Slice of Life – January 2nd, 2017 (+ a must-read opportunity for bloggers!)

Happy New Year!

Whew, it feels good to be back! I haven’t taken a nearly two week blogging break in over two years, but it’s been nice relaxing more with my munchkins during the holidays, happily entertaining our revolving door of guests, and dreaming of/planning for what 2017 holds. I’m so hopeful that this is going to be a wonderful year!

Jamie goes back to work Tuesday after taking a glorious two weeks off, and while I’ll miss his helping hands, I think we’re all looking forward to resuming a bit of a normal schedule. Well, maybe not Jamie and I, but it’s always so obvious that the girls do better with a schedule they’re used to.

Here’s part one of two Slices of Life posts that I have for ya this week. 🙂

Since Hadley’s been on Christmas break from preschool and dance, we signed her up for a morning “fish exploration” class at our local discovery center. Jamie stayed home with Sadie, I dropped off Hadley, and I was actually able to go for a solo 5k run (something that rarely happens unless it’s right when I wake up on the weekends). I got back just in time to see all of the kids using nets to scoop up real goldfish (of course they were put back in the water after the kids had a couple seconds to gawk over their achievement of catching one!) Super cute and totally worth the small class fee! Hadley talked about this for days!

I was able to run out last minute with a girlfriend to get pedicures since our husbands were both off of work to watch our kiddos, and it was the great opportunity to wear that arrived the day prior. A total steal at less than $10. I know this is one that I’ll reach for for many winters to come!

I would never have fathomed letting Hadley have a sugar cookie at eight months old, but with Sadie… eh… she’ll live. 🙂 #secondkidperks She stole it right out of my hand (literally) and enjoyed it immensely. I love this chunky baby and what a good eater she is!

Sadie may be a real winner at eating, but she comes in dead last when it comes to sleeping. I could write a whole post about the games she’s been playing with us at night, but I’m too tired to even think about writing it all out since I usually only get 3-5 hours of sleep anyway. 😉 I know that this too shall pass, but I am so ready to get some kind of decent sleep again. One day! All I have to say is that I have so much admiration for you working mamas who also have terrible sleepers. You are champions in my eyes!

Jamie’s birthday was on December 23rd, and we threw him a cow party. 🙂 Since Hadley had a “horsey party”, she thinks everybody should have an animal-themed party. Five days before his birthday, Hadley was talking repeatedly with Jamie about having a cow party, so while they played on the floor, I hopped on Amazon and ordered a handful of stuff to make this cow party a reality.

I had hoped this would all be a silly surprise for a Jamie, but he saw my purchases when he logged into our Amazon account to check an order status a few days later for something he’d purchased. Bummer! It was still a surprise for Hadley, and we had such a fun day! I think I’m going to let her pick out his party theme every year as a new tradition. 🙂

Jamie’s parents and grandmother were in town for Christmas, so they were able to celebrate with us all day long too!

I found a Food Network recipe for some delicious breakfast burritos/tacos (one of Jamie’s favorite meals), and they didn’t disappoint! Going along with tradition, Jamie ate off of our family birthday plate.

We enjoyed dinner at Old Chicago (his favorite place to eat and drink) before going over to check out our little town’s Christmas light display downtown.

We ended his birthday with the best homemade cake I’ve ever had in my life, courtesy of his spectacular grandmother (and a little help from Hadley too.)

Random, but did you know that you can send various announcements to the White House? I put Sadie’s announcement on the back of our Christmas card just like I did with Hadley’s, and I sent this off as fast as I could since President Obama is about to hand over the office. I loved the special keepsake they sent us for Hadley and look forward to hopefully receiving one for Sadie, too. Here’s a link to the Presidential Greeting site for more information.

We enjoyed a laid back Christmas Eve and attended our church’s 4 p.m. candlelight service. We were able to sit with the Landers and snap a few pictures after the service. Love my Meg!

We try our best to alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family and Jamie’s family each year, and it’s worked out really well since 2010 except for when Jamie’s been deployed. We were so thankful his family was able to make the trip from Texas and Indiana to be with us and the girls! My brother-in-law wasn’t able to visit though, and he was missed.

Like true brother and sister! They drive each other nuts but really couldn’t live without each other. 🙂

Meg and I were texting later that evening about how we both agree that the kids are starting to look so mature and faaaaar from babies. It’s so fun watching them grow, but decently bittersweet too.

After church we all slipped into our Christmas pajamas and Hadley and I made homemade sugar cookies for Santa. We started doing this last year after church, and I think this is another tradition that’s going to stick around.

One more picture before they were off to bed so that Santa could get to work. 😉

One of my favorite gifts for the girls was matching outfits from my mother-in-law that are actually called “Sadie Rose”. How crazy is that?! I can’t wait for a fun excuse for the girls to wear them!

It rained cats and dogs on Christmas Day, but we didn’t mind because our plans were just to stay inside and hang anyway. Hadley and Sadie wore themselves silly playing hard with their new things all day, and I enjoyed a day in the kitchen cooking up a storm. I wore my hair on top of my head, LLR leggings, and the comfiest old tunic I own. It was a nice, calm day.

Jamie had a slew of soldiers who had to work 24-hour shifts on Christmas Day, so he had the idea a few days prior to make them a plate and bring it up to post for them to enjoy. He’s a good one!

We ended Christmas Day on the couch all together watching the story of the birth of Jesus on Superbook! My siblings and I used to watch this series on VHS constantly when we were younger, and we all loved it. It’s a little different now and a bit more futuristic, but it’s still just as cute and a fun way to “teach” kids stories from the bible. We have DirecTV and it comes on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

I know it’s belated, but I hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Fellow bloggers, check this out!

Now for something kind of fun! Starting this Saturday, I’m beginning a new series called “The Saturday Sit-Down”. This is right up my alley because I love meeting new people and hearing about their unique stories and backgrounds (I began finding this fascinating when I used to travel full-time for work and practically lived in airports.) I also wanted to find a free way for other bloggers to gain a bit of new exposure and new authentic followers with similar interests while growing their communities. So, here’s the deal!

Every Saturday in 2017 I’m interested in featuring one blogger via a Q & A. Each Q & A will be unique to the blogger, so it’ll be super personal and keep from this series becoming redundant! The entire blog post will be dedicated to you.

Want to sign up for a slot on the calendar? This will be a first come, first scheduled kind of deal. 🙂 Simply fill out this form and I’ll be in touch.