It's January and truly a holiday miracle that I am writing a post about the holidays. In true me fashion though we are going to go way way back to Halloween. That's when the true holiday season starts right? Well, that's when I start binge eating miniature candy bars so that's where we begin.
Halloween 2016
My sweet Rals. He has the best ideas. And although his follow through is lacking I enjoy is initial excitement. So this year the three year old get's it y'all. You dress up and ask for candy! And you get to dress up as anything you want. His first idea was a "mow mow guy". I was SO excited about this. I was going to have Ramirez Brother's Landscaping hats made. I was going to paint a logo on the wagon it was going to be amazing! And then he changed his mind....
He wanted to be Octonauts. A show at the time he had seen a whopping twice. He wanted to be Captain Barnacle. Awesome. I jumped on Pinterest and found so many patterns and costume ideas for the entire family. I made my list for the fabric store. Mom of the year checking in for duty. And then he changed his mind.....
Paw Patrol? I'm not even sure where he even watched this but he wanted to be Paw Patrol. Whatever. At this point I was not going to spend a second making a costume that he may or not wear. So during a sprint through Target I found two Paw Patrol costumes for $20 and called it. I did put together some accesorries for myself and Daddy R. All in all it was pretty painless. Really glad I didn't spend a dime or second making Octonaut costumes! And of course, there is always one in my household who just doesn't want to follow the crowd. Ol' Ridge would not even wear the hat. Monster t-shirt for the win. I didn't even force it. Whatever....maybe next year.
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| Sky, Chase, Rubble, and Ridge! |
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| End of the night with our favs! |
Thanksgiving 2016
The boys have a Thanksgiving feast at school and I signed up for dressing. I was so stressed out reading the recipes online and kicking myself for not choosing "plates" like I normally do. Who has time to dry bread? When I confessed this to one of the teachers she started cracking up laughing and told me to buy a box of Stove Top! Seriously the easiest thing I have ever made. I ran out to the yard and cut some fresh rosemary to imply some kind of effort!
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| Oak Cliff "TurkeT Trot" 2016 |
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| Oak Cliff! |
Time to eat!
My brother hosted down in Glen Rose. We were Thankful! We had round 2 in Dallas and round 3 in Richardson with friends. Thanksgiving is not a holiday where I snap a lot of pictures. But here are a few from the weekend.
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| Country jungle gym |
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| "Friendsgiving" |
It was fast and furious. We all survived. I think everyone felt a Christmas tingle at some point....and we all survived...did I mention that already. Sometimes it can feel like a beating and I have to constantly remind myself to be present and stop thinking about the 19 other events to come, or presents to wrap, and on and on and on.
Christmas Highlights
Well not technically a holiday event but it was in December. My family went to see Dolly Parton. And it was one of the greatest concerts I have ever seen. I seriously cried I was so happy. I squeezed into a sequined dress. I felt like that's what Dolly would want me to do. She is my Spirit animal!
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| My tribe! |
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| Sue-sue and Ol' Stan the Man |
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| Special visit from Santa at school! |
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| Can you handle the cuteness? |
Seeing our Colorado cousins.
Christmas Eve church with my sister. The boys were horrible! Like the worst! Scott and I live by the motto, We don't have to be the best, just don't be the worst....oh wow, we were the WORST!!
Christmas morning! Oh my sweet babies! Of course the chainsaw was a hit. I was kicking myself for not buying two. But Ridge loved his T-ball set and teaching sharing is important right? The real hit that kept them busy the longest. Punch balls, and the "growing animal" tablets. Target dollar aisle for the win! There is that OMG Santa t-shirt again because Ridge wouldn't wear the matching jammie shirt...jerk!
Cousin Time! We clean up quick and head over to have another Christmas with Scott's family.
Farm Christmas! We pack up again, this time with dogs in tow and head to the farm for Christmas #3! Phew, who is tired yet?
So my family makes gifts for each other. This is a tradition running well over 15 years. I can't remember when we didn't make gifts for each other. It is so fun and I LOVE now that the kids are getting into it. You never know what to expect. There is also an unofficial contest...being that my family is freakishly competitive at everything. This year we had....
Giant Porch Jenga - Poppie
Printed dish towels, over mits, and homemade jam - Lady
Screen printed pillows with original family logos - Drew
Personalized art - Tanya
First aid kit - Sue
Chex mix/ Cheese cake - Mike
Custom t-shirts - Scott
Crochet or guitar lessons- MG
Original short story - Jake
Ornament - Cal
Ornament - Ily
Ornament - Rals and Ridge
I kinda called it in this year....having to sew costumes for all of Bethlehem and all. I made dish towels with fabric details....don't really
know how to describe that... and painted some wooden spoons. Not my best year but still a strong showing.
My favorite gift was the story by Jake. It was seriously the cutest thing! Although Scott made me a t-shirt with Lionel Richie's face on it. Once this belly is gone I'm all over that!
Oh what fun! Is it over yet? NO!!
My parents took 7 grandchildren to see the Trains at North Park and they took public transportation to get there. It was a short street car ride, DART train, and city bus to get there. I offered to go for many reasons but mainly I wanted to see my boys ride the DART train...and not get left on one. They thought it was really cool. We all made it and not one child got a spanking although that word might have been thrown around a bit. What did happen was a beautiful rendition of "Wheels on the Bus" while we were on a DART bus full of passengers. Thank you Rals and Ily! It was a fun morning....I don't think I will volunteer to go next year! My boys had fun....I guess that's all that matters. So for $3 and an hour on public transportation we had a memorable morning. Can you see how much fun I am having?
Birthday Girl! We had two super fun birthday parties to celebrate a pretty big birthday for my sister. I wont disclose her age but she looks amazing for being the age she is!
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| Dallas Party |
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| Farm party...it was freezing! |
New Years Eve
We partied it up at 4:30pm! Our awesome neighbors invited us over for dinner. It was exactly what I needed after a week of holiday adventures. Stretchy pants, yummy food, my kids had a blast, and we were cozy on the coach by 10pm. Happy New Year!
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| 7:30pm....Happy New Year! |
Spending time with family!
Growing friendships
Oak Cliff Mardi Gras Parade/Ridges 1st birthday
Watching our boys grow into friends
Celebrating lots of new babies, marriages, birthdays, and baptisms!
Finding out we were expecting baby #3
New backyard
Holidays
Zoo and Aquarium trips
Colorado vacation
(Raleigh said his favorite part of 2016 was hiking to a waterfall! I can't believe he remembered but he did. What an awesome memory I hope he keeps!)
Things to be hopeful for in 2017:
New baby brother or sister....hurry up!
New job opportunities
Girls trip...can we make that happen....can I bring a newborn?
Family vacations
Family reunions
Continuing to watch my boys grow and enjoy every second they are little because it's already going way too fast!
Oh wait there's more! Because celebrating Christmas well into January is what you do in this family. Fite family Christmas at the Brazos House. It was really fun. Super low key. Our gift exchange is bring something you don't want anymore. I love this idea because I there is no pressure to be witty or funny or overnight from Amazon because you forgot. The very best part about hanging with my extended family is seeing their kids and my kids play and remembering all the fun we had 30 years ago on the same swing, patch of grass, living room floor. I will say WE were so much better behaved:) Our kids are loud!!
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| Ridge is so over the holidays! |
Ok, I'll stop. I'm finally done.
Happy Merry Everything!
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