Wrapping up our break

Well, we have one more unexpected day at home today after the winter break from school. Because it is so cold, school was canceled.

The kids got out of school the Friday before Christmas. That weekend was busy with the visit of our friends from out of town and a sleepover. Lance worked that Monday and then took the next two weeks off of work. We decided that we wanted to make the most of our time with him home. It was a great balance of having fun and getting some things done around the house.

The Friday after Christmas we went to ride the Pink Pig at Lenox mall. It was something we hadn’t done yet for the season so we went after Christmas hoping the lines weren’t too long. It turned out to be more popular than I thought it would be but not too bad.

This was Lance and Hayes’ first time riding the Pink Pig. It might have been Lance’s last time too. Ha!

That evening we met some friends for a walk at the mountain and then had them back to our house for pizza and a movie night. It is always fun when last minute plans work out that way.

Sunday, after church, we headed to my parents house to have Christmas with them and my sisters. It was a nice relaxing day with family.

The next couple of days we spent cleaning up Christmas stuff. On New Year’s Eve we took the family bowling. Reese had been begging to do this because they learned about bowling in PE the last couple of weeks before school was out. We weren’t sure what to expect but it turned out to be so much fun.

We got to the bowling alley before they opened so we were one of the first people in there.

We had bumpers and a ramp for the kids to use. They really enjoyed getting to knock the pins down and were pretty competitive.

This little guy hung out in the stroller and did pretty well considering it was his nap time.

We celebrated New Year’s by having friends over to watch football on New Year’s Day.

That weekend Lance and I were supposed to go to Charleston but made a last minute change in our plans. Some of my cousins were unexpectedly going to be in town and my dad’s family was celebrating Christmas on Saturday. The thought of not getting to be there with all of them made me so sad so I asked Lance if we could just stay in town. He kindly agreed so we got to spend Saturday afternoon and evening with family.

Sunday we went to church and then had some friends over to play. Sunday night the kids heard that there was a possibility of snow. Someone at church told Reese that if she slept with her pajamas on inside out and backwards, put ice in the toilet, and put a spoon under her pillow that it would snow. Both kids did this and then woke up to no snow Monday morning.

Yesterday was Lance’s first day back to work and was going to be our last day home before it was back to school. During breakfast we talked about how the pajamas, etc didn’t help make it snow. The kids blamed it on me because I didn’t participate. While I was trying to straighten the house up for some friends to come over, it started snowing. It was just flurries but there were tons of them for about two hours. The kids immediately wanted to go outside so I bundled them up. They were so happy.

Reese and Sam were running around outside like it was the best thing ever…

…while Hayes whined at the window watching them.

I finally gave in to him and took him outside to check it all out. He LOVES being outside.

It was a huge fight to get him back inside and there may or may not have been a huge temper tantrum when we were finally inside.

For the rest of the day, the big kids played so well together while I got to visit with my college roommate.

After getting one more morning of sleeping in, the kids are playing well while we all try to stay warm in this five degree temperature. Tomorrow we will officially be back to school. I am a little sad about that but I think everyone is ready to get back in to our routine again.