Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 12/28 - 1/3)

Friday (12/28) Adrian got up early and headed to work again today while the rest of us all slept in.  I finally crawled out of bed around 8:30 and the boys were hanging out playing in their room.  They stayed there and played for a while so I got to enjoy my coffee and some reality TV alone downstairs.  We passed the morning quickly by being pretty lazy and playing with some of our new toys.  Then we finally decided to get motivated to get ready and head to my brother's house for a little more time with my parents before they headed back to FL.

We got to my brother's house mid-afternoon and had a nice relaxing day hanging out.  The kids spent a lot of time on Isabelle's new ninja gym in the basement while the adults relaxed and chatted upstairs.  Adrian and Sarah joined us when they were finished work for the day.  We had an early pasta dinner and then my family said so long to my parents and headed out.  We drove thru the Alum Creek light show and had a great time looking at all of the displays there.  Then we headed home and had a family movie night watching "Nightmare Before Christmas."  It wasn't our favorite movie, no one really liked it.  But thankfully it was short and now we know that it's not for us.  After the movie, we got the boys to bed and Adrian and I played another game of Azul, and I beat him again.  Then we watched a few comedies and headed to bed.  I'm loving our lazy break!!

 

Saturday (12/29) We were all up earlier than I thought this morning, probably because we have gotten so much sleep the past few days.  We had a lazy morning of watching TV, playing video games and sipping on coffee.  The rest of the day was spent playing and getting stuff done around the house.  We are having fun being lazy but unfortunately we need to start pulling the house back together.  I also played two games of Machi Koro with the boys and I won them both!  This is note worthy because I never win this game!  I am loving the new expansion pack, it makes the game a lot more fun.

In the evening, I headed out to a girls night with some friends from church.  We had a blast drinking wine, eating junk food and hanging out in our sweats.  We had a lot of great conversations and laughs as well and I left with a happy heart for sure!  Adrian and the boys hung out at home while I was out, playing video games and Mansions of Madness, a board game I wasn't really interested in.  When I got home the wine got the best of me and I headed straight to bed!

 

Sunday (12/30) Today started later than I expected since I forgot to set my alarm last night to get up to serve at the first service of church.  Everyone slept in and we didn't start waking up until between 9:30-10:00.  Since I was feeling a little rough after last night, we decided that Adrian would head to second service but the boys and I would stay home.  We spent the afternoon getting a few things done, relaxing and recovering and watching the last week of the NFL season.  We were super happy that the Cowboys won & will keep playing.  And I was kind of happy the Jets lost so that they have a pretty good draft pick.

After the early NFL games, we packed up the car and headed about an hour west to check out Clifton Mill.  The boys saw it on Christmas Light Fight and were so excited to go see over 4 million lights!  We were surprised to get there and see a huge crowd.  We had to circle around for a while before we finally found parking and got inside.  But it was all worth it - we all had a blast.  The area was so pretty decorated in the lights and their light show was great.  We spent almost 3 hours there walking around and looking at everything before we were all cold and hungry and ready to head out.

 

 

 

 

We walked back to our car and started looking for a place to eat.  Unfortunately there isn't much right there and what was there was either super crowded or fast food. So we found a Steak & Shake about 10 minutes away so we went there.  The boys were super excited to get shakes and burgers for dinner.  Unfortunately the service was horrible and it took us over an hour to eat!  The boys did great staying calm and just playing at the table but we were all pretty frustrated.  Thankfully they gave us a huge discount so at least they made it right.  We finally got home at almost midnight and got the boys to bed.  Adrian and I were going to have some wine but we were too tired so we just headed to bed shortly after the boys.

Monday (12/31) Happy New Year's Eve!  We all slept in pretty late after being up so late last night which will probably help us to stay up tonight.  I had to sub a class at Harcum so I headed out there and then stopped at Aldi for a few quick things on the way home.  Then we got ready to host one of my oldest friends from NJ for lunch.  Kenny and Christian came by to eat pizza and buffalo dip, chat and laugh with us for the afternoon and we all had a great time!  I'm glad he contacted me when he realized he would have some time in Columbus this trip, it's always good to see Kenny!

