Last day of Winter Break

It's a sad day around here.  After a full two weeks off, the kids (and J) head back to the grind tomorrow.  When they were little, going back to school was like a party for me.  It was always so hectic that I couldn't wait to push send those little cherubs back to a routine.  But this time was a little different for me.  I think I'll actually be sad to see them go tomorrow.  Wait, did I just say that?!  Quick, take my temp, I must be coming down with the sickness we have tried so hard to fight for the past couple of days.

Just kidding!  I'm really going to miss them.  It's been so nice not having a routine these past two weeks.  And the kids have actually been relatively good (gasp!).  I'm knocking on wood as we speak as to not jinx myself.  I wish we would have done a little more over the break, but I guess I should celebrate the quiet that we had.  Life is busy enough, right?!

To to celebrate our last day, J and Little J went to the Panther's game (last game of the regular season, which they are now NFC Champs and finished with a 15-1 record).  Superbowl bound!  While the boys were there, Miss C and I stayed home, finished up grocery shopping, did a little homework, took Max for a walk and watched the game on TV while I meal prepped for the week (hello New Year's resolutions!).  It was nice to spend the time with her one-on-one.  We rarely get a chance to do that with the kids.

All in all to a crazy two week break, it was a nice ending.  I'll take it!

 On  side note, Miss C has become quite the little caretaker of Max.  Sadly, she is the one in the household that pays the most attention to him.  She really loves animals.  I appreciate that she is always looking out for him :).

Happy New Year

Ok, I'm really going to try to get back into this.....Over the past couple of years, I have had every intention of "starting again" and I found that I was so overwhelmed with "catching up" that the starting again never happened.  So I'm just going to try to look from this moment forward and if I have time to catch up, I will.

New Year's was a little bit of a bust this year.  We had plans to hang out with friends but had to cancel them because we had been exposed to what we think was the flu (and we certainly didn't want to spread the love).  The kids were really bummed, but in the end we made the best of it and headed to a local pizza joint to ring in the new year (early).  They had an 8 p.m. celebration, which left us plenty of time to be home and in bed by 10 p.m.  New Year's party animals here!  At least we did get out for a little bit.  We had spent the past couple of days leading up to the New Year cleaning and doing a ton of laundry hoping to ward off starting the new year sick.  Maybe next year we will plan something a little more exciting.

Here is a shot of us documenting the occasion.  The kids were not super thrilled to have their picture taken and after a frustrating couple of shots with some silly faces, this is what we got :)