Go, Go, Goers!

So it's been cold. Like, really cold. As in -36F with wind chill cold. And there's been a lot of snow. It's safe to say that we will definitely have a White Christmas this year. As I was letting Pria out earlier today, I noticed that she can barely peek above the snow from the little area that we shoveled for her. And, yes, she's not a huge dog, but I bet her eyes are about 15" off the ground. So...that's a lot of snow to try to look over. In any case, we persisted, and carried on with our pre-holiday activities. We all wrapped up the work week and the school week (the kids' school was cancelled on the last day of the week due to the cold temps, so they get an extra day for their winter break - lucky!) and now we're heading full steam into the holidays. For Christmas Eve, we are heading to my parents house for our traditional Christmas Even dinner of butterball soup and other goodies. Scott's mom will be joining us this year, which is an extra bonus...

We had some seriously wintery weather this week. It snowed for at least three days, but first it started with lots of rain. And when rain freezes, what do we get? Ice! It was pretty slushy for a few days, and now there's enough snow cover that it's not as slick as it was earlier this week. These are the days that I'm grateful that I don't have my long commute into work anymore. The view from our backyard...it's so pretty when the trees are fully covered in snow, too Ironically, though, I did need to go into work on Thursday for our holiday party. And of course it was snowing. But, my team convinced me to brave the roads. It was really nice to see people in the office again, and enjoy a wonderful lunch provided by Patterson. Beef tenderloin, fancy appetizers, and SO MANY desserts! Plus, since I was dressed in festive attire, I was given one of the beautiful blue poinsettias to bring home. The kids are counting down the days until winter break, but we managed to squee...

More Christmas fun adventures have been checked off the list! George has been a busy elf, visiting us every night, except for one. One night he didn't leave, and G was really confused. But, he must have left in the middle of the next day and came back when we weren't paying attention. G called me and let me know that had happened while Ava and I were out running some errands. Glad to see that George figured it out, ha! December 4 You have a pizza my heart! December 5 "Dr. Elf will see you soon! Please be patient!" December 6 "Playing with you is DOH much fun!" (he has some play dough to give to G) December 7 "Will you boggle with me?" December 8 "I think you and I have good chemistry together!" December 9 I call this one... "making bad choices after too much tequila" December 10 "Baking cookies today!" and we were :) Speaking of cookies...my mom came over on Saturday and we enjoyed our annual tradition of making Christ...

We're in full swing for the Christmas season! The tree went up last weekend, the house is fully decorated (inside), we're going to make all of the Christmas treats next weekend (all ingredients have been purchased), 99% of the gifts are here and waiting to be wrapped (not looking forward to wrapping them, ugh), Christmas cards have been sent out, Christmas movies have been selected and we'll start watching them this weekend, and we're dropping off G's letter to Santa today at a local Santa drop spot in our neighborhood (pretty dang convenient if you ask me!) In fact, I feel so on top of things that I actually took a nap this afternoon. Pria and I laid in the sun in our guestroom and soaked up the warm rays. I've been reminded (by social media of all things, shock!) that making time for yourself is a task that can't be ignored. So, even though I should have been doing laundry or cleaning the house, I opted to take an hour to rest. And in that hour, both kids ...

This week was all about counting down until our days off from work and school, so we could gather as family to eat really good food and celebrate a day of thanks together. We headed over to Grandma Deb's house in the early afternoon on Thanksgiving, and spent several hours there, visiting and eating the aforementioned really good food. We also had the chance to meet Deb's new dog, Yental. She is such a sweet girl, and other than a few sniffs, she and Pria pretty much ignored each other. Perfect! Both dogs are about the same age, so it was a lot of begging for food, and then relaxing for these two girls! We are so grateful that we were able to spend the day with Deb, as well as my parents. Family is everything, and I'm so happy that we're able to combine our celebrations so we can see everyone. Making turkey bark...no real turkey included, ha On Friday, we spent several hours decorating the house for Christmas, including having the kids decorate the Christmas tree. It to...