Christmas 2019

Another Christmas is (almost) in the books! We are still going to my parent's house to celebrate with them in a few days. I will say I was quite proud of myself for getting all of the shopping and wrapping done about a week before the big day and didn't have to do any last minute running around. It was nice to just be able to relax and not worry about the craziness going on around town.

Our visit with Santa was a success! He's such a nice guy and brought the kids what they asked for.

Jim came up before Christmas to celebrate with us and Brittany, Michael and Joshua. They were going to be out of town over Christmas, so it was a good time for all of us to be together.

It was hard to keep it a secret, but Jim's big gift (among several other great gifts!) was annual passes to Disney World for the kids! We have already made plans to take them soon.

We went to MOSH to check out their space exhibit and toy train exhibit. I really like the traveling exhibits. There was a lot of fun and learning about being an astronaut. Some of it I already knew from our trips to Kennedy Space Center. Some of it was just fun like measuring your grip strength and trying to ride a bike in space. They had a launch simulator (below) and a capsule spinner which was like an enclosed teacup ride.

The boys loved the trains and kept trying to figure out which one was faster. There was definitely one that was made for speed!

I told the kids we would make Christmas cookies the first day of break and did we make cookies! There were plenty for everyone to decorate plus Matthew and I did several more after the kids got tired of doing it. I had every intention of sharing them with neighbors but, somehow, they're all still here!! Well, minus the ones we've eaten of course!

We continued our Christmas Eve tradition of going to the candlelight service at church. Last year we found out that most restaurants either close at 6 pm or there's a long wait to get in, so we just planned an easy spaghetti dinner when we got home. Before bedtime the kids chose the cookie they wanted to give to Santa and we sprinkled reindeer food outside. They could tell the reindeer food was just bird seed, but I told them reindeer eat it too, but we couldn't do it too early or the birds would eat it all!

Busted!

I love Christmas morning and hearing how excited the kids are to see the presents under the tree. Alex insisted that we leave the Christmas tree on all night so Santa could see it. I really thought I was going to hear one of them get up in the middle of the night, see the gifts, and want to wake everyone up right then to open them! Thankfully they stayed in their room until 6 before rushing out to see everything!

I don't take too many pictures, but I did get some of Robbie opening his present from Santa (a drone with a camera) and Catie with her new Frozen vanity. We found out that Santa also brought our neighbor the same vanity!

I think she likes it!

 The aftermath. All of the presents are unwrapped and the kids are playing with their new toys.

For the first time this year we went to the neighborhood known for its light display. Of course the pictures on my phone don't do it justice, but it's beautiful! We went once before Christmas and it was crazy the amount of people going to see it. We went again with Barbara after Christmas and it was much less busy! Almost everyone in the neighborhood participates in some way, even if it's just a few strands of lights. Other people get really into it. We saw several Christmas inflatables that we've never seen before, but my favorite house was the one with the Pokemon because it was so unique. We figure they're decorated exercise balls, but they did a great job on them!

Look who's 40!!

Ok, I really do think age is just a number, but 40 is a big one!! I really didn't want to make a big deal about it, but I did want to do something! I chose to go to Kan Ki for dinner (yay free birthday dinner!). The kids loved the show and the food. They were a little nervous for the "fire" part, but I told them to back up or duck down when it happened (the chef warned us) and it's only for 3 seconds. They were fine. Brittany, Michael and Joshua also joined us. I love having them in Jacksonville!!

Joshua enjoying the show

My dinner was delicious!

Family picture! 

Brittany and Michael have FSCJ Artist Series Season tickets which means they get early access to guest tickets. Back in July we bought our tickets to see Wicked. Unbeknownst to us then, Matthew would be traveling for work the week of the show. Luckily my friend Melodie stepped in to be my date! We were also supposed to go with Brittany and Michael, but Joshua caught RSV and ended up spending some time at Wolfson's Children's Hospital when he was having a hard time breathing. They did go to a different showing, but I missed them and am glad that Joshua has recovered!

I tried to get Lisa to come over to see Wicked with me, but she had to work. When we decided to go to Tallahassee for Thanksgiving I really wanted to do another breakout room. Then Jonathan, Chat, Nick, Robyn and their families decided to come to Tallahassee as well so we had a Siblings and Spouses Night Out. We crushed the breakout room!! Lisa suggested Backwoods Crossing for dinner and I'm so glad she did. Our dinners were delicious and Matthew already wants to go back! It really was that good.

I'm back!!

I've been thinking about updating this blog for a long time, but with 3 kids, work, volunteering and Facebook I just never got around to it. I do think I'll post more stuff on here than I do on Facebook, because I like this format more. For sure I won't post as much as I used to, but I'll (hopefully) do it more than I have these past 3 years!