Happy Birthday/Merry Christmas!

What an exciting month!

Nolan turns the big 5 tomorrow. Scott and I were talking, and we said that five just seems so big. He's now school-aged. Where did the time go!? We both got quite emotional as we looked back on videos, went through his monthly pictures, and talked about ways he has changed and stayed the same over time. 

The eyes stayed the same piercing gray, while the hair has turned darker and chins have disappeared. He thoroughly enjoys building through legos or constructing projects out of tape and random things around our house. He is easily amused, has big emotions, and needs things to work out the way he plans them in his head. We enjoy his spirit, attention to detail, and constant drive to get answers.  He still plays hockey, though these late nights/busy holiday season had him lying in the net most of last practice. I feel ya, bud.   He also is making big leaps in swimming! He enjoys swimming underwater and jumping in unassisted.  It has taken a while to get here, as he is a kid that does not take our word for his limits. 

He adores his little brother, but I think his little brother adores him exponentially more. While Nolan is at school, Isaac talks to his pictures on the wall, pictures on the computer, and eagerly awaits for him to come in to the car at pickup (he lets out a big coo every time Nolan enters). 

As Nolan turns five and Isaac is clearly on the upswing to one, I just want to formally request for time to slow down so we can savor these cheeks a little more and enjoy them being little. Isaac just got two teeth, and is thoroughly loving this big-kid life in the high chair (he'll scream at you if you even think about taking away his food before he is finished).  He fights sleep, and has a serious fear of missing out on something. He has mastered sitting independently, and gets so angry when Nolan finds the sweet spot of being just out of reach.  

I dread the constant running around/tasks of this month, but am looking forward to unplugging, unwinding, and just spending time together as a family during break.

So, if you've made it this far, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season! 

Love,

Birth-mas Adventures

I was talking to a friend and complaining that I haven't really been home much over Christmas Break and felt a bit exhausted. Then, while I took a much-needed nap on the couch, Scott worked on this during his last day of vacation.

I can't quite find the "measure" (Nolan's new favorite question) to say how much I appreciate that he takes notes/documentation of all our little moments.  Here's a little 3 minute snippet into our vacation time, Christmas, and Birthday.

We hope you had some enjoyable moments with your loved ones.  We aren't ready to go back to work, but do know that 2019 is going to be a busy year!

Surviving the Holidays & Resolutions

Well, today is the last day of our vacation.  I'm definitely sad to see the return come so quickly, but I'm somewhat ready to get back in the routine. I just am not looking forward to the drive that comes with that routine.

Our first holiday together went smoothly.  We have done the whole sharing holidays with multiple families for a few years now, so this one wasn't all that different.  Sadly, schedules forced us to miss one of the Christmas', but we were able to successfully get to four others.

In the middle, we did take a short vacation in Canada (thanks to Scott's family).  For some reason, I've married into a family that decides to travel north during the cold months rather than south. ;) It's okay, it's always a pleasant trip.

Some pictures from the trip:

Butterfly Conservatory

The Gorge

While the new year has just begun, I have already accomplished something on my bucket list:

We went skiing! Sorry, we didn't get any action shots.  Don't we look darling in our helmets?  :P

I suppose bucket lists makes a nice transition to New Years Resolutions. I just asked Scott his, and he replied, "I don't have one."  I don't know if I have some "new" resolutions, but I do like to keep goals throughout the year.  They're basically on-going and have been for a few years... things like trying something new (skiing), eating healthier, exercising more, becoming more organized in my classroom, etc.  However, after watching Wheel of Fortune, I think I'll copy Vanna White's resolution.  She said that she wants to make a new recipe every week.  I feel like I've done that numerous times over break, but I like this goal.  Unfortunately, I'm not home to cook much for the week, so I'm going to say that I'll create (well, copy), one amazing meal per month. Or, at least cook an entire meal that I hope to be amazing.  Don't worry, I'll share.

While this isn't my amazing meal of the month for January, I did make a new recipe tonight: Chicken Spinach Pasta Bake.  Here's a link if you want to try it.  It was an odd concoction, but good.  It should make for decent leftovers for Scott during the week.  Feel free to share your favorites.

Well, I have an early night planned, as school starts in the morning.  Happy New Year! :)

They picked the right resolution. 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is fast approaching.  Thankfully, Scott and I are all set to go.  I just need to figure out a couple of desserts to bring to the family gatherings.  This year, we'll have four Christmas celebrations and one trip to the "Great White North."

Scott's on break, and it's been wonderful to have some quality time together. He successfully completed his first semester of second year. I have four days to go... but the students are so ready for break. They are getting frustrated with one another (lots of tattling) and have decided they no longer care what I'm teaching.   They were probably ready for break a week ago. So, this week will be a bit rough.

To get us all through the last work week before the holidays, here's a lovely homemade e-card form us. This wasn't some fancy website either.  Scott started from scratch using Photoshop.  Enjoy!

