A little of this and that...

The last time I blogged was a preview of our vacation to Gulf Shores in OCTOBER. Geesh. Our lives have been like a crazy whirlwind since then and the blog took a much needed back seat. Over the last few weeks, I've wished, on more than one occasion, to be back at the beach where the world seems to slow down. 

It is quite possibly my favorite place on earth. Especially when I get to spend it with my family. SO MANY people have asked us how we do a "family" vacation for a WHOLE WEEK. I just kind of figured this was the norm...it isn't. I guess the answer to that is we like each other. Do we get on each other's nerves? Uh YES. Do the kids fight? Uh YES. But, I guess we just make it work. Mostly, there is a lot of teasing, laughing, inside jokes, and just fun! There are the few times when your sibling is working your nerves so bad that you just have to leave for a while. And that is okay. ;-)

I would love to go back and do a post about vacation. Like with pictures and funny stories. I'm sure you are DYING TO KNOW what we did all week. But, that will be sifting through hundreds of pictures, so it will have to wait just a bit longer...

Okay, so back to our busy life. As we were on our way home from Gulf Shores, we got a call for a showing on our house. It was THE call. They saw the house and made an offer the next morning! From that point on, we began packing and it seems like it took FOREVER to pack up. We decided to buy some land and build, which means one thing -- we needed a temporary home. HELLO MOM AND DAD! Yes, the week after Thanksgiving, we moved in with my parents. (I wish I could insert one of those emoji with the big eyes...) They have been so incredibly gracious by letting us invade their space. Everyone keeps asking me in a hushed whisper, "Soooo, how's it really going at your parent's?" I can honestly say, it has been good! Now, if you ask them, you might get a different response. ;-)

So, between all the hours and days spent packing and moving boxes to storage, we have managed a few fun things! 

We celebrated my bestie's 40th birthday! 

We had SO.MUCH.FUN!! It was one of those things we had talked about for so long and once the night came, we just lived it up. And, we stayed out past 11:00 PM. Holla.

Great night. Great friends.

There was also the annual Christmas baking day. Even though it doesn't appear so, we DID scale back this year. Ha! I usually send goodies for teachers, bus drivers, and for the staff at Eric's office. I'm pretty sure they enjoy it. Around the 1st of December, they start hounding asking him when we will be baking. ;-)

We also celebrated my mom's birthday. LOOK AT THIS ADORABLE CAKE!!

I thought it was SO cute! And, it represented my mom perfectly. It was made by a friend of my sister's from church. She did awesome!

We spent her birthday going on the Polar Express train ride through Charlestown. It was so much fun! The kids loved riding the train and seeing all the lights. Maggie was especially fun to watch this year. She loved belting out the Christmas carols and just really thought all the Christmas lights were "amazing"! I love her age!!

 And, speaking of Maggie...isn't this precious?!

Yes, we do Santa. She got to sit on his lap one day when we were visiting my grandparent's assisted living home. It was so sweet. He's not a huge part of our Christmas, but the kids sit out milk and cookies and they get one gift from him and Frank (our elf). It's pretty cute!

I haven't had time to sort through our Christmas photos yet. In fact, since we moved in over the holidays, we are just now trying to figure out our new normal. Some days are a little overwhelming, but we're just trying to have fun with this whole process! I'm excited to get back into blogging and to share updates on our new home. :-)