Break is Over! Christmas Recap 2014!

You know it's been a good break when you could use one more day, but still feel refreshed and ready to go back! It must have been the perfect amount of time off. This was the first time that I can remember (maybe even from when Jack was born) when I was out of the office for two weeks straight. I still handled emails and was in the office for one late afternoon/evening, but for the most part, I was home. It was a great feeling. I seriously could have used another week probably but it still felt pretty good to be heading into the office this morning!

We had a busy break. Travel, visitors, neighbors, presents, lots of playing and organizing! The girls' favorite gift were their Razor scooters. They've been riding them non-stop in the basement! Jack's Christmas was one of Lego's and Transformers. He is turning into a kid a little too fast for my taste!

Here are some photos to capture the times. (I've decided I don't do short posts. This ones a doozy. Can't bear to leave anything out!)

Nana, Papa and Grammy stopped by on their way to Colorado for a little Christmas fun. First the Smell Book!

Then presents!

Some TV was watched but a little less than most years. There is heat vent under the TV hence Trigger's spot.

Lousie, our exchange student from Denmark, made her traditional Christmas dish - Risengrod - yum!

We taught the kids "Chase the Ace" to pass the time after church on Christmas Eve. Tessa worked hard on her poker face.

When in the world did they get so old?!

Our Christmas cookies for Santa were a major fail. 

However, Tom managed one cool cookie in Santa's likeness. Josie was adamant that Santa needed a RedBull for his big night. 

I love our family room at Christmas. So peaceful!

We set up the surveillance camera and caught the Big Guy in action.

The kids weren't allowed out of their rooms until 8 and then only to gather in Jack's room. This is how I found them at 8:05.

As the Joyner family tradition, we read the Christmas Story from the Bible. Josie did the honors this year!

I think Louise fits in just fine!

Dork Diaries were some favorite gifts.

Well, not for Jack. He loved the Transformers.

The girls were so good with Jack. They acted so happy about each of his gifts.

In my family, we did stockings first. Tom did them last. We've been doing them last. 

Those of us over the age of 16 managed to sneak in a nap too!

The day after Christmas, we went to Ohio for DeLawder/Harkness Christmas. Jack was pretty enamored with Aunt Sarah.

Well, and Uncle Matt. Let the Lego extravaganza begin!

I had a nice little 9 mile run through my hometown. Things haven't changed a whole lot to be honest.

The Harkness Pizza Cookoff tradition continued. And, this year, Louise played along!

While home, Tom got another deer. Louise stuck around to watch him butcher it. Life experiences right? Well, it's one I tend to skip. Every time.

And then, more cards. And popcorn. But no shirt for Jack.

When we got home, before even unpacking, I cleaned out the pantry, the fridge and organized the laundry room. We couldn't put one more thing in those places! It always gets worse before it gets better! Wow.

New Year's Eve rolled around and we hung close to home as we were all more than a bit worn out. We played cards, Life (1st time for me and most of the family), and had a dance party. 

Then, we jumped off the couches into the New Year Danish style while watching the ball drop! New Year's Day was spent at the neighbors with food and friends and football. Such a great way to ring in the New Year!

A few more relaxing days for the kids and organizing for me - the basement and Christmas decorations this time. And, then, here we are on Monday and back to school day. It was a long day but so good to be back in our routine. And, it would continue except that it is currently snowing to beat the band and it's looking likely for at least a 2 hour delay tomorrow and maybe even cancellation. We'll get back to it one of these days! 

14 Things We Did This Weekend

What a weekend! It's hard for me to remember a three day weekend in which we had virtually nothing planned outside the house. We tackled project after project after project. And, had a lot of fun on the side!

So, here's what we did.

1. Partied!!! (Family style) Friday night was a party at the neighbors. Josie swam for a bit and then went out in the field with the music blasting and danced her little heart out. She was too far away to get a good video, but it was priceless. Tessa got in the pool at 5:30 and didn't get out until 10! She was playing with the middle school/high school girls and they happen to all be cheerleaders. They were putting her up in mounts and then tossing her. Needless to say, she was in Heaven.

