Every week I like to take a moment to showcase the moments that brought me the most joy. Sometimes they are awesome activities and other times it’s a sweet moment between the kids. There are always moments that can fill us with joy if we choose to see them with a thankful heart.
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The holidays had me all thrown off again so this is another two week round up. It’s hard to believe we are already in the second week of January and chugging along with normal life after the fun and chaos of winter break!
It was bitterly cold here while the kids were home but thankfully we saw respite from that at the very end of break (and again yesterday!) and the kids were able to get in some snow time. It’s awesome having kids that are old enough to play in the snow and make all the effort of getting them ready worth it! It’s only slightly frustrating to spend fifteen minutes bundling them up only to have them go out for two and decide they are too cold or need to pee after going a few minutes beforehand 😉
We also had my family in town this week to do our final Christmas celebration. It’s been since the fall that all of us were together. The kids showed off lots of their Christmas gifts, we went out for a sushi smorgasbord, opened gifts, and indulged in cheesecake for dinner. It was a quick but fun visit.
1. His big wish
Jamison LOVES BB-8. He’s loved him since before we even let him see The Force Awakens. He has all sorts of BB-8 items, some he’s bought himself. The main item on his Christmas list this year was this BB-8 LEGO set that normally retails for $100. Far too spendy for a Christmas gift in this house. We watched sale after sale and finally decided we could splurge on $80… and then Micah found it for $70 on Amazon! We snatched it up and seeing him jumping up and down on Christmas morning was so worth it. He took time building it to savor the experience and now has it displayed along with several other BB-8 builds on a shelf in his room.
2. Matching PJs
Mercedes big wish was for a big girl dolly. She had a scientist doll from Target picked out and we found pjs that came with a matching set for a doll on clearance at Kohls for her Christmas Eve pjs. She hasn’t changed her dolly out of these pjs so she can match her every time she gets to wear them!
3. Coloring
We let our kids pick out gifts for each other each Christmas and the big kids picked these Paw Patrol art sets for each of the twins. They started in on them almost immediately and I think they have colored most of the posters already.
4. New board game
Parker got Monopoly Gamer from the other kids for Christmas and it turned out to be a pretty great version of Monopoly! It has a specific, irrefutable end point so there aren’t day long games 😉 Plus it’s Mario so that’s always fun!
5. New Bible plan
I’m joining a friend with several other people this year in writing out portions of the Bible. We started in the Gospel of John and are discussing it along the way. Some people are writing a specific amount of verses each day, some are spending a certain amount of time, and others are simply doing what works for them. I’m enjoying this process because it forces me to slow down and think about each word and phrase as I write it.
6. Play Doh
When it’s Christmas break and averaging 20 degrees BELOW zero we need activities to keep us busy inside – Play Doh to the rescue! I’ve finally hit the point of not caring if they mix colors. That’s big for this type-A mom! Play-Doh is cheap, we can easily buy more or put it on birthday and Christmas lists. They made pizzas, cupcakes, hot dogs, minions, droids, and who knows what else.
7. Snow Day
We finally got a decent day this week and I sent the kids out to play in the snow. It still “felt like” 10*F or so outside but they didn’t care. I think they were out for nearly an hour! I kept offering to let them come in but they were determined to stay out as long as possible. I watched from the window next to the heater. It was wonderful to see them enjoying being outside together.
8. Instant Pot!
That’s right! I finally got an Instant Pot 😀 This was my big Christmas gift from my parents and I’m thrilled! So far we made a bunch of eggs, ha! We were going for poached eggs but because we had already done the test run I think the pot was still warm and they cooked faster than they should have. We followed this method but even doing high pressure for only one minute they were still over medium. We want runny! So I’ve got some learning to do. Thankfully we all like hard and medium cooked eggs as well and the fourteen eggs we experimented with are already gone. What are your favorite things to cook in the instant pot? Do you have a recipe to share with me?