My Life In Numbers - Vacation Edition

Happy New Year Foxy Friends! Sorry I have been MIA, unplanned blogging break, I don't even know what happened, one day I had all of these plans to blog during the break, and then said break happened and I didn't pick up my computer once. First I wanted to thank you for all of the support this past year. I love blogging and all of the friends I have made and all of the friends I will make in the future! Looking forward to what this year has in store for me! But I'm back and refreshed and ready to tackle the blogging world again.

I'm linking up with the lovely Deena for another month of numbers, although this time it's just going to be since I last talked to you, so the last 10 days or so.

First let's talk about something that didn't happen during the break, but is worthy to mention.

23 - The pounds the turkey was that we had for our second Thanksgiving, cause the first one, we just didn't get enough turkey, so we made another one...totally reasonable right?

Now onto the last week:

0 - How much we paid to get into the Discovery Cube, thank you Jenny! The kids had an absolute blast and could not go down the slides enough! The slides kept getting steeper, loved that there was a slide for everyone. Mini Fox went down the first slide and then decided she didn't like it. But was more than happy to wait, strange kid she is.

Luckily Mr. said he would go down this one with Baby Fox...I'm a big chicken.

Met up with some friends who have passes, yay! I've known this girl since 7th grade.

11 - My whole family was at Christmas Eve Mass which made my heart happy. Not shown were the other 6 people there, forgot to take a picture, oops.

6 - How old Baby Fox turned on Christmas! Every year we decorate his door and he loves it every time.

Too many to count - The number of gifts the kids got. We know it's too much, but we just can't help ourselves! Not all of these gifts were for the kids, my brother-in-Law and Mother in law had some in there, along with myself and Mr...

32 - The number of people that came to our house for Christmas Dinner...okay that it sort of a lie, since one of them is only 2 months old and does no solid food eating yet.

17 - The number of pounds our Prime Rib was, and boy was it delicious!

All salted and ready to go into the oven.

125 - The number of degrees, when you should take out roast, so that it when it continues to cook when out of oven it comes out perfect. Third times a charm, this is the third year I've made Prime Rib for Christmas dinner and the first time it's come out! It was perfection!

4 - The number of days my Brother-In-Law stayed with us during the break. He hasn't been here in a while and the kids were thrilled to see him and have him here for so many days. They keep asking when he's coming back.

20,000 - No I have no idea, but it was a lot! We went to LEGOLAND with my cousin and I have never seen it so crowded. But we were with family and the kids still had a blast. I love that even though the kids only got on two rides the whole day they had a blast and can't wait to go back.

64 - The temperature at an event called Chill...funny right? But at least the kids had a ton of fun, even if there were no ice sculpture s like there were last year...hoping enough people complained that they bring them back next year.

4 - The number of times Mr. and Baby Fox got to go down the slide at Chill (see above), we figure word got out there were no ice sculptures like the last 6 or so years and people weren't going? I don't know what it was, but there were no lines, which worked in our favor.

6 - The number of hours Mr. and I had on our day date, it was so much fun, that we didn't take any pictures.

3 - The number of people we had when Baby Fox spent the night at a friends house, so we took Mini Fox to her favorite Mexican place, because Baby Fox always complains when we go there.

4 - The number of hours Mr. and I spent cleaning out the kids room. We're still working on it, but that's for a different post. I took these after we had started, so it doesn't really convey how awful it was in there to start.

Post coming soon, The Blended Blog Ladies have something up our sleeves, let's get organized!

1 - New pair of glasses, much needed after I stepped on my spare pair. Going around with one pair is scary...no work would get done if I ever forgot them at home...what you can't see is the hot pink on the inside.

8 - The number of hours we were in the car in one day...yikes, that was a long trip!

4 - The number of times we did Happy New Years Cheers. The first time was on East Coast time with the kids, then one of the kids missed it, so we did it again, and then another kid wanted to see the ball drop since he was to busy cheering to watch it on tv. Thank you for playing East Coast New Years CNN.

We are so happy we could celebrate with such good friends. And having an impromptu slumber party isn't too bad either, the kids were thrilled and everyone stayed safe. Plus we got the BEST Champaign EVER, Costco is where it is at.

And then the adults made it to the real midnight as well, we were shocked we were all still awake.

Happy Near Years Foxy Friends! So happy to have you along on this journey of mine. What this year holds I'm not sure, but I'm looking forward to where ever it takes us.

Linking up here

Friday Favorites #98

Happy Friday Foxy Friends! Officially my first day of winter break, yay! Yesterday I took PTO, but today...I'm on company time, which makes this "I only have 30 hours of vacation girl" very happy.

 So onto my favorites from this week:

Monday: $10 Target Haul
Tuesday: Our 2016 Family Pictures
Wednesday: December Cozy: My favorite Cardigan
Thursday: How To Celebrate Your Christmas Baby's Birthday

This weekend we celebrated Christmas with my cousins, I have 12 cousins and most of us are married and have children so it gets pretty crazy, but we wouldn't have it any other way. We grew up almost like brothers and sisters and I am so happy that we don't need our parents coordinating us any more to grew our relationships with each other.

Everything always ends in a dance party around here...

 Last night I went out with some friends for a Mom's Night Out, had a blast talking and laughing it up. Of course no picture, but it still deserves a #3 spot.

 

I'm getting a new Cricut for Christmas so I joined a group on facebook that shows people the crafts they've done and a place where you can get help. One of the suggestions was to get a Treasure Box from Cartridges and More. It's a mystery box that you pay $34.99 and you get about $215 worth of product! You don't know what's in the box, so it's super exciting opening the box. I might be addicted! Like I need more crafting supplies in my house! I decided to do an unboxing, since it's the first time I had gotten one. Go see what I got for my $34.99!

