December birthdays and celebrations

The busiest month of the year and we are just about halfway through it with only 13 days until Christmas!  The boys have made their lists, visited Santa, and they've enjoyed opening their advent calendars daily and looking for Chippy. 

We've also been in the baking and decorating spirit!  The boys made their gingerbread houses that were gifts from their cousin, Sydney.  Scott helped with the construction and decoration while I tutored last Sunday.  I also taught the boys how to make peanut butter kiss cookies and we tried not to eat them all the first couple of days. 

We attended Christmas in Plymouth last week and met up with both of Scott's sisters and our friends, The Greens!  We got lucky with a mild evening.  The boys had hot cocoa at Sun and Snow, we visited the holiday market, and they decorate sugar cookies too.  It was a fun night!

We also have 3 December birthdays of immediate family members and it just so happened that this year we celebrated for all 3 of them on the same day.  Last Saturday we started with the Winter Wonderland performance by the DSO in downtown Detroit late morning with my parents.  They played all kid friendly songs for an hour.  It was a really nice performance.  We grabbed lunch in Midtown at Honest Johns and walked to get treats at For the Love of Sugar.  Yum!

We then came home to change and take the dog for a walk before heading to Novi to do a hotel swimming party for our niece, Sydney, and Pops' birthdays.  The kids had a blast in the pool with their cousins.  We had pizza and salad for dinner in the hotel room, cake of course, and the kids went to swim one last time before we left to head home. 

There have been some quiet and peaceful moments at home too.  The boys loved watching Noelle on Disney+ for a new holiday movie and they've enjoyed just looking at all the ornaments on the tree.  I've found over the years that it's really important to leave some free time in December to just relax and enjoy the season as a family at home.

November Updates

As we close out November today, I'm amazed at how quickly it passed.  We had a lot to be thankful for this month.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parents' house this week.  The food was delicious, we played Uno, and Uncle Ron came to visit too.  We kept it simple this year and didn't do a 5k or go down to the parade, but the boys still enjoyed a simple morning at home with cinnamon rolls and the sales papers while watching the start of the parade on TV.  I even snuck out before anyone else was out of bed to run my own 5k as the sun came up.

We kicked off Thanksgiving break with a movie night at home.  The boys decorated Thanksgiving cookies that I bought from a woman in Livonia while they watched Ghostbusters 3.  We set up our Christmas decorations and outdoor lights.  We went to Defy Detroit with the Saling family to burn off some Thanksgiving calories.  And I took the boys to the Cranbrook Institute of Science and Somerset today.  Whew!  I need a break to recover from my break.

 The boys both had great reports at their parent-teacher conferences!  I was almost in tears hearing how much Sean has grown and matured this year at school.  He's no longer receiving math support and is only one level away from being at grade-level for reading.  He's excited to read most nights and has found quite a few books he likes!  Evan is thriving too!  He can really read and his teacher says he's very strong in math.  Thank goodness!  We treated the boys to dinner at Bigalora to celebrate.

That same week we had a snow day!  Yes, that's right.  9 inches of snow that broke all the records in Michigan!  Our calls came in late that morning, but we were so excited to spend the day home together.  We went sledding and the boys played with Nevaeh at our house for a while.  Disney+ premiered and the boys quickly became obsessed with The Mandalorian. 

Since soccer wrapped up just before Halloween, we were able to slow down a bit in November.  We had some time to watch movies, get family pictures taken for our Christmas cards, get some runs in, and cook/bake! 

 And most importantly, we had time to get out all the toys for some play time and creativity!

 We celebrated Jackie's 40th birthday with a euchre party at her house and a visit from Madison Boutique in her new truck!  Sydney and Adelaide spent the night at our house while Avery watched all four of them in the evening.  The kids made their own pizzas, watched a movie, and played.  I'd say everyone had fun!

And lastly, I ran in the Run of the Dead 5k with Janet and my co-worker, Rachel in Southwest Detroit.  I'm proud to say I ran a PR and I took second place in my age division!  We celebrated by grabbing lunch at Taqueria Mi Pueblo.  Yum!  I do love to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. 

 November was a great month!  The countdown to Christmas is on!