he and I got a marathon snuggle day while everyone else was at church and Grandma's house.  He discovered Phoebe for the first time and was petting her. It was very cute.

Look at that sweet face.

The week of Thanksgiving, the children were all home from school. They made a new clubhouse sign. Apparently "the boss" is Grayson.

My brother, Tony, had a birthday the day after Thanksgiving. It worked out that Stacey, Tony, and I could get together without kids or spouses. We played a game and talked. It was wonderful to be with my siblings. They really are my best friends.

Christmas came to Krause Haus. It is our first Christmas in our new house and I am so excited. Jared and the children made these snowflakes (they are hanging all around the downstairs). I love them.

Our elf, Kristoff, is back. He just moves around and doesn't make mischief like some of those other elves. He has been a little lazy and sometimes stays in the same place for two or three days.

This year, we went to Santa's Christmas Tree Farm and cut down our very own Florida-grown Christmas tree.  It is very pretty and we had a great time at the farm.

I love seeing all these stockings in a row. The first two were made by my BYU roomie, Nicole, as a wedding present. When I got pregnant with Ethan, I called her and requested a stocking for him. She kindly made his stocking. I realized I couldn't call her up for a stocking every time I had a baby, so I requested the pattern so I could make sure all future stockings matched. With Aunt Teresa's help, I made Grayson and Landon's stockings a few years ago. I made Miriam's on my own. I also made Weston's on my own just last week. I finally used YouTube to learn a basic embroidery stitch, so Weston's stocking looks much more polished than the other three I did. 

Jared took the week after Thanksgiving off. It was so fun having him home! He finished several projects around the house, including a major one in the garage. He also got a lot of fun time in with the children. I think he should do this every year!

Christmas Day

I don't have a lot of photos from Christmas Day. I was too busy being a mom and only got three shots.  We spent Christmas Eve with my family over at Stacey and Joe's house. Dad made a delicious lasagna and we ate and enjoyed one another's company. We also enjoyed some presents! My favorite gift ever was a tri-photo frame from my Mom. She filled it with three wedding photos that hang in her house. I love these photos because they are of my parents, my maternal grandparents, and my paternal grandparents. I think I'm pretty lucky to have so many generations that stayed married to one another and were completely devoted to their families. Can't wait to find the perfect place to hang my new gift. 

When we got home from our Hesson-Krause-Gillespie party, we put out cookies, reindeer food, and our Santa Key (since we don't have a chimney) and put the children to bed. Jared and I then went in the rain to our neighbor's house to get the gifts to put under the tree. We have great neighbors. Other than our bedroom closets, we only have one additional closet in our home, so I had nowhere to hide the Christmas gifts. Our sweet neighbor agreed to let me take over a corner of his guest room for nearly two months. I'm really going to miss our neighbors when we move this summer.

 

A photo after Santa came!

Christmas Day was pretty low key. We opened more gifts, had a big breakfast and had a water balloon fight.

The children enjoyed playing with their new gifts and then we headed over to Jared's parents for a third round of gift opening and a feast! This year was pretty special because all of Jared's siblings were able to gather here in Florida for Christmas. This is the first time in nearly 8 years that we have all been together. The children had a great time playing together and the adults enjoyed catching up as well.  Hopefully another 8 years doesn't pass before we get together again.