Big Girl Room!!!

We finally decided that we would move Ella into her "Big Girl Room." I still had a few things to finish, but we decided that we would just go ahead and go for it. This is her running to see her new room!

We had them wait while Brian went inside to video us coming in. I think the boys were equally excited to see her new room.

Ella immediately grabbed her baby and started introducing her to her "Big Girl Room."

I saved a few birthday gifts and put them inside her room, so they would feel like new gifts. It worked perfectly:-) She loved this baby doll and immediately when in found it!

She loved her new little dress up area too. She's not super excited about anything that scratches her, but she loves dressing up!

The boys were so excited to check out the ExTrA pink room! They each tried on dress up shoes too...what great brothers:-)

Ella LOVED her big girl bed!

We were super concerned about her not staying in her bed. We put her to bed (she likes both Brian and I to crawl in and sing to her), and we NEVER heard from her again. Earlier I asked the boys who she would be more like (Port never left his bed, while Haynes fought us all the way)...Port was so excited to hear that she was like him! She slept until 7:35 and we had to get her out of her room. We love our precious big girl!

Hot tub with Daddy

There's not much we love more than the hot tub in the winter/fall. Brian loves filling buckets with ice and taking the boys to the hot tub. Ella is now big enough to realize that she is missing out, so she got to participate this time. Here is Brian prepping for Daddy time...

I could hardly keep the kids inside long enough to get the top off the hot tub. Aren't they cute all ready to go with their funny towels!?!

Getting in the hot tub...it's REALLY hot!!

Ella was not pleased with her introduction of the hot tub. If you remember she reacted to the pool this way initially, but ended up loving it...

The same was true for the hot tub! She had to check it out slowly, but ended up loving it! There's really not a question about how the boys feel about the hot tub:-)

The boys get a little daring in the hot tub. Haynes loved doing "back flips" into the hot tub...Port loves getting thrown around by the jets...they all love throwing ice at each other. I love special times with Daddy!

Mornings with Ella

Morning Pee Pee with Daddy

Ella isn't potty training, but for some reason convinced Brian she needed to go on the potty. She didn't actually do it, but I caught this precious picture. I love it because they have matching crazy morning hair!

Ella is really loving coloring right now. We try to keep her to crayons, but she will get ahold of markers any chance she can get. She found the boys smelly markers this morning and we couldn't stop laughing. She would stick it on her nose and say, "It smells like cherries!"

She had no clue that she was coloring her face every time she did it! We love this funny girl...we are always entertained around here!

Let it begin...

One of my new favorite Thanksgiving traditions is with my family. Thanksgiving night our immediate family goes to my parents house for dinner. My mom makes our "favorites" from Thanksgiving and replaces turkey with fried chicken! There's nothing healthy about this meal, but it is so yummy and super relaxed!

After dinner Brian and Josh agree to help my mom get her huge Christmas tree out of the attic and set it up. This year the boys enjoyed riding the boxes like sleds down the stairs:-)

After the tree is up my mom hands out Christmas pajamas! (She used to do this on December 1st but has graciously let our family take on that tradition of our own) The kids LOVED handing out gifts to everyone. We all got cute matching pj's, but I didn't manage to get a picture...

Port was really confused why we would set up a tree and not decorate it, so the kids decorated her 12 foot tree. We thought that would be fine, but Port quickly noticed that the top of the tree was not being decorated and recruited some help.

Brian, Champ, and Josh were all amazing troopers. They carried all the kids on their shoulders and helped decorate the top of the tree. I'm pretty sure Lolli went through and redecorated it, but we had a great evening!

Hartsock Thanksgiving

Ella loved the kids table! JuJu set it up with paper and crayons for the little ones. Ella really LOVES coloring lately. (You will see more of this in blogs to come...)

We love PaPa!

We have so much to be thankful for this year, but look at all these great-grandkids with Papa. We are beyond blessed to have Papa as a part of our lives. We were talking about all the "one-liners" that Blake, Jake, and Brian have carried into our families because of PaPa.

We love MaMa!

We love sweet MaMa, she is truly one of a kind. We can't drive by MaMa's house without Ella crying to go in and see MaMa. Mostly...who is impressed that we got all these kids to sit still for these pictures!!!

After lunch Uncle Mickey always creates a fun treasure hunt for the kids. Thankfully he remembers, because some of them have really great memories:-) They get sent all over the neighborhood searching for clues. This one was to make a human pyramid. Thanks Uncle Mickey for loving on our kids so well, they love their time with you!

Craft time

Their "treasure" from Uncle Mickey was the movie Despicable Me. The girls had brought some fun crafts for all the kids to do. I came in to find Mattie and Ellie leading a really great craft time! After each project Port would say, "is there another one!?!"

