Ringing in 2017!

I can't believe another year has flown by and we are now into another year!  2017!  What?!  Is it just me or can anyone remember thinking the year 2000 would never be a possibility. Well fast forward (really fast I might add) 17 years later and here we are in January of 2017!  I always reflect in January on all the fun the last year held and wonder what this new year might possibly have in store.  Good things I hope!  I know we have a list of our own goals we would like to see done or happen this year. I'm looking forward to fun in each and every month and maybe writing about some of that fun on this blog too!  We had a fun time with our friends ringing in the new year.  We love spending New Year's with all of our closest friends at the Burton's.  I love that my kids look forward to this same tradition too.  Since school has been out our kids have really been staying up late so making it to midnight was no problem at all for any of them...unfortunately that includes Bryce.  We are having some sleep issues with him so anyone with any tips on making a 2 year old go to bed easier please share!  In this midst of all this sleep insomnia though the paci is GONE!  What?!  I didn't think I would ever be able to say that but it is crazy that Bryce got rid of that thing all on his own.  I mean its a small miracle.  I'm a little sad but trying to focus on the positive side of that.   Anyway...back to New Year's.   We had so much fun!  I had bought the kids these fun 2017 glasses and we had some fun with those.  Hubs and I might have liked them more than the kids did!

We spent the rest of the night hanging out with our friends.  With the forecast having a lot of rain starting around 10:45 the fireworks were moved up to 10:30.  It was a smart decision because it started raining good after the fireworks.  We did stay up with everyone until 12:00 and it was so cute listening to all the kids doing their own countdown to midnight.  I loaded the kids up shortly after and came home while the guys stuck around for some cards.  Bryce was still the last one to fall asleep.  I'm not sure what his deal is!  I'm hoping getting back on our school schedule will help!

Dawn got some good snuggles from Bryce & Liv 

Nat was surrounded by hands wanting the poppers!

Bryce was a little bit afraid of the sparklers...worked out for Grace to get some love though!

 

caught these 2 getting into the cupcakes!

Bryce was getting in on the card action

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Christmas 2016

These last few weeks are all blurred together but we had a great Christmas!  The girls have really enjoyed their break and other than some sickness that showed up unwanted, we have enjoyed every minute.  From playdates, Christmas, and New Years,  etc...we ended 2016 with fun fun fun!  Lets rewind a little back to the highlight of December-Christmas!
On Friday the 23, Cohen went with her friend Brooke to see the movie Sing.  Kate really wanted to see it too so I decided to go and take her and we actually were able to meet up with her little cousin Kylie.  The movie was really cute and both girls loved it.  Later that night we had a family Christmas dinner with the Haley family.  I didn't get any pictures but we sure had a fun time with everyone.

Our Christmas Eve is always pretty low key during the day.  We get to soak up all of the last minutes before Christmas.  I always feel like December is so much fun leading up to Christmas and I always get a little sad thinking that it is about to be over.  Since Christmas fell on Sunday and we would be at church during the morning we decided to have a Christmas Eve breakfast at Bebe's house.   Cohen was sad thinking we might miss out on such a good breakfast so we moved it up a morning and it was delicious!  That day I let the girls attempt a gingerbread house but it didn't turn out so well!  The kids got to play,  Dawn & I had a good long run, and we just enjoyed the day.  That afternoon we went ahead and put out reindeer food before heading to church for Christmas Eve service.  We always eat at Sug & Pop's house after church and Sug always does the BEST meal.  Pop reads and we just have the best time.  We were missing Aunt Vicki and my Mama this year.  The girls were pretty anxious to get home and go to bed by about 8:30.  We were tracking Santa and they were so ready to be asleep so he could come.  It makes me love everything so much watching their excitement.

Before the house collapsed...

 Christmas Eve!  Even got a picture with "black dog"(he took up here in 2016!)