2. Slept!!! Saturday morning, we all slept in until 10 and we had to wake Josie up at 11:20! I guess we all needed it! I slept in until 10 again on Monday morning and lounged in bed with coffee until 10:30 thanks to Tom. 

3. Painted!!! The whole deck needs stained, but we started with the porch floor. The kids helped and Tom and I supervised and touched up. I'm pretty happy with the results. Tom thinks its too gray. I think we just need a rug and we'll be all set! (The porch furniture was my Mother's Day gift except for the wicker looking stuff which we found at a garage sale.)

4. Planted!!! We picked up flowers at Home Depot for Tom to plant. My favorite annuals are Wave Petunias. They seem to just take over where you plant them. This year, we went with my favorite color too. They make me smile. Now, we just need some new mulch.

5. Visited!!! Our good friend from Ohio, Wayne, visited with his girlfriend on Saturday night. It was so nice to catch up and meet Debbie. Sometimes, you just have friends that you won't see for a long time and then get back together and it's like no time has even passed. Wayne is one of those friends. They ventured into the Snake Pit at the Indy 500 on Sunday and it was fun to hear their stories. We all went over to the neighbors to visit with their friends also in for the race. After hearing their stories, I'm finally ready to go to the race next year. 

6. Swam!!! The kids were able to get in the pool twice this weekend thanks to our neighbor's pool heater. It was not super warm outside but the kids didn't care one bit. Even Jack ventured into the pool. He found two high school girls to take him around on Sunday. I've never seen a happier kid.

7. Partied!!! (6-year old Style) Tessa turned 6 on Sunday! We hosted 7 five and six year olds for a party on Sunday. Everyone had fun and it was even nice enough to play outside for a bit. I was a little nervous as we had nothing planned, but the girls just played and played. I made our lives easier by having Tessa pick out a cake at Walmart instead of making one. It was definitely worth the $8. :) And, the theme was Monster High. Not a huge fan of the ghouly little dolls, but Tessa is in love with the dolls (I think there's a show too but they've never seen it) and I feel like the pretty little butterfly cake evened things out a bit. 

8. Hung!!! Tom hung two hammocks down below our deck. Not too bad for $12 at Big Lots! Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to nap in one this weekend, but that is on my list for summer!

9. Painted!!! Again!!! This time, Tom and kids painted/stained the wooden outdoor furniture that my parents gave us when we moved to Indiana. This stuff looks awesome when it's freshly stained! Not to mention, our table was pelted by hail and had to be sanded down to get rid of the polka dots. It all looks like a million bucks now!

10. Laundered!!! Love a photo of a clean bed even if it's missing the fancy pillows. I got all of the laundry washed, dried, folded and put away. This NEVER happens! This would have made a successful weekend in and of itself!

11. Purged!!! After finishing up laundry, I cleared out my closet and drawers. Not only did I switch out my winter clothes for summer clothes, but I got rid of a ton of stuff. Next to laundry, this was my most feel-good task of the weekend. Here's the Goodwill pile! And, that's just my stuff...

12. Decluttered!!! I didn't get as much done here as I would have hoped. But, I took a full laundry basket full of stuff out of our bedroom that did not belong there and a full trash bag full of stuff there too. I tackled the pile of stuff in the kitchen on Friday too. This may not look like much, but the little area between our dressers seems to just collect stuff. So does the tops of our dressers. Not anymore! (For now anyway...)

13. Ran!!! I wanted to get in 7 miles, but only managed 4.5 yesterday. I'm blaming it on the heat and humidity. It really felt bad and I was very slow, but I'm not letting that get in my head. The Steamboat race is less than a week away and the forecast is looking awesome! It looks like it will be cool in the morning but nice during the days for sightseeing. 

