Signing off until after vacation. I am very much looking forward to 11 days of vacation. I'm excited to spend time with family, friends and just be. Starting a new exercise plan and a different way of eating after the new year and I'm very excited to challenge myself. Bring on 2016.

Holiday Baking

 Last night Roland headed to the SU game with the guys while we stayed home and baked. The kids helped, Mom and Tom brought dinner and helped and we had the best night. I'm very much loving our new kitchen and all the space to be creative.

 We made homemade cinnamon rolls and I even taste tested one after the kids went to bed.

Family is forever. Hold them close.

Happy Birthday Kris/Holiday Sweater Day

 Happy Birthday Bestie. Hope you had an amazing day. Miss you.

 I need to step up my sweater next year. The lights aren't enough anymore. My friends at work are way more creative then me. I better get planning.

Such a fun group to work with.

Tidbits from the Weekend

I received this amazing gift basket from a colleague who also has a son whom I help. It was full of homemade goodies and knowing that she is an AMAZING cook, I was extra excited when I unwrapped it.

Leah finally lost her third tooth. Her teeth are so stubborn that they have full adult teeth behind just waiting to get in. It was a bit of drama to get that sucker out, but she finally did it. Dad only had to bribe her with $1.

Sunday we finally were able to spend a few hours at home in the afternoon. Leah and I attempted to make a Christmas craft that I found on Pinterest.

It worked, we just need to paint it now. I'm such a sucker for crafts that involve their hand prints.

Roland and Leah then decided to add some light to the back deck. The final product is so pretty.

To end an already amazing weekend, Leah scored a goal in her soccer game. She is definitely improving and we are so proud of her.

It was such a memorable weekend. One we will cherish for years to come.

Feeling very very blessed.

Elf Jr. Weekend

 Don't Cry Because It's Over, SMILE because it happened.

 Such an amazing experience, Such an amazing group to be a part of.

The kids woke up Saturday morning to find this. (Creative or what?) 

Leah proudly walked Cody into the SOB. 

Gram and Gramp were able to come down. I'm extremely happy for each day with them. 

 Seth's first ever speaking role. He did so well. Tears...

 Thank you Johanna for coming to see the kids. We missed you tons.

 Ice cream cast party in between shows. Thanks so much JV for planning it.

 Santa came too.

 The second show was an equal success.

 Many of Seth's teammates came out to see him in the evening.

 Friends since birth

My husband the human jungle gym.

Holiday Weekend in Review ~ Week 2

 Friday night we were able to just stay home and it was music to my ears. I love that the kids are involved in community theatre and sports, but sometimes I just want to stay home.

I love love love the fact that Leah enjoys being crafty. I'm always on Pinterest trying to find her a new project. We had just finished their district wide book so we decided to do a little book project just because we wanted to. She is so proud of her poster. 

While Leah and I were being crafty I caught my son doing this. WHAT is going on with the world? Hehe. Seth is currently engaged in something called "The Battle of the Books" and he is on a team and within the team they have to read 20 books from within a list by April, write summaries and then they will engage in some sort of battle at school. He is all about competition so this is such a great challenge for him academically.  

 Later that night our elf had promised them a family movie night so we watched Home Alone 3. It felt wonderful to simply lay on the couch.

 Saturday was choked full of rehearsal, soccer and more family fun with the cousins in the evening.

 Thank you to Shannon and Steve for our amazing house warming gift. I totally and utterly love it.

 On Sunday we had a double play date in the afternoon. It started out with just Aliza who planned to come over and then at the last minute we decided to ask her big sister and one of Seth's close friends, Willa to come over also. Seth and Willa have become such  great friends, not only on the soccer field, but in school as well. She puts him in check and they have so much fun together. It was such a great afternoon.

 This was our first play date with Aliza. She is on Leah's soccer team, in her church school class and is in the classroom next to Leah's. They got along amazingly and Aliza even told me after the soccer game that she wants to come over again. So funny.

 They all stopped their playing for a bit to watch Elf.

 Then they moved downstairs to watch a little more.

 The finale was a 2 on 2 match of soccer. The bigs against the littles.

 Sister versus sister

Poppy came over for dinner since Grandma was out of town and read Leah her holiday story of the day. 

After seeing Shannon's post on fb I had to go to Target and find these fun holiday ice cream treats. 

 Leah liked the snowman best and Seth liked the tree.

We finished up the weekend by watching The Elf on the Shelf movie.

I definitely need another day to just lay on the couch all day long. I'm exhausted.

Positivity though, I'm a lucky lady.