Holidazed

The holidays start in early October, right? I'm gonna say yes because that's where I'm starting this blog! 😆

In early October we had a very special visit from Bart's Dad and Aunt Barbara who live in Canada. We very rarely get to see them and this was actually their first time getting to meet either of the girls! It was such a special visit and Barbara really got a chance to bond with the girls, especially Gracie. We did our best to show them what our little town and state has to offer. And of course, we had to take them to the beach house! The girls had a blast frolicking on the beach and building sand castles with Barbara. I got to know her much better on this trip and it definitely hurt when they left. We don't get to see family very much but we ESPECIALLY don't get to see Bart's family much. So this was a special time for our family and something that will hopefully happen more often!

We've been doing a lot of day camping on our property in the last few months. Things have FINALLY begun as of the last month or so but earlier on in the fall we were taking advantage of the warm (ok, hot) days and grilling, shooting, riding, and enjoying what will very soon be our new home! Somehow we didn't get in one of our day camping trips when the Roblees came to visit in mid-October. Whenever they visit, we tend to get very lazy. 😆 Kristy, Erica, and I were supposed to do a triathlon which got canceled due to weather. So we spent much of their visit relaxing at home and letting the kids play together. We did get to celebrate Bart's birthday as well as a big win for TST at the Daytona Speedway CCS races! We also got to do a girls trip to Jacksonville to see Carrie Underwood!!! This was a VERY VERY special night for me. Carrie Underwood is my absolute FAVORITE and I've seen her several times in concert, but never have I gone with my sisters and obviously never with Gracie! It was a long and late night. We kept poor Gracie and Alana up until almost 2am! But WHAT.A.NIGHT. A mother/daughter experience I will never forget!

Shortly after the Roblees left it was time for Halloween! The kids do a fun little parade at school. Gracie was a mermaid and Summer was.....well, some version of Minnie Mouse. She did NOT want to wear the dress and of course, since then, she insists on that dress probably 4 times a week. Gotta love toddlers. But we had a great time trick or treating and then partying it up at Lindsay and Paul's, our tradition going 6 years strong. It was a HOT HOT HOT night, but a great time with friends.

We celebrated Summer's birthday with a low key family outing this year. We had a full fledged party planned for her. After all, Gracie has had a big party every year since year 1 and Summer has yet to have a big party just for her. But as luck would have it, she woke up the morning of her party really sick so we had to cancel. :( I think it ended up being for the best though. I mean, what 2 year old doesn't want to celebrate with dinner and drinks at a brewery, right? Sorry Sum! Next year.

In November we also had our Landwarming Party! This is a ridiculous idea Bart and I came up with after one too many Vodka sodas. Or was it wine? Who knows. But we decided we loved our day camping so much we wanted to do a night time bonfire with friends...sans kids. So we did! We had a great group of people come and hang with us. We had a fire, chili, drinks, music, and the best company. It was a pretty cool night for us realizing that soon enough we'll be hosting these same people in the same spot, only it'll be our living room! Tminus 7ish months. Hopefully.

We spent Thanksgiving in California this year which was a whirlwind of a trip! Once again we bounced all over the place. My parent's in Duarte, down to San Diego for Thanksgiving, and then over to a villa in Newport that mom booked for us all to spend some time together. Mom is always orchestrating this stuff for us and it ends up being some of my favorite times for making memories. We also celebrated Erica's birthday while we were in Newport and got to see Courtney briefly too! I feel like Thanksgiving was a complete blur given we spent 3.5 hours in traffic just to get there. The entire trip feels like I blinked and it was over. It made me see why we usually spend 2 weeks instead of 1! But still, memories were made and hey, we got 2 trips to Peppers! That's a good trip in my book. Thank you Colleen and Bill for hosting such a beautiful Thanksgiving. I only wish we could have gotten to visit more.

And that brings us to December. How do I sum this up? December was...CRAZY. Erica and I sang in yet another CFCARTS Christmas show, Gracie was in the Deland Christmas parade with her dance studio as well as three Nutcracker performances, Bart and I skydived TOGETHER for the first time in 5 years, Erica and I did a duathlon at Daytona Speedway, we had our TST Christmas party, I did a Christmas Eve 5K and won my division (SO STOKED!), we hosted Christmas at our house with wonderful friends, left December 26 for 4 days in Bradenton Beach, returned in time to spend New Years Eve at a friend's party, New Years Day making pizza with Lindsay and Paul, and somewhere in all of this found time to move Crittle the elf every night! 😂 Honestly, the pictures speak for themselves. December had us slightly overloaded. My fear of boredom during the kids' Christmas break led me to over plan just a tad. BUT, even now looking back at the pictures from just the last few weeks, I'm reminded of what a wonderful Christmas season we had. It really was perfect. It was chaotic, but it was perfect. We made SO many memories, had a spectacular Christmas day (with a pretty stellar meal made by Erica and me, if I do say so myself), and we were surrounded by all the right people. Our trip to Bradenton Beach was tiring but full of experiences and moments that we'll always remember. It was tough to be away from the rest of our family, but it's always awesome to know we can have Christmas wherever we are.

Happy New Year to all those we love! I'm praying this year is rich with experience, filled with unexpected blessings, and moments we will remember always.

 

A few of our favorite Crittle moments...