New Year's Eve

This year was the first year since Patrick and I have been married that we spent New Year's Eve at home. We spent the day just relaxing and playing. I read the book Patrick bought me for Christmas, Divergent, and cuddled with some cute kids. It was SO cold and cloudy outside so it made being lazy really easy. We made tacos for dinner with cheese dip and guacamole. YUM! It was just what we were craving after all the holiday food. We wanted to celebrate with the kids, but by no means wanted them to be up till midnight. I found the YouTube video of last year's ball drop, and we did a countdown with the kids and drank sparkling grape juice. The boys were pretty excited. Will shared with me that he thought the grape juice was "a little disgusting." Jack on the other hand couldn't get enough.We then played a few games and had them in bed by 8:00. It was perfect. We missed some of the fun we've shared with family in years past, but it was nice to be home and celebrate with just us.

I love this time of year and reflecting over all that has happened. This has been one of the best in the last couple. We have blessed by the addition of our smiley Samuel and how well Will is doing. Jack is such a character with facial expressions and a vocabulary to make anyone laugh. I love my thoughtful hardworking man. And we are HEALTHY!!! I'm such a lucky and {blessed} woman.

Christmas Festivities

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday that we managed to spread out throughout the month of December with various activities. Most of those were pretty low key. We really started enjoying ourselves once Patrick's peak season was over. He took off a few days before Christmas and the week after.

On December 21st, we drove down to Winchester to have the annual Jones Family Christmas Dinner. Patrick rarely gets to see his extended family, so he was excited to get to see his cousins that he hadn't been able to see in 2 years. He enjoyed visiting with them and catching up while the boys played in the gym with all the smaller cousins. On the way home we got to see lots of Christmas lights and even one house that had their display timed perfectly to music. You could tune-in to a radio station and hear the music through your car speakers. Another highlight that night was me making Nutella brownies. Patrick was in heaven and has requested them several times since. They have lots of dark chocolate cocoa and are very creamy. They're good, but I'll stick with my Nancy Hitchcock recipe as my fav.

The day of Christmas Eve-Eve, we made lots of treats to deliver to friends. We ding-dong ditched a few people which was great fun! The kids loved it! Jack even exclaimed at one point, "Dad, you betta huwy or that guy's gonna punch you in da face!"

We spent Christmas Eve going out for a late breakfast at Cracker Barrel and taking the boys to target to get a present for each other. The rest of the day was spent watching Christmas movies, wrapping presents, and tidying up the house to get ready for Santa. That evening after a dinner of Tilapia, veggies, and quinoa (had to balance out our deliciously naughty breakfast) we had a surprise visit from the pajama elves that really started to make things exciting. Before we sent the kids to bed we watched the bible video's of Jesus's birth on the iPad, and then read several Christmas themed books. We also sang some Christmas songs. I loved this (mostly) quiet moment with my family. It really brought the Spirit of Christ into our home. Usually I'm rushing to get the kids in bed, but I took my time and savored their presence and innocence. Once they were in bed, we finished up the wrapping, and Patrick assembled a 15ft trampoline in the garage. Great idea, amiright? I sure think so, and it happened to be mine. I thought it would be a lot more fun to jump where it was at least a little warmer and not windy. Patrick humored me and set it up so it would be safe by fastening pillows to the garage door railings to protect heads that might bounce too high.

Christmas morning was a blur of excitement, and we spent the rest of the day playing and jumping. I made a Kentucky Legend ham, green beans, sweet potato souffle, jello salad, and Sister Schubert rolls. Dad and Silvana came and ate with us and spent the rest of the evening with us. We had a great visit with them.

On Friday, Patrick's parents came and we had our visit with them. They brought Kaden with them, and the boys had a blast playing.  They also surprised the boys with a bulldozer power wheel. They were beyond excited. Thankfully, it was a fairly warm enough day that they were able to go test it out before it needed charging.

