A few things

Well, it's been a hot minute since I've posted and A LOT has been going on. The latest in the news is that we all need to be in quarantine for this covid-19 virus. It's wild, it's scary, it's unknown but it will all be okay... eventually. 

The funny thing for our household is that we are finding out that we already live in quarantine and didn't even know it! As a stay at home mom to a 1 year old we only go a few places regularly other than the grocery store so we're not missing much. My husband works from home full time already so the only thing that changes for us on a regular basis is less going out to eat and no gym time. 

With all the crazy news lately here are some positives that I am looking at in these uncertain times: 

•  A true reset: with no extra things on our schedule we are spending more intentional time as a family. We are truly not rushing to be anywhere at anytime. 

• Neighbors: So, normally when I go on walks at any point during our day I see maybe 1 or 2 other people. I went on a walk yesterday and felt like our whole street was out! I loved this! I love meeting more neighbors and spending time outside with everyone. We are truly in this together and we need each other to make it through this crazy time!

• Online library: I've been downloading books on my kindle and reading away. I am loving any book by Sophie Kinsella right now. I can always count on her to make me laugh and give me some truly mindless, silly, fun content. 

•  Potty Training... maybe?: This would be an ideal time to potty train my almost 2 year old! We can't go anywhere right now and diapers are getting harder and harder to find so we might just try and tackle this one soon! 

• Warmer weather: Ya'll can you imagine this happening in the dead of winter?! Now, that would be a doozy. With the warmer weather we can all still be outside, go on a runs, go for a bike ride, grab some chalk with your kiddo - just go play! This is a great opportunity to pick up a healthy habit that will definitely help with all this gross stress. 

• My moms group: my mom's group at church meets twice a month at a wine bar and we drink a little wine and talk a lot about Jesus. Now, that we're not meeting at the restaurant we're planning on doing a virtual wine night! Especially during this time we need each other, and we definitely need to keep our faith growing and strong to help keep our chins up right now for our families. 

• Running: Oh my goodness, where would I be without running? I am so thankful for this sweet sport that is always there! I am so thankful that I can lace up my shoes and get out for some miles. Those endorphins are always a positive to my day!

Alright, off to grab a few essentials at the store! I heard Target wasn't crazy so we're going to try there first. 

Tell me some positives that you are seeing in the world right now!

My most favorite holiday activities this year

Ya'll I love the holidays and with a toddler this year I knew they were going to be even more magical! These are some of my favorite holiday activities that we did this year and I think it's safe to say that I want to do ALL of them again next year!

1.) Christmas Tree: One of my favorite holiday traditions growing up was putting up our Christmas tree. Well this year we attempted to put it up with Addie Grace. We quickly learned that she wanted to play with all of the glass ornaments. So we ended up decorating after she went to bed. Maybe next year tree decorating will go a little smoother.

2.) Legacy Lights: Since we were having our house painted we had to have an impromptu hotel stay the night before Thanksgiving. It was so fun to stay at the Shops of Legacy in Plano, see their lights, grab some dinner and relax before Thanksgiving day! We even talked about making this a tradition!

3.) Trains at North Park Center: I took Addie to the trains the day before Thanksgiving and it was perfect! We grabbed an early lunch and then went straight to the trains at about 11:30.  I knew she would have fun but wasn't sure if she was still too little for this one. Ya'll, this girl loved the trains more than I could have anticipated! She was laughing so hard and squealing for the trains as they zoomed by on their different tracks. If you have a one year old I would definitely recommend going.

4.) Downtown McKinney: So, Downtown McKinney is actually my favorite spot in all of DFW, but once you add in Christmas it takes the downtown to a whole new level. Since last Friday we've been there 3 times (and it's only Tuesday), and we plan on going back down for pictures with Santa on Thursday! They have a Home for the Holidays festival, with a tree lighting, music, carnival games, and we went for the petting zoo since Addie is loving all things animals!

Downtown McKinney is the perfect place to grab a latte and lunch at one of the many cozy cafes and shop for gifts since it's full of unique boutiques.

Addie is currently obsessed with the Christmas sleigh they have on one of the corners. There is always so much to do!

5.) Pictures with Santa: For the past two years we've gone to the Santa in downtown Mckinney. Last year she was too little she didn't know what was going on and this year she was absolutely horrified.

Waiting for our turn to take Santa pics!

First year santa pic vs second year santa pic...

