NYE Projects & Fun

Recovering our breakfast table chairs has been on my "to do" list for a LONG time . . . and today Savannah was ready to tackle the project.  I started with the first one and just had Savannah help me, but honestly, it didn't turn out great.  So for the next chair, I just let Savannah take over and it turned out awesome.  She was like "I'll unscrew the bottom and gather the corners; I'd do the nail gun too if you'll let me."  Well she went to town and I became her assistant. :) 

 After tackling half of the chairs we went out for some fun at Chuck E Cheese!

Both kids had a BLAST!!  It's a rare treat that we get to go just spend some time playing games AND for mom to pay, but the kids really have been awesome over break so I thought they deserved some fun!  Plus, it is New Year's Eve. :)  Chuck E Cheese himself helped Savannah play Wheel of Fortune before being mobbed by little kids.  Just for the record, Preston was also in attendance, but he was running around so fast (not wanting to waste our 45 minutes of free play) I couldn't even get his picture! 

So we came home, finished the chairs, knocked a few more things off my never-ending list, had dinner, enjoyed bundt cake for dessert and are all ready to bring in 2019. 

2018 has been quite the year.  We are finally all feeling at home in our new house and are thankful to be happy and healthy too.  At dinner, the kids and I talked about a few goals for the New Year.  Here are a few of them:

Me - continue with exercise every day of the week, continue not leaving any gym class early, continue only eating between 10am - 7pm, add in one new recipe a week for the family and limited dessert treats ( to encourage Savannah on her goal)

Preston - to practice soccer 5 days a week, only have one serving of gum a day

Savannah - to only have dessert 3 days a week, reading through the Bible in its entirety this year

Dave - two thumbs down . . he's never made resolutions and never will

Here's to a wonderful, happy, healthy, fun-filled, memory-making, Christ-filled 2019!!!

Snow Tubing in Jonas Ridge, NC

It was unseasonably warm today! We were all prepared for our first ever tubing experience with layers of clothes, snow bibs, hats, gloves, headbands, sunglasses, sunscreen, etc and after about an hour we were taking layers off! It was quite crowded at first, but as time went on the lines decreased drastically. 

We had a blast and will definitely keep this on our list of fun winter activities to do again!

Merry Merry Christmas

Santa came!!  Whoo hoo!  The kids were super excited to wake up (and patiently waited until Dave and I were up) and open their Santa gifts and stockings.

The most precious gifts are the ones that they made and second to that were the ones they bought with their own money.  Both kids have such generous hearts and love giving presents.  Preston made a poster for me with 20 free gumballs anytime I want them.  He made Dave a coupon book for different options like "not having to put me to bed", "20 hugs", "free gum", etc.  Precious!

After opening Santa gifts downstairs, we had a yummy french toast breakfast and rested before opening the rest of our gifts upstairs.

The kids got snow bibs, with a pass that told them we were going snow tubing tomorrow.  They were so excited!!

What a wonderful, relaxing morning it was for us all!  So, so nice not to have to rush off anywhere and just to enjoy the beautiful day at home!

Unfortunately, with loads of packages and gifts, there was tons of recycling.  Preston and Dave worked for quite a while trying to get it all in the bin, before finally giving up!  I think Dave almost lost it when we kept saying "here's one more thing for recycle." :)

We also enjoyed seeing Dr. Seuss' The Grinch at the movies.  What a fun way to relax and spend the afternoon together.  We truly are blessed and thankful!  So although it was different not having family around, it was wonderful to not be on a schedule and to celebrate Christmas in Charlotte!

A Relaxing Christmas Eve

It is SUPER rare that we get to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home without any traveling. . . but with all of the crazy schedules to work around, this was our year to relax and enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Charlotte.  We attended the 3:30pm Christmas Eve service and then went home for a bit before getting our traditional Chili's takeout dinner.

After dinner, we went for a walk in the neighborhood to enjoy all of the luminaries.  Once we were home Savannah made our french toast dish for Christmas morning breakfast.  It's so nice that she is learning to do so much in the kitchen!

We took a picture just for Aunt Cherry, who gave us all these cute matching PJs. Then it was off to bed, excited to wake up and see what Santa brought!

