Back to Reality

What a great break we had! As we prepare to get back to the regular grind, Christmas feels like such a long time ago now. We enjoyed Christmas Eve with the Brittains with our traditional spread of finger foods, presents, and "A Christmas Story" on repeat. We headed back across town in time to set out treats for Santa and head to bed.

I did a terrible job of taking pictures on Christmas. Besides this one, the only other one I took was of the girls looking for the pickle in the tree - and it's basically two backsides. This one shows evidence of a successful morning!

 We headed Up North on the 27th. It was a great day to fly - the airport was so quiet and we ended up with extra time after getting through security, so we settled in at Friday's for a little pre-party.

 We arrived in MN and headed straight to Melissa and Adam's to meet baby Cal! Again, I didn't do a great job taking pictures ... there are still many floating out there between my parents and sister.

 Sara did such a great job with Calloway, taking care of him except for when he needed diaper changes.

 When we first arrived, the weather was no good. We got lots of freezing rain throughout the day Saturday, which made for terrible roads and non-playable outdoor conditions. Luckily it gave us plenty of time to watch the Cyclones play their bowl game - even though the results were less than stellar. Later in the afternoon when the roads were better, we headed to Lifetime for some indoor swimming and sliding instead.

 We ended the night at Copper Pint for good food, drinks, and, of course, pull tabs!

 Sunday morning we took family-of-nine pictures (our xmas present to G & G), which was followed by an open house for Melissa, Adam, and Cal. Definitely a full day! It was Emma's idea to have people put their books and gifts for Cal in this old crib that belonged to G Lou. Really sweet.

 Sara was an amazing shower hostess, and ended up falling sleep mid party after all her hard work!

 Monday we finally got snow - LOTS of it! The girls were thrilled!

 We headed to a nearby hill to sled and had a blast!

 We spent NYE at Melissa and Adam's and they cooked an amazing meal for us. It was a fun, laid back celebration. Sara assumed this position for much of it.

 Emma helped Auntie in the kitchen.

 Cheers!

 And Steve and Adam did the dishes!

 Another decade with this beautiful girl!

 On New Years Day we headed to Buck Hill for tubing and lunch in the chalet. The girls had a great time tubing, of course, and also watching the skiers. Maybe next year we'll give skiing a try!

 I love that they got to enjoy so much snow and a true MN winter! Always fills my bucket to be Up North and reconnect with family and friends.

We ended break with our DFW Cyclones at Cooper's and then the TCU basketball game last night. What a heartbreaker - lost by a basket in overtime. Ugh! Of course we still had a great time and loved seeing our favorite team.

Today I went to work for a while to get my head back in the game and prepare to welcome back my teachers tomorrow. The girls still have one day of break, but soccer, cheer, etc. are back on normal schedules tomorrow. We enjoyed some football this afternoon (especially that Vikings win!), and Emma was back in the kitchen preparing the crust for Steve's birthday pie. It's always hard to transition out of a break, but I'm ready for our routine. We'll fall back into our reality and this week, like all the others, will fly by!

Young Chef

Our Christmas and New Year celebrations were awesome - highlight, of course, was going to MN to meet baby Calloway. I have so many pictures to sort through, so I'll get to that post later. We got home from MN yesterday evening, and today has been a whirlwind of getting things back in order: dentist appointments (no cavities), xmas returns/exchanges, grocery story (three times), LOTS of laundry, and ... baking!

 Emma received two cookbooks from my sister for Christmas, and as soon as we were home last night, she started tabbing recipes. Just a few looked good...

I already had plans for what to make for dinner, so Emma picked a dessert to make today - which really is perfectly up her alley anyway. She chose mini muffin in doughnut holes! She was in charge of mixing all of the ingredients, and told me the best method for stirring is "under then over".

These doughnut holes were a multi-step process. After baking, she dipped them in butter and then in cinnamon-sugar. She concentrated so hard!

 Finally, the taste-test. These little treats received two-thumbs up from the chef (and her assistant)!

I'm excited for Emma to experiment with some more recipes ... she'll have fun and hopefully widen her palate! Teriyaki chicken and sesame noodles are next on her agenda. Stay tuned!

Merry Christmas!

wrapping it up

Just like that, here we are, wrapping up the semester. After this week of school, we're off for two weeks to enjoy the holidays! Last week was Sara's birthday week. On Sunday, the girls were asking to go ice skating, so we headed out to open skate. Sara got on the ice and took right off! It took Emma a little while to let go of the boards, but by the end, they were both totally solo around the rink. There were a few spills, prompting Emma to ask why ice has to be so hard.

 We all had a great time. It felt so good to put my own skates on, too! The girls had so much fun that they were asking to go back this past weekend, so we spent another Sunday afternoon at open skate.

 On Sara's birthday, I took the girls for donuts and got extras for Sara's class. This is her last year to bring birthday treats for her class.

