Feasts, Noise, and Toys

Christmas came and went with its usual excitement. There was plenty of snow, a few parties with friends and family, and pounds of yummy food.


The third grade at Jade's school put on a pirate themed Christmas program before she went off track.
Nate's mom put on a snowman themed party for the kids. They ate gilled cheese sandwiches drank hot cocoa. She gave them each a new pair of pajamas and a bag of goodies to open until Christmas.


We made a trip to Gardner Village to see the elves. We completed a scavenger hunt rewarded by a candy stick at Sweet Afton's and finished off the afternoon with hot soup and bread at the Naborhood Bakery.


Grandma and Grandpa came over for a baking day. So we all donned aprons and broke in the new kitchen.

We spent Christmas Eve at home with Grandma and Grandpa where we enjoyed good music, food, and a few gifts. My mom wrapped up each of our favorite foods and we had fun guessing what it was. The kids left out a plate with Twinkies and a Cherry Coke for Santa and headed to bed. Nate assured them that Santa would enjoy the menu change. For the first time, Logan seemed to really understand what would happen in the morning, and kept peeking out his window hoping to see Santa.

There were a few surprises in the morning. Santa forgot to take the training wheels off of Logan's new bike. It sure did make it easier for him to ride it all over the basement though. It's a whole lot taller than his little 12-incher!

We went to Nate's parents' house in the afternoon where their cousins' puppy was about all the entertainment needed.

Letter to Santa

Well my job is certainly easy this year!

I'll try to be brief

Since it's been a VERY LONG TIME since I've updated this blog and it's not because we haven't been doing anything worth writing about, but rather that we've been so busy that I haven't written, I'm going to make a list of all the noteworthy events in our household.


1. Jade ran in a 1-mile race and won 1st place in her age group, 3rd overall for female racers.


2. We celebrated Halloween with parties, parades, and trick or treating resulting in so much candy that Logan told someone we'd been to every house in the whole world and that he had about a million treats.


3. We closed on our new home.


4. We scrubbed our new home top to bottom and painted the cement basement floor. Now our kids can roller skate down there all winter.


5. We moved into our new home.


6. We enrolled Logan at his new elementary school.


7. We unpacked and put our house together in less than a week. I can't stand to live in disorder.


8. I started teaching piano lessons again.

9. We put a water softener into our new home. Hard water is the WORST!!! I've used a TON of Lime Away and haven't even made a dent in some of the hard water build up on the counters and in the master shower. The toilets and sinks are clean, thanks to a pumice stone.


10. My grandmother passed away peacefully at 90 years old... the last of my grandparents.




10. We enjoyed visits from all of my siblings who came into town from out of state for the funeral.



11. We celebrated Thanksgiving with visits to Nate's parents' house and mine. It was nice to visit my parents' house without all of our stuff cluttering it up! Aeris really misses them and she was so thrilled to be there that I let her skip her nap.

12. We decorated for Christmas. The last few years, I've struggled to find space for all my decorations, and now it feels like I don't have quite enough. I LOVE THIS HOUSE!!!


So that brings us to today, where we are trying to create some routine after a pretty crazy year. I hope it won't be so long before you hear from me again.