Merry Christmas 2016!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season this year. Ours was quietly spent at home with our new traditions, and old ones too! For Christmas Eve we got the customary Arby's sandwiches and watched Christmas movies. After that we went to look at lights, and Brad dropped off some homemade cookies to his girlfriend.

For Christmas morning the boys were very excited to open presents!! They both got some great toys from Santa and family. Brad immediately dug into his Lego kit and began building, and Jacob carried his all over the house while I started on breakfast. Biscuits and sausage gravy are what I grew up having on Christmas morning, and now that we are on our own I am continuing that for my children.

For dinner I'm going a little nontraditional and making chicken enchiladas! Neither of us felt like having a big spread so this will be a fun change. My good friend Stephanie is joining us for dinner and it will be a lovely time! 

Winter Solstice

We have been enjoying our winter! Baking cookies, building our first "gingerbread" graham cracker house...

...Playing in the snow of course!!

We got some lake effect snow last week and it was awesome!! We got probably a foot within a few hours. They do an amazing job of clearing it off the streets and keeping the roads clear. Plus it's so nice to have a landlord that keeps our driveway and sidewalks clear for us.

Christmas is just a few days away and the kids are very excited! Check back for pics from our little family festivities.

Our New York Winter

On Saturday morning we had fun at breakfast with Santa! It was at a senior center right down the road from Nick's work. They had bagels, donut holes, coffee, hot cocoa, juice, and milk. The kids listened to Mrs. Claus read The Night Before Christmas, then Santa came in and the boys got to sit on his lap for a picture! Bradley loved it, but Jacob not so much.

I got to wear one of my new Christmas sweaters!

As for snow, the towns south of us have gotten a few feet of lake effect snow! Unfortunately in my town we have only gotten a dusting that melts right away. But today was different!! We woke up to it snowing, and it hasn't quit yet. So of course we had to all bundle up and take a walk in it. It was so beautiful!!

We just love it here!! It's so nice to finally get a real winter, and when it snows a lot we can take the boys out with their new sled!

A Visitor!

Last week my dad came to visit us from Oklahoma!! I picked him up at the airport on Tuesday and he stayed with us until Saturday afternoon. I knew what he wanted to eat and cooked lots of great meals for us. We went to the mall where he bought a few gifts for us, then Friday I drove him north to Lake Ontario to see one of our favorite parks.

Some of the gifts he got us!

This one is copper coated aluminum where one side is a griddle, and the other side is a grill!

The weekend before, I took my friend Stephanie with me shopping and I found an amazing pair of my first skinny jeans!! I may go back and get a second pair.

I finally got around to cleaning Brad's old car seat and getting it ready for Jacob! Nick got it all fitted and adjusted, then installed it in my car. Jacob loves it of course! 

I ordered two new canvases of the new family pictures I took, and got them in last week. I'm very happy with them and can't wait to hang them up!

I managed to get our Christmas decorations up before my dad got here. Half of them are still boxed away simply because we don't have the room here. We also decided to put the baby tree up because we know Jacob would cause trouble with it... Hopefully next Christmas we'll be in our Victorian house and can decorate like crazy!