The Sweet Spot Between Christmas and New Years

I saw a lot of memes this year about the week between Christmas and New Years - about how you don't know what day it is, you've eaten junk, etc.  It's glorious, isn't it?!

We started out that week with a trip to see the zoo lights.  We even took a little train ride!  Again, it was unseasonably warm.  It's always amazing how many lights there are.

Colin played with his kinetic sand that he got from my parents for Christmas.

We even took a family bike ride on the trail from McNamara Park - on December 27th!

I didn't get any pictures on NYE - but we let the kids stay up until around 10:30.  They probably could have made it to midnight, but they don't really know how to sleep in!  We played with NYE balloons and did "cheers" with fancy glasses with the fake kids countdown on Netflix.

Scarlet turned 13 years old on January 2nd - we celebrated by giving her some peanut butter with some crushed up dog bones on top!  She really enjoyed it.

Before we took down the Christmas decorations, I had to send Nanny a picture of the kids with the little tree and all of the miniature Hallmark ornaments she handed down to us.

We also had to send my grandpa a picture of the train he and my grandma sent to Cadence years ago.

Christmas 2019

 Christmas Eve night - the kids were excited for Santa to come - can you tell?!

The kids were good and cooperated with us by waiting until 7:00 to wake up on Christmas morning.  They were itching to check out their gifts!

Later that day, Grandma, Poppa, Uncle Mike, and Gina came over - even the pups got new gifts!  We had fun eating, watching movies, and even went for a walk because the weather was so nice!  We love Christmas with our micro family.

December...Before Christmas!

There was lots to do before Christmas this year - check it out!

Cadence goes through different phases with her hair - nowadays, she's into putting it half up!  She looks so old when she wears it like that.

Grandma and Poppa got a ton of honey from their hives this year.  The kids help label the bottles so they could be sold.

The next Buckeye basketball game, Cadence and I got to go with the boys since Mark and Mason couldn't be there.  Cadence wasn't so into the game at the beginning...

The Buckeyes put a whoopin' on those Nittany Lions, 106 to 74!  It was awesome to witness!

When we're on campus, and we have time, we HAVE to dine at Adriatico's!

The next day, we visited the Humane Society of Delaware County so Cadence could drop off her donation.  She took a portion of her proceeds from selling Buckeye gear at the farmers market and gave it to the animals.  We are so proud of her!

We spent a lot of time with all of the kitties!

After piano lessons, Cadence played with the "photo booth" props.

The kids had spirit week at school before Christmas - first up, holiday headgear day!

We finally got around to taking the kids to Star Lanes for some arcade games.  Cadence ran around finding the games that rewarded the most tickets; Colin played countless games of ski ball - each game was cheap!

Cadence also had her Christmas recital that weekend.  She played, The First Noel, beautifully!

A couple of days later, we had a gross wintry mix outside - the kids started out with a 2-hour delay, but then school ended up getting cancelled.  

We really didn't get a lot of snow at all, but the kids still had some fun!

Amazingly, 5 short days later, the weather took a complete 180!  I think the temps were flirting with 60 degrees.  The kids both had friends over and they were able to play outside.  Poppa even took the boys for a ride with the lawnmower!

Santa and the fire department made a stop at our house later that day.  It was so odd being outside without being bundled up!

Santa gave all of the kids candy canes.  Christmas was right around the corner!