JANUARY?

Marty was gone all week so the kids, Scout and I were batchin' it. We survived. We had fun. We walked Scout, went to the library, took Ryder for a hair cut, played a couple hands of Old Maid, read stories and ate cereal. Yep, that's right. Ate cereal. For supper. Not all 5 nights, but at least 3 of them...don't judge! We had grilled cheese and pita pizzas too.
I used to cook. I really did...but somewhere between two kids and a full time job, I just couldn't find time to cook anymore. Marty must have gotten tired of pita pizzas because one day he just sort of took over planning, preparing and cooking dinner and I LOVE IT!!!  He's awesome at it and he always puts so much pride into whatever he makes.  We are spoiled!  Soo....when he is away, it's like I have completely forgotten how to cook, or I am too lazy, either way, Ryder has associated "Marty being gone" with us having cereal for supper. LOL

Another thing we do while Marty is gone, is let Scout read stories with us and sleep on Ryder's bed...actually, I think Marty knows about Scout sleeping on Ryder's bed, he just pretends he doesn't. :)

Every evening as soon as we got home from the Day Home, we'd grab Scout and head out to the 

soccer field. I usually walk Scout after the kids go to bed while Marty stays home with them, but with Marty being gone, the kids got to help me with our dog responsibility. At first I dreaded it. I thought I'd have to drag them through the snow and carry Payton the whole way...but it turned out to be fun adventure time and lil Payton, it turns out, can walk all by herself. She'll do anything to keep up with her brother.  "Me too" that's her anthem. :)

I actually started looking forward to our little adventures. It helped that the weather was incredibly warm and that the sun has been sticking around longer so we didn't have to walk in the dark for very long.

Thursday, there were puddles!! Puddles in January!!

Saturday night we had Un New Years. Yep, Un New Years. See, on our real New Years, all of our good friends were sick so we had to postpone our Friend New Years.  Saturday night everyone was feeling healthy, so we got to have our party!

 

We actually even got the kids to go to bed so that we could hang out as adults! How we've missed that! :)

Today it was plus 16 degrees! Plus 16 in January!! We even opened up the sandbox! 

 Plus 16? We had to go bike riding too obviously!! This has never in my lifetime happened in January before!

 Plus 16? We had to so see Uncle Dirt too!!!! He is not shedding though, so I know Winter is not actually over.

I cannot believe it's January!! It feels like spring out there! We are doing spring things, wearing spring coats, BBQing and soaking up this little Winter hiatus while it lasts!

kiss your babies, count your blessings and soak up that sunshine while it's here!!

STILL PROCRASTINATNG....

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!!
Ack!! I cannot believe it has been sooo long since my last post!! A friend sent me a gentle reminder that I have not written in a while...laughing at how I'm still procrastinating!!! It's time I get back at it!!!
I may not have written anything on here since Nov.17th, but I have written several Blog posts in my mind. It's crazy how hard it is to find time to write..let alone write anything of any quality!! I figure if I wait until I can write a quality, entertaining piece, I will never write, so here I am. I'm back..or at least I am going to try to by!!

It pains me to have to write just a quick version of Christmas. I wish I would have written then, but now it just seems like a far away memory...an awesome, happy, far away memory!!

Before Christmas there was the adventure to see Santa. Something Payton and Ryder were both pumped about! Payton knew alot about Santa, thanks to Ryder, but I dont' think she knew that he was actually a real person, because once she laid eyes on the human being Santa, as opposed to the decoration Santa, she wigged out!!!!

I'm happy to report that she still loves Santa and she talks about him and points him out with a big smile on her face, but if you ask her if she wants to "sit on Santa's knee?" Her smile, turns immediately to a frown and she shakes her head NO!!!!

There was decorating on December 1st with our annual "everyone must wear a Santa hat" rule and Kenny and Dolly Country Christmas blaring on the stereo.