When they left we decided to just have fun for the last day of 2018.  We played a bunch of games including Azul, Thanos Rising, Teen Titans Go deck building and Sagrada.  The evening passed super quickly an pretty soon it was time for the ball drop.  We looked back on our year with the boys and we agreed we did some pretty "epic" things and had a really great year!  We're hoping to keep it going in 2019!  The boys easily made it to midnight, even staying up after that for a snack and a show.  We finally got them to bed and came down to finish off our wine, watch a show and head to bed as well.  It was a great end to a great year & I'm looking forward to next year already!

Tuesday (1/1) Happy New Year!!  We all slept in again - most of us slept until close to 10am!  I wish everyday this year would be that late, but I know we're back to school soon so we're enjoying the lazy mornings when we can.  We started the day with some TV, coffee and omelettes for breakfast.  Then the day passed quickly with lots of relaxing, football and great food.  The boys played some foosball on their new table, some video games and did some of the homework we have been putting off the past week.  I got some work done around the house, today starts my extreme focus to finish everything on my to do list before next Sunday so I'm ready to get back to our regular schedule next week.

Adrian cooked us a delicious dinner of pork, sauerkraut and pierogies.  We ate early so we could watch OSU play in the Rose Bowl.  We enjoyed watching OSU win, even if it did get a little boring at the beginning and a little too stressful at the end.  When the game was over, we did a few more things around the house and then it was time to get the boys ready for bed.  We're trying to reign bedtime in now before it gets too out of control for next week.  When they were finally down, we watched a few comedies, finished our bottle of wine from last night and headed to bed.  It's back to work for Adrian tomorrow!  I'm so thankful for all the time he had off over these two weeks even though he is in the middle of busy season.  It has been just what our family needed!

Wednesday (1/2) It was back to work for Adrian and he left well before any of us got up this morning.  Unfortunately Zak had an early dentist appointment so he and I had to get up and moving.  I got a little peak into what's ahead in the boys' teen years when AJ & Daniel both slept until well after 10am!  Zak did OK at the dentist getting a cavity filled and sealants put on his back teeth.  He was a little squirmy and then bit his lip up when we got home but other than that he did really well.

After we got home from the dentist, the day passed quickly with the boys playing and me working around the house.  We stopped around 4 to get ready to head up to the zoo to see this year's Wild Lights display.  Unfortunately Adrian got stuck at work so it was just me and the boys.  It was a little cold but we bundled up and made it work.  We walked around for nearly 2 hours seeing so many beautiful lights, the light show, riding the train (twice) and getting a private showing of Rudolph in the 4D theater.  It was a fun night together although we were a little bummed that this is the official end of our Christmas season.  As AJ said "Christmas comes and goes so quickly each year." 

 

 

After we finished at the zoo, we headed home to meet up with Adrian.  We had a late dinner of leftovers and then the boys had a little bit of time playing video games.  Adrian and I finished up a few things around the house and then watched a few comedies before heading to bed for the night.  We both have work in the morning!

Thursday (1/3) Once again Adrian got up and out to work well before any of us woke up.  We are going to be hurting on Monday!!  I got up and moving so I could go and teach two of my classes at the Harcum Center.  Thankfully AJ and Zak were up before I left, but Daniel was still sleeping.  I had two great classes although we all had a bit of the holiday hangover and were hurting by the end of class.  When I finished up, I headed home to check in on the boys and see how they survived while I was gone.

We all had lunch together and got some of our work done around the house.  Then they headed upstairs to play Beyblade Burst and record some videos.  I used up the last of the turkey leftovers (which I had frozen) to make some soup for dinner.  The day passed quickly and soon Adrian was home for the night and I was getting ready to head out to my Zumba class at church.  We had a great class there, I enjoyed catching up with the ladies, some of whom I haven't seen for over a month.  When class was over, I was exhausted!  I headed home, got the rest of the things done around the house and then got the boys down to bed for the night.  Adrian and I watched a few comedies and then headed to bed too.  I have one more day of vacation tomorrow that I don't have to get up and I plan to enjoy it!