 

 

Only 4 things today, off to drive 300 miles round trip to see my grandma. If I don't talk to you before then, Happy Holidays...and Merry Christmas for those celebrating on Sunday. Maybe Santa get you everything you want/need and may you be surrounded by love.

 

 Linking up here

 

 

 

How To Celebrate A Christmas Baby

Hello Foxy Friends! Back when I was pregnant with Baby Fox, I never in a million years would have thought he would be born in December, let only Christmas Morning! Seriously, my due date was in January, therefore I am having a January baby right? Wrong. When Baby Fox was born on Christmas day we knew we wanted to make it extra special for him. Funny enough Mr's best friend was also born on Christmas, and he said he always, always felt jipped. I knew I definitely didn't want that, so we created some traditions just for Baby Fox.

ONE:

We have a Birthday Tree. Yep it's a Christmas Tree that we decorate with birthday things, streamers and whatever theme Baby Fox wants that year. This year was Power Ranger Dino Charge (let me tell you how hard that was to find!)

2015 was Batman

2014 was Power Ranger Super Mega Force (apparently there's a difference)

2013 was Dinosaurs

2012 - I guess I forgot to take a picture of it that year...but here is it in the background, for the life of me I can't remember what the theme was....I think it was just birthday stuff, no real them other than finding fun birthday stuff at Party City.

 

2011 - The first year we did it was Cars theme, why? Because he was only 1 and he really liked toy cars, so why not.

 

 

Two

 

We decorate the kids door and leave it up for however long they want, who cares that it's not Christmas decorations. We like to decorate the door so when they wake up it's on their door ready to go.

 

2015

 

 

 

 

2014

 

 

2013 - I think the first year we did it, previously he was still in a crib and we didn't think it was as fun.

 

Three

 

Stop Christmas celebrating and do a birthday cake. Yes there are a ton of other desserts out there, but stop everything and sing Happy Birthday, have a special cake just for them.

 

This is last year to go with the Batman theme of course.

Rainbow Cake

Four

 

We do a half birthdays. Every June/July we host a half birthday party, because honestly who wants to take time out of their precious, limited Saturdays or Sundays before Christmas to go to a kid birthday party. Plus what would they do, too cold to go swimming. Since we have a pool, we take advantage of the free entertainment. 

 

Same cake as Christmas time inside.

 

So those are 4 tips on creating a special day or two for your Christmas Baby. Plus I think Baby Fox likes that he gets to celebrate his birthday twice a year.

 

Linking up here  

December Cozy: Cardigans

Hello Foxy Friends! We're still talking about December Cozy with The Blended Blog ladies, and today I'm bringing you my most comfortable cardigan EVER!  Like this thing is so warm and cozy. I can walk outside in the 40° temp (I know that's warm for some of you, but it's cold for me) in just this sweater and be totally warm.

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Also styling my hair in a bun, for the life of me I CANNOT figure out the perfect messy bun, seriously why is it so hard?!

It's also the last Wednesday of the month which means I'm linking up with Shay, Mel and Sheaffer for What's Up Wednesday. Woo hoo, I actually remembered!

What we're eating this week:

I just got an Instant Pot, does anyone else have one? It's AWESOME! So far we've made two pork roasts, some shredded chicken and brown rice, everything was done in way less time, super easy clean up and tasted yummy too

You can even sauté in this thing, it's a one pot stop.

What I'm reminiscing about:

I can't believe that I'm going to have a 6 year old in 4 days! Where did the time go? Back 6 years ago, I had no idea that I was going to have a Christmas Baby in 4 days, I was happily going along that I was due in January.

This was his first visit to the pediatrician at 5 days old.

Trying out food for the first time...it didn't go well.

Santa picture, not crying just yet...

What I'm loving:

All of the Christmas festivities, the lights, the decorations, the crisp cool air, and all of the love that everyone seems to be feeling.

What we've been up to:

 It seems like we have something every weekend, weekend before last it was Legoland

Last weekend we had a cousin party and it was so much fun! Looking forward to next year already!

What I'm dreading:

Driving 300 miles tomorrow...with two kids by myself...wish me luck. At least I'll get to see my grandma and my cousins. It's been almost a year since we've seen them (this was taken last Januaray!)

What I'm working on:

Trying to get my house in order to host Christmas dinner for 24 people. Currently the place we are going to eat is a disaster! Taking today off of work so I can get errands done and prep.


What I'm excited about:

Having 11 days off of work, woo hoo! And we're going to see Chill at the Queen Mary, which we haven't done before. I hope it's super fun, and not too cold.

What I'm watching/reading:

I finally finished a book! I actually have been wanting to read this for a long time now...Woo hoo, I can't believe I actually finished a book, well we were on vacation, but still, I read it in only a few days, it was The Husbands Secret. Really good, but I totally called it towards the beginning of the book. But enjoyed reading it and see how everything unfolds.

What we've been watching lately, we picked up West World on HBO, have you seen it? Awesome! Stop and go watch it right now.

What I'm listening to:

Found this girl randomly on YouTube this week, I just think she's so cute, and has a great voice. I've really enjoyed all of her covers.

What I'm doing this weekend:

It's Christmas! My in-laws are coming to town, so we get to spend some quality time with them, and then doing the whole Christmas thing. Plus we're celebrating Baby Fox's birthday, so I'm going to be making this cake for him, except for the zebra stripes on the top, that's just going to be a picture edible overlay of Power Rangers. Fingers crossed it turns out, not doing a test run.

What I'm looking forward to next month:          

The start of a new year, new beginnings and maybe, just maybe getting organized, or something that resembles being organized. Oh and I have a weekend away with my bestie, we haven't done that in almost 2 years, so it's time!

An InLinkz Link-up

 Linking up here