Aaargh Matey

Our first official day of winter break was spent lounging around playing numerous video games on our new PS4!  We didn't even get out of our pjs!!

After a long day of play and, working for me, we needed to get out of the house.  It's worth mentioning that I'm goal setting for the upcoming year and one of them is to find new places to eat, explore, etc. around our town.  We will still frequent our favorite places but how much fun we will have searching out new spots!

At first I thought maybe Chuck E. Cheese as a reward for being so good for Yaya, Aunt Sandy & Grandpa Fred.  But then I decided that is too much chaos for a Tuesday night, and Chuck E. Cheese is about as sanitary as a wet pull up.  Instead we opted for a fun filled family dinner at Pirate's Pizza.

Pirate's Pizza is located in the same shopping center as Reno Town Mall.  One thing that really appealed to Trevor's mom and aunt was the numerous Greek dishes on the menu.  Come to find out the restaurant was originally owned by a Greek family!  The boys thought the decor was the best part of the place.

It was a fun night of getting to hang out with three of my very favorites!!

xoxo - j

Merry Merry

There are certain days when I am overcome with how incredibly fortunate I am.  Surrounded by three amazing boys, mounds of gifts and twinkling lights, Christmas was one of those days.

Merry Christmas from our Nook to yours (even if it's a day late)!

xoxo - j

Christmas Eve

We had a very busy Christmas Eve this year.  We kicked off our day with our normal Sunday church service and participating in the nativity story as shepherds.

After that we wrapped our little fingers to the bone and prepared hors d'oeuvres for everyone to snack on before our second church service. 

The second church service did not disappoint, it was a kid-run service complete with readings and performances by the Children's Choir.  We ended the service with a candlelit rendition of Silent Night.

xoxo - j

Santa Clause is Coming to Town

Saturday the whole crew headed down to Santa's Workshop at The Summit Mall for one last meet & greet with Santa.  With the promise of candy canes and other sweet treats made for a delightful outing.

It was perfect, sunny day with lots of excitement that Santa would be making his visit in just 24 hours.

And just when I thought we couldn't possibly have anymore fun, we made a lunch stop at BJ's Bar & Grill...

...I wouldn't have had it any other way.  Loved spending the day with my kiddos and Trevor.

xoxo - j

Almost Christmas

Friday night I had a basket ball game so the whole crew stayed home and watched the hoops on TV.  Nothing like high school basketball to make for a great evening.  When they got tired of watching they picked up a fun game of MLB 2K13.

Nothing like a nice night in before the chaos of the holiday ensued.

xoxo - j

School Christmas Parties

The kids' teachers put so much thought and effort in to their holiday parties this year.  Ethan got to have a pajama day complete with a pancake breakfast and book exchange.

Carter's teacher did 4 fun centers:  cookie decorating; a snowman craft; a Christmas tree paint craft and snacks.

They each came home with a book to read over break and on the highest sugar high ever!!  It was a super fun ending to the semester and the perfect kick-off to our Christmas weekend!

xoxo - j

Last Minute Christmas Prep

Every year for the past three years I have wanted to journey over the hill to experience the Nevada City Victorian Christmas.  In true Nevada fashion the weather did not cooperate.  Hopefully next year!!

Instead we packed up the pipsqueaks and went out for a pizza dinner and a little last minute shopping at Cabela's.  And I cannot forget our stop for peppermint hot coco at Starbucks to make the night feel extra festive.

xoxo - j

Times Are A Changin'

In all my life, I have only missed three or four Christmases at home - the past few years when Trevor's dad was sick.  My family puts so much love, thought and time into making the holidays special.  They always have.  I honestly hope my boys say the same thing about us one day.

This year needed to be extra special since this was my mom's last year at home.  I'm hoping between the 5 am present unwrapping and the amazing dinner my sister prepared that she was in heaven.

There is no place I'd rather be than home for the holidays.

xoxo - j

Thank You To Our Wonderful Teachers

Every year I try to come up with very creative ways to say thank you to the pipsqueaks' teachers.  This past week I just couldn't come up with anything overly creative.  I found super cute Christmas mugs at the store stuffed them full of tissue paper and a Starbucks card.  Honestly, I know teachers can't possibly survive without a little kick of caffeine.

