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Category Archives: Holidays

Packing the Blessing Bags

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Katie helped me get the Blessing Bags started! Now I’m just waiting for a last shipment to arrive so we can finish the last 15 bags!

Edited to add: I just realized I never posted about this. I’ve been wanting to do an event like this for years but I just never could get it going. So this year I just decided to do it! And it was a great success!

All the swears, you guys…ALL.THE.SWEARS

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I screwed it up when I did a shirt like this for his 11th birthday, too. I managed to fix that one but this one I’m just leaving.

I asked and turns out I did design it correctly but I forgot to “weld” the design to print as one solid piece… so the Cricut assumed it knew better than me and rearranged the design to use less vinyl. Lesson learned.

(It says years/days/months instead of years/months/days.)

Great Wolf Lodge Surprises

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Did you know that all Great Wolf Lodge waterparks are not the same?! I didn’t until this week.

Anna got a steal of a deal on a weekday suite so we took the kids for an overnight surprise before school starts again.

As broken-bodied adults, we were excited about the hot tub (and, to a lesser extent, the lazy river).

Until.

We learned that this particular GWL does not have a hot tub!! WHAAAAAT?! I know, right? Fail. Big BIG fail. Ughhhh.

And then we learned that the lazy river (among other things) wasn’t open because they were short-staffed.

GAHHHHHHHH!!!!! 0 for 2 does not make for a happy mom.

But the kids didn’t care. And they ended up opening the lazy river later in the day so Anna and I got to be floating blobs for two hours.

But the water wasn’t warm enough for me and the air temp felt too cold, too. I think maybe I’m too old for this.

After checkout, Anna and I managed to find a somewhat secluded couch to relax while the kids are back in the waterpark. We can actually stay until close (!) but I’m thinking we’ll just stay until lunch!

Merry Christmas 2021

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The kids got us up at 7am on the dot—it would be earlier but we let them have their devices precisely so they let us sleep in until 7! I didn’t take any pics because I wanted to stay in the moment. The kids were both happy.

Then Tom and I enjoyed a morning dip in the hot tub!

Maggie enjoyed her spot on the couch.

Then we went to Anna and David’s for dinner and a movie.

The best part about Christmas Eve?

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Friends, an amazing pizza (from leftover fish tacos that that boys gave me grief about but IT was freaking delicious!), and our first dip in the hot tub! Merry Christmas!

Butter and garlic crust, Tilapia, and cheese… Cooked then topped with lime crema slaw and Pico. Yuuuuum.

This pic makes the hot tub look soooo much bigger than it really is. It would be a stretch to have three adults in it at the same time—four would have everyone’s knees touching for sure!

And then we did the Saran wrap ball for the kids! We had about $60 worth of stuff in it!

And it was great fun…

Until two kids weren’t getting anything.

Don’t worry, they all ended up with stuff—and some trading was done. But it definitely wasn’t perfect.

And then I tried to get a Santa hat picture but Katie wasn’t really being cooperative. Oh well—it just makes memories!

Past year’s pics!

Maybe a new Christmas tradition?

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Do y’all know what this is?! I made it for Katie for Christmas!!

I honestly don’t know what the official name for it is, but I’ve been calling it a Saran ball. It’s just a bunch of tiny gifts all rolled up inside a crap ton of cling wrap. I figured she’d have more fun unwrapping this monstrosity than a few little packages of hair clips, mini nail polishes, fidget popits, and hair ties.

I was just going to make one for her…but I had so much fun doing it that I am now going to make one for Owen, too—though his might be heavier on the candy and lighter on the hair accessories!

And I think we’re going to do one for all four kids…make it into a game. Apparently people are supposed to unwrap with oven mitts while someone tries to roll doubles—and they get to keep everything they unwrap during that time! We shall see!

This feels more daunting this year.

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For the most part I have always replaced regular decorations with holiday—like normal everyday things on shelves/walls got replaced with wrapped boxes/kids artwork. Candles and candlesticks got put away and replaced with reindeer and small trees.

But this year I’m rethinking.

Maybe it’s because we JUST finished redecorating the living room (and there’s lots more stuff now).

Or maybe it’s because we’ve only had one Christmas here and I just don’t have a set place for everything.

Or maybe it’s just because I’m exhausted.

Or maybe it’s because I forgot I bought a lot of clearance stuff last year.

Or maybe it’s because I usually end up doing 85% of it by myself…

Shopping small this year!

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Y’all know I love me some Amazon…but big box stores will not care about you the way small business owners will because, unfortunately, you don’t mean that much to them.

Spending $100 at a large retail or department store during the holidays won’t make much difference to anyone—but spending $100 through a home business or small local business owner for the holidays means OUR business CAN continue! It gives us our pay, provides for our families, and helps us continue to do what we love without using harsh sales techniques.

You mean the world to us and in return we’ll treat you like gold! Just ask my clients who got $700+ worth of bonuses so far this month!!

Shop a home/direct sales/small local business for the holidays this year!! Tom and I just spent a few hundred at local Grayling businesses (h/t to Tip’n the Mitten). And silly me, I didn’t take a pic of our haul…but there was a bit of locally brewed beer, cider, and wine!