December 23 - Santa Hustle

Love these girls!

I was planning our December Girl Scout meetings about a month ago and had a crazy idea-what if we did a fun run with the girls to help earn the Staying Fit badge? I'm not, nor have I ever been, a runner, but I knew races were early in the mornings. Would anyone want to get up at the crack of dawn and exercise? Teresa (my co-leader) and I discussed it and she was "in!" Thanks to google, we found a local race in Galveston called the Santa Hustle. The girls could do the 1 mile Rudolph Run and race time was 6.30am. Would anyone else be interested? I sent out a planning email letting the parents know about the race and a few people immediately said they were in. Fantastic! 

Santa Moms: Teresa, Christine, Cynthia & Candice

Cynthia, one of our resident parent runners, decided to register herself for the 5k (which started after the mile run). She spoke to the event organizers and they said Lauren (her daughter) could run with her at no extra charge. Teresa, Candice and I also registered for the 5k and we were all set. 5k participants received Santa hats, beards, race shirt and candy-cane socks. The Rudolph Run participants received Santa hats and beards. We heard people dress up for this race so the girls were prepared to wear their troop shirts and fun socks. 

only thing missing was Santa

The day before the race, I headed down to Moody Gardens Hotel to pick up our race gear with Luke and Jillian. Luke was initially complaining about going to the hotel but once he saw the amazing Christmas trees inside he asked "Can we come back next  year and stay here?" I don't know if we'll ever stay in the hotel, but next year I will definitely be taking the kids back to get some photos (or at least attempt photos) in front of the trees. They were so pretty! This hotel also has a trail of lights and an ice exhibit (it's supposed to be amazing, Julia went one year for a birthday party and loved it, she even came back with artwork from real life penguins), so we will need to check it out. 

1 mile and 5k finishers - impressive!

Race day came early-we all woke up before 5am, donned our race gear and were off to Galveston. The girls ran the mile race and had a blast!! Seeing a bunch of kids donned in hats and beards running was one of the cutest things I've ever seen. I'd also like to give props to our girls who all had insane weekends and still made the race. Sophia was up until 2am Friday night for a sleepover and 11.45pm the night before the race because she went to see Sleeping Beauty at the Hobby Center. Julia and Hannah spent 10 hours at the robotics competition on Saturday while Kendall and Lauren had volleyball games on Saturday. Talk about troop dedication! 

Mother Daughter Santas

After the Rudolph Run, Sophia and her dad headed home (she needed sleep!). Then it was 5k time. Cynthia and Teresa (the running moms) started off with Kendall, Lauren and Julia. Candice and Christine (the walking moms) went with Hannah. My group (the walkers) had fun checking out all the fun costumes. Cynthia and Teresa busted it keeping up with the girls. I wish I had signed Julia up officially for the 5k, she would have won her age group (out of 92 kids). We all had such an amazing time we decided we should definitely make this a troop tradition. We finished off the morning with a delicious breakfast at Cracker Barrel and just had such a fun, wonderful start to the day!

Santa Moms!

December 22 - It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Christmas tree time! Julia had a swim meet two weekends ago, but we had to find time to squeeze in a trip to the tree tent. We went Saturday morning and found a tree quickly. After JD brought the tree into the house, he and Julia left for the meet. Luke was a perfect angel and helped me with the lights. He also baked homemade pumpkin bread and made homemade chocolate chip cookies for his swim coaches. I put the bread and cookies in and out of the oven, but he did everything else himself. I was so impressed.

Getting the tree ready

Attempting to get a good Christmas card photo...

December 21 - A Small Chance of Snow

snow!

There is a flu outbreak in Houston. 36% of the first grade students are out sick at our elementary school (including Luke) and Julia is also down for the count. Luke missed his winter party yesterday, which was unfortunate because his class performed 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas' and he had the starring role of the Grinch. Julia's class party is today and she's also missing the festivities. JD is also sick (more of a sinus infection than the flu). So, fingers crossed that the baby and I stay healthy. 

Now, let's go back 2 weeks ago for a more exciting, healthy week. On Monday December 4th, there was a promising weather report. We heard there was a small chance of snow for the end of the week.

JD's Christmas party

No one wanted to get their hopes up because...well, this is Houston. The last time it snowed here was 9 years ago. But as the week progressed and the temperature kept dropping and moisture remained in the air, chances were rising. Thursday afternoon every weather report was saying "It's coming!" Growing up in NY where snow is a given, I never thought I'd be waiting up to "see snow" but that is exactly where I found myself. I fell asleep at 11.30pm Thursday and it started snowing at 11.30pm (doh!). We woke up to a winter wonderland (by Texas standards). The kids were so excited, this was the best early Christmas present the city could have wished for! This was Amelia's first time seeing snow and...let's say she didn't want to get her paws wet!

Some cute pictures of little Jillian

December 11 - Farm Life

 Thanksgiving at the farm has been a tradition for several years now and we wouldn't have it any other way. It is good old fashion family fun and the kids are always so excited to see everyone, especially Andrew, Victoria and the horses! 

So what do the kids do at the farm while we are there? One thing they barely do is spend time inside. They literally played outside every day (including Thanksgiving day when it was raining nonstop). They rode their bikes, ran up and down the driveway, played endless games of tag, helped feed the horses, played in the stalls and went horse back riding.

They also did a scavenger hunt (created by Great Uncle Brian) which pitted Victoria and Luke v. Julia and Andrew. Victoria and Luke won but they all had a blast. One night we roasted hot dogs over a fire and did smores. So delicious! The last night we were there, JD set up a tent and all four attempted to camp out. Luke, Andrew and Victoria all came inside (they were too cold) but Julia braved the elements and slept in the tent all night. So adventurous! 

