Oh what do you do when it's rainy and 55 degrees in January...
- You first feel a little gypped and confused about how your winter has been so not-wintery
- Then you stop that thinking immediately and realize how really kind of nice it is that you are
having a not-wintery winter
- Then you remember the amazing rain coats and boots you thrifted in the fall for a killer price for
your darling children...
- Then you remember your neglected camera!
- And then you forget all about wanting some snow and you go outside and enjoy some splashing
around and photo time with a couple adorable little puddle jumpers!
A few cooking tips I learned from Brinlee this morning listening to her play kitchen:
1. Once your Thanksgiving turkey is done cooking, put it in the kitchen sink for a while. That makes it nice and soft.
2. A good pie will generally bake for about 45 years 3. Adding a little salt to your orange juice will make it not so spicy 4. If your oven door falls off it's no big deal. You don't really need it anyway, you can just set it anywhere and fix it later 5. All ingredient lists should come complete with a picture of a Disney princess. Belle is preferable, but any will do. 6. Make sure you always squish watermelon and poor soda on your chicken. Well on your whole plate actually.
I mean really, these are just good things for everyone to know.
What do you get when you add "coming off of the holidays" jitters with cold, cold, cold, outside weather?
The answer: A couple little girls who are going a little stir crazy
Yes the post-Christmas slump has settled in, and although we really can't complain about our weather at all (yup, still no snow!), so far this new year does seem to be experimenting just a little with some really cold days. Definitely too cold to be out, which leaves us not many options.
The first few days of staying at home in jammies and playing with new Christmas toys were a dream come true! But it does get a little old, and the girls started to get a bit antsy for some entertainment. So that's when I got the books out, and before we knew it, we were through Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Brinlee adored the book, so naturally her little cup of joy was overflowing when we did our "bring the book to life" night. Our cast of characters this time:
Miss Brinlee Kay as Charlie Bucket
Madam McKenna as an Oompa Loompa
Mommy as Grandpa Joe
Both girls got a Wonka bar with a Golden Ticket invitation inside (a dream come true for our little Charlie). We had pizza for dinner, and then stuffed ourselves sick with candy while we watched good old Gene Wilder as Mr Willy Wonka. I wasn't sure how thrilled they would actually be with the movie, but it was a huge hit!
You know, I think these two get more cute, and more fun every day!
Sure love these sweet, smart, amazing little goof balls!
Well there's nothing quite like ringing in the the new year with a big old "I really should have thought that through better and possibly made a different choice" type mistake, right?
I mean, a new year can't stay nice and shiny forever.
Might as well break it in early and just go ahead and get that "shoulda, coulda" train rollin' right along those tracks.
Yup.
This happened today.
I think McKenna's face here says enough. But in case you were needing more clarification, when I said "Look! What do you think of your new hair-do?" She dropped her little head and squeaked out "Don't like it!"
So, it ended up a little short (read: it ended up a really awful, really short, terrible pixie cut-gone-wrong, uneven, choppy mess!). But if you comb it just right it almost has some potential?
And it still does fit some ponytails, thank goodness! When this piece of work really shines though is when she's sporting the morning bed head
Oh buddy. There it is! In all its "I really wish I hadn't done that!" glory!
Welcome 2017!
This is fitting though I suppose. Looking back and waving goodbye to this last year, I feel like I had an awful lot of bad hair cut, "I wish I had done that differently", type moments. Lots of times when I was surprised by myself, and saw things come out of me that I didn't know were there. And unfortunately, I didn't really like it.
Granted, last year did hand us a few very unexpected and really hard-to-handle things. Some of it resolved a bit, some of it has not.
I feel like a good chunk of 2016 was in rough draft mode - lots of errors, lots of trying to cross things out, and LOTS of wishing I could go back and rewrite some things. Lots of feeling like "this isn't how I pictured things going" and "my character and this story aren't developing in the way they should be". Lots of opening and closing those scissors only to look in the mirror and say "dang, that still looks bad!" And by the end of the year I think I had pretty much just thrown my whole draft away and kind of accepted that I needed a whole new angle... and it was going to take a LOT of work - more work than I had energy for by then. And so, "woulda, coulda", "wish I could rewrite", bad-hair cut-bed-head days were just how things were going to be for a while and, and that was the best I could do.
And that was ok.
But I'm not so sure that it's the best I can do any more. Maybe some days will still bring out the bedhead. Those days always seem to find their way around. But I'm hopeful that I can get better at not letting them be the norm.
Maybe try more humility, more patience, more faith, more happiness, and more love, and see if I can enjoy less pouting, less worry, less waiting, less frustration, and less regret.
