Weekending - SNOW! and Other Christmas Activities

What a weekend, y’all!!  It was a long one and it was a great one!

Friday B took another day off of work and he and I had yet another day date.  We dropped the kids off at school, grabbed some donuts, and then did a bit more Christmas shopping at Hobby Lobby, Kohl’s, and Target.  It was FREEZING outside, and it was also rainy, so after we met my father-in-law at Five Guys for lunch we headed back home where we proceeded to snuggle up on the couch and watch Christmas Vacation. 

Confession, I’ve never seen Christmas Vacation all the way through.  I know.  B wanted to remedy that, so we turned on the Christmas lights, I made some hot cinnamon tea (seriously, I cannot stop drinking that stuff), and we snuggled up and watched that.  It was the perfect afternoon for it, that’s for sure!

After the movie, we ventured back out, grabbed Jacob and Olivia from school, and then headed to Olivia’s Christmas program at school.  The kids sang their hearts out (and some cried and ran off the stage – LOL) and it was such a sweet way to celebrate the season.  When the program was over we headed straight to Cracker Barrel with my parents for some breakfast for dinner – eggs, grits, pancakes, bacon, and coffee! 

B and I put the kiddos to bed that evening with visions of snowflakes dancing in their heads because – we had a rare chance of snow in the middle of the night!!!!  B and I then built a fire and watched the last episode of Stranger Things and a couple of other shows that we were behind on before saying one last little prayer for snow and then calling it a night.

Saturday morning B woke me up eeaarrly by saying, “IT’S SNOWING!!” 

We all flew out of bed, and literally bundled the kids (and ourselves) up over their PJs as fast as we could so they wouldn’t miss it!  Olivia had never seen snow and we wanted so badly for her to experience it since it’s such a rarity around these parts.  It came down pretty good and we stayed outside for about 45 minutes before breakfast.  We ended up getting a good dusting, but it was nothing like the last time it snowed when I was pregnant with Olivia.  The kids had a blast catching snowflakes on their tongues and “making paths” (footprints) in the snow that accumulated.  And I’m sure our neighbors were thrilled to hear the nonstop squeals that were coming from our back yard at 7:30 in the morning on a Saturday.  ;o)

A little after eight, we all headed back inside, Brian built a fire, and we all had a special “snow breakfast” of mini donuts, gingerbread men, and peppermint marshmallows AKA sugar on top of sugar!  But hey, it was a snow day and we just don’t get those around here often (maybe once every 4-5 years?  And usually in March.) so we had to do it right! 

After breakfast we all snuggled up on the couch under a blanket by the fire and we watched the Disney Christmas special that we had recorded from a week or two ago while the snow fell softly outside.  It was truly a magical morning.  Snow in December in Georgia is basically like finding a unicorn.

The sun came out late morning and the snow melted instantly, but it stayed freezing all day so we stayed inside.  I got a bit of photographing done for my Christmas home tour, and then in the early afternoon we headed out to pick up my car from the shop.  

I may have forgotten to mention that literally a day or two after I quit my job my brake light, my vehicle stability assistance light, and my air pressure light all popped up on the dashboard and my car also started making some awful humming noise at random moments.  #Typical

Turns out I needed full brake jobs on the front and back brakes along with several other semi-expensive things.  We ended up having to spend several hundred dollars even after declining several of the things that needed to be done – OUCH – which is about par for the course for 2017, I suppose.  Quit my job = something major breaking and us having to spend loads of unexpected money right at Christmastime.  Murphy’s Law, right?

After we picked up my car, Jacob and I played a few games of Guess Who while B and Olivia put together a puzzle, and then it was time to meet my father-in-law and the rest of B’s family for an early dinner to celebrate our nephew’s birthday.  We had dinner at Longhorn followed by gifts and a DQ Blizzard cake at my FIL’s house, and then it was home to get the kids bathed and in the bed early since we had early church on Sunday.

After B and I put them down, he and I built another fire and then had our annual viewing of Love Actually, my favorite movie ever of all time!!  Between that and the snow earlier, I went to bed feeling warm and fuzzy Saturday night, that’s for sure!

Sunday morning we were up super early to make it to 8 o’clock mass.  I had to give Olivia the “mom look” and squeeze her arm way too many times in that hour that we were there and I was thankful that we made it out of there without having to take her out.  Some weeks she’s an angel and some weeks… she’s the exact opposite of an angel.  Lol.

After church we stopped by Publix to grab some groceries for Sunday dinner and then we headed home so Jacob could do a little bit of homework and I could get caught up on my calendar/planner stuff for the week.

We headed to Panera for lunch a little after noon and then we took the kids to the playground for a nice long time afterward.  They had been cooped up most of the day Saturday and it was starting to show, so we braved the 45 degree temps to let them run around and swing and slide.

Sunday afternoon the kiddos baked cookies with B while I prepped for Sunday dinner, and then my parents, brother and his friend, grandmother, uncle and his girlfriend all came over at 5 to take family pictures for my parents’ Christmas card.  We all wore ugly Christmas sweaters and wigs so it should be a hoot to see how it turns out.  I’ll be sure to update y’all once my mom has the card ready.  ;o)

The rest of the evening was spent cozily indoors with Christmas tunes on the speaker and every twinkle light shimmering.  I made Perfect Parmesan Pasta, roasted green beans, and garlic cheese bread for dinner along with Christmas Cranberry Margaritas and then we had the homemade chocolate chip cookies that B and the kids had made for dessert.  Another great evening of family and fun and the perfect way to end a pretty darn great weekend!  It really couldn’t have been more perfect!  Wellll, maybe if Olivia had behaved in church it would have been a little better.  Oh, and not having to pay a bazillion dollars for car repairs would have been nice, too.  ;o)

Happy Monday, y’all!

*Linking up with B Loved Boston for Weekending, My Glittery Heart for Hello Monday,  More Pieces of Me for Hello Monday Linkup, and HoHo Runs for Weekly Wrap.