Christmas Break

I couldn't let our Christmas go undocumented so better late than never :)

We celebrated our Christmas on the 23rd.  Santa just happened to be in our neighborhood a little early so we were happy he stopped by.  We woke up to a thick dusting of snow and gifts to open.  It was the perfect quiet day at home.  We stayed in our pjs, ate yummy food and played with all of our new toys.

We headed out of town on Christmas Eve to spend the week with our families.  The weather was freezing, but we still had a great time.  We packed in a lot of fun and down time.  We've learned it's just not any fun to go go go every day with little kids.  For the second year in a row, Fletcher came home from Christmas break with a stomach bug.  Here's to hoping he doesn't share.

A few real life highs and lows of Christmas break:

LOWS:
1. Fletcher found a pink highlighter and colored an entire WHITE couch cushion hot pink at my inlaws.  Quiet 1 year olds = trouble.  Thankfully my MIL had some cleaner that got it all out.  I almost died when I saw it.
2. Both kids came home sick - colds & stomach bugs (2nd year in a row for Fletcher).
3. Our cat, Oliver, was a total pain to our kittysitter and we got some phone calls about it.
4. The temps were freezing or below freezing so we stressed a bit about making sure our pipes didn't freeze at home while we were out of town.

HIGHS:
1. We all slept better than usual this trip.
2. We got some surprise gifts that were really exciting.
3. We got to snuggle our newest baby nephew and visit w family that isn't always in town.
4. I found some great deals at my favorite stores & made it to Target three different times.
5. We squeezed in a couple of birthdays, lunch dates, friend gatherings and family parties.
6. Kevin and I both took turns doing solo things that we enjoy while the other hung out with the kids.  We've learned that kids don't enjoy having tons of plans every day so it was nice to do some fun things and let them just hang out to play with their toys.

Christmas tree lunch:

Plate of goodies from our neighbors.  They make all of their own cookies, chocolates and treats.

We worked on our letter to Santa, baked him cookies and got everything read for him to come.

The kids LOVED their gifts.
Hatchimals, mermaids, doll house and a purse were Olive's favorites.
Race track, cars, toothbrush and a vacuum were Fletcher's favorites.

 They also got mini snow shovels and insisted on trying them out in their pjs.

Easy Santa breakfast.

We saw Christmas lights with some friends.

Then we headed to Southern IN on the 24th.  Kevin's mom had her house decked out so cute.

 The 24th is our engagement anniversary so it was fun to have a little snow to celebrate.

We got to snuggle our new nephew and the kids loved opening gifts.

Twas the Night before Christmas...

Play hard.  Nap hard.

We had Christmas lunch at Kevin's grandparent's house.  My kids are obsessed with their tinsel covered tree, dishes of chocolates scattered all throughout the house, dancing Santa and delicious food.  We look forward to this gathering every year.

We headed to Christmas with my family for an early dinner.  The cousins always have the best time together.

My mom set a pretty table.

My sister made some delicious Mint Chocolate Chip Blossom cookies.

Fletcher got to sit with the big kids and he had NO PROBLEM keeping up with them.

Our traditional Christmas meal.

We celebrated my nephew's bday on the 26th.
The kids had a fun time celebrating Austin and making cars out of candy.
Fletcher just shoved as much candy as possible into his mouth while everyone else built.

We enjoyed the Christmasy views.  Fletcher kept taking the ball ornaments off this tree and throwing them like really balls.  Luckily they aren't fragile.

We got donuts a time or two.

We planned a girl's shopping day in honor of my sister's December birthday and we had so much fun.  We hit our favorite stores, got lunch and the day flew by.  It was definitely a highlight of our visit.

He wouldn't nap for his dad, but made googly eyes at me when I got home to rescue him.  He's a mama's boy for sure.

We met some friends for dinner and dessert.

Caught up on some cute movies on Netflix.

Rode the carousel at the mall.

We baked Christmas cookies with the official sprinkler :)

How was your Christmas break??

Best Recipes of 2017

I've loved sharing recipes with you all over the years.

It makes me so happy to get a comment or a message saying that you've tried my recipe and loved it.  Thank you for the feedback.  I won't be doing an official recipe round up the last week of each month anymore, but you can be guaranteed that I'll still be sharing lots of yummy recipes.

Here's a little round up of my top recipes from 2017.  I've made each of these multiple times and they've all been added to my recipe box of family favorites.

Summer Pound Cake
(recipe here)

Omelets
(recipe & tips here)
I finally mastered making omelets and am so proud!

Cheeseburger Quesadillas
(recipe here)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
(recipe here)

Stuffed Pepper Casserole
(recipe here)

Teriyaki Turkey Stir Fry
(recipe here)

Homemade Pizza
(recipe here)

Banana Cake with Caramel Frosting
(recipe here)

Roasted Veggie Frittata
(recipe here)

I really enjoyed making fun kid food for my kids this year.  I definitely don't do this every day so they think it's a fun treat when I do.

What was your best recipe of 2017??

Did you try any of these recipes?

The Best of 2017

2017 seems to have just flown by for us.  It was one of our most low key, boring years to date in the best kind of way.  No major moves, exciting changes and settling into our life in the Midwest.  It really was a wonderful year and I'm thankful for that.

Here's a little recap of the highlights from 2017:

1. We have worked really hard to make friends!
Olive has a great group of friends and so do I.  Hooray!  Life is better with good friends.

2. Learning with the kids.
We've participated in so many great things together at the library, children's museum, science class, Duplo class, kid yoga and Olive started preschool this year.  I was a little nervous about this transition to school, but she loves going and is really thriving there.  I am so thankful to spend my days with Olive & Fletcher.

3. Travel
We have visited new cities like Chattanooga, gone on several road trips and flown down to Florida twice.  The kids are great travelers.  I'm a great packer/planner and Kevin is a great deal hunter/navigator/driver.  We've got a fun system going and are looking forward to some new adventures together in 2018.

4. Our family traditions are going strong.
We've established lots of fun traditions with our little family.  Things at the country club, things at our house and local things like apple picking, festivals and holidays.

5. Kevin's is doing great at work.
His year end review went like this... AHEAD OF THE GAME AND EXCEEDING ALL EXPECTATIONS!  Way to go, Kev!!  He's writing, publishing, got his research lab up and running, teaching, counseling, advising, collaborating, consulting and doing a ton to help out in his department.  He's zooming along on the road to tenure and we're so proud of him.

6. House projects.
Our house projects are coming along nicely.  We did a ton of yard work this year, a few inside projects and Kevin purchased some new tools to tackle some new things this coming year.

Picture highlights from 2017:

Thank you for reading along, commenting, encouraging and interacting with my blog!  Blogging in one of my favorite hobbies and it's so rewarding when people enjoy what you do.  Looking forward to some fun things and new content in the coming year!!