2020 in Review

On December 31, 2019, we were celebrating with a win at the Alamo Bowl and toasting to 2020 and all that the year would bring..... little did we know what a year it would actually be. From starting off with a bang, to shut downs, and restrictions, and adjusting to a "new normal" to lots of family time and learning what really matters, this year was a blessing and a doozy. 

January 2020

We celebrated Gretchen turning 12 with a big friend party. 

DJ took these two to the Father/Daughter dance at our church. 

February 2020

We had Valentine's Day parties at school. 

And Gretchen and I headed off on a girls trip to Disney World thanks to Nana. 

March 2020

Megan came up with a new toy... an egg named Shelli. She took it to church with us and out to lunch. 

Adalyn had her very first sleepover. 

And Gretchen performed in her school play. 

We headed off for a weekend in Tulsa to see old friends. 

and then we came home to virtual school and being stuck at home. 

April 2020

We celebrated Easter at home with online church and no family. 

We extended our back patio and made hand impressions of the girls. 

We also got out and explored some hiking in Austin. 

May 2020

We took family "porchraits" because no one was going anywhere. 

And we bought our camping trailer. 

We celebrated Megan turning 9 with a friend sleepover and a Star Wars party and we the world began to open again. 

We spent Memorial Day weekend and their last day of school at the beach in Port A. 

June 2020

We went on lots of camping trips

and headed on a big family vacay to Daytona and Orlando. 

Hello beach! 

July 2020

Adalyn turned 7 and we had a driveway party with neighbor friends. 

And this guy turned 40! 

August 2020

We made the decision to keep the girls out of school and started our homeschool journey. 

September 2020

Football season was back! A few weeks delayed, but it was back and we were here for it! 

October 2020

The girls attended their first Texas/OU game. 

We went to the pumpkin patch on a school day! 

We celebrated Halloween with a neighborhood party and trick or treating. 

November 2020

We took a day trip to Fredricksburg to eat German food. 

And headed to Arkansas to spend Thanksgiving with family. 

We also went to Silver Dollar City and Branson. 

December 2020 

We baked, and DJ and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. 

We soaked in Christmas and opened presents.

And as I reflect on this year, it truly was a good year. As a family, we grew closer and we enjoyed the time we had with DJ home more. My word for 2020 was "anchor." I really wanted to anchor in to Austin and put our roots down here firmly, but it turned out I really anchored in to my family and put my roots down with them. 

 

Wednesday What?!

It's been a sweet forever since I've posted a Wednesday What?!

One of my goals for 2021 is to blog more, so we're getting a head start this week :) 

I received a new Danielle Steel book for Christmas (thanks Megan!) and although I haven't started it, I'll be reading it next weekend when we go camping! 

I've been counting calories for a few months now, so my typical morning breakfast consists of egg whites, turkey, ezekial toast, and strawberry jelly. Lunches and dinners vary, but my breakfast is basically the same every day. Although admittedly, I've had my fair share of sweets over Christmas too. 

Nothing! After Christmas, I'm on a spending hiatus, and not buying a thing. (Other than groceries sometime this weekend.)

That I'm going to enjoy the next few days home. Today, we come home from San Antonio, and DJ has off until the 11th. We're going to enjoy some family time this weekend, I'll work a few days next week, and then we're heading off on a camping trip. Right now, I'm just glad that football season is finally over! 

All the leggings and sweatshirts. 

I'm currently listening to a movie on YouTube about Anne Frank. I asked the girls what they wanted to learn about in January, and Megan mentioned Anne Frank so we'll be watching some documentaries about her. 

In the car, we have the Hamilton soundtrack on repeat. 

All the water. I feel like since Christmas, I haven't been able to flush the salt out of my system, so I'm drinking all the water. 

Part of me is wanting to get back in to a routine. In December, our homeschool routine was out of the ordinary, so I'm really hoping we can get back in to a good routine without having to stop and start. Because I do teletherapy from home a few days a week, I feel like we are just getting started before we get interrupted. 

Getting back into a good blogging routine. I'm working on brainstorming some post ideas, and re-focusing on the blog. I'm also working on some oily classes for my team.

If you have blog posts topics you want to see, please leave a comment and share!

Happy Wednesday! 

 

Christmas Day

Christmas day was just the day that we needed. It's like time slowed down and just the 5 of us were together and it was perfection. 