It is always so much fun to put together cute and creative gifts!!  Thank you teachers for all you do!

xoxo - j

Friendly Cookie Exchange

We spent our evening exchanging cookies and catching up with some of our best friends!!  While we caught up over eggnog and hot coco the pipsqueaks were busy decorating cookies and shoving as many into their tiny little mouths as they could possibly fit.

Don't let those sweet faces fool you, there is a lot of mischief there!!  But in all seriousness, they were so very well behaved tonight.  Ethan is so self-sufficient, it sometimes scares me how big he is.  Carter was completely entertained with karaoke...and quite possibly everyone was entertained by Carter's singing prowess.  And then those sweet not-so-much-babies...they were awfully sneaky with the spoons in the frosting!

After such a fun evening, I reminded Trevor how lucky we are to have such sweet and fun, life-long friends.  Having loads of reasons to catch up and spend time with friends is one of many things I love the holidays.

The Force

It was another treat filled week around The Nook.  Olaf organized a movie night; helped me get motivated to get our Christmas Cards in the mail; brought all the fixings for eggnog and fluffy coco and the super yummy elf munch; and best of all planned an all out Star Wars day!

Aunt Christina came over bright and early to play with Daxton while we jetted off to feast on movie theater popcorn and icees.

Star Wars The Last Jedi was action packed and full of surprises.  I won't spoil the plot or the twists and turns for anyone but we definitely loved it.

The movie continues building the story of Rey and Kylo Ren.  It left me with lots of questions and speculations...as every Star Wars movie before it!

It was clear that Dax had lots of fun with Aunt Christina, playing Ninja Turtles and watching movies.

We are already looking forward to Episode IX coming in 2 years!!

We've got 7 more days until Santa makes his appearance and we couldn't be anymore excited.  We can't wait to see what Olaf has up his sleeve for our last week.  Certainly a long winters nap will be in store after all his hard work this season!

xoxo - j

Tears and a Little Elf Snack

I am not a crier, but I am THAT mom.  The mom who is SO proud of her children that her heart becomes SO full that the only way to keep it from bursting is to let pressure come out in the form of a tear or two.  I know I was not the only mom who cried a little at Tuesday night's Lion & Lamb performance.

On Sunday I got to watch Ethan play the chimes while Carter sang with the children's choir at church.  Tuesday I watched my big, 3 year old son, who is starting to look more and more like his daddy, walk confidently onto the stage at Grace Church.  He cleared his throat and said, "Every good and perfect gift comes from God.  It comes down from the Father.  John 1:17"  His little voice just melted me and a little tear slipped out!  It just makes me wonder where did the last three, almost four years go?!  I feel so lucky to have three beautiful and healthy children.  

Now, let me quickly move from my mom moment to our super fun Christmas activity we did last night.  Olaf has faithfully brought treats and activities for the boys each day, and knowing that they were going to need a fun and festive snack for their lunches today, Olaf was awfully sweet to bring all the fixings for Elf Munch.

We mixed up a bowl full of popcorn, caramel corn, Chex, pretzels, mini marshmallows and red & green M&Ms.  It was happy snacking all around!

xoxo - j

Ho-Ho-Holiday Drinks

Every year we make a yummy and festive drink, thanks to a tried and true family recipe.

Carter and Trevor don't really care for egg nog so Carter and I came up with an alternative idea to satisfy the pickiest of palettes.

Egg Nog:

In a large sauce pan, whisk together 6 eggs, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Gradually add 2 cups milk (I use whole milk).  Cook over low hear, stirring constantly for about 25 minutes, until the mixture sticks to the back of a wooden spoon.

Remove from heat, stir in 1 tablespoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 2 more cups milk.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Beat 1 cup heavy cream on high until stiff, gently fold into the cooled mixture.  I always top mine with a sprinkle of nutmeg.  I suppose you could always add a dash of brandy, rum or bourbon too!

Fluffy Hot Coco:

For those who do not love egg nog, we made fluffy hot coco.  It was delish and still had a festive feel!

