Winter Break Wrap Up

 

We have been busy not being busy and scheduled, and loving it. Monday morning at 6am is going to be a big shocker to us but as much as I have loved our time at home I am ready to send the kids back to school (A Daddy back at work the last week of winter break will do that to a Mom)

 

We have loved time with family and time to just be kids and play.

 

A little glimpse at what we have been up to:

 

The boys tested out the new Christmas toys

 AL got a sewing machine for Christmas along with a lot of other crafts.  She has had the bes time creating.  A future fashion designer I am sure.  It was cute watching all the boys take turns sewing with her tutoring!

 AL got to go for a sleep over at my parents right after my brother headed home.  She doesn't travel all that light.....lol.  She loved every minute of crafting and playing with Grandma.

 When we dropped her off, JA and I got to join the sleepover gang at the movies to see "Frozen".  I am in love.  A new favorite.  (I kind of want to buy some frozen dolls and costumes just so I can play with them )

 My sister had us over to make snow globes with the kids.  So fun watching everyone create.  We had a globe with Thor, dinosaurs, and lots of other trinkets by the time it was all done.  AL is buys collecting stuff for next years globes!

 I finally refinished this kid table.  It had belonged to my sister's kids and had seen a lot of "love".  I tried sanding it down years ago only to discover parts of it were made of MDF.  I finally grabbed the Annie Sloan chalk paint and gave it some attention.  It isn't perfect but it looks a million times better and is now cute enough to make it out of the basement play area to the toy room.

 I love each and everyone of Sarah Jio's books.  I got a new one for Christmas and have enjoyed a few mins here and there reading her newest. 

 I love walking by and seeing them all hard at "work" being kids!

 Our kids have amazed me with not knowing how to skate at the start of winter break to being able to fly all over the ice!  They are obsessed and have skated a LOT on the nice weather days.

 JA loved skating with his buddy.  I barely saw him the whole time we were there.

 The kids had so much fun this particular day they convinced us to go back only 2 hrs later after Daddy came home!
AL cracks me up.  She has one messy bedroom but when we lived with my parents she loved to spend our time on library trips tidying it all up.  She is the same on the ice.  She loves to clean up all the bars and bring them back to the edge.  After this pic she organized them with the taller ones on the left and the shorter ones on the right........makes this OCD momma smile!

 Nothing beats skating in the pouring rain on Jan.2!

 Lots of serious games of "restaurant" have taken place this week

I finally got a moment to decorate the front enterance so it doesn't look so bare anymore.  I just used things I had laying around the house so it isn't exactly what I want but I am more then happy with the difference!

 

This little guy has just been his busy busy self!

 

 Craft time with mom with one of the kits from  "Auntie R", while JA was on his sleepover at Grandma's house.  This was JA's first sleepover and he loved it.  His cousin slept over too and from what I hear they didn't stop giggling the entire time!

Another highlight of this week was a nice visit with my #1 blog reader/commenter and dear friend KS.  How did I not manage to take a single pic???  Always nice to catch up in real life.

I sure do love time off and love me some time with my kids.  The sweet memories made sure help make the more challenging times more worth it!