6.) Carriage Ride: This is the second year we've done this and it is probably my favorite holiday activity! We go down to Dallas for dinner, grab some hot cocoa and hop on a horse drawn carriage to see Christmas lights on some of the most beautiful home in DFW. Addie kept staying "wow" as we passed different houses. It was so sweet!

7.) Christmas Cookie Party: I was bound and determined this year to decorate Christmas cookies with Addie. So, I invited a few of our girlfriends over and their kiddos and we gave our best go at decorating cookies with toddlers. I would say 90% of the icing went into their mouths and 10% went on the cookies. We had so much fun with our friends though and we'll definitely give it another go next year!

That's it! That's a wrap! We have one more fun New Years Eve "party" with some friends to round out our holiday season and then that's it for 2019!

We've had such a busy and fun past few months in 2019 I feel like I need to schedule some fun things for 2020 asap!

Christmas 2019

Phew! We've had a wild couple of weeks between traveling, having our house painted and then Christmas. I can't believe it's all over and that it all happened. How did we get it all done? Are the holidays exhausting for all parents or is it just us?

Thankfully, we stayed at home on Christmas day and it was fabulous.

We woke up, made our breakfast: cheesy eggs for Addie, leftover cinnamon rolls from Christmas eve, and fruit!

We slowly opened presents and Addie was wowed each time. So fun! 

Addie was worn out by 10:30 so we had her take an early nap that day. When she woke up it was 75 degrees and sunny so we all went out for a run/walk. 

Once we made it home we got ready to have my parents over for dinner. We made some soup, and ate some ice cream for dessert, easy and perfect! 

Over the past few days we've been playing with all of our new toys and trying to get ourselves back into somewhat of a normal schedule! 2019 you've been wild. 2020 we are ready for you!

Christmas trip 2019

Merry Christmas!! We had a wild and crazy past week and a half over here celebrating what felt like our 12 Christmases, but it was all good and fun and we had so much fun traveling to our friends and family across the midwest!

We started our trip last Sunday to visit our friends in Arkansas and celebrate 2019! We had a blast at the Christmas party Sunday night. We spent the next few days with them exploring NW Arkansas. We ate some yummy food, brought Addie to the Amazeum and just relaxed overall.

On Wednesday, we drove to Kansas City to stay a few days with some family. Addie loved playing with her three boy cousins. We made gingerbread houses, ate some pizza, and just hung out.

On Friday morning we packed up headed down to the Lake of the Ozarks for the last leg of our trip. We stayed at the Lodge of the Four Seasons from Friday-Sunday. The hotel was so warm and cozy for the holidays. We loved the giant the fireplace in the middle of the lobby. Addie loved the sleigh and Christmas tree. So cute!

We spent our days with my husbands side of the family and came back to the hotel to sleep for the nights. We had a white elephant gift exchange on Saturday. Jesse and I have always had this great idea to bring a gerbil to a white elephant gift exchange, because how funny would that be for someone to go home with a gerbil?! We seriously considered doing it, but ultimately decided on a beta fish. It worked out great when our sister in law who has three little boys picked our gift. The boys were so excited!

We left early Monday morning and made our way back down to Texas. We loved seeing everyone, but we're so happy to be back home and hopefully start to get back into a normal routine.

Breckenridge

Good Morning! Happy Tuesday!

December is underway and before we know it we'll be in 2020. Yikes! One of the goals that Jesse and I had for ourselves in 2019 was to travel more and I'm so proud of us for actually doing it! We love to travel and the two vacations that we went on (other than visiting family) are places that we would go to again and again and again.

First up was our most recent trip to Breckenridge, CO. The night that we got into town it was absolutely picturesque. It was a Saturday night so people were out and about in the downtown area, it began snowing, and there were Christmas carolers! I was sold! I felt like I was in the North Pole, right then and there.

Eating out with our 18 month old is getting to be more and more of a challenge. Jesse ended up just getting takeout from a pizza place downtown, while Addie and I picked out a new toy for our vrbo. It worked out perfectly!

                                       

The next morning, we woke up and got ready for the ski lessons I had scheduled for us. Skiing is something I've never done but have always wanted to do! We were pretty nervous, and I think as an adult it's kinda hard to learn something new sometimes!

We headed over to the gondolas and started our trek up the mountain. Ya'll the views were beautiful! The mountains are absolutely my happy place.

Once, we got Addie settled into childcare we were fitted in our ski gear and off we went to lessons.

