Christmas in Newton!

December 26th used to feel a bit depressing. No more gifts, no more Christmas music, no more countdown until Santa. As an adult with children, it's a bit different. No more school parties to remember, no teachers gifts to buy, no more Elf to remember to move, and no more Christmas signs to paint! So while we had a wonderful and magical Christmas, I'm ready to move on to 2017!

We drove to Grandma and Pops house on Thursday and on Friday, we had a football game out back. 

 

 

 

When Avery wasn't injecting herself in the game, she sat on the sideline with Ari and me. Those two ladies were quite the pair. Avery only says "ma" (this kills her dad) and Ari only says "da."  They were a good match!

 

 

 

At Christmas Eve service, the gals stole the show.  Ari, with her vocal desire for Pop to hold her while he preached and Avery, with her helping hand as she helped daddy hand out candles.

 

 

 

And of course, the main event! Santa made it to Newton and Eric, being the adult child he is, had to wake our kids up (minus Avery, who was ready to go).  

Santa left them a video letting him know that a Popashot is waiting for them back home (taking up half our playroom). 

 

 

Brady got headphones and an iPod nano. He thought (thinks) that he is big stuff!!  I just turned around and this is what I see.

 

He must be on the easy listening channel. 

More football on Christmas. Avery is waking around with her blankets like Linus.  White/pink combo outside is a great choice. 

 

We had lots of fun playing with cousin Drew's new drone. 

 

These boys were toast by the end of the day! They fell asleep together on the couch which made for an easy bedtime.

 

This is probably what Grandma and Pop look like right now!

Grandmas visit

My mom came to visit last week and I'm not sure who is as more excited, myself or the kids. I put my Etsy shop on vacation mode a few weeks ago since I was lucky to have enough local orders to fill my time. A few weeks ago I made an ornament with the state of NC on it. Since they're easier to make in bulk, I made 10 and posted it to Facebook for $5 each. And that's how I got in the ornament business with requests for over 75 of them!!  Never underestimate the power of a small inexpensive gift at Christmastime!

 

I will be more prepared next year so I'm not scrambling. So yes, I have been so busy and would have had to turn down some more orders if it weren't for my mom's visit, so I was thankful to have her! 

The kids were thankful to have her too! 

 

 

 

My mom got to see all sides of Avery this trip. The first day she mentioned how wonderful and easy she was to watch. Her tune changed a bit after an extra day. A conversation with Eric about Avery.

Eric: She's independent isn't she? Does she remind you of anyone? (looking at me)

Mom: Amy wasn't like that. She was independent but she wasn't so...um....bossy.

Avery can't say much but she will point, grunt, cry, and make her intentions known. I'm slave to her daily so it was nice to share in the love. 

My mom was scheduled to leave Sunday and we dropped her off at the airport before church. We ended up leaving church early to pick her back up since her flight was cancelled and she was rebooked for the following morning. Everyone (with the exception of maybe my dad) was happy!  Especially since the temps had turned and it was almost shorts weather!

I was extra thankful when I got hit hard with a stomach bug that night. Eric sleeps through everything and even he woke up to my violent puking. Ugh, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. I felt functionable the next morning, though I was thoroughly exhausted and was dreading the whole day with the kids by myself. My mom volunteered to pay to change her flight until later but I decided to tough it out. We took the familiar drive to the airport at 10 am and I braced myself for the day. Then I received the good news that my mom had gotten bumped (voluntarily, for a vochure) to a 6pm flight. She ubered back to my house and I immediately passed out. So yes, Grandma was the gift that kept on giving this Christmas season!

We are now heading to the other Grandma's house! Looking forward to a much needed break and hopefully, some extra quality time with my pillow (and my family).

Reflection and Introspection

Hello! I feel like I need to reintroduce myself every time I write a blog post. I'm riding the bike and the moment and these days it seems like if I'm not multitasking, something's not right. I know, I know, not very "reflective" and "introspective" of me during this special time of year. All you reflective and introspective people can do it for me while I deal with my one-year-old crying so hard she vomits because I won't give her an open can of La Croix (that happened today). For all who may not know, La Croix is a sparkling water, not a French beer. I'm not day drinking these days, though it crosses my mind once or twice....a day. 

So let's do some reflection on Avery. The bags under my eyes reflect the lack of sleep I've been getting since my daughter is waking up three-five times EVERY night. We were at a good place before I left for Maui and now we are in a dark dark place. Last night, she woke up for the second time at 10:30 (which was nice only in that I wasn't asleep yet). I went in to tell her "goodnight!" in my cheeriest fake voice and listened for the next minutes while she lost her mind. When I started hearing the gagging that often accompanies her "vomit," I went in to nurse her and put her down peacefully. I sway between the hard-hearted wiked stepmother who just lets her scream and the soft-hearted mommy who feels so sad for her to alone in her crib. So mostly, I nurse her multiple times a night and try to convince myself this won't last forever. It won't, will it?!  

Also adding to my angst is that Avery decided to drop a nap. At Christmastime. During my busiest signpainting season. How dare she? Does she not understand how important two naps is to my productivity?

But when Avery decides to brush the devil off her shoulders, she is a complete joy. She's a total charmer in public and is the high-five champion. If she's convinced I'm not leaving her, she's a social butterfly and Miss Independent.

