Starting off 2016 on the right foot ... with this handsome hottie by my side! We made it to midnight, people. We snapped this pic on New Year's Eve before calling it a night and heading to bed. This man is the absolute best and I love him so much. I'm forever on Team Jason Smith!!
On January 1, 2016 we had a nice big breakfast of pancakes and bacon to celebrate the new year. It was delicious and the best pancakes I've made in a while. Big Saturday morning breakfasts are a very fond memory from my childhood, so I like that I'm passing that along to my kids, as well (even though this was a Friday ... I'm counting it).
After breakfast, we played with Hudson's new Duplos. My kids really love playing with all things Lego. This year Conner got a lot of the Lego Junior sets that he gets to play with while Hudson is napping. Hudson got several Duplo sets, and those are fun for them to play with together!
After we tried to lay Hudson down for a nap unsuccessfully, it was time to head out to the farm again for our New Year's Day lunch with the Smiths! The kids played outside quite a bit even though it was windy and cold. I tried to go out there some, too. I love watching them play together! Plus, someone has to keep a close eye on Hudson. That little booger will do anything the big boys are doing. He's my little dare devil for sure.
Josh and Ashley brought a couple of little toddler 4-wheelers for the kids to play with and one of them looked like Mater. I thought Hudson was going to die of happiness when he saw that! He love, love, loves him some Mater, so he pretty much took over the Mater rider the whole time.
We had another campfire in the fire pit and the sky was gorgeous! The pic doesn't do it justice. I really love the wide open spaces at the farm - so peaceful and quiet ... and free!
We loaded up the kids in the van at 6p to head home and BOTH of them fell asleep by 6:15p in the car! I was shocked! Thankfully they transferred to their beds perfectly and continued sleeping the rest of the night. While on vacation, our kids got super off their regular routine ... going to bed later and later, eating at weird times, napping more sporadically ... all in the name of spending time with family and I think by this point it had really caught up with them. Conner slept in until 8:20a on Saturday morning and wasn't sick - that's when I knew - early bedtimes from now on to get back into our routine! Kids thrive on routine and ours go to bed at 7p.
Saturday morning we hung out at home and relaxed and played. That night was our big night out with the Smiths. Any time we are all together we try to have one really nice dinner out without the kids. It's something I always look forward to, because while I love my kids and my nieces and nephews ... there's something nice about having adult only conversation and not having a jumbled mess of a brain while you're trying to watch the kids and talk to adults at the same time. So, I made an appointment at DryBar Plano to get my hair done for our big night out. I'd never been before but had heard of several friends going and loving it. My hair is getting pretty long, so the idea of someone else washing, drying, and styling my hair sounded divine! I can tell you that the experience was great and I will for sure be going back again in the future. It took double the time on my hair than they schedule for appointments, but at no point did I feel rushed or that my stylist was annoyed. They have a lot of different styles to choose from, and I went with a curls/beachy wave look. I'm going on Day 3 and it still looks great (not as curly, but still flowy and wavy). My SIL, Courtney, got her hair done, too, but we didn't end up sitting next to each other. Next time, I'll make appointments further in advance and request chairs next to each other!
I got home from my hair appointment with enough time to change clothes, finish my makeup, paint my fingernails, and play with the kids a little before my parents arrived to babysit. We headed over to Big B and SuSu's house to meet up before dinner. We were ready for our night out on the town!
Dinner was at Rick's Chophouse on the McKinney Square. Oh, how I love this restaurant! The food was delicious and the atmosphere is great. Big B had never been to the Square before, so I have a feeling he'll be back. It's just so cute and fun and definitely a very cool area of our little city.
We had calamari, crab cakes, steaks, potatoes, veggies and dessert (to-go!). We ate way too much, but had the best time. Big B sure knows how to treat us kids to dinner! I always leave feeling spoiled and loved by my in-laws.
Next up was our big surprise - a limo ride to Dallas to Midnight Rodeo (a country dancing club) and then on to SoHo Food & Jazz (a jazz club/restaurant). It was really fun to be out on the town all together and even though we were all not feeling the country dancing ... we really enjoyed the jazz club. The music was great and Jason and I ordered dessert ... fried cheesecake with strawberries, and the white chocolate mousse with bananas. So, so good.
We got home late - but the kids slept until about 7a, so we got decent sleep. Then we headed over to Justin and Courtney's for breakfast before church. The kids played and we stuffed our faces with kolaches, cinnamon rolls, and fruit. A little after 9a, we headed to church with Big B, SuSu, Courtney, Kylee, and Kinsley. The service was great and the music was awesome. It was so nice to get back to our life group after the holidays - a lot of our people were there and it was so good to catch up! After church we headed home for lunch because Josh and Ashley had already headed back to the farm. We ate leftovers and put Hudson down for a nap. We started getting back into normal life mode and tried to get the house ready for Jason's first week back at work. The kids were in bed by about 6:30p and asleep within 5 minutes. I know we are all craving our routine and it was nice to get back into the swing of things before Jason going back to work hit us like a ton of bricks.
Yesterday was actually a great day overall even though it was our first Monday with Jason gone. The kids and I made a Target run for milk and other essentials for the week and then spent the day playing. I sorted through their clothes in their dressers and pulled out all the things that didn't fit anymore to put away in our storage bins. Hudson is growing like a weed and getting to wear all sorts of things that Conner used to wear. Conner is feeling a little left out of the new clothes department, so I may try to swing by some consignment shops this week to find some fun t-shirts for him to wear for cheap. We ate leftovers for dinner last night and then put the kids to bed right at 7p. Jason and I have decided to start a bible study night for the two of us. Monday nights are our night and we chose a Francis Chan study called Crazy Love on Right Now Media. We don't have the book, yet, but the videos are short and they provided plenty to talk about last night. I'm excited to grow with Jason in the Lord and have that special time to commit to each week.
Today is our first day back at school, so getting the boys ready and in the car on time will probably be quite the challenge, but it's one more step closer to our normal routine, so I'm excited for the day to begin! Plus, a little extra "me time" can't hurt either. ;)
Happy Tuesday, friends!!
I love routine as well! Hope you have a great week!
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