Holidays 2018 — kendra

Happy New Year! I took a couple months off from blogging to focus on some other things going on (all good things!) and pretended to survive my first trimester of pregnancy. More on that later, but I probably own stock in saltines at this point.

We had such an AMAZING holiday season and I feel like I was able to really soak so much of it in with the kids and Collin. We had our first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years in our new home (which has undergone many-a-purges throughout those holidays) and are feeling pretty organized and set up to roll into 2019 with gumption.

I thought I’d just share a wide range of what we’ve been up to through the holidays (if you don’t follow along on IG) just to bring ya’ll up to speed. And then! We’ll return to regularly scheduled programming - I’ll be back to my Beneath the Layers posts, and going to bring a fun series to the blog that involves Collin, and of course continue to share our favorites on Fridays and the chaos that weaves it’s way between all of those things. If there’s something you love reading about and don’t get enough, send me a message or leave it in the comments so I can share more! If there’s something you want less of, you have the right to remain silent and click away ;)

Winnie turned THREE just before Thanksgiving and has finally turned the corner on terrible twos. She doesn’t care for group activity, is stubborn as hell and may as well have FOMO tattooed on her bicep because she’s not outgrowing that anytime soon. She is SO fun though and I have a major soft spot for her fire. We went to see “The Grinch” at the movie theater (her obsession) and had the BEST time!

Next was Thanksgiving. We packed up the entire family and headed east of the mountains to visit more family. We stayed in the “Brickhouse” (Penthouse) hotel room which was perfectly roomy for the 6 of us ;) and the kids are certain that we need to stay in the penthouse wherever we travel (ignorance is bliss). We had Thanksgiving dinner with family, and headed to Pullman the following day to watch the Cougs play in the Apple Cup. While we didn’t pull out the W, we saw a record snow storm and had an amazing time taking in Pullman in the winter. Collin and I had a treacherous (to put it lightly) drive home that took about 2 hours longer than it normally would. I’ve never been so scared!!

We headed home the following day and managed to set up a Christmas tree in record time. We spent the next couple weeks decorating virtually every room in her Christmas best - a task that can best be described as a chore with little ones. Norah broke at least 45 ornaments and we battled for a solid 3 days about what color the lights should be. Some things are not worth letting go of, and white lights on a tree is a non-negotiable around here.

Just after Thanksgiving, the girls had a super fun “Sister Sister Birthday Party!” (their words, not mine) at ROMP (our FAV!) - they played with all their friends, had brownies and snacks and I was able to consolidate party planning for two into one - a win win all around!

I turned THIRTY! mid-December and my only wish was to keep celebrations at a minimum. You see, I’m more of a “eat at my favorite restaurant with a v v small group (mixed company is my personal version of hell), go home, get my matching pjs on, watch a holiday movie with a bowl of ice-cream and go to bed” type celebrator. Thankfully, Collin is an excellent listener and managed to pull off the perfect weekend. It started with a lunch date at my favorite bakery, a little pampering to get my nails and lashes down, an all expenses paid stop at Lululemon (because what else do moms wear?) a blowout at DryBar with my best girl, and dinner at my VERY favorite spot where you get to sit in leather armchairs and eat nice & slow. The candied bacon pb&j sliders don’t hurt either. We wrapped up the weekend with a gingerbread house competition with the kids and a nice side of Hand Foot & Mouth for the kids ;) Oh the joys of 30. Honestly though, it was just the perfect amount of celebration and I wanted nothing more. (I got ONE photo, pre-blow out the entire weekend, HA!)

And CHRISTMAS! We stayed home, prayed for snow, and got a whole lot of rain instead. Christmas morning was just magic with the kids - everyone was thrilled to see that Santa listened to their wishes and Baylor was specifically relieved that Santa was able to make it down the chimney at our new house unscathed. We lowered our gift threshold this year which was AMAZING and a total success. We spent the day napping, playing with every toy for 15 minutes before unwrapping another and then doing family dinner and a gift exchange with cousins, grandparents, aunts & uncles.

The week in-between Christmas and New Years was spent organizing, de-cluttering, de-christmasing, and purging. And LOTS of playing games. I make a list every year of larger house projects that we want to accomplish (not everyday to-do list type things) and was able to check off quite a few on the list, which feels SO SO good going into the New Year. (more on this later).

We took the kids out to mexican food with friends on New Years Eve and Collin enjoyed his favorite Sangria while I indulged in a virgin mojito! We came back home, had fancy shakes and played some of our favorite games before celebrating NYE with the East Coasters at 9PM. Us adults tried to rally until midnight and only managed to fall 20 minutes short (party animals!).

Overall, it was an incredible holiday season that boasts many amazing memories for years to come. As the kids get older, I realize the importance of tradition, but also of soaking in the NOW, not focusing on alllll the things to do. It’s a fine balance, that takes time to finesse, just like all things.

Happy New Year - I’m so looking forward to sharing more again throughout the year and truly appreciate each of you who take time to come and read, engage in our lives and love on us from near & far.