Our Christmas Break was just what the doctor ordered. Before the holidays, I was crazy stressed, overwhelmed, and felt life spinning out of control. I needed to slow down and enjoy my family and reset. And y'all, that is exactly what we did! It was so needed and I feel so encouraged going in to the New Year.
If you've been away for a while, you can check out our bowl trip recaps, our Christmas Eve, and our Christmas Day. I thought I'd take today and recap all of the extras that we did over the break.
The day after Christmas, my parents and brother headed home to Arkansas, and we realized it was unseasonably warm outside. I suggested to DJ that we hike Turkey Mountain. It's located right outside of Tulsa, and several of our friends have been, but I've always been to daunted to take the girls by myself. (I had thought about taking them this summer.)
So, we all got dressed, grabbed a bite to eat, and made it to Turkey Mountain.
There are several trails that you can take, and I was thinking we would do a very quick trail, but the girls asked to do a longer trail, so I obliged despite my overstuffed from Christmas belly. I brought my Ergo so Adalyn wouldn't have to walk. We were planning on hiking 1.5 miles, and I didn't think 3 year old Addy could handle that hike on her own. Thankfully, she's still well within the weight limits and light enough to carry.
Eventually she did want to get down and walk. The girls took turn looking for trail markers and leading our group.
And after they walked the long trail (and we made a bathroom stop) the girls asked to hike the shorter trail! At the end of the shorter trail, they found the perfect rocks to climb on.
By the time we were finished, the sun was going down and it was getting cooler. The parking lot was also almost empty! It was packed when we arrived!
I was so proud of this girl! Well, all of the girls! None of them complained during our hike!
Woohoo! We did it!
The next day, I needed all of the motivation, because DJ and I decided to conquer the Christmas decorations. We spent the day taking down outside lights, the Christmas tree, and all of the decorations. By the end of the day, our house was clutter free and clean again, and I felt 100 lbs lighter.
Our Christmas break was spent with some lazy mornings, and are sleeping schedules were way off! We went to bed late, slept late, and Addy skipped her scheduled naps and opted to fall asleep in the late afternoon. Which just lead to an even later bedtime!
But, the cuddles were so worth it!
Wednesday afternoon, we took the girls to Georgia's Arts & Crafts Studio. We celebrated Gretchen's 5th birthday there and haven't found the time to go back. And y'all, that was about 4 years ago! Wow!
Each of the girls picked out a piece to paint, and I picked out a plate.
Adalyn chose a horse. She loves horses!
I have been wanting a "Happy Everything" plate forever, so I decided that we would make our own. I put each of the girls handprints on the plate, and added polk-a-dots. Our pieces were left at the art studio so they could be fired and we'll pick them up later this week. Everything will look much brighter than when we left it!
Thursday, I realized that I have the "best job ever!" I absolutely love being a speech therapist in the schools, but right now, my heart is truly with my Young Living people. Watching people that were honestly perfect strangers 2 years ago, smashing down walls, and meeting goals, and working together, and just loving. Y'all, that is where it is at. Young Living has fulfilled a part of me that I didn't even know was missing.
We had planned for zero road trips over the break. I wanted to stay home and enjoy my people, but we realized that if we didn't make a quick trip to DJ's parents house, then it would be months before we would see them again.... and our Christmas gifts would be too expensive for them to ship. So, we loaded up ourselves, and our pup, for a weekend trip to Arkansas.
When we arrived we were also greeted by DJ's sister and our niece and nephew. It was so good to see them! We exchanged Christmas presents, and the girls made out with some craft projects! We are going to need a serious snow day or two to get them all completed!
Gretchen received an origami flower garden. Earlier this year, she took up origami.
And all of the girls received these little picture frames with a picture of them and their grandparents.
Adalyn received a huge cardboard house that the girls will get to color!
And Gretchen received a "dream board" kit.
After dinner, it was bedtime!
The next day, we got out of the house and went to the local park.
The girls had so much fun playing!
We just chilled out because grandparents were there to entertain!
Matching messy buns!!!
She was being a stink and didn't want to look at the camera for a photo!
After some park time, we headed out for pizza and to watch the Alabama football game.
Once we made it home, Adalyn took a 3 hour nap and we finally had to wake her up! We had dinner and let the girls try to stay up to midnight.
We were all in our pj's and ready to ring in the New Year!
By 10, we had already lost one!
Less than 30 minutes later, Gretchen was out, but Adalyn was awake to ring in the New Year with us!
We loaded up Sunday morning and headed home.
But first, we made a quick detour to Branson. I had bought DJ a shirt that was a size too big- oops! And since we were sort of in the area, we decided to stop and exchange it. We had lunch and stopped for pictures with the gorilla at Branson Landing.
And no lie, this was totally unprompted! Megan reached over and touched that giant gorillas nipple and we all died laughing.
We sat Adalyn on the gorilla's hand, and she jumped off. I tried getting a picture of her sitting, but got her mid-jump instead!
The rest of Sunday was spent in very close quarters driving home!
We still have two more days of Christmas break. We all go back to work and school on Wednesday. And, y'all, I am not ready. The perfect combination of late nights, late mornings, lazy days, productive days, and family time are just what my heart desires.
We plan on spending our last two days just like the other days. And then getting back in to the grind on Wednesday!
