Well, here i am two months after our annual Candy Making Party putting together a blog post about it along with the rest of our fun-filled December. Whew. I just can’t seem to keep on top of our blog but I’ll do my best to go back in time and recall our shenanigans.
Griffin was diagnosed with the flu yesterday evening (February 7). We had tickets to go see Miracles and Magic along with dinner before hand at the Spaghetti Warehouse with four other families in our neighborhood but since Griffin isn’t well he and I are at home (he’s been napping for awhile) and Kevin and Reid are have some fun time together at the show. Since I’ve already cleaned every bathroom, door knob, and light switch with bleach, and am almost done with laundry (lots of loads of sanitizing coats, towels, clothes, sheets, etc) I figure I should put together this post in the calm of the early evening.
So….let’s get back to December and talk about our annual candy making and cookie decorating gathering at our house. We had a good crowd this year and as per usual we made buckeyes, decorated sugar cookies, and made hard tack candy (lemon, cinnamon, root beer, and peppermint). We also attempted to make chocolate covered pretzels. They turned out ok but certainly not like the photos on Pinterest, lol. We enjoyed a nice lunch of chili, hot dogs, salad, and pulled pork (I think?). It’s crazy when I look back at the years of photos from this time together each year and how big all of the kids are getting, the Manning girls especially! Mom brought some cute crafts that the kids enjoyed too. Bracelets seemed to be quite popular.
Each year Mom is generous with her time and talent and brings a birthday cake for Kevin! This year it was quite the feat and took extra time but her from-scratch chocolate cake was super yummy. Mom and Dad, the Bethune’s and Audrey and Samantha enjoyed another round of food and capped it off with the chocolate cake and some ice cream.
On Kevin’s actual birthday we went out for his favorite, pizza, at Shorty’s Pizza and Growl in Powell. Then it was home for presents and apple pie! Griffin crafted Kevin a nice handmade card.
Our annual winter time OU girls gathering was at our house mid-December. Rather than making cookies this year we just enjoyed a nice brunch of cinnamon rolls, fruit, quiche, and mimosas! It was nice to sit around the table and catch up. We didn’t have an agenda, a timeline, or anything – just hours of conversation! They were quite excited about the sign greeting 🙂
It had been a couple of years since we’ve visited the Zoo during Wildlights but it was on our December bucket list and we spent a few hours checking out many of the lights, several animals, a quick 4D movie, and enjoyed yummy hot cocoa while we explored. 
Can you spot everyone in this photo?
I’ve come to really enjoy the time I spend with Brutus on our walks. That’s not to be confused with loving getting out of bed every day just after 6 so I can get dressed for work, feed the dogs, take him on a walk, pack the kids lunches (and mine!), make my coffee and head out the door at 7:30. But I’ve learned that it is difficult to do it in the evening. Kevin often work until later and three weeknights the boys have activities. Once those are over and Kevin is home I’m ready for bed! And since Reid has been getting out of bed after we put him down I don’t want to leave the house when they should be sleeping to take Brutus before Kevin is home. So, early morning it is. It’s kind of fun to be out and about in the dark and quiet and notice the different feels of the neighborhoods around. Brutus has good listening days and other frustrating days. For instance when we pass by another dog in a yard he tends to zone out and just want to get to the dog. Or he barks at someone putting out their trash in the dark, lol. He does get a bit spooked here and there which is understandable since it’s dark out! But we have fun and hang and get our steps in. Then when we get home to the yard I usually let him go nuts in the front yard. He really loves that. I was able to get some pictures in the light when I took him on a walk in daylight on the weekends :).
Our online shopping was almost crazy it seems this year {insert laughing emoji here}. For awhile there it seemed like multiple times per day we were getting deliveries. I’d seen this nice idea online of putting out snacks and drinks so I decided we should do that as a way of thanking our delivery people! I wasn’t sure if people would take things or not. Surprisingly most took one or two snacks but no one took any water!
Reid has been having trouble sleeping through the night. We have been hearing noises or hear our door opening and it is has been Reid! More than a couple times I open our door to find him sleeping in the hallway. Sometimes he’s gone back to his room but sleeps with the light on. Hoping it’s just a phase!
Reid’s Guppy class at NPCA did not participate in the Christmas Program with the other classes as they’re pretty young. Instead, their class had a lunch and the parents were invited. It was fun to show up and see him in his class, eating at the table, and amongst the other kids. It was a pajama day so he wore his Christmas jammies :).
Reid is our climber and oftentimes we find him in the pantry, up on the counter, which he got to by climbing up the shelves. I used to have a stool in there (which I now keep on the counter) but he has creatively found ways to get up on his own. He loves “bars” (fig bars) and “pire boody” (pirate booty). I may need to look into getting a lock on the door!
