Winter arrived!

 

Last Friday we had a winter weather advisory with predictions of anywhere between 2-6 inches.  It started around 2pm so unfortunately we didn't get the day off.  By the time the kids came home from school the roads were bad.  In fact, Evan's bus got into a small accident and the poor kid didn't get home until 5:45pm!

Once my family was all home and settled we made homemade pizzas and the kids were anxious to play outside.  Ethan came over since they lost power and he spent the night at our house.  

The next morning we made pancakes and took the boys sledding through the woods by our house.  We tried 3 different hills and finally found a spot that wasn't icy or bumpy.  It was a lot of fun and the it was the first time I actually went down the hill in years!

The next few days the cold temperatures moved in and we weren't able to really go outside comfortably.  The kids and Scott had Monday off for MLK day and then we got Tuesday and Wednesday off for cold days since the windchill was -20 in the mornings.  We played games, sorted Lego, watched movies, and ventured out to Costco.

We are back to work and school!  And we're hoping to get lots of snow time this weekend, sledding and skiing since the temperatures are more tolerable.  Winter finally decided to show up!

NYE Staycation!

This year for NYE we decided to book a hotel in Novi for a fun little getaway!  Scott did that many years growing up and wanted the kids to do it this year.  While the hotel was dog friendly, we opted to have Luna stay with my parents.  We stopped at Target before going so the kids could spend one of their Christmas gift cards and they bought baseball cards.  We swam for a bit and then went back to the room to wait for Scott's parents.  They came to visit at the hotel with AJ since she was looking to get out the "COVID" house.  They came and brought dinner from Jets (for the kids) and a local Chinese restaurant (for the adults).  

The kids swam more after eating and the adults played euchre down by the pool and back up at the room.  They left by 11pm and then it was time to get ready for the countdown.  We did it from bed as we were all pretty tired.  Unfortunately, Evan was up more than half the night crying in pain from what ended up being an ear infection.  So, we rang in the new year in Urgent Care on New Year's Day.  

Never a dull moment!  And hopefully not indicative of what's to come this year...

Happy 2024!

Merry Christmas 2023

 Christmas plans were a bit different this year since AJ's brain surgery was scheduled for the 19th.  Our usual Christmas Eve plans with Scott's family were pushed back to the 30th.  She ended up getting COVID that week and was better by Christmas Eve so we invited Scott's parents and the Salings over for a very casual taco/nacho bar, drinks, and cards.  Matt and Mindy had other plans so we didn't do any traditional Christmas activities (exchanging gifts, games, etc.) until the 30th.  It was a nice evening, but definitely felt very different this year.

After everyone left the boys put out carrots for the reindeer and cookies for Santa.  I read The Night Before Christmas in my bed while the Santa Tracker was on.  We went all out knowing it's likely our last year of believers/partial believers.  

The kids were up around 7am antsy to go downstairs and to see if the Big Guy visited!  I think they were happy with their loot this year.  Sean got a big Lego set from Santa (Viking Village) and Evan got the Bruce Bolt batting gloves he wanted with some baseball cards.  

We made breakfast and headed out for 11am mass at church.  After mass we got the house ready and appetizers ready for my parents and uncle who were coming over.  We exchanged gifts with my parents while doing a Facetime call with Eric and Ana.  And then it was Italian foods for dinner (pasta, lasagna, meatballs, salad, etc.).  Yum!  We had Christmas cookies for dessert and played Uno.  

We finally wrapped up Christmas celebrations on the 30th over at my in-laws house.  It was a small group this year; no cousins.  Unfortunately, Sydney got COVID and wasn't able to be there, but Josh left after dinner and brought her food and her gifts.  We Facetimed her to open gifts after dinner.  This year we added some "Minute to win it" games to the mix and it was so much fun.  I hope it's something we do every year!

Can't believe how grown up the kids are looking!  Time sure is flying!  It was a nice Christmas season with family.