All you do is combine 8 teaspoons sugar; 4 teaspoons baking coco; 4 cups milk (I used whole milk) and 1 cup of marshmallows.  Stir over medium heat until all the marshmallows are melted, remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.  we drank ours in Christmas mugs!

Cheers!!

xoxo - j

Oh What Fun

From our Nook to yours, may your season be Oh so Fun!!

2017 Christmas cards are stamped and in the post!!  Always one of my favorite productions!!

xoxo - j

More Christmas Magic

Now, where did we leave off??  All those years ago when I committed myself to come up with creative and memorable treats from Olaf each day, perhaps I didn't think it quite through.  I often find myself jumping back out of my warm bed to rush around and pull together something creative and fun for the littles to wake up to.  That Olaf is high maintenance!!

Olaf pulled out all the fixings for a magical movie night, complete with a stipulation that the pipsqueaks needed to have green apple days at school.  The best part of this is the incentive to have a really good behavior day at school.

Carter's teacher was super smart to plan a fun field trip to see The Peanutcracker...the Story in a Nutshell.  All the chaperones were encouraged to ride the bus with their kiddos, I had the privilege of being in charge of another cute kinder friend too!

The Pioneer was again decked out in all things Christmas, the colors lighting up the stage had changed from yesterday's Nutcracker, but the kiddos were excited all the same.

The Peanutcracker did not disappoint, the young dancers did an amazing job interpreting the classic ballet in just one short hour.  And thankfully there was a narrator explaining what was going on! 

Olaf has become adept at using what I had already carefully planned out to his benefit.  Mondays are typically one of our busiest nights so a Christmas Movie Night was the perfect end to this very busy and festive day! 

"Merry Christmas Charlie Brown" is short and sweet, perfect for three very short attention spans!

Less than two weeks to go until Christmas.  I can't wait to see what else Olaf has in store for us leading up to the big day!

xoxo - j

Christmas Overload

I wish we could do what they do in Who-Ville
They sure know how to say "Merry Christmas" to you!

1.  Christmas Eve performance preview day.  We set out  bright and early for our sneak peek at what's in store for Christmas Eve Service.

2.  A fancy afternoon with Aunt Christina.  The Nutcracker soon starts to begin, in the finest theater you've ever been in!

Dax slept from the 3rd Scene in Act 1 on.  The other two really enjoyed the show, though they both admitted without speaking lines or singing they weren't quite sure what was going on.

3.  We help my mom decorate her Christmas tree each year.  I try to always dedicate a day just to all things Christmas with my mom and boys, but this year it just wasn't in the cards, so I tacked it on to our Christmas Overload day!!

Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.  Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more!!

4.  Olaf Grinched us today, so I couldn't just let the Christmas Overload be it!  Oh no!!  We had a full-on Merry Grinchmas once we got home from all our activities.  We jumped in to green pj's, make Grinched popcorn and played The Who game with a wrapped present.  I bet you'll never guess who won...

Yep!  You guessed right!!  Ethan won a Yoda ornament for our tree!!

Thrilled to have spent a day watching my children perform Christmas Carols in church, experience the ballet for the first time, and decorate my mom's tree for may be the last time in my childhood home.

xoxo - j

The Santa Train

Olaf has been really busy.  He pulled out all the stops today...Santa Train Day!!

We started our day with Olaf carefully guarding the South Tunnel of our awesome electric train.  I think he maybe tried unsuccessfully to ride the train around the track but must of have just settled on watching the train go 'round the track.

After a super fun stop at a soda themed party we met our cousins at the Nevada State Railroad Museum.

After waiting in line for what seemed like forever we discovered that the Will Call attendant had sent us to the wrong line and we had missed our 2:30 train.  Lucky for us Amanda cut in line and was able to tell the ticket office what had happened and they graciously traded our tickets for the 3:00 pm train...oops!!

The kids were so patient waiting for their turn to board Santa's train!  This afternoon at 3:00 p.m. in Carson City we boarded the one and only Santa Train.  Santa came aboard, wished everyone a very Merry Christmas and handed each passenger a candy cane.  Dax was in heaven!!

It was truly a memorable day!!

xoxo - j