Cole wrote a book!

We are so in love with our Valerie. She is just a little ray of sunshine that lights up our lives and those around her. She is squishy, sweet, and happy. All the time. She almost never cries and is usually content to go with the flow. If ever there was a perfect baby, she is it.

Ha! The boys figured out how to write on photos so now they are constantly taking pictures and "editing" them. Jude took this one and sent it to a friend. 

Goodness. This one is such an intense mix of sweet and insane. I want to hug her and wrestle her all at the same time.

Lance got to help out our friends the Knights when they had a service day at their house. They are currently building/rebuilding the home Sara grew up in and had several families come out to help sand and prime some walls in the house. Lance was a big help!

Oh Costco? How do you always have the exact thing my children crave? No, we did NOT get this enormous, ugly thing, but they sure wanted it!

I voted! The political scene has been very interesting and divisive ever since 2017 (maybe I'm just paying more attention). It's been pretty disheartening, so I feel like voting is all the more important these days.

Cole is quite the artist! His newest obsession is the Titanic! He cut this out and colored it the other day:

He is quickly discovering all he can about the Titanic thanks to YouTube, and is happy to share what he knows with me every chance he gets. "Hey Mom. Guess what? Did you know that the Titanic..." on repeat all day long. 

He is still thinking about and loving our trip to the North Pole on the Polar Express. I found these the next day:

He wrote this book and illustrated it all in one afternoon:

"The train that I went on"

"We went to a train station"

"I *heart* the Polar Express"

(He's holding his punched ticket)

"We went home"

I love it! He drew pictures of everything we did, like see the lights, the conductor, people dancing, and seeing Santa. For someone who claims he hates to write, he does a pretty good job. 

Love snuggling these girls! I don't get many pictures of me and the kids, so gems like this are priceless to me. I sure love my family!

Riding the Polar Express

Anyone who knows Cole knows he is obsessed with all things trains. He is outgrowing Thomas, but he is enthralled with any and all locomotives and will talk your ear off if he thinks you're remotely interested as well. One of his all-time favorite books and movie is The Polar Express. 

Well, this year, we got to ride it!

By the time I got around to making arrangements, the only dates left that would work for our family was a random Thursday in early November. Well, might as well welcome in the Christmas season a little early, because we were going!

We surprised the kiddos and didn't tell them what we were doing until we were driving there. It was a LONG windy drive through the mountains of West Virginia to get to the tiny town where the train was located. Poor Cole even threw up on the way because of the twists and turns. Thankfully, I packed everyone some Christmas jammies, so he had clothes to change into.

We finally made it just in time to take some pictures, get our tickets and climb aboard!

His very own golden ticket!

Cole said this was the "Best day ever!" Made it totally worth it!

We each got a special Polar Express mug full of hot chocolate and sugar cookies to eat.

The train drove us to the "North Pole" where Santa got on board to interact with all the kids. While we were driving there, we got to enjoy some singing and dancing while they poured the hot chocolate.

The Hobo came and sang and told jokes.

They told us the story!

Christmas town! We didn't get to get off, it was just a little town of lights with some elves waving.

The conductor came by and punched our tickets.

Poor Lexi was tired.

Santa!

Santa handed out a special bell to all the children.

It truly was a magical experience! 

(Except for the drive. That was awful. But worth it. Thank goodness George was driving!)