These two are a handful sometimes. They go from giggle together to screaming at each other in nothing flat. But they can also be really cute together and help each other and talk nicely to one another. Griffin often tries to help Reid; sometimes he likes it and other times he wants to “do it myself”. Our weeks are busy with Gymnastics, Soccer, and Swimming. Then Flag Football on Sunday’s. Griffin is doing well in school and has earned more Pawsome notes from his teacher. His reading and math are excellent; one area he’s working on improving is his writing (like putting more obvious spaces between words and spelling words with proper vowels/sounding them out).
Griffin and I took some photos of one of our silly times together. He enjoys capturing different expressions that we make at the same time :).
Before Christmas break the boys gave Haya a happy vacation gift. I loved the picture Kevin sent me that morning of Reid wearing the necklace we gave her, lol.
I got a late afternoon call from a transportation company who wanted to pickup the MGTD within approximately 3 hours. What? This was on a Thursday afternoon in December, literally it had been the coldest night of the year the night before. Griffin had swim lessons at 5:30 and the trucking company couldn’t drive directly to our house for pickup as he had an open-air 18 wheeler, which wouldn’t be able to navigate Jewett Road. Soooo…..thankfully Jim and Pat were here watching the kids and Kevin and his Dad were able to jump the MG to get it started. We arranged to meet at the Target parking lot on Sawmill Parkway. Once the trucking company arrived there was some uncertainty if the car would fit on the trailer. Again, what?? Don’t you know what you’re picking up and the specifications of the car? Thank the Lord even though the car was narrow, it did fit on the ramps and he was able to take it. It made for a memorable experience!
A couple days before Christmas we headed to Mansfield to spend time with Mom, Dad, and the Bethunes. Amy, Andy, and the kiddos gifted Kevin a nice Hockey Sweater ala Clark Griswold. Kevin loved it and lived in it most of our time there. All eleven of us ventured to Kingwood Center for their winter lights. Parking was crazy and it was a super popular event in town. The kids enjoyed seeing the lights and trees, walking around outside, touring the Kingwood Mansion, and as a bonus they got to see Santa together.
The office/break room/men’s and women’s restroom building project began at Millcreek. They had it framed in a day! Whew, moving right along!
And here are a couple videos: one of Kevin driving the MGTD to Target and another of Brutus demonstrating good obedience at the end of a walk.
Check out our little exercise man! I’ve been doing P90x3 for a couple of months now and Griffin has taken to my yoga mat pretty well. He loves to exercise with me – and man is his core strong. Oh to be young again, lol! This particular day I put him down for a nap. I had been checking in on him using the video monitor as I could tell he wasn’t falling asleep. About halfway through my workout I hear “Momma, I done sleeping”, so I yelled up and asked him to come down and lay on the couch and rest while I finished. That lasted about 10 minutes and for the last 5 or so of the video he got down on the floor and exercised with me 🙂 He is also really great at push ups!
When I do my workout videos in the family room, I usually have an audience of Lily and Cameron. It has certainly been a very emotionally taxing time for our family over the last couple of months, and weeks, in particular. Cammie’s health (really her tail) wasn’t improving and we made the very painful decision to say goodbye to her this week. It is such a hard thing to do, this girl has been through all the ups and downs of life with me and our family for as long as I can remember. And as I said in our post about her, she was a sweet yet stubborn and sassy girl. We miss her (and the sound of her beating her tail) a lot and Finn regularly talks about how she is up in “heben” (heaven) chasing balls. 
Finn and Sammy ventured outside this week and built Frosty, complete with a hat and gloves! 
And quite a mess of his books:
And some snuggles (or smothers!) with Lily:
And a simple mommy and son dinner one night. I’ve told some of you this before, but I originally bought the Fruity Pebbles (although they are the ALDI brand) cereal for me. However, it quickly became Finn’s cereal of choice and he asks for it by calling it “colored” cereal. This particular night I had the “adult” cereal and Finn had the “colored” cereal. About halfway through he said “let’s trade”. So sure enough, I got the “colored” cereal. Yum, lol! 
And this weekend included a boys adventure to Enon, where Finn and Daddy enjoyed lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa, checking out the progress on their new house. Kevin used the warm day to empty out a storage unit from back in his single days :). An extra special treat was the warm, sunny, and windy weather which made for a nice afternoon at the park that is right down the road from Grandma and Grandpa’s new house! Joe went along for the ride too. Joe, you know, Finn’s scooter. He pretends he is a horse and when he’s finished riding him he puts him back in the barn for the night. Oh, and he does his business outside in the yard, like Lily. This boy – his imagination is non-stop!
While the boys had their fun, I spent the afternoon hanging out with my college girl friends Amy, Jaime, and Kim. We basically hopped from restaurant to restaurant, from Dublin to Easton, and back to Dublin. We enjoyed catching up on each others lives, kids, spouses, and such. And it was a treat to be able to enjoy the nice and unseasonably warm weather. Though we don’t see each other as often as we would like, we always have fun when we get together!
