5 on Friday

I'm baaack!  Actually, I just posted a Christmas post, but made it show up from a couple of weeks ago (is that cheating?  like blog cheating?).

I have a couple of posts I still haven't done (visitors from November, a book list), but I feel like 5 on Friday is such a good starter to get back into the blogging swing of things...So here we go!

O     N     E

We have had a crazy last couple of weeks.  I drove the boys down to DC (to see my sister and her husband) for MLK weekend (10 hours there and 10 hours back BY MYSELF with two little boys!).

Katy and I spent a ton of time working on Anne Douglas' nursery, and I think it's turning out pretty cute.  But we had a little time to play too.  Since it was pretty cold that Sunday, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and games.  Oh, and for Katy's birthday.  Isn't that the way you like to spend your birthday?  Seriously, Katy was so sweet to spend her birthday dinner there, and Jack and Gil had a blast and burned off some energy.

Gilbo is a big fan of pizza, well of any food in general!

As a side note, my kids did INCREDIBLE on the car rides.  They both have lots of things they struggle with, but traveling is not one of them.  I think it's because we have just made them ride in car rides from the beginning.  The first one or two were rough, but now they are amazing when we travel places.

T     W     O

I got home Monday night, and then Wednesday, we had a whole batch of people in town.  Bech was part of a show at Burlington City Arts, and some of the other artists showing were PSU grads too!  So we had people in and out of our house through early this week (Jonas delayed a couple of flights).  We had lots of hang out time at our house, plus we got a babysitter and went out with friends Friday night.

It was so fun to have friends in town!

T     H     R     E     E

After all that craziness, Bech and I started the 21 day fix.  Have y'all heard of this?  It's a workout/diet plan that you do for 21 days.  

Basically, the food part is all portion control and low carb/high protein.  And then you do a 30 minute workout video each day and drink TONS of water.  And it's totally kicking our butts!  Bech and I are enjoying eating more veggies and fruit, but we are pretty hungry a lot of the time.  We are 5 days in (so 16 more to go!).  I'll let you know how it ends up.

If you've ever done this before, we are not doing the Shakeology portion.  It just seemed too expensive for our current budget.  Maybe I'll try it in the future?

Also, if you are a 21 day fix expert, any recipe tips or advice?

F     O     U     R

I forgot to share this picture from my Christmas post:

Here's our little traveler, coming home from Christmas.  He's got a Darth Vader suitcase and a Chewy bookbag.  This little boy is ALL about some Star Wars!

Can I just say that four is so much fun!  This little guy is hilarious.  He loves to cuddle and talk to me, and I love it too.  He definitely still has his moments, but I am just enjoying this age so much.

F     I     V     E

I've had a couple of friends lately ask for book lists, and I have grand plans for two separate blog posts about that.  

But I posted a couple of months ago about wanting to read more classics.  Since then, I read Anna Karenina.  Okay, I know it's a classic so obviously someone likes it.  But that was a looong read.  And I like long books.  I can tear through some Ken Follet.  And Atlas Shrugged is one of my favorite books.  But goodness, I struggled with AK.  Glad it is done!

So I treated myself with a little popular fiction

Ready Player One is sort of a dystopian book, but most of the action takes place in a virtual reality video game.  I used to read William Gibson when I was younger, and this book reminded me slightly of his style.  Plus, there are so many 80's references that make it a fun read.  Ready Player One is not the most incredible or life changing book, but it is an enjoyable read.  A good break after Anna Karenina!

Alright, there's my 5 on Friday which is sort of a catch up.

Christmas 2015

I know it is WAAAY past Christmas, but I want to be able to look back later and remember what we did this year!

This Christmas, we did things a little differently.  We usually go home before Christmas (actually, in order to afford tickets, we go home a lot before Christmas to miss out on those expensive tickets right before Christmas Day).  This year, we stayed in Burlington through Christmas Day, flying out of Manchester, NH, that afternoon.

Our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were super low key.  We had some friends over for brunch on Thursday.  That afternoon, I told Jack he could open one present and thought I was giving him a wooden plane kit.  Nope, it was the face painting kit.  Thank goodness for artist dads who can paint a mean tigers face!

That night, I made ham and swiss sandwiches on hawaiian rolls and tomato soup.  Bech and I had champagne and Jack was SO excited about his sparkling cider.  We ended up not going to church, which I was sad about.  But our church is a plant, so the church building we use was being used by the church that owned it.  And Gil is a hot mess in church nurseries, so I didn't want to try a new one out for Christmas Eve.  We read our Ann Voskamp reading, the boys went to bed, and Bech and I stayed up to watch Holiday Inn.  I was surprised by how much Bech liked it!  

By some crazy miracle, our boys slept in the next morning.  I think part of it is that we aren't doing Santa, so Jack was not on pins and needles to see what he brought.  We didn't actually go downstairs until 8:30.

Bech bought me this vintage coffee table (which I LOVE), but Gil is convinced it's a dance platform for him.

This little guy got 3 Christmases this year...he looks pretty pumped, don't you think?

I love my sweet boys.

Gil was also a big fan of this Curious George in the box.

We kept it really simple, and the boys enjoyed it.  They each had a few clothing items, a couple of books, and a few toys.  Jack got a lot of Melissa and Doug craft kits as presents and in his stocking.  I figured we could use those this winter when we are inside.

We had plenty to time to open presents, play with presents, and clean up the house before hitting the road for Manchester.  We chose to fly out of there (even though it was 2 1/2 hours away), because we could fly Southwest (so free bags!). 

I wasn't quite sure what flying on Christmas Day would be like.  It was actually really fun.  Everyone is in a good mood and both flights had free drinks (and I love a gin and tonic).  Both of the boys were really good on the flights.

We got in pretty late to New Orleans, so we slept at Bech's parents condo down there and headed to Brookhaven bright and early, with beignets in hand.

Also, this about sums up how Gil feels when he first meets you (or sees you in a while).

This little guy got into opening some presents this year!

And this little guy wanted to stay close to his Uncle Blaise all day.

My sister is having a baby girl (SO SOON!), and it was fun to see her open lots of little girl things this year.

We spent Saturday night in Brookhaven and went to Faith Pres before church the next day.  I love this picture I took before Church...Jack is being introduced to The Empire Strikes Back. #starwarsobsessed

We then headed to Jackson to spend the next 5 days with Bech's family.  Sadly, this is the only picture I have.  But, I think you can tell that Jack adores his Uncle Hunter (and he's pretty pumped to gain Mary Kathryn as an aunt!).  We had a great time with Nina and Farfar and the rest of the family.

Also, Jack does wear other pj's on occasion...

While we were in Jackson, we spent one morning at a trampoline park.  Ansley really wanted to take Jack to one of these and it did NOT disappoint.  Jack loved it!

He's definitely a fan.

When I do posts like these, I always wish I was better at taking pictures.  We spent New Years Eve going to the restaurant Hunter works at with Bech's parents.  We then spent the rest of the trip in Brookhaven (although Bech took a quick trip up to see our friend Michael in Tupelo).

I did happen to get this picture of our sweet friend Bess playing with Gil.  Gil doesn't go to anyone new!  But for some reason, he just plopped down in Bess' lap and started playing with her.  It was a fun treat to get to catch up with Bess and Julian and sweet Piper.

We flew back on the 4th, right into 10 degree weather and lots of snow.  Talk about shell shock!