As for Thanksgiving dinner itself, JD was our chef this year and made some of his best dishes yet. The food was incredible. Turkey, ham, rolls, greenbean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes casserole, collared greens and homemade pumpkin pie (I actually made the pie, we had some laughs over my attempt at a chunky crust but it came out pretty well). Yum!!!!

Our last night, all of the adults played Codenames together and I haven't laughed so hard in years. It was an amazing Thanksgiving holiday!!

The Crew

The Cook's

Even the mom's love horses

December 11 - Tampa

Happy Monday dimpled munchkin fans. Is everyone ready for Christmas? We got our tree up this weekend but in terms of presents I have bought exactly....zero. I'm definitely not on the ball, I need to get busy! But first, I need to keep blogging about our fun trip to Florida.

After a short half day at Universal, we packed up the car and drove to Tampa. JD still wasn't feeling well and immediately went to bed upon arriving. The kids played around the house and enjoyed spending time with Grammie. The weather was also perfect. We ordered pizza for dinner (yum!) and the kids watched a movie that night. The next day, JD was feeling better and we took a family trip to the aquarium. JD took Julia years ago (I think she was around 1.5) but it was the first trip for the rest of us. It's laid out very nicely and the kids had fun seeing all the marine life.

While we were there, Grammie picked up Leah from daycare and brought her back to the house, so when we got back, the cousins were together the rest of the day. They played outside for hours putting together an obstacle course and got along fabulously. Aunt Nicole also got to meet baby Jillian and was in love!!  JD was feeling back to normal that afternoon so he played Frisbee golf with all of his brothers for a few hours. They had a lot of fun. 

The next morning, we ate breakfast, packed up and then headed out. We had a wonderful time visiting with Grammie, Uncle Chad, Aunt Nicole, Leah and meeting the neighbor kids. 

Grammie Snuggles

Aquarium Fun

Cousins

December 8 - Snow!

Let the Adventure Begin!

Guys, O-M-G. Earlier this week we heard that was a less than 5% chance of snow this week. IT HAPPENED!! It's the first snowfall here in 9 years and the first since we've lived here. I tried to stay up last night but passed out by 11.30pm (of course, it started snowing approx. 5min after I fell asleep). The kids were so excited to wake up to snow!! Pictures will be coming soon, stay tuned to the blog!

Okay, back to our amazing Thanksgiving trip. Our second day at Universal was the best because...family!! We skipped the boat and walked to the parks (the kids were wearing the house shirts I ordered...so cute) and were inside early.

walking to the parks

The Harry Potter area of the parks are open 1h early for hotel guests so our first stop was Hogmeade. After hitting up a few more rides, our day got even better. Uncles Bryan and Brian joined us!! So fun!! We spent the day at both parks and just had an all-around blast. There was a brief temperature drop at one point with a dash of rain, but it was over very quickly. We decided to stay for a holiday parade on the Universal side at 5.30pm and discovered after the parade started that we were stuck in the park until it was over. So, while that wasn't ideal I think the kids handled it pretty well. The Yamo's and NC Cook's headed back to the hotel for dinner while the uncle duo headed to City Walk. It was a magical day.

Not so magical? The stomach bug that we thought surpassed JD came for him. He was up all night sick. I tried to add another night to our trip to let him sleep but the hotel was fully booked. Luckily they let us do a late check out. So the kids and I packed up the room quickly on Monday and then met back up at Universal Studios with the Cooks. It was amazingly not busy (at all) and we walked onto a few rides. While we had fun, JD was able to sleep a little. After a few hours, it was time for us to check out of the hotel and head to Tampa.

Happy Friday everyone! Enjoy these pics.



Hogwarts

Ditto

Fun with uncles!

Dr. Seussland is so fun

Diagon Alley is amazing...and we get a picture in front of trash cans hehe

Last day collage

December 1 - Universal Adventure

Universal Day 1 - Amazing Day!

I started planning this trip several months ago and I was initially thinking Disney (as Jillian can go on several rides there). However, Disney prices were outrageous and the kids prefer Universal anyway, so off to Universal we went. Our first day was just our family and we had the option of the regular parks or the new water park. The kids wanted to go to the regular parks so off we went. Jillian and I walked from the hotel to Island of Adventure (IoA) while JD and the kids took the water taxi. Jillian and I made it there in approx. 7 min, while the rest of the crew took over 30min. Walking for the win! After meeting up on the bridge, we entered and it was...ride time! It wasn't busy at all and we got through a lot of rides. After a quick pizza lunch, JD took Jillian back to the room for a nap while I continued on with Julia and Luke. Julia is now tall enough to ride almost everything by herself, which was fantastic because Luke is still small enough that he requires an adult for almost every ride. It worked out perfectly! 

crazy milkshakes

After spending all day at the parks, JD and Jillian met us at City Walk and we had a delicious dinner at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. If you find yourself in Orlando, give this place a try, even if it's just for dessert. The inside has a steampunk theme and the desserts are incredible! 

So, after being at the parks from about 10am-4pm and then dinner....nope, the kids were not tired. We headed to the pool for swimming. After swimming for a few hours, we headed back to our room for showers and to get ready for bed. Around 8.30pm, the NC Cook's arrived and the hotel hooked us up with adjoining rooms, so fun!!! The kids were so excited for day 2 of our adventure..!

mmmmm dessert

Hogwarts!