Maybe have more "moving forward" days instead of "I wish I could go back" days.
It may be some slow going, but I think I'm ready to give the scissors a rest, pick up that pencil again, and give a different angle draft a fair shot.
So 2017, here's looking at you kid.
I've got my resources ready, my pencils sharpened, my highlighters handy, and my erasers prepped.
I also have my hairspray and styling gel fairly easily accessible, just in case :)
Fun for all, that children call, their favorite time of year!"
This year for Christmas our little family stayed at our own little home and did our own little thing.
It was kind of a bummer to not see any grandmas or grandpas or cousins. But it was also kind of nice to start a few traditions of our own and enjoy some festivities here. And enjoy them we did! Brinlee and I put together a December "to do" list and once daddy was done with finals, we stayed pretty busy and had a lot of fun crossing things off and soaking up our "favorite time of year"!
Shall we take a look?
Decorate the Tree: Check!
Once the tree was up it became the favorite place in the house. Because honestly, who doesn't love hanging out under there? It's magical! Unfortunately our busy girls loved it maybe a little too much? All month I watched the tree get progressively more bare and would find ornaments stashed with the toys all over the house.
Go see Christmas lights: Check!
We went to zoo lights! Columbus zoo is amazing all year round, but in the winter it really shines. Literally. They decorate the whole zoo with more lights than I have ever seen. Pictures don't do it justice, it was beautiful! But it was also freezing cold. Thank goodness our little ones are good little troopers. And thank goodness for hot cocoa!
Make a Christmas Craft: Check!
The girls and I cut and colored and glued all month I think. So fun! But I also had a ladies night Christmas craft night and made a candy Christmas tree. It was fun! But word for the wise, it's not the best decoration to have when you have little candy-loving busy bodies at home...
Have a red and green dinner: Check!
Have a living room sleepover: Check!
Watch a Christmas movie: Check!
(The girls thought Elf was ok, but they both LOVED The Polar Express!)
Make and share a Christmas Treat: Check!
Our whole month was full of yummy goodies. The highlight items though would have to be cinnamon rolls, sugar cookies, chips and homemade salsas, and homemade rolls and honey butter! Brinlee was particularly excited about the cookies... but was most willing to share the rolls.
Help Light the World: Check! String Popcorn: Check!
We had a lot of fun working on the church's Light the World goals. I got some cheap tags and had the girls help be the ones to decide what we could do for each day's goal. Then, when we did it we would write it on a tag and hang it on our tree. It was kind of fun to watch our tree fill up! And the girls were surprisingly into it!
Also, I let Brinlee string some popcorn. She loved it! But that one little string there is as much as she could sit still for :)
Write letters to Santa: Check!
Make Gingerbread Houses: Check!
Mmm... ok, more like "Eat a lot of frosting and candy! Oh... and maybe put a couple on my graham crackers too". There, now that's a check mark. It really is amazing those houses actually got any decor at all! And that our children didn't get terrible stomach aches.
Play a Christmas Game: Check!
Christmas BINGO - Always a classic!
Go for a relaxing walk or two?: Check!
Believe it or not, I actually did not think to put this one on a December "to-do" list. But had I known that we would be seeing zero snow and some surprisingly gorgeous weather, I may have included it. In any case, it happened. And it happened with a new stroller! Our old one bit the dust so Tim worked his Craigslist magic and found us this fancy jogging stroller. So far it has only seen any jogging from Tim, I'm more of the walking type. But we really like it. And it's purple, so the girls love it!
Have a candlelight Christmas Eve Dinner: Check!
Act out the Nativity: Check!
Well, we tried anyway... Classic attempt. Every family home video collection needs one like this.
Dinner was amazing though!
Christmas morning was magical! All month our front porch was flooded with packages from our amazing family, and when we finally got to take a peek at it all we felt completely spoiled! We were very well taken care of and got some awesome stuff! Thank you grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles. You are amazing and made these 4 people here in Ohio feel very blessed, and VERY loved! We love you all!
I know I've said it before, and I will gladly say it a thousand times more. I am SO grateful for the Christmas season and what it means for us. I taught the Christmas lesson this year for the young women and felt really kind of overwhelmed with a new appreciation and love for what the message really means. It truly is wonderful that our Savior was born, and that He then lived, and died, and lives again now, for us, and for our eternal happiness.
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor,
the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace"
Oh how I love him!
*This Christmas was brought to you by the Letter A and the Number 2!
As in Amazon and 2 day prime shipping
Bless you Amazon!