 That evening, she opened presents. Her big gift was the room decor, so she had a few items from us and other family to open on her actual birthday. She was excited about her Kendra Scott necklace from us, her sloth to go with her new bedding from G&G, and especially her Hogwarts letter from Auntie! 

 Steve's parents joined us for a delicious dinner at Benihana, and then we went home for cake. It was a great day celebrating our awesome girl!

 The rest of the week was a blur. Friday evening, Steve and I went to his work holiday party. It was a New Orleans theme, and a lot of fun. I hadn't yet met most of the people he works with, so it was fun to get a little taste of his day-to-day. Saturday we set out to do some final Christmas shopping. Between the crowds, the many choices, and the long lists, it didn't take us long to need some fuel. We enjoyed our little day date!

 We also spent lots of time this weekend putting together a 500 piece Christmas cookie puzzle. Emma was a big help!

This is going to be another busy week - cheer, soccer practice and game, winter parties, my staff party, and just the normal stuff in between. This weekend we have our Kansas cousins coming to town, then we'll celebrate Christmas here before heading to MN to meet Calloway and ring in the new year and new decade. That's what I call a festive whirlwind!

Golden Birthday

 Today is Sara's Golden Birthday: #11! I'm so in awe of my beautiful young lady. She's smart, funny, thoughtful, hard-working ... and with every passing year, she's closer to becoming who she's going to be. I love my front row seat to this show.

 In many ways, I feel that Sara has come out of her shell this year. In her final year of elementary school, I see her confidence blossoming. Even though she thinks 90% of what I say is lame or embarassing, so hangs onto every word of the other 10% - and I love that.

 At 11, Sara loves burgers (still), Harry Potter, and some quiet time by herself each day. She enjoys doing her nails, making friendship bracelets, drawing, and journaling. She also loves her phone (of course). Sometimes I get to see these sweet glimpses of the kid she still is - like not long ago when Emma easily persuaded her to make a build-a-bear with her ... or when, on a quiet Sunday morning, she opts to watch Charlie Brown Christmas. 

 As Sara gets older, there are moments when I can see what a great friend she'll be to me someday. And while I won't wish away the years, I do look forward to that because she's a pretty cool kid!

For her birthday this year, Sara wanted a room makeover. We took out the bottom bunk and made her a lounge area. Pretty great little space, if you ask me. She may invite her sister in once in a while.

Eleven years have flown by. When I see pictures of 1 year old, 4 year old, 7 year old Sara, my heart skips a beat. Everything about her has always been the best.

Happy 11th Birthday, Sara Noel. I love you so much!

Fireplace Refurb

This post really isn't exciting to anyone but me, but that's okay. I love our double-sided fireplace that serves both the family room and the living room. It's a great focal point in our house. However, as our house was built 30 years ago, it was originally wood-burning. The previous owners put in this monstrosity of  log set (which I recently learned isn't even appropriate for home fireplaces such as ours - it was ventless or vent free or something like that).

See all those knobs on the bottom? Turning on our fireplace took a lot of time and pushing/turning/pulling of those knobs in precisely the right direction and sequence. It was a huge pain and these acts frequently made me yell out loud. I decided it was time to bite the bullet and redo the fireplace interior.

The girls and I picked out new logs a few weeks ago. We had to wait for them to be special ordered since they were designed for a single sided fireplace. We did have the option of going log-less, which looked cool in the showroom but was too modern for our traditional brick. We got a little glimpse of what it would have been during the exchange of logs today.

 It took about 45-minutes start to finish for our new logs to be in and burning beautifully tonight. Perfect timing because after our initial early freezes in November, it looks like our winter temps are settling in for a while! 

 The girls and I are pretty pleased with our pick. And, miracle of miracles, Steve (who was out of town when we went log shopping) thinks they're great, too! The best news of all is that all of those ridiculous knobs are gone. Now with the simple flick of a lighter, we have a beautiful, warm fire to be enjoyed throughout the house. Merry early Christmas to me (and all of us)!

good-busy times

 Our Thanksgiving break was so great! After our first few days full of festivities at home, we headed to Lyons to celebrate with the "cousin tribe". So much fun girl time!

 They stayed busy playing, laughing, snacking ... all the important things. We took them to see Frozen II, which we all loved. The girls walked out singing the songs they had literally just heard for the first time!

I'm so glad they have fun together and are making cousin memories, even though we all live so far apart. Even these short weekend trips make a difference in the memory-making!

Of course the adults had plenty of fun, too. Late nights and lots of laughter every time with this group.

We got home Saturday evening in time to watch the Cyclones lose. Ugh. At least there is still a Bowl Game in their near future. Then Sunday was December 1st - Advent Calendar time! The girls got Lego calendars from my mom. They are super cute, but hard to wait on each day for the new item to build. In the end, they'll each have a whole scene.

 We also made gingerbread houses to kick off the month! More baking will come soon, I'm sure.

But first, we're about to have a birthday to celebrate! Amazon keeps delivering boxes, so I have to start sorting through and figuring out which gifts belong to which upcoming event. December is always a busy, exciting month around here!