We went and got the kitties their Christmas present: cute sweaters, hats, and scarves.  Yep, we're those people.

I'm pretty sure they were slightly disappointed this Christmas.  Really disappointed (see previous post)

Love,

Decorating: Part II

If you remember from my last post, I was a little disappointed that I didn't have a Christmas tree this year.  I was making do, but Scott must have noticed our house was lacking a little bit of Christmas cheer (or just didn't want me whining on here about not having a Christmas tree). I got home on Friday night from work, and Scott said that he noticed Meijer had a 4 ft. tree on sale for $25.  Obviously, I was pretty psyched. Knowing that we'll be shifting from apartment to apartment over the next few years, a small tree seemed like a perfect choice. So, we went off and bought the tree.

We were slightly disappointed by the extremely small box... but it was a tree. Now, if you remember from last time, Scott insisted that we shouldn't have a tree because we have two little terrors, I mean, adorable kitties, and won't be home much to control them.  But, they were eager to help out.

We bought some ribbons for decoration and ornaments...  (Side note: Ribbons can make surprisingly nice tree toppers if I do say so myself) and got it all set up.   It's really short...and we're convinced it's not actually four feet... but it works perfectly for our cozy little house.

While all our ornaments could be categorized as our first Christmas since they're all new to us, we did need something to add that "special touch."

Our presents are finally all wrapped. :)

While this all looks nice and merry, it is time to give Scott some "I told you so" credit.  While he was very humble, he was 100% correct.  Trees and cats don't mix.  Apparently, they had their own Christmas party while we were sleeping.  I woke up the next morning and counted 15 ornaments on the ground.  Today, we at least lessened the count to 12.

Don't worry, though... tomorrow, I take our little guys to the vet to get castrated. Our tree may look pretty for a while, but I'm pretty sure our kitties will be very angry.  Right now, they are convinced we won't hurt them.  They're starting to just stare back when we try to spray them away from the counters, food, etc. It's pathetic.  They're spoiled.

I'm sure we'll be getting Floyd's glare quite frequently after this week..

On another completely unrelated topic, two weeks until my break and 5 days until Scott will be on break. :) We're looking forward to some much-needed husband/wife time.

Love,

'Tis the Season for Decorating

I love Christmas.  My husband wouldn't let me a buy a Christmas tree this year.  We're moving in June.. so the reasoning makes sense.  He also says he doesn't want it because we have kittens.  We're going to have cats for along time, so I'm not letting that be a valid excuse. Anyway, it definitely puts a damper on my favorite parts of Christmas.  (In Scott's defense, he did just let me steal his old tree from his room at his parents.  It's about a foot tall, and was decorated with some sparkly pipe cleaners...).

I love the decorating around Christmas.  I revamped my mom's Christmas tree in high school.  We took away the ornaments made in elementary school (or at least all that she would let us) and added a nice color theme, only white lights, and some silver ribbons.  By the way, ribbons on a tree look gorgeous. I could only find this picture of the tree...from when I got my fancy camera.

 My old college roommate was so into Christmas.  Seriously, I've never seen a family with so many Christmas decorations. By the time she was in college, she already had a 6 foot tree that we eagerly decorated every Christmas.  There were ribbons, ornaments, lights, random Santa Claus decorations, the works.  The Christmas cheer in our apartment was always obvious.

Since I don't have a fancy tree to decorate (except for my lovely 1-footer), I've spent extra time wrapping gifts.  If I'm being totally honest, my favorite part of gift giving is wrapping the gifts.  Of course, I love the smile on the receiving end, but wrapping is so fun! I've decided to share a tutorial on how to get lovely DIY bows.  There are plenty of other tutorials out there for this exact thing, but I'm adding some holiday cheer to my blog.

First, you need scissors, ribbon (I prefer the thicker kind), and a wrapped gift.

Now, wrap the ribbon around the present both "hot dog style" and hamburger style."  I just tapped down my ends, instead of knotting it so that you can add the lovely bow at the end.

Now, cut a ribbon that is about half the width of your original ribbon and about 8 inches long.

Now, you need to circle the ribbon around so that you have about seven or eight layers, depending on how big you want your bow.

This is what it looks like flattened.

Using your scissors, cut two 1/4 inch slits in the center of your layered ribbon, 1 on each side.  Don't cut too deep, or the bow will fall apart.

Secure the layered ribbon with your thin 8-inch long ribbon.  It will sit right at the slits.   I made a double knot.

Tie your bow onto the cross section of your present.  Don't worry, it will cover up the tape at the end.

Now for the lovely bow...

Pull apart the layered ribbon, starting from the inside on each side.  You can move them around to whatever look you desire.

Curl any of the ends so that they blend in with the bow (or use this for any parts that may have fallen out).  

Add the finishing touches... 

And, voila, the final product. :)

To Scott's family, one of these is yours. :)
To my Secret Santa, the other is yours. :)

Enjoy!