Christmas with the Pages 2018

After church today, we headed to Elon for Christmas with the Pages.  Thankfully there was no early service, so we were able to get lots of our cooking done and packed before church.  The food was delicious and of course, with this crew, there was no shortage of laughter!

After lunch, the kids couldn't wait to open gifts!  Even grandma was super excited about her bag of dollar bills!  Preston's bills were much fewer in quantity but larger in quality.  HA!

The kids made quick work of gifts and then immediately went outside to play in the unseasonably warm weather.

The "dating sofa" enjoyed watching the football game!

What a super fun afternoon just being with our precious family!  It was time to head back to Charlotte all too soon . . . 

Happy Birthday Jesus Party

Julie & Charlie Neal invited us to a big Happy Birthday Jesus party this morning.  It was super fun . . . filled with crafts, tons of delicious food, a magician, special singers, the Christmas story, and of course a Happy Birthday Jesus cake!  Preston loved being chosen to help the magician "Magic Barry".

Gingerbread Gallery Walk

School has been out two days and the kids have thankfully been entering themselves!  They love a good game of Monopoly while mom is at the gym.  After school was out (for our friends in Union Co) we were finally able to head to the Ballantyne Resort to do our annual Gingerbread Gallery walk with the Marions.

We all enjoyed seeing the gingerbread creations!

Christmas a Little Early

After school was out for winter break today, we went to the annual bus stop party at the Jensen's house.  It was so much fun to catch up with the mommies and enjoy all of the yumminess!  The boys immediately started playing outside and had a blast.

While we were at the party the kids' Christmas present was delivered early.  Savannah was a bit clueless as to what was going on, but as soon as Preston got back from playing his eyes were as big as saucers when he came to the door . . . "ARE WE GETTING A BASKETBALL GOAL FOR CHRISTMAS?"  Why, yes, you are!

Merry Christmas Savannah and Preston!  I'm sure this gift will give for many years to come as they play ball in the driveway!

Preston's Class Holiday Party

As the class mom, I had to get everything ready for Preston's party on Monday.  It was quite the craziness with waiting until the last minute to get everything and then being called into sub all day Monday too.  But, I made it work!  The kids loved dressing each other up in toilet paper (snowmen), decorating cookies, making marshmallow sculptures, and hearing a story.

The kids had a blast and the teachers seemed to appreciate their all cash gifts (instead of cute gifts that I would normally purchase for them).  It's almost time for Christmas break!!

Christmas with The Bachmanns

We celebrated Christmas with Dave's family early this year.  Saturday morning was filled with kids bouncing off the walls waiting for the cousins to arrive . . . so I finally pulled out the hershey house for the kids to put together.

By early afternoon, everyone arrived and we were ready to dig into the presents.  

 We opened lots of gifts until it was time for dinner.  Then, we went right back to finish gifts!  

It was such a fun afternoon filled with lots of fun and laughter.

We all went to church Sunday and then Grammy and Papa treated us to First Watch for lunch.  It was delicious!!

Preston's pancake was almost as big as his head!

One last picture before everyone headed home.  What a fun weekend spent together.

"Snow" Not Funny

We were all prepared for the huge winter storm that was forecasted to dump a foot of snow on Charlotte . . . and we woke up to this! :(  Sunday morning was quite disappointing for two kiddos here who were dreaming of sledding with their friends down our front yard all day.  So we decided to make the best of our cold, rainy day and just get caught up on many projects around the house.  I got my run on the treadmill in, showered, and was checking Savannah's math homework when it happened - we lost power!  I was so not prepared with nothing charged and no food out and ready.  I mean seriously, there was nothing on the ground and it was just raining!

I kept thinking it would come back on anytime, but we waited 23 hours for power to be restored!  So our day was pretty cold and the only things we accomplished were wrapping gifts and addressing Christmas cards.  Ugh!  We went to Wendy's for dinner (after trying to go to Jersey Mike's and finding that they closed early) and called it an early night.

At bedtime we had the kids climb into our bed with their blankets and we played lots of card games.  They found pretty creative ways to wear their sources of light. :)  We made the best of a terribly cold situation and were super thankful when the power came back on this morning!!!