Good Morning, Friends! It's been about a month since I've blogged. Sorry it's been so long! I got off facebook and haven't been back on in any permanent capacity since the election. For a while I continued to blog in lieu of Facebook, but then the holidays caught up to me and even that went by the wayside (which shouldn't have stopped, because I have a half-finished blog talking about how I'm thankful for my hubby, and I really should have finished that one). Today is Christmas, which means it's going to be crazy busy, but for now I'm up (too excited to sleep, up since 6, out of bed since 645) and the kids are still in bed so I thought I'd take a moment to blog here in the quiet, some about the last month, some just randomness. :) But if the blog ends suddenly, it's because the kids woke up and Christmas had to begin. ;)
During the fall I made a "bucketlist" of things I wanted to do. I like to round my seasons into nice even months, so when I say "fall" I mean Sept-Nov. I'm pleased to say that we completed almost everything on our list! It was really fun making time to go do some things we don't normally do. :) In a last minute effort to complete another thing on our list, we even took a walk around the block in the fog on Thanksgiving morning. :P We didn't get to everything, though. While we went to Manhattan during football season, all of our season ticket holding friends were out of town that weekend, so we didn't get to tailgate. I worked on knitting a scarf for Avery, but I didn't finish it (though it's definitely long enough at this point, especially for her). We did get our apple picking done, we basked pies and made soups and chili, went on a hay rack ride and talked about what we were thankful for. I liked having the list, that encouraged us to do a few things that we normally don't do, so much that I made one for winter too! We're working our way through it and having a ball! :) Always making memories!
Some of the fun things we've done so far with the kids this month are: carriage rides in Bradley Fair, writing letters to Santa, hot cocoa, and driving around to look at Christmas lights! Having a list of fun to-do activities for the winter will be great in the next few months when the winter is in full force. I'm not a huge fan of the winter months so it will be good to have some activities to keep it interesting. ;)
We have been quite busy at church throughout the holiday season. We were in choir again this year, which is always busy around the holidays. Our church also does Drive Through Christmas where we tell the Christmas Story outside with real actors, scenes, and a track that guests play in their cars to narrate what they're seeing. Michael and I were Mary and Joseph at the Inn again this year. It was a little chillier than last year and I felt like I was out of commission for a week after the cold I had got worse, but it was all for a good cause. 4400 people drove through, saw the show, and heard the story of Christmas! We also collected over 3000 lbs of food for the food bank and to help families at McConnell. The whole event was a huge success! Along with Drive Through Christmas, our church has Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve services. We only attended the one Friday night this year, as the choir didn't have to sing and Michael didn't have to play, freeing up our schedule a bit to choose. Also, since Christmas is on a Sunday this year, we're having one big family service at 10 this morning. We considered not going, but the kids get to wear their pj's to church, which is a very rare treat. Mean old Mommy never lets them leave the house with their jammies on generally. :P So we'll be back at church again in a few hours.
We've had a lot of different Christmas celebrations and parties so far this season and several more to come. So far we've had a Lifegroup Christmas Party (at Bricktown Brewery, great sweet potato fries, I got spa socks in the White elephant gift exchange), Christmas at Grandma Heorman's house (bread bowls and soup, yum yum yum, I got a new wallet and cash for patio furniture! Woot!), and Christmas at Mama and Daddy's house in Towanda (Super tasty Hawaiian roll sandwiches of every kind you can imagine, tons and tons of presents, my Mama loves to give, lots of fun nerd presents, kitchen stuff, and my Jordy Nelson jersey that I've been wanting for years)! #EMAW #WildcatNation #BleedPurple #JordyNelson #TalkingInHashtagsIsFun It's been a wonderful holiday season so far! The kids have been spoiled rotten by everyone! Especially my mom and dad, who got them each a Kindle Fire Kids tablet. :) They played with them all day and night yesterday until the batteries were dead. :P But the spoiling is still just beginning. They have yet to open their presents from us and Santa, one of which includes a car! Plus we're going to Glenn and Linda's tomorrow, so I'm sure there will be more grandparent spoiling. ;) I just love seeing the happiness on their faces that this time of year brings! It's all been so much fun!
Well, we're giving them 10 more minutes, until 8, to sleep, and then we're waking them up (because we do have church to get to and I'm sure they'll want presents first). I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Hopefully you'll be hearing a bit more from me soon now that the holiday craziness is coming to a close. :) Merry Christmas, Friends and Family! Much love from our family to yours!
