We had an awesome family Christmas this year! We were extra lucky that hubs actually had Christmas Eve off so we got to celebrate on time this year. Last year we celebrated almost a week late because we wanted to wait for his days off.

For the first half of the day, we let the boys play outside with our neighbor friends as we sat there together and watched them. Something we normally don’t get to do because of conflicting schedules. It was nice to sit there together…and we made sure to verbalize that to each other. Then it was cooking time…womp womp. Hubs requested albondigas and let’s just say things didn’t come out as planned but we still had a yummy Christmas meal. We watched a Christmas movie with the boys then it was time to go to sleep and wait for Santa.

“Ohhh my gosh, ohhh my gosh, ohhh my gosh” was the first thing we hear in the morning! Alex was the first one up telling us that Santa was here! He said “one for mama, one for daddy, one for baby, one for Bashton and one for meeee!!!” It was too cute! We opened gifts, ate lots of candy, went to the park, played outside and watched movies! It was a very nice Christmas for us! The boys asked Santa for simple things…which was a win win because they have too many toys already! Alex simply wanted candy and candy he got. Sebastian asked for books, slime, cars and a ball.

Alex is still very innocent and played with everything that was gifted. Sebastian played for short periods then, as expected, got hooked on YouTube. DOH! That’s a whole other conversation but for sure something we are trying to limit with him. Truth is; the boys really do have a lot of toys. A whole playroom full of toys. They are definitely very blessed, so we do try to keep Christmas pretty simple for them.

It was a very peaceful Christmas for us. Although we miss our family back in Chicago it felt really nice to spend it amongst our kids and truly soak up the day. We hope you all had a very lovely holiday as well!

Love,

-Mama Bear Mimi-

P.S. Below are our holiday pics and it’s disclaimer! HA!

Christmas 2018

Photos by Danielle Esparza

I know pictures are the easiest way to capture a moment but the behind the scenes are the real moments that should be captured! This holiday session took extra work and patience. I know you can’t tell because of all those pretty smiles but let me tell you we probably threatened to cancel Christmas about 10 times just to get those smiles on camera! The struggle was real! HA! Alex had fallen asleep on our way to our session and was not having it once he woke up. Eventually all three kids were so over it and done with pictures. We struggled to get them to look at the camera and pose. Our photographer Danielle said “don’t worry, I’ll edit as much as I can” and I left feeling a bit overwhelmed. Then we get our photos a week later and am pretty shocked that they came out so good!!! The last thing we tried were family shots and by then you can so tell in all of our faces how over it we were. My cheeks are rosey, Alex is huffing and puffing, daddy is so faking it, Rosie is chewing my hand off and Sebastian just wants to take a nap. HA! That’s the beauty of photo sessions…they’re work!! That’s reality!! Outings with three kids are hectic as is and most times require plenty of patience. They aren’t always going to do what we want them to and my favorite saying (let them be little) truly challenged me that day. So with all that being said I’m grateful for these awesome pics and my little family for bearing it all even though they fought me hard for it! Nice try family but you know we’re doing it again next year! Sorry not sorry.