These girls are absolutely amazing! Mattie would go around and make sure that even the little kids had their projects completed. She is truly one of a kind!!

Let's not forget one of the most special parts of thanksgiving...meeting the twins! I'm not sure who was more excited to meet Kate and Tess, me or my kids! Haynes is holding Tess with JuJu, he really might be the best big brother. We can't wait to see him with his new little brother or sissy soon!

Ella with sweet Kate. This is about the 3rd time that Ella got to hold the girls:-) One of my favorite moments of Ella with the girls was when she went to wake them up with Jamie. Ella hadn't really seen them yet, so when Jamie opened the door Ella gasped, "Oh, my goodness!" We love seeing these precious girls!

After craft time Mattie when through and explained how each craft represented Jesus. They made candy canes, journals, and a nativity puzzle. It is so fun seeing the influence these cousins have on each other. We go around and say what we are thankful for in Brian's family before we eat. Brian was thankful for cousins and relationships that have continued like when he was a kid. It is really sweet to see that these kids wouldn't rather be anywhere than with their cousins. We are so thankful for our family!

Hartsock Turkey Trot

Thursday morning we all met at the Noles house to start our Turkey Trot. It was about 34 degrees outside! We waited for about 10 minutes for everyone to get there and then headed to Jade and Angie's. Everyone rode bikes, scooters, pink cars, or ran...it was great!

Here's our crew heading down the street...luckily there wasn't much traffic:-)

We ended with a group cheer and quickly headed for somewhere warm. We had lots of fun, but hopefully we can have a little warmer weather next year!

Baking...

While the kids were "helping" daddy with the Christmas lights, I decided to make Monkey Bread. I told the boys they would turn into monkeys if they ate it:-) It was SUPER yummy!

We decided to make some homemade granola for hostess gifts for JuJu and Mama. Each of the kids made their own batch of granola...we have plenty to share:-)

Haynes had a fever, so while the other two went to play with cousins I baked bread while he slept. I get to make the bread for the Hartsock Thanksgiving each year. This year we had a smaller group so I only made 3 batches!

These are SO yummy!

Early Morning...

We knew that the weather was going to turn cold this weekend, so Brian decided to get up early on Wednesday morning and put the lights on the house. He had a few helpers:-)

Our tree has grown so much over the last 6 years! The boys are LOVING climbing it now. Haynes got his early morning bike ride in too.

Let's be honest...Port will really climb ANYTHING lately! We had a great morning enjoying the pretty weather. Our neighbor, Sam, did come out and comment that we must be the "Griswold's" for starting that early on our house:-)

Elf Thanksgiving Feast

Best Buddies

We pray for each of our kids that God would give them a best buddy. That is the best description of these two guys! They are pretty inseparable (coming from a teacher) and would love to spend every minute together. We absolutely love Big Beau! They were amazing at chopping and "ripping" celery:-)

Clean up time!

I was so proud of Haynes at clean up time. He came home about a month ago telling us that his teacher told him that he wasn't doing a very good job of cleaning up (love when the Holy Spirit convicts your kids to tell you things!). We have been working on following through A LOT! Haynes was so great at picking up things and putting them away quickly and cheerfully! I love seeing growth in my kids!

Feast time with Beau and Tripp

Check out their cute table!

Ella absolutely loved visiting the Elf class! Her favorite part was the pumpkin pie...oh that sweet tooth!

*We also went to visit Port while we were there. We spotted him out on the playground playing with some friends. When he spotted sweet Ella he stopped everything and came running, yelling her name, and then gave her the biggest hug. I love watching my kids love each other so well!

CoUsInS!!!

All our cousins are here for Thanksgiving. The boys went to the Thunder Game tonight, so the rest of us went to JuJu's. Kooper started art projects with all the kids...he's a great little leader!

JuJu got all the kids "Thanksgiving Pajamas"

The kids loved it and we even got a picture of them too! (Elizabeth didn't make it for the picture, but I'm sure in the next few days we'll manage to get one)

Ella came out dressed as a princess...she LOVED it!

JuJu's is always SO much fun!

Scottie Thanksgiving Feast

Haynes got to come with me to the Scottie class.

He loved it!

When we walked into class Port immediately sat down to do his "work." His teacher says he likes to get his work done first before he plays. What an efficient 5 year old:-)

We made a "legit" Thanksgiving feast! The kids cut and pealed potatoes, carrots, celery, and fruit. They made dessert and turkey too! It was so fun watching the kids work so hard...they were awesome helpers!

Cute Thanksgiving Tables

Port, Dax, and Michael

SiLlY bOyS!!!

The kids got together and sang a Thanksgiving song before our feast. (You can just barely see Port poking his head through the crowd) We had a GREAT day!