Christmas Festivities

Christmas has come and gone; we celebrated and enjoyed family time. We did the traditions; we visited family, and now we are back to school and work  and diving head first in to life. 

I always like to spend some time wrapping up the Christmas fun, so the girls will have something to look back on when they're bigger. So, I'm going to spend the next few days wrapping up the festivities, and then get to blogging again, and maybe a more regular schedule. My hopes going in to the year, is that I can have blog posts releasing on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So, if you're a regular reader, first, thank you, and second, new content is coming for you!

Alright, let's dig in to Christmas! 

The girls had a half day on the 17th of December and then they were out for Christmas break. We saw Santa on Sunday, and then I worked Monday and Tuesday, which turned out to be horrible work days, because half of my clients were out, and then most that had scheduled either no showed or cancelled. I told myself that I'll take 2 weeks off next year regardless. 

Megan had gymnastics every day of Christmas break up until Christmas Eve. While she was practicing, these girls and I were wrapping gifts and trying to get some last minute things done. They decided to sit under the Christmas tree and remind me that they're gifts too. 

On Thursday night we cooked gumbo and had our Texas family over for Christmas. It's crazy that we've never lived near family before and now we have a cousin, her kids, and an aunt close by. We also have an uncle that comes to visit, and it's wonderful that we get to spend time with them! 

After gumbo, we exchanged a few presents. Adalyn's face was the best. 

New games, new fidgets, and more. 

Aunt Gina taught Gretchen how to play the game she bought her. They stayed up until 10 playing, and then I sent Gretchen to bed, because our elves had some work to do. 

Our Elves on the Shelf (yes, we have two) set up a breakfast for the girls every year. We usually have this breakfast on Christmas Eve. It gives us something fun to wake up to, and there are usually some activities that can help keep the girls busy throughout the day.

One of our elves even came dressed as milk! 

I used bottle brush trees that were in the playroom, and found red, pink, and green confetti. There was also a "snowball" stand for some snowball fights. 

Each little plate had a tree party hat, a snowman hot cocoa bomb, and a party cracker. 

I found red, pink, and green cutlery at Wal-Mart (and then washed it so we can use it again next year.)

Our elves brought some chocolates, and a gingerbread stadium. 

Before breakfast, Megan played with dominos- this year, we had to wait on big sis to wake up! 

Hot milk and hot cocoa bombs. 

I made gingerbread waffles for breakfast. Some years we've done doughnuts, or just fruit and cinnamon rolls, but when I found a dash waffle iron with gingerbread, I knew it would be perfect for our breakfast. 

After breakfast, we cleaned up, enjoyed some family time, and then made our gingerbread stadium. 

I' not sure if it was easier or harder than a typical gingerbread house, but if you're a football family, then I'm pretty sure you're required to buy the stadium now versus the traditional house. 

We cleaned up for Christmas Eve service at church. 

The candlelight service was wonderful, but Megan is never a fan of fire. Bless her. 

Merry Christmas from our little fam......

After church we went home and had a dinner of salami, fruits, crackers, spinach dip, and meats and cheeses. I started doing this for Christmas Eve and it's so much easier than baking a big meal for just the 5 of us. 

3 girls (not so little anymore) ready to head out to look at lights. 

I'm a little sad that our pj & lights night didn't happen earlier in the month. but with gymnastics, holiday parties, church and more, we just didn't have the time to squeeze it in. So, we went out on Christmas Eve night to look at lights in our pjs 

We came home and sprinkled reindeer food in the yard. set out Santa's key (since we don't have a fireplace.) and said goodbye to our elves. 

We set out freshly baked (store bought) cookies for Santa... I asked the girls if they wanted to make homemade cookies, and they all said no! Thankfully, I had bought a pack of cookies from the store earlier in the week (that were gluten free) in case we needed them.

The girls said goodbye to our elves. We always let them play with them on Christmas Eve, because the elves fly home with Santa, so they technically don't need their magic ;) 

And it dawned on me, that the magic of our elves won't be around much longer. 

After saying good-bye, we curled up and read The Night Before Christmas.

The girls made it to bed fairly early on Christmas Eve. I was shocked they didn't stay up past 10, but we sent them to bed a little after 9, and by 10, they were sound asleep. 

Santa came and we were ready for Christmas morning! 