We drove to McMinnville later that evening and visited with Dad and Silvana and also got a surprise bonus of seeing G'ma and PaPa Hitchcock.

We spent the night at Mom's and had a fun Christmas party with them and all the Moffitt kids and their families, on Saturday. It's always a fun day. Mom and Joe pull out all the stops for thoughtful gifts, great food, and an inviting environment.

This has been our best Christmas yet. The older I get, and the more kids we have, the more I appreciate the moments of just being with our little family, and taking it all in. I know these days won't last and they will way too soon be gone, married, and spending holidays with their little families. I will boo hoo and miss them and secretly hope they all show up to spend the time with me. But I hope that when this happens, they will look back with fond memories and feelings of Christmas past...with their dear, sweet, amazing mother...oh, and father. :)

L to R: Jack, Mom, Will

I went to help Will make gingerbread houses with his Kindergarten class. So very fun! Loved just having that time with him. There were a lot of leftovers, so I was able to bring home some great stuff for us to use together. Win-Win!

Our annual Christmas puzzle. Will received several puzzles for Christmas, too. So happy he is a fellow puzzle lover.

The Pitch

the player

 the spectator

Rainbow Man

In Will's art class, the kids were asked to draw a picture that the high school kids in art class would interpret into a clay model. This was Will's. :)

Partners In Crime

sneaking in the applesauce

Patrick's 30th

We celebrated early with the kids for Patrick's birthday. I knew they'd feel really left out on all the fun if we didn't make a cake since we were planning a big date for his actual birthday. I made a Mounds Layer cake for my dark chocolate coconut loving husband as part of his birthday dinner. The kids were really disappointed he didn't get a cake in the shape of a leaf blower (one of his birthday presents). They forgave me after they tasted it. It was pretty delish.

Patrick's parents came up early on Saturday to watch the boys so we could have a date filled birthday for Patrick. We started out with a movie, Catching Fire--Love! Then we went to the Melting Pot for dinner. So so yummy! Before they brought out desert Patrick surprised me with a trip to Scotland to celebrate our upcoming anniversary. Wow! I was SO shocked, excited, surprised, excited, and shocked. He had been being very sneaky and working so hard to already make reservations for the whole trip. We leave in June for 12 days!! So incredible! I think about and dream about it all the time. I' a little nervous about being away from the kids so I try not to think about that part. But I cannot wait! Way to go, Babe! You totally got me! Happy Birthday!! I love you and am so very thankful to be your wife. Love you!!

Greek Yogurt

Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

Patrick and I were invited to an ugly sweater Christmas party. It was our first time leaving our kids with a babysitter that wasn't family. Big Deal! Everything went well, and the boys had a good night with Jessica Sharpe. I looked for sweaters at Goodwill, but didn't have much luck. So we had to improvise. Patrick's turtleneck and women's vest absolutely cracked me up. Picking out an outfit for him was my favorite part.

Breakfast

Christmas Card

I hadn't sent out a homemade Christmas card in a few years, so I thought it might be fun to do that this year. Oh. My. Goodness. Soooo happy it's finally done. The kids were somewhat cooperative, and I don't really know what I'm doing most of the time when I'm trying to use my camera, so I'm a big part of the problem. Can't blame everything on them. When I tried to find a card layout that I liked that didn't cost a fortune, I just decided to make my own not having a clue how to do that. I finally figured it out, and am mostly happy with the results. I kept having color discrepancies between what the pictures looked like on my computer screen when I would edit them, and when I would upload them to the website to send them to print. It was frustrating, time consuming, and rewarding. By the third or fourth time I had a test card printed, I really didn't care what it looked like anymore! But it luckily turned out looking decent and it's done!!!

Treasures

I was about to take the sheets off Will's bed to wash when I moved his pillow and found this:

a watch from Papi, a moon remote control, and a snickers bar, shockingly still in the wrapper. Love good surprises.