Footballs and Princesses: Wonderful Life!

It is the time of year for feeling blessed and thankful. It is also the time of year for complete craziness! Between errands to accomplish all your Christmas plans and kids too hyped up on sugar and Santa, December is full of long days and harried nights. Even with all the extra activity and responsibilities, I love Christmas time! We try and fill our down time with traditions we all enjoy. Gingerbread houses, sugar cookies, and painting ornaments are a yearly favorite. It gives purpose to their creativity and they love to show off their work. I admit, if does make life a little difficult for me. Those activities are messy, but I love spending creative time with them. It is good for the soul, I think. My collection of ornaments are priceless too. Knox's ornaments are my favorites. He has only participated the last 2 years and has made a black dog bone (3 years old) and a black reindeer (4 years old). The happy little kid LOVES black! They really add a festive sparkle to the tree. :) Carson and Maison have started making some pretty ornaments, but love looking back at ones from years before. I do too. This year's December marathon was complicated with Jeremy's out of town work schedule. While he isn't the most helpful around the house, an extra driver always comes in handy. The kids and I ran ourselves ragged getting to practices, school functions and getting shopping done. We are adjusting to this new life of him being gone a lot. Of course we miss him, but it isn't quite as scary anymore. Actually, I might just be too tired to care anymore. With bad weather plaguing December, visits from the grandparents have been cancelled and this looks like the first Christmas we will spend without seeing anyone. We are still 3 days out and it is a little lonely. I miss family gatherings so much, especially at Christmas, but Jeremy's work schedule makes it hard to go anywhere right now. Our hearts will be on the other side of the state for sure this year. I gave each of the kids $20 this year to do their shopping and endured a few hours at the Dollar Tree, Five Below and Target to mark everyone off their list. It was so much fun though. They were so excited and thoughtful in their shopping. Knox was the funniest. He bought my mom a squirt bottle for her hair. He bought me a bottle of shower cleaner. Poppa he got a car cleaning brush. It is funny how their little minds work. For the most part they were right on. Carson was very financially savvy in his approach to shopping. Maison was extremely thoughtful and sweet. When we got home they wrapped all their treasures and are so excited to give them. They are in the spirit of the season for sure. Update: It is well past Christmas now. But, it was a wonderful day! The kids were thrilled with their gifts. Carson worked a deal with Santa to trade his Kindle Fire for a new generation Ipod Touch. Maison asked for and received her own Kindle Fire in a cool black case with rockin' pink headphones. Knox got his sandbox. It is built and waiting for nice weather in the garage. Jeremy got me a nice surprise...a pretty silver diamond bangle bracelet. He got the short end of the stick with some odds and ends like an alarm clock, Atari, and Chiefs shirt. The kids excitedly delivered their gifts to everyone. We all got a great laugh out of it. So fun!
Christmas break ended a week later than expected due to very snowy weather-12inches. We LOVED the extra time at home and used it to rest, sled, and enjoy our time together. The bad part was the bitter cold. We didn't get to really enjoy the snow because it was below or near zero for days. Being big snow fans, we loved every minute of the winter weather adventure!
We rang in the New Year with some new friends. First we ran by a house party of a friend of Maison's. Then we met the Brecht's for dinner and conversation. We ALL made it to midnight. The kids committed to some much needed resolutions, that have since been forgotten, I am sure. It is just amazing how fast time flies when you are having fun. With our busy schedule, I feel like I blink and a month has gone by. I pray 2014 continues to bless us with health, happiness, and opportunity.