Ya'll learning something new is hard and scary! Especially, when you are going down a mountain! We had lessons from about 10am to 3:00pm with a lunch break in there. We had a fantastic teacher and by the time lunch was over we were ready to head up the ski lift and down the bunny slopes.

I was not ready for the ski lift! I do not even like roller coasters, so the ski lift freaked me out at first. I was terrified of falling off and wasn't quite sure how I was going to get off the ski lift when I was supposed to. Gah. I was nervous, but ya know what? After that first time the ski lift became my most favorite part of skiing! Haha it was so peaceful to sit just sit there and check out the views. The mountains are just beautiful!

We had so much fun! We both had a few falls but nothing too serious. Phew!

By the end of the day we were the most tired I think we've ever been. I used muscles that I didn't even know existed.

We woke up on Monday and just had a quiet day. I, unintentionally, went to a super granola yoga class in the morning to help stretch out my incredibly sore body from the day before. We had lunch downtown, shopped around a bit, and all in all just rested up for the next day.

We woke up for our last day on the mountains and had the best time. We felt like pros! We headed up the gondola again, got fitted for our clothes, and this time we just got to ski!

We started out on the bunny slopes and skied all morning long. We took a break for lunch, and even that was extra special because the patios and views are breathtaking! Once we finished up lunch, I was a little over confident and decided we needed to try out the next slope over. Well, the ski lift was a long ride up to the top of the mountain. Once again, the views were beautiful, but getting down was going to be a different story. We were up so high!

We went real slow, or tried to at least! Much more serious skiers and snowboarders zoomed past us real fast. I fell once, and definitely tweaked a muscle in my inner thigh, but we made it down alive and headed immediately back to the bunny slopes.

We finished up our day on the slopes, headed down the mountain on the gondola, picked up a crepe downtown, and got ready to head home.

We were so sad to leave! Breckenridge, we will most definitely be back!

December Goals

Ya'll, I love December! We have so many fun events planned and since Little A is starting to pay attention to anything festive Christmas is extra joyful this year!

Here are some of our goals for this month:

• Read one book: I just downloaded a Sophie Kinsella book on Kindle and am already laughing.

• Addie's Santa visit: We have our visit scheduled for this week and we can't wait!

• Visit family: We have a long trip planned for the middle of the month to hit our friends and family in Arkansas, Kansas City and the Lake of the Ozarks to see everyone!

• See Christmas lights: We scheduled a carriage ride for Christmas lights in a super pretty part of our city in a few weeks!

• Make christmas cookies: i can't wait to make cookies with Little A this year! She still might be a little young, but I'm still going for it.

• Bake for our neighbors: We are thinking cinnamon rolls for Christmas week!

• Have friends over for smores: I am loving smores lately, so who wants to come over

• Keep training for my half: I haven't officially signed up for one, but if i keep training I should be up to 7-8 miles which is so far for me! I haven't ran that since before I was pregnant, which would've been in 2017! 

Happy Tuesday!

Sarah 

Things I've Loving Friday

Happy Friday! 

We had a very eventful week between Thanksgiving and house projects! 

Here are a few things that I am loving this week: 

• Neighbor friends: We moved into our house about a year ago and over the past few months we have made such great friends with our neighbors. I love making neighbor friends! We are having our house painted this week and have had to get out and about to avoid the paint smell. Our neighbors had us over for dinner and smores one night this week and it was so so nice, and helped us stay away from the paint fumes! 

• Painting our house: When we moved in our house was all sorts of colors. We had a mustard yellow color for all of the main rooms, one green room, one red, one blue, one pink. It felt like kind of a mess. Well, we decided to get everything painted one color! We chose Accessible Beige by Sherwin Williams and it should be finished by next week. It's been a bigger project than we anticipated but it will feel so nice when it's all done!

• Staycation: Wednesday we had the main level of our house painted and the fumes were pretty strong, so we made plans to stay at a hotel in one of our favorite spots. We checked out the lights, little A saw the biggest Christmas tree she's ever seen, ate some Mexican food, stopped by Kilwins for some ice cream and then made our way back to our hotel. 

• Downtown McKinney: This afternoon we went to Downtown Mckinney for their Christmas festival and it was so much fun! We had lunch at The Yard and then walked around the square for a bit. I had the best Chai Tea Latte at Snug and then we made a quick visit to the petting zoo for little A. 

• Thanksgiving: I love the holidays! Family time, yummy food, and slow days. This year they are feeling extra special with our little babe.

                                             

Have a good weekend! 

Sarah