We ventured to the mall today. 

 

 

She does her own thing.

 

Oh and big news! Our kids were so good today that Santa came just to decorate the tree!

 

Sure hope he comes back. 

Enough reflection for now. I'm sweaty and my butt is hurting. 24 minutes on the bike is about 14 minutes longer than I usually make it. Unlike Santa, I'll be back before Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving

Side note: I thought about starting this on Thanksgiving and given my current rate, I'll be complete by December!

Back in Chapel Hill after a fabulous trip away. We flew out of Maui at 5pm after a tasty Hawaiian turkey dinner and got home Friday at noon. The best part of the trip was that I had an entire row on the flight...never have I been so thankful for the perk of taking a chartered flight with the team.  I slept about 3 total hours (trip from LA to Chapel hill was only 4 hours traveling east) and that was enough to sustain me until I crashed with the kids at 8pm on Friday night. 

The kids did well in our absence, I think.  I also think we owe Erics parents a very nice Christmas gift that doesn't include uninterrupted time with their grandkids. Grandma, who took the brunt of the middle-of-the-night shenanigans, looked like she needed a 24 hour nap when we returned.

As for our trip, highlights included doing whatever the heck I wanted. Unfortunately, I was never able to sleep in past 7am, but not being forced to wake up was magical. 

Eric had told me our room was not ocean facing.  But when this is the "bad" view out of your hotel balcony, life is good.

 

We did have some ocean sightings. Like all day.

 

Eric had two slow days, Sunday and Thursday. Sunday we had a lot of beach/pool time and Thursday we chartered a boat for the morning and went snorkeling. 

 

 

 

Obviously, this is not me flipping off the boat....though I did, sorry mom. My mom said she "did not appreciate" seeing the videos of my diving off of a cliff and jumping off of a waterfall. Both were incrediblely fun.

When we were driving back to shore, the team had a welcoming crowd on the beach. Here's a cute picture with some of the sign-holders.

 

One of my favorite days was the day we went hiking in the rain forest. It was probably good that Eric did not join me because within 10 minutes we were fording a river up to our knees wearing our tennis shoes. Needless to say, at the end of the hike, I had very muddy shoes and very prune-y feet.

 

We at guavas and passion fruit from the trees and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. 

 

 Grace is pregnant and was disappointed not to be able to jump in the waterfall like the rest of us, so here's here taking a dip. Note for my mom: the waterfall we jumped off of was not this high.

Here are some horizontal and vertical panoramic views. Our guide had some photographic skills.

 

 

Farewell Maui! Until we meet again...

 

 

Flying by and flying high

November is here! Wait, it's almost over? How did that happen! It's cliche to say, but seriously, this month has flown. Speaking of flying, I am currently at cruising altitude en route to Maui. 12 hours on a plane? No problem, because NO KIDS.  Eric flew out to Honolulu with the team on Wednesday and by this morning, I was ready to pass off the kids! 

Erics cousin and her husband are the first lucky victims recipients of our children's love and attention. I've already got one update...this is Cole drawing up plays with Brady.

 

Avery is the X factor and I'm praying for a good showing from her!   Avery got sick on Tuesday night and I was super thankful not to be scheduled to fly out the next day. I mean, look at those sad eyes?

 

But she is great now and there were no tears upon leaving, though Brady did give me the guilt trip. When I told him I didn't have to leave, he said, "So you want to leave us?" #nocomment

While I have you here and have nothing distracting me, here's a few things we've been up to. 

 

We go to a weekly playgroup that I have gone to since Brady has 3 months old (he didn't do much playing back then). He has now aged out and the newest crop is starting to play.

And my boys continue to amaze me with their sleeping habits.

 

 

 

Kindergarten is pretty rough.

Basketball season is in full swing and the kids went to their first game. Avery did awesome and even did some aisle dancing.

 

 

I've been doing a lot of painting to prepare for Christmas and Avery has proven a quality model.

 

 

Off to do some important things on this flight...like read, sleep and relax! 

Election hangover

In case you just awoke from a coma and you went straight to my blog before entering the real world, thanks for your loyalty and sorry to be bearer of bad news, but Donald J. Trump will be your next president. Nope, it's November, not April Fools. No, there's not a wall you'll need to scale to move to Canada.

Ok, so the election hangover is still lingering (I fear it will last four years), but since we've all had election overload, here is a (mostly) non-political update.

I lied! Here's voting day!

I was proud to bring all my kids along as I voted for the first female candidate! (Here's what blissfully unaware looks like).

 

Eric and I were watching election coverage, and I heard a thump from upstairs as someone fell out of the bee. This is what I saw when I went up to check on them. They continue to amaze me with their sleeping situation.

 

Brady is in to coloring and comes home from school asking me to print him out something. This time, I printed out a family of five, and he filled in the color. This is our family, apparently.

 

He has my hair color right, at least. And that is confetti raining down if you were wondering.

Avery continues to be Avery. I love this girl to pieces.

 

 I told my dad to days ago however he was sleeping so much better. Typical to Avery, she then woke up five times last night. In general, she is doing great and I'm getting more sleep. I'm leaving for Maui in a week so I have been very motivated to get her sleeping better.

I'll leave you with a video that sums Avery up pretty well.