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Happy 2015!

We've busy over the past year...growing as a family of 6, making some big life changes and plans, and having a bit of fun as time goes on!

One of my goals for this new year is to make more time to write, to document our life as a family, and to share our craziness!

Stay tuned!

Christmas Eve 2011

Watching Netflix

Reading with Memaw

A few of our decorations...

The gingerbread house built by Daddy and decorated by Memaw and the sproutlets

The birthday cake for Jesus

Incognito!

Ready for Santa!

There must have been some good children at the House of Sprout!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Ahhhh...Vacation!

I think I have been anticipating this day since Labor Day!  Today is the first long break we've had AT HOME since the summer.  And if you have been following us for long you know that this fall held lots of changes and adjustments...and a few challenges!

• I went back to work full-time.
• The kids started full-time at a sitter outside of our house.
• Sassy started day care three days a week.
• All our therapies changed.
• Tater started all-day first grade!
• There were LOTS of respiratory issues with Tater and her increased kidney medicine.

Needless to say, we are SOOOOOOO ready for the next 11 days...yes, 11 days!!!!  Sassy headed off to one more day of school, Daddy had to work, and Bruiser, Tater and myself will be cleaning, organizing and finishing off the Christmas-ifying.  We might run an errand and wrap a gift or two.  Oh, yeah, and the groceries are being delivered this evening...LOVE Peapod!

Tomorrow Memaw and Pop-Pop are flying in for the holiday weekend to make a gingerbread house, visit, and enjoy Santa's gifts.  We are planning a trip to see lights on Christmas night if all goes as planned.  Then Monday rumor has it that someone is getting a gift from Santa to fly home with the grandparents and drive back up with the other grandparents for New Year's...shhh, it's a secret!  I have lunches and play dates in the works.  Daddy is off all week too.  I know the time will fly by but I plan to set the cruise control slow enough that we can relax and enjoy!

Stay tuned for all the holiday photo-ops that are to come!  We are in full-fledged Christmas mode at the House of Sprout!

It Was A Mystery!

With the long weekend on the horizon, we decided to head out on a Mystery Trip!  (Actually, we had booked the trip back in August and just refrained from telling the kids in order to maintain our sanity!)  So Friday afternoon we set off on a long drive to Stowe, Vermont.  It's a place that Daddy and I had traveled to before we added our little darlings to our family...and have been trying for several years to take the kids to.  It is absolutely beautiful with the autumn leaves and weather!

We arrived LATE Friday night at the condo we had rented.  The kids had slept most of the way there and were wide awake while Mommy and Daddy could hardly hold their heads up!  I think it was close to 3am until Sassy finally crashed on our bed.  You can imagine how wide-awake we were the next day!

We took the gondola up Mt. Mansfield.

Tater had her first chance to take a picture with Mommy's camera...not too bad!

At the top of the gondola ride.

We attempted to climb to the summit.  But Sassy struggled a bit with the rocky climb.

Love Bruiser's face in this one!

We toured the Ben & Jerry's Factory, traveled into Stowe for a nice dinner outside at the Rusty Nail, stopped for some apple donuts and apple cider slush at Cold Hollow Cider Mill, and headed back to the condo to explore the FunZone, which is filled with bouncy houses and games...even an indoor miniature golf!

This morning we hung out at the condo complex after another night of limited sleeping.

By 5am, all 3 kids were in our room...Tater on the floor and the other 2 in our bed.  Shouldn't have wasted the extra money on the 2-bedroom condo!

Then we took a hike through the amazing foliage!

We ended the trip with a stop at a favorite pizza place, A Pie in the Sky.  Bruiser didn't do so well...and he and I left in a fit.  I think he's a bit over-tired and maybe starting with an ear infection.  Oh, well...wouldn't be a Sprout Family adventure without some kind of illness!  

After long naps in the car on the ride home, Daddy and the kids are cuddled on the couch watching a movie and I'm ready to steal Sassy away and get her settled into her bed for a restful (we hope!) night! 

Wrapping Up Vacation!

As usual, vacation goes by too quickly!  I was able to stretch it out a bit by not posting last week...you know, life happens!

On our second-to-last day Papa was able to get a half-day off work and we headed to a local amusement park where I grew up going.  It's the only free-admission park left in the United States (you can pay with tickets to ride each ride).  It has that small town feel and is in the neighborhood that my parents grew up in.  My grandparents met us there for the day and we enjoyed the afternoon!

Waiting for our first ride!

Not so sure about riding in circles!

Loving being a big girl this year...not a fear!

Papa stole my camera and was playing around...so I actually made it onto the blog!

LOVE these faces!!!

Bruiser driving all by himself...wonder if he knows how much horsepower this car has?

Tater coming down the big slide all by herself.  She has been waiting for YEARS to do this!

There are more pictures on my phone that I'll try to upload later...for now, life continues!