  

 

 There were Santa parades,

 

 and lots and lots of snow eating.....he LOVES to eat snow, who doesn't?  lol

  

There was our Elf on the Shelf, Ernie who would hide our Advent Calendars every night. When the kids woke up in the morning, they would wonder around hollering, "Ernie!! Oh, Eeeerrrrnie, where arrrre youuuuu?" Totally adorable to watch Payton follow Ryder around looking for the mischievious little elf and their chocolate!

There were Christmas gifts from Students:

I was sooo touched that one of my little boys, gave both Ryder and Payton a really thoughtful gift each with these tags! My heart melted! Obviously, I talk about my kids a lot!! My students have never actually met Ryder or Payton in person, but they have heard countless stories and seen several pics!! 

Finally, it was Christmas Holidays!!!!! We loaded up our van and headed North to spend Christmas with my Family this year.

 We went to Mom's for Christmas. Nothing is like Christmas on the Farm and nothing is like Christmas with both my sisters with me!!!!

 

We spent 5 days together and it was FANTASTIC!!!! We missed Shane a lot! It wasn't the same without him, but his new, exciting job, keeps him away for 2 weeks at a time and this year, he had to be away over Christmas.  We tried to keep Max and Kennedy busy enough that they wouldn't have too much time to miss their Daddy...though they did.

There was gingerbread house making,

 There was sledding,

 There was skating,

 There was skiing (and making hearts in the snow for "Daddy.")

 There was horsing around, riding the best Auntie ever!

 And there was Christmas Eve!

Dressing up for church and the traditional Family pics by the Christmas Tree,

Christmas Jammies!

 Christmas cookies for Saint Nick and the reindeer!

And there was the Christmas after math....

Lego Building,

Christmas crafting,

 Playing with new toys,

 

 

Dog Grooming, 

Super Heroing, 

  cuddling on the couch,

 and sitting on your brothers.

 

There was an awesome Family Photo Shoot in Mom's back yard, 

And there was plenty of quality Grammy Time!

Then, just as quick as the whirl wind began, it ended and we all had to say good-bye. :(  It sucks to have to send the Coles so far away, but we hope to see them again soon and if wer're lucky maybe we'll get to see Shane too!!  

As much as it sucks to say good-bye to everyone, it's always good to come home so you can really make a big mess and play with all the new stuff! I feel super lucky to have had another whole week off after Christmas! The kids and I literally, just stayed home and played!!! Almost all of our friends were sick with something, flus, colds, combos of both, so we just stayed in our little "bubble."  

We baked cookies, we ate treats, we laughed together,

 

We grumped together, 

  

We played with our new toys and made A LOT of traffic jams,

 

We played with hot wheels,  

We  hung out just being cute,

 ...and when that got old, we went to the mountains and went sledding!

There was New Years, but our plans fell through when our friends were still not healthy enough to host the big get together we had been planning. We will have an "Un New Years" once everyone is back to feeling good.  Instead of partying, we stayed in,just the four of us, five if you count Scout, ate a huge steak dinner, wore festive hats, said, "Happy New Year" alot and just soaked up another night of being together as a family!!!

And through it all, we cheered for Canada's World Junior Hockey team, who eventually won the gold medal in the big tournament!!!!  Ryder has become quite a hockey fan! For the first evening game, I told him, "if you have a quick bath before the game starts, you can stay up to watch the first period and maybe part of the second!"  Fastest tub ever, then while I was drying Payton off, getting her into her jammies, Ryder put on his own jammies, topped with his Canada jersey, his Canada Day headband, his soccer medal and he found his hockey picture frame (with no photo in it, his canada flag and some random light) and plopped himself on the coffee table.  He came up with this get up and the supersticious good luck charms all on his own!!!! ADORABLE!!!!! He then insisted that even though Payton didn't have a Canada jersey of her own, she should just wear her Canuks jersey (a hand me down from him that is actually too small.) The kid knows how to be a fan and to get everyone rallied!!!!

Now the holidays are over. We are all back into routine. It is the first Saturday night since School started back up and I am exhausted, but happy!!!

Kiss your babies, count your blessings and Happy New Year!!