14. Slept!!! Oh, did I mention this already? Well, I crawled in bed last night at 9PM hoping to read for a little while. I drifted off after about 2 minutes and just gave in. It wasn't even dark. Must have been a good weekend. :) 

Colorado Bound!

Yep. That is a screen shot of setting my alarm for tomorrow morning. We leave for Colorado with the kids tomorrow at 6:40. The flight leaves then and doing the math... Yeah. I have to get up at 3:15. And, you'll notice the "repeat" part of the alarm - never. Darned straight.

So excited though! Kids can't wait and we're pretty stoked too. :)

Happy New Year to everyone. It's been a great year and I know 2013 will be too. Bring it on!

Christmas 2012

Another fantastic Christmas in the books! (Well, one more celebration is to come on Thursday after this blizzard passes through and my family can trek out to Indiana.)

Josie's favorite gift? An Angry Birds Game we played all afternoon. Tessa's? Her $4 t-shirt from Walmart. And, they're both using coupons from their Crazy Christmas Coupon Books tonight - blueberry muffins and coke for dinner then popcorn and a movie afterward. :) I just love this age when they can be so satisfied with thoughtful, creative gifts that don't cost very much and all come from stores within 5 miles of our house.

Jack had a blast with whatever he opened today. He particularly loved his train track from Katie and Jason and his car transporter from Amy and Joey. He also got some tools and books too that he really gobbled up. Not to mention, all of the candy in his stocking. That kid was in hog heaven. He was one sticky, sticky boy by noon. :)

Tom and I went to bed around midnight last night after helping Santa, and after I finished Killing Lincoln. (Excellent book - highly recommend!) At 2:30, Tessa came in our bed not feeling well. Never fails - Christmas comes and kids get sick. She coughed and tossed and turned until around 3:30. I got up around 6:30 to shower and wait for signs of Josie. We told them they couldn't leave their rooms until 7 but she didn't wake up until 8! Jack was shortly after.

Started the holiday by decorating gingerbread cookies on Christmas Eve...

Then, took the Christmas Eve photo...

After all were asleep and all gifts were under the tree, I took this photo...

Tom was pretty sure Santa must have landed outside of Josie's room on the metal roof. He was right.

We read the Christmas story on Josie's bed before going downstairs.

Jack wasn't a fan of letting us take a photo of him on the steps before going down.

We let him look over the balcony at all of the presents and he changed his mind.

I don't think we started opening until 8:30 at least and took until noon to finish with everything. First, more pictures...

Finally, the presents! I love Tessa's stance in this one.

This was a good, inexpensive, "big" gift from Santa. They have played with this thing all day long. Best thing is it will hit the trash the first trash day after New Year's.

Stockings were last on the agenda.

The adults have spent the day lounging and cooking leisurely. We made Philly Cheese Steaks for lunch and a turkey breast and twice baked potatoes for dinner. I've been working on an arugami (crocheted) elephant from the book Tom got me. I've really enjoyed my day today after all of the preparation. I only cleaned up once, though we kept it clean throughout the present opening, and the cluttered house is starting to grow on me. I'm sure I'll be over it tomorrow. :)

Now, we're settling in for the Blizzard Warning tomorrow. It should be interesting if this thing comes to fruition. Right now, they're calling for 8-12 inches of snow but I've also seen 10-15 on another network. It's hard to imagine that much snow. I'm thankful it happened this year and not last when we didn't have a garage. And, we have nowhere to go tomorrow, so I just plan on picking up around here, crocheting some more and getting ready for my family on Thursday. Of course, that will be my third full day without leaving the house so I may in fact go crazy. That has to be a record for me - even when I've had babies I have to get out of the house and go somewhere.

Usually, Christmas is the start of a long, boring winter season. But, not this year for us. January brings Colorado and Mexico, February will be Colorado again and then we'll wrap it up in Florida for March. If it weren't for Tom's impending knee surgery, I would really be looking forward to the winter which may be a first. :)

Merry Christmas!