The Christmas Story

The Mezger kids present the Christmas story-

https://youtu.be/71TLwDXyImY

*Blair was sick with strep, so was not quite herself.*

Family Pictures & Update

I was really pleased with our family pictures this year. We used Beau's preschool teacher because of how challenging it is to get a good shot of him these days. Still trying to pick a favorite family shot, but here they are-

I just love these individual shots of the kids. 

We even got some good other shots!

2017 Update (from our Christmas cards which had limited space)-

Luke celebrated 11 years on his own with Mezger Homes & continues to enjoy leading his growing company. He couldn't do it without his amazing team! 

I (Melissa) am enjoying my 10th year as a stay-at-home mom & 5th year as the kid's Tues/Thurs homeschool teacher. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this mom-to-4-kids gig, although my floors & laundry might say otherwise.

Bailey is our big 4th grader who loves time with friends, being outdoors, dragons, & her bearded-dragon Toothless. She still enjoys swimming, specifically breast-stroke, & is trying her hand at basketball. Her highlight of the year was getting baptized. 

Blake is in 2nd grade. He is our shy, sensitive, hard-working boy. He enjoys swimming, basketball & hunting. He shot his first deer this year & we're enjoying the venison! His newest hobby is coin collecting, his favorite subject is math, & he loves playing Ticket to Ride. 

Blair is our eager-to-learn Kindergartner who is sweet, yet mischievous. She enjoys making Legos/Perler bead creations & is our go-to girl when you need a good hug. She loves watching the Star Wars movies & was Princess Leia for Halloween. 

Beau is our energetic busy boy who has a "my do it myself" independence. He keeps busy with bike-riding & tree-climbing. He is a big Dude Perfect fan and loves doing his own trick shots. We love how he says "yesteryear" to describe anything in the past. 

Thanksful Version 2017

We have SO much to be thankful for and we had a great Thanksgiving with the Tackett crew. We love doing the turkey trot & screeched into the parking lot just in time for the start. Everyone, but Beau ran this year from our family. Luke deep-fried a delicious turkey, my mom & Aunt Kathy killed it with all the other food and Ashton nailed the desserts. Gigi had great activities for the cousins and all the cousins sat at the "kids" table.  Gigi even sat down at the adult table!!!! We took some pictures, which kids were somewhat cooperative about. Tara & Gigi had the most adorable Thanksful shirts for us made to finish off a full, fun, & fast Thanksgiving visit. 

Christmas Ornaments

One of my favorite holiday tradition is writing the kids a letter & picking out an ornament for the year. I won't lie that this was by far the hardest year to carve out the time to do this, but I think I captured a piece of the year for each of them. : ) 

Bailey girl-

            It was a hard year on your heart in the pet department. Sneaky died and we ended up releasing Lizzy Long-Tail as we realized that green anoles did not do well in captivity. Thankfully, we have seen her a few times in the front flower bed, but then our beloved Blue died. We thought a bearded dragon ornament would be perfect this year because of your love for Toothless.  I have even heard you say lately that Toothless is your best friend. Some favorite Toothless memories from the year are her helping us dispose of any cockroaches,  her birthday hat, you making her Halloween costumes, and her just hanging out with you on homeschool days either on the table or on your shoulder. We sure love you both!

                                                                                                            Love, Mom & Dad

Blake-

            From sling shots to dart guns to blow gun to BB guns you love targets shooting and practicing hunting in the ditch. We chose a hunter ornament because you got your first deer this year. What a memorable trip with daddy. We are looking forward to eating some of your vension. Mom says- thanks for filling my fridge! We love you Blakers!

                                                                                                            

Blair-

            We wish we could count how many times you ask to watch Star Wars with Bailey & Blake over the years. It was finally your turn this year!!! You have LOVED them and have quickly knocked them all out! No surprise that for Halloween you were Princess Leia and you convinced Daddy to be Luke Skywalker as the x-wing pilot, mom to be C3PO, and Bailey was Rey. Oh, and Blair you were the most adorable Princess Leia we could imagine. You are also looking forward to getting to watch #8, which comes out this December. What we like about Star Wars is that it always makes us think about the battle of good & evil in the real world. When Obi Wan Kenobi was training Luke he encouraged him to “use the force” and we want to encourage you to use the force too- Jesus’s force, the Holy Spirit. It can lead, guide, & direct you! We love you Blair Bear & remember that the force is strong in you! 

Love, Mom & Dad

Beau-

            We can’t believe this is your 4^th Christmas and we just love you to pieces. This has been a big year for you as you went from being our baby Beau to big boy Beau. You potty trained this summer. You were by far the hardest to potty train, but that’s because you had to do things when you wanted to, not when someone else told you to. Along those lines, swim lessons have been at your pace and your speed although we know you can totally do more. You have mostly stopped sucking your fingers, which was rough at first because you used it to soothe yourself, but we are so thankful though because you started talking SO much more and we have loved it. We want to remember how you call anything in the past- “yesteryear” and instead of saying “I”, you say “my”, for example, “My will do that myself”. When someone asks you what’s your name? You answer with “Beau Mezger”, so A LOT of your friends call you by your whole name all the time, which is silly. In October, you learned to ride your bike without training wheels. What fun it has been watching you join the big kids bicycle gang and watching you go up and down the hill in front of our house. You are quite good, especially for a 3-year-old. There are three other things we want to remember. First is that that over Thanksgiving you nailed the water bottle flip! You only know about this because you are a big Dude Perfect fan and love going around trying to do trick shots. Second, Mezgers are known for being monkeys and you are no different. Your two favorite tricks are climbing up door frames & sliding down the staircase wall rail. Third, big boys know how to use scissors and you certainly gave yourself quite the haircut. Of all these sweet Beau memories, our favorite has by far been you learning to ride your bike and it is for this reason that we got you a bike ornament. We can’t wait to see what new memories you will make this next year.  We love you Beau-Beau. 

Love, Mom & Dad