Before and After Christmas

The 2 weeks before Christmas WERE INSANE.  There was something EVERYDAY. Get ready to be exhausted reading the list of activities... And then imagine living it 😂

Piper performed The Grinch with the 2nd and 3rd graders at school.

Piper had a Christmas party in her classroom.

Sully had a class Gingerbread decorating party.

I attended a Moms night out/Christmas party. SO FUN.

Sully had a Christmas class party.

Lucy had a "Jingle Bell Jam" for the 5th graders.

Sully had Grinch Day.

Lucy had a Christmas Choir performance for the staff- She's in Honor's Choir!

There was Ugly Sweater day.

There was Christmas PJ day.

There was Festive Sock Day.

There was Festive Headwear Day.

There was Class T-Shirt day.

There was Polar Express Day.

(Even Shawn got to visit Sully INSIDE a classroom again!)

We visited Santa (a few days after our trip so Piper and Sully were still tan!)

We picked out a REAL tree and decorated it (also, still tan, ha!)

We looked at lights and then came home and watched The Polar Express as a family. 

I subbed when I could.

We did the Calendar every night. 

We made Gingerbread Houses and cookies as a family.

I had the FLU and wanted to DIE.

Shawn had to go to North Dakota and got stuck there. He tried to come home 2 days early because I was so sick at one point. He finally made it to Chicago for a connecting flight and got stuck there too. He never even COULD get to Tulsa. He had to fly into Oklahoma City, rent a car and drive home and with all the flights and cancellations he actually got home LATER than he was supposed to, even though he left 2 days earlier.... Poor guy.

There were SO MANY presents brought to school for alllll the teachers! (Lucy has 3, Sully has 2, Piper has 1 and we also gave some to other staff members who mean a lot to us!).

I started a vigorous writing course (more on that another day and no- nothing I've learned is reflected in my grammar, cadence, or story-telling on the blog. My skills are severely lacking in this space!😅)

We brought a Guinea Pig Home to babysit for 18 days.

Piper had a birthday....

We hosted some friends for a little Christmas Party.

It. Was. A. LOT. 

I'm sure there was more but my brain can't process anymore😜 

All the events really were fun- there were just a lot of them. I tried not to complain because last year I had to miss EVERYTHING so this year I didn't want to miss anything.  Sully is in kindergarten. These precious moments when he is little and girls don't have cooties yet and everyone is his friend are special to witness. They are so fleeting; watching him in his element. I missed that 100% last year. I missed it with all 3 of the kids, but the sweet early years are the best and I don't want them taken from me again. So I made sure to show up NO MATTER WHAT. 

Now let's fast forward to "after Christmas."  That week between Christmas and New Years where the days blend together and you really have zero motivation to DO anything.... It was boring in the best way.  We slept a LOT.  Like, a LOT. There was a day I woke up at 10AM in a a panic because of how late it was, and I went out to the living room to find that everyone was still asleep! Hahaha! We ate junk food.  We went to bed late.  We played games and did a puzzle. We enjoyed our new Christmas spoils.  We loved and laughed and slept some more! 

The vulnerable side of me will confess that there were a few days that week that I really mourned Pops Ralph.  It hit me AFTER Christmas; his absence from this life. I woke up extremely angry one day and cried and cried another day. We love you Pops. Wish you weren't taken from us so soon- it's just not fair:(

Precious ornament given to me from Tiff. I'll cherish it forever. 

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UP NEXT! 12-31-21/ 01-01-22

New Year's Eve was wild! 😂

My kiddos wanted to have a little family celebration before our friends came over so we watched 2021's Ball drop and did a fake countdown around 5pm. A few hours later when the Stockard's got here we did another fake countdown because we didn’t think the littles would last until midnight, and didn’t want them to miss out. But, surprise surprise! The littles DID last! So when the REAL countdown happened, we had a 3rd celebration of kisses and cheering! I guess we’re all so excited to kick 2021 out the door that we couldn’t wait to ring in 2022 THREE times!

And now its 2022... HERE WE GO....