"Twas the Night Before Christmas"

Even with all their anxiety the girls didn't wake up too too early.  It was about 7:00.  We got everyone up and ready and took them into the living room.  Their expressions (excluding Bryce who was not into any of it) were priceless.  Cohen couldn't believe Santa brought her a hoverboard, Kate was over the moon about all her animals, especially her german shepard, and Bryce finally got excited seeing his chainsaw!

We spent our morning enjoying Santa stuff then got ready to head to church to celebrate the reason for the day...our Savior's birthday!  We left church and had lunch with Sug & Pop.  We came back from lunch and had some down time.  We even had time for a nap (*gasp*).  Christmas night we spent with my family at Mama's.  I loved not being rushed here and there for the entire day.  My children enjoyed their new toys and once again...a nap!!

Monday was a busier day for us.  We had Christmas with Sug & Pop and then had Christmas in Gainesville with Grannie, Papa, Aunt Vicki, and Aunt Danette.  Bryce started to get a little interested in opening gifts but not much.  He liked what would be inside but had no desire to rip into a present.  We had a great Christmas and I am still sad to see it go.  

Christmas Parties, Programs, and the Nutcracker

I'm going to rewind about a week to when the kids got out of school!  We have been out a week now. Both girls had class parties and unfortunately this time they were both at the exact same time.  Not ideal for this Mama but I made the best of it.  I went to the elementary school for Cohen's brunch first.  At elementary school there aren't a lot of class parties to come to so I wanted to be sure I was there.  We were there about 30 minutes then we headed over to Kate's.  Bryce loved the party scene and sat with Cohen the minute we walked in.  He was interested in all of her snacks!  Kate had finished her snacks when we got to her and they were all into the stockings they each got with goodies in them!  She had been looking forward to getting into that stocking all week!

That night Kate had her Christmas program.  She and her best friend Nolan were going to be the donkeys.  Now let me back up a little.  They had the option of being Mary & Joseph (wouldn't that be sweet), but if you know Kate at all you know that flew over with her like a lead balloon.  She wanted nothing to do with that and had her heart set on being a donkey from day 1.  So a donkey it was!  She was a super cute donkey too.  This girl can really sing and I love listening to her.  She is so loud!  IT is so stinkin' precious!  They all were.  It was definitely the cutest little manger scene!

On Friday after school had gotten out on Thursday, we had our Christmas with Nana in Athens.  Of course the kids were so excited to get to open a present!  We had yummy food and got to see everyone.  At one point we were trying to get a picture of Nana with all of the great grandkids since little Owen was just born.   Well Bryce wasn't feeling a picture!  This pretty much sums up a lot of our days right now.  Mr. Terrible Two has entered the building.

 The girls sure did like little Owen!

On Saturday we finally got to do some Christmas baking!  We had some sweet people we visited that we wanted to take cookies too, and of course we had to have some for Santa and for us!  Baking in pjs is a bonus!

On Sunday we went back to Athens to see the Nutcracker.  Pop had bought tickets for everyone as part of Sug's birthday.  This was a first for the girls.  I think Cohen understood way more than Kate did, especially since this is a show with no talking only dancing.  She watched the entire show though so that was a win.  Afterwards we went to eat downtown.  I love Athens any time of the year but I really love it at Christmas.  It is so pretty and the lights in the trees are my favorite.  No where has such pretty lights!  We went to Amici's and sat at the window so we were loving it!

It was pretty cold leaving the show so these 2 decided to share Sug's coat together

This picture was from earlier in the week on Sug's actual birthday.  We had ate in Athens and had cake at Nana's house.

We started this week off with a little Christmas party for Cohen and a few of her friends.   The girls all made Christmas bracelets, ate pizza, and just played.  They got outside in the "secret hideout" and they were having a ball.  I had to make them come in after a while because I thought they might need to thaw out a little!   IT was a sweet group of girls and I loved having them here!

Bryce didn't mind being the only boy since pizza was involved!