The girls woke up insanely early. Like 3 am. I heard one of them in the bathroom and yelled for them to go back to sleep there was no way we were getting up that early to open presents! I dozed off and heard them a few times again, but I refused to wake up. Finally, at 6:15, I rolled over and decided they had waited long enough. Because all of them were awake. Apparently, Megan and Adalyn woke Gretchen up at 4 am. This is 100% why we wrap Santa presents. They come downstairs and peek around, but other than seeing presents, they get zero until we are awake. 

Once we let them downstairs, they searched for the Christmas pickle. Gretchen thought it would be super easy to find this year because it's green and our tree is flocked. I hid it on the inside and they took several minutes to actually find it! Megan was the winner and was the first to open a present. 

And from then on, they were handed gifts one at a time to open. Gretchen received a 3D Harry Potter castle puzzle. 

Adalyn asked for lots of Frozen II stuff and legos. Santa found a combined set which was perfect. 

Gretchen's big gift was the Fuji printer so she can print photos straight from her phone. 

And she received lots of beads, looms, and bracelet making supplies. 

Megan asked for Operation. She also received Barbies and a rock painting kit. 

Her big gift caused so much stress this year. She told me in November that she wanted the Our Generation schoolhouse set. I priced it, and they had 1 left and I decided to wait. Then, I couldn't find it again! Like, it was 100% gone, sold out. It wasn't on Target's website and the salesperson in store couldn't find it either, so he assumed it was discontinued. 

That led us in to a back up plan, and DJ found a telescope that connects to your cell phone. Megan loves space and it was the perfect back up present. Until we waited for payday to order it and realized it didn't actually ship with Amazon prime and wouldn't arrive until sometime in January. We searched and searched and finally paid expedited shipping ($80.00) for it to arrive before Christmas. After we got it ordered, I ran to Target with Adalyn, and found not 1, but 2 Our Generation Schoolhouse sets on the store shelf. Sigh. 

The Wednesday before Christmas came and went, and when I checked Amazon, the shipping update was that the telescope would arrive sometime after Christmas but before New Years. 

We talked about wrapping the picture, but poor Megan always seems to get screwed over somehow.... so, DJ went back to Target on Christmas Eve and thankfully they had 1 schoolhouse left on the shelf. 

So, Megan got the schoolhouse after lots of drama on our end, and the telescope is coming at some point for a family gift. 

This year the girls were really in to giving each other presents. They typically hand make something or find a toy we already have and wrap it, but this year, they spent their own money and each bought each other a present. After Adalyn opened Gretchen's gift, they hugged and it completely melted my heart. 

Adalyn received clothes for Christmas last year and she was so mad! She instantly tossed them aside and was not happy at all. So, of course, she had to get clothes again this year too. She was a little more thankful, but I told her she's going to get clothes every single Christmas from now on- ha! 

Megan has been wanting a mermaid tail for years, and Gee and Papaw came through and bought her one. She was hooked! She kept her mermaid tail on the entire day! 

This girl was over the moon. 

My parents bought Adalyn a "kid ballet baby" and Addy is smitten. 

After presents, it was time for stockings. 

Stocking gifts are the one thing we don't wrap. I had never heard of wrapping stocking gifts until I was married, but apparently, it's a thing :) Usually by the time we open stockings, the girls are over unwrapping and they love just reaching in and pulling out all of the goodies. 

After all of the presents and stockings were open, we had our North Pole Breakfast. I shared yesterday that we usually have this on Christmas Eve, but DJ had football practice Christmas Eve morning, so our elves set it up for us for Christmas morning. 

I made bacon and french toast for us. 

This girl doesn't like syrup. 

We also had cookies and hot cocoa bombs! 

After breakfast, DJ and Adalyn got to work setting up Adalyn's LOL dollhouse. 

We cleaned up all of the mess, and then I realized that I didn't have a picture of the girls in their Christmas pj's, so we took a few. 

We kept Christmas lunch super simple.

After lunch, we opened our hot cocoa bombs. 

Once you add the milk, the chocolate cracks open, and out comes the marshmallows and cocoa mix. 

And just for fun, we added a snowman marshmallow. 

Adalyn received a new doll stroller and pushed her babies around in it. 

We spent the afternoon playing and relaxing. DJ's uncle and one of his staff members came over for Christmas dinner and we were later joined by DJ's cousin and her boys. We talked well in to the evening. 

Once everyone left, it was time for bed, and we were exhausted! By we, I mean me. Adalyn wore her new pj's and matched her AG doll. 

And Megan decided she needed to match her doll too. 

We sent them off to bed, and soon followed! 

It was a wonderful Christmas day, just being home and being together.