Christmas-y stuff

We put up our tree just before Thanksgiving when we couldn’t say no to the kids any longer. They were SO excited. Harvey was gazing up at it one afternoon and said, “Mom, I think the tree is taller than me.” You think, buddy??

I had to hurry and put Hazel in the Christmas dress I bought when I was pregnant with her. It barely fit - this baby is growing up too fast! 

Millie requested a picture with her sister and what mom would ever say no to that?? Not this one, for sure.

Went ahead and made the boys get in one too. They were all dressed like it was Christmas Sunday because the Primary sang in church the first Sunday in December.

Max’s drawings melt me lately. He brought this home and said to me, “This is the best Santa I ever drew!” 

Millie made this sweet ornament.

Hazel learned to crawl and quickly discovered the Christmas tree! So we quickly had to make sure there were no ornaments within her reach.

We had a visit from my brother Jeff and his older kids (his wife Kerri and new baby couldn’t make it and we missed them!) and we had fun with cousins for a few days. One night we drove through the River Oaks area to see the beautiful lights. My favorite neighborhood at Christmas!

Hazel sure looked adorable in these overalls - they were actually her aunt Heidi’s when she was little! Harvey thought she looked cute too and couldn’t help but kiss her.

I listened to this book in the couple weeks leading up to Christmas and I loved it! Still a good read even if it’s not Christmas time so if you haven’t read it you should.

More fun with cousins - we did a little nature scavenger hunt in the courtyard at Grandma’s.

And dinner at Mia’s! It’s kind of our family’s favorite place. They’re building one really close to our house and we are super excited.

Sharon threw a fun puzzle exchange party! I’m not a puzzle genius but I sure enjoyed all of these ladies.

She also did a cute Christmas story time at our house for Harvey and his buddy Bronson.

Even Hazel was into it!

Gigi was so nice to watch Harvey and Hazel so I could go to the kids’ school Christmas parties. Max’s classroom was so dark so I didn’t get very many pictures, but at both parties they got to do a craft, decorate and eat a cookie, and play a game!

Gigi was so sweet to take us out to lunch to celebrate Christmas break! 

Monka and Umpa came over and took us out to dinner and we played games after. Max learned to play chess recently and had so much fun playing with Umpa.

Juergens Thanksgiving 2019

We had the whole Juergens crew together for Thanksgiving this year! It was so wonderful. People started trickling in the Saturday before, and by Wednesday we had everyone there. I was pretty terrible at taking pictures, partly because I was trying to just enjoy everyone, and partly because any documenting I did was on video to make a movie. So this is a pretty small representation of the week, but it’s what we’ve got!

Millie was SO sweet with all the babies. It was really cute to watch actually. She let Morgan climb on and love on her on Sunday and I loved it.

And we finally got to meet baby Claire! She and Hazel will be little besties someday!

The weather was warm all week and the play set in the backyard at Gigi and Poppy’s house got lots of good use by everyone.

These 4 babies were all born within a year of each other! It was so fun to finally have them all together!

Sitting in age order: Myra at 13 months, Morgan at 10 months, Hazel at 6 months, Claire at 2 months.

Sweet Claire was blessed on Monday night.

So fun to see Lauren for a bit then too! This love triangle is so funny. These kids are cousins on one side, and Lauren is an aunt to all of them, on two different sides. 

Tuesday the kids and I went to Goforth Park with Shayna, Myra, Garrett, McKenna, Morgan, and Wes. We walked/ran/biked around the lake and then played at the park for a bit. 

After the park we got to go see Frozen 2! It was SO good. I was blown away. The kids had been asking to play Telestrations and we did that evening. Playing with Max is imaginative and adorable.

Wednesday morning we met in The Woodlands at the mall! First we said hi to the puppies. Harvey said, “I want this one because I love him.” Hard to argue with that!

Riding the clear elevator.

Max was so cute walking around with Myra!

The kids got to ride the carousel several times and we all ate lunch.

And the kids got to see Santa!

Millie and Max had written him letters again, and Millie helped write one for Harvey too. He was so sweet to take the time to read them, and was cute in answering them: “I’m not making any promises, but I’ll do my best if you’re good boys and girls.” 

Grammy made this such a fun day for all of us! We love this tradition with her!

Thanksgiving morning we took family pictures! Nana and Gigi did so much work to make a delicious feast for all of us. We ate and then enjoyed the beautiful weather. Millie and Max were very into the Macy’s parade.

Since we won’t have everyone together for Christmas, Gigi was super prepared and had Christmas jammies for everyone!

Friday we showed everyone one of the fun new parks by us and the kids had fun playing tee ball and running relay races around the little track there. The fun at the park ended abruptly when it start pouring on us! So funny. 

People started trickling out on Friday afternoon, but a few of us did some Black Friday shopping (well, window shopping anyway haha) while the kids played at Gigi and Poppy’s with the dads.

On Saturday those of us who were left went to Memorial City Mall for a bit more shopping and enjoyed a yummy dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Max tried out Poppy’s new golf net and a kid sized club, which he loved. 

We said goodbye to the rest of the out-of-town crew that evening. It was such a great week with everyone!