 

It's Christmas Time

It's Christmas week, and friends, I am still not ready for Saturday! Are you?!

 Earlier this month I decided to "declutter" Christmas if you will. We typically try to squeeze in some holiday fun daily in December, and this year, my heart just wasn't in it. I just wanted to slow down. Life has been crazy, and I didn't need the holidays to be jam packed either. And, it's the best thing I could have done.  

Don't get me wrong, we've been busy, but piling in the extras on top of the other events just didn't feel good this year, and looking back, while some of our usual memories weren't made and traditions weren't had, we made some new memories and maybe even new traditions that we weren't planning on. It's just been a good change and a refreshing change of pace. 

 I hosted a cookie exchange earlier this month and I'm so glad I did! I have friends from all these little groups and it was wonderful to bring them all together; some of them I had only met on social media! But. we all agreed it was needed and so good to just be together and away from kids and responsiblities. 

I made krinkle cookies and sourdough banana bread- yum! 

As well as chocolate covered potato chips- double yum! 

We had fresh baked sourdough, dip, and a charcuterie board, as well as hot chocolate, wine, and lots and lots of cookies! 

DJ and I attended UT's athletic department Christmas party, and had a great time seeing everyone. 

We had food and drinks and we were able to catch up with some staff members who are returning to Texas and chat with friends; it was a great night out! 

And how fun is this balloon Hook 'em?! It was set up for recruiting and I had to get a picture. 

On Wednesday night, we had a signing day party with the staff; and again, it was fun to have a night out, but I was beat the next day! 

And on Friday, we celebrated 16 years of marriage with a date night to Steiner Ranch steakhouse, and then we looked at Christmas lights in Round Rock. 

The trees were so pretty! 

Sunday afternoon we managed to squeeze in our visit to Santa! I'm not sure how many more years the girls will tolerate this, so I'm cherishing it now as much as I can! 

We walked around Bass Pro and then had lunch at Hat Creek, because that's what we did last year. It's funny that I didn't remember that, but Megan sure did! 

As we've slowed down this Christmas and not tried to "do it all" we've really been blessed. I'm not stressed trying to make the holidays perfect and we'll make sure we have time for our super important traditions and just let go of the rest, and it might be the best gift of all this holiday season. 

 

December Life Lately

Once the girls got back from Arkansas & Branson on Thanksgiving break, we hit the ground running and life has been busy. Which is why the blog is so quiet. 

Gee bought the girls their Christmas pj's, and they looked adorable matching when they had a pj day at school. 

We went to a bowling birthday party on the 5th and the girls had so much fun! 

And I came home and changed, and just happened to put on a matching outfit with Gretchen so I made her take a picture with me. Also, she is now taller than I am. 

Silly selfies after school. 

Gretchen had her school dance recital, and we all went to watch and cheer her on. 

Her group was even chosen to perform their own choreographed piece! 

These girls wore matching outfits (as best as they could match) to church last Sunday! And, Adalyn's glasses are 100% fake; she bought them over Thanksgiving break, and told me she's saving them for 4th grade, but I told her she might as well wear them now. 

Sweet girls and their dad walking in to church together. 

I took Megan Christmas shopping so she could buy her dad a present, and I had her show me a few toys she might want for Christmas (because she's been the hardest to buy for two years running) and she found this gymnast cabbage patch doll that "is just like me!", and if I can find it when I go back to Target to finish Christmas shopping, it will be under our tree. 

That's been life lately. This week is full of Christmas parties and all the last week of school things! 

 

Marshmallow Play Doh

Adalyn's 3rd grade class, created an activity book for winter break fun! Each kiddo created a page and came up with an activity to be shared in the book, and we found an idea for Marshmallow Play Doh! She thought it sounded like the best idea ever, so we thought we'd share with y'all too, in case you need some winter break or snowy day fun! 

What You'll Need:

Marshmallows

Coconut Oil

Corn Starch

Food Coloring

What You'll Do:

Heat marshmallows on the stove using low heat, and stir constantly. Add 1 tspn of coconut oil and stir in as marshmallows melt. Add 3 tbspn corn starch, food coloring, and mix, mix, mix. 

We opted for a green color for Christmas! 

Let it cool then start playing! 

Our dough was oily, so make sure you don't play on a surface that can't be cleaned easily! Store in an air tight container!

Let us know if you try this activity!