New Year Traditions

As with other holidays, we've begun forming traditions for this day, too. On NYE we will have Noon Years Eve since we're the non fun parents who don't let our kids stay up that late (heck, Josh and I are lucky every now and then to stay up that late!)

I will usually buy hats and favors

...and sparkling cider! Preston loved it. We also do a Netflix countdown.

It has also become tradition that we visit this particular restaurant that has a nice NYE vibe - and is kid friendly. 

I'm thinking about making fondue something we do on New Year's Day this next time!

Birthday Getaway

For the first time in who knows how long, Josh and I got away around our birthdays this past year to celebrate. There had been a cute, little boutique hotel I had been admiring for a bit that I wanted to go to - so we went. It was such a refreshing time away. Something we haven't done in a long time is time spent straight up doing nothing - like lounging around in bed for a day. That was pretty much my birthday wish!

Lounge time

Good eats!

Leisurely breakfast

Literally, we read and binged Netflix. When do we get those opportunities? Never when we are at home! 

Holiday Happenings

Three months since I've made it back here - but always making the effort as I know I will appreciate all these memories I'm sure I'll forget later down the road.

December was a bit of a blur as we spent the month sick with colds, sinus infections - which for the first time turned into pinkeye for me and spread to the kids. But, we managed to have some holiday fun sprinkled in there!

After having skipped last year, we started with our tradition of going to Zoolights right before Thanksgiving. Preston was really into lights this year so that made it really fun. 

I took the older kids to see The Nutcracker, we had a few holiday parties. 

The last day of school for the quarter the boys had a Jingle Jog along with holiday sing-a-longs. 

Love the post run snacks

...and the school's holiday spirit! This is more limited nowadays.

So cute that each grade had a theme- Nate's teachers were elves

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Meeting Santa went ok this year...mostly.

We had a fun morning one day at our gym, where the kids had a snow day, made crafts and met Santa (above).

Minus Josh getting sick on my birthday getaway (more in another post), Christmas was nice with our families. Christmas Eve with Josh's and Christmas Day with mine. Seeing Preston being able to enjoy and appreciate the holiday even more this past year has been fun. 

We continued another year of Elf on the Shelf. Every year I think I'll get out of it, and every year the boys talk about Eddie our elf coming back! This year his friend, Norman, started to come. In times of not having much fun or magic, why not, right? Even if it means multiple nights of remembering during the night to do something with them. I surely thought this might be the year of having to talk about Santa, but not yet. The boys were excited to have had an Hot Wheels advent calendar to look forward to each day. 

Promotions

Things had already been busy before, but in October Josh and I both got promotions within the same week of each other! Josh's had been in the works for a bit but finally became official that particular week after months of work. He is more of a manager overseeing other engineers. It has been a much better year in terms of less travel for him so I hope it stays that way.

I got a promotion with the magazine I write for, making me more of the right hand of the publisher. I write more, take pictures and also help organize our monthly event (as well as take pictures at other events and also for our sister publication). I'm also in charge of both publication's social media. It is exciting but also just comes at a hectic time of year to be learning/getting used to new job duties while also having accelerated deadlines with the holidays. I actually feel like in January it might almost seem easy when I get the 10ish additional days back to complete all my work. It has been a new balancing act I'm getting used to, since I primarily try to streamline everything, minimizing the amount I do outside of being at home. 

I'm also hoping by year's end to have another promotion with my other job - sleep consulting. Since I finished the coursework in May, I have been working towards becoming certified since that point. It has been a much longer process than I anticipated. Having to complete so many clients, has taken quite a bit more time. My clients have only counted if they go all the way with completing support of the assessment/plan we recommend. I should hit the number I need to be certified in December I believe - but it is ultimately up to my mentor to decide if I still need more practice than that or not. I hope to begin the New Year as a certified sleep consultant! 

Considering all of this, I plan to drop being with the Mom's Blog early next year. I also just informed school PTO about my intentions of not coming back next year. It is time for me to let go of some things as I start to get busier. I have been on PTO since Nate started school full time, so I'm looking forward to being a typical Jane Smith parent next year. 

November

Full steam ahead continues for this crew! The boys began the month going to a NASCAR race. This was Aaron's first time getting to go - I thought he might not like all the noise and would have trouble sitting  for the duration, but he did well and enjoyed his day. Tickets already to go in the Spring!

It was another busy month for school. They have what is called Fine Dining (but what I considered a Friendsgiving). The kids dress up, act like they are dining in a formal restaurant, student council serves a Thanksgiving type lunch, there is classical music playing...it was a unique event to witness. They are strict to how many volunteers can come, but thankfully I was picked to help with Nate's class.

Nate also had his first band concert! His 5th grade band played three songs in which he changed percussion instruments. Per tradition growing up with my family, we went out for dessert after the concert. 

This month Nate also had the opportunity to camp out with the Boys Scouts- this helped him get an idea of it being something he wants to continue with. The Boy Scouts are much more independent. Nate had to cook, setup his own tent, sleep with other campers. It was a different experience but he had a fun weekend. Josh went along as one of the chaperones.

 

Lastly, just over Thanksgiving weekend I traveled to Vegas on my own with my family. Just a short, 50 hour trip. We weren't terribly busy outside of eating :) but that was great by me. It was nice to relax and I'm sure as I've said before anytime I'm away from the kiddos, enjoy the simple things-like being able to sit, ha! 

Ok, so I also enjoy eating fancy meals out without my kiddos every now and then too! It was a little recharge on top of busy times. That is to be explained in another post ;) 

Fall Fun

So Halloween was a good month ago... ;) The seasons are really spinning fast. This year I dressed up with the boys as some of the Star Wars crew. This was the first year that Preston got to Trick or Treat a little bit. He took to task pretty good! Now is when it starts to get neat when you can see he is starting to appreciate and realize the things happening around him.

At the boy's school they have a fun tradition of a Family Carving Day, where we bring a pumpkin and the family is invited to come and partake in the carving/decorating of it to feature at the school's Fall Festival. We hadn't done anything related to Halloween at our other school so this was neat.

And oh yes this happened-- Nate now has glasses! 

We've always heard what a good festival our school has in the Fall from other friends who have been - it indeed does! However, being on the PTO preparing side of it was rough. I've generally found PTO at our new school to be a lot more work intensive than past years - while it is awesome for our school, it's a bit much for this mama with a kiddo yet at home to dedicate so much time and effort. At least despite all our planning, time, work...the Festival was a gigantic hit!

There was so much : vendors, bounce houses, games, a magician, face painters, donut dangle, dinosaurs walking around, DJ, food trucks... 

As per typical October I took the boys to a farm and they enjoyed Fall Break from school.