Well hello there, old friend

I took a little bit of a blogging break. Not on purpose, but life started happening and getting really busy. The holidays tend to do that. But, it’s a good busy, right? It’s the kind of busy that I would rather be. Plus, we’ve been like every other family in the world and fighting one illness after another. All five of us have been sick with one thing and two of my kids have gotten sick a second time. We all managed to avoid being sick on the major holidays, though. Anyway….this is going to be a completely random update post.
So, here’s what’s been happening in my world.

We had the most spectacular Christmas! Every year, I feel like we’ve had the best Christmas ever, and this year was no exception! We got to see lots of family. Almost everyone. We stayed home on Christmas day with our kiddos. They were all three so happy and blissful throughout the day. Me? Mostly! I got a little tired after the 1000th twisty tie. Why does every toy have to have so many? But, aside from that, it was such a magical and perfect day! I love these memories we’re making with our little family!

I made a lot of presents for my kids this year. Actually, as far as the handmade stuff goes, it was kind of on the lighter side compared to years past. I love making presents. Don’t get me wrong, I do plenty of buying, too. But my kids always love what I make for them.

I crocheted them each a hat. I’m starting to really like crocheting! It’s amazing what you can learn watching a YouTube video or two.

I made them each a Super Hero doll. My daughter loves hers the most, by far! I thought they were a pretty perfect gift, if I do say so myself!

I also made PJs for my hubby, crayon totes, recipe holders, nativity sets, and oh so many other things. I was in such a hurry, I didn’t get them all properly photographed to do tutorials on. Darn! I’ll have to think ahead for next year.

We had a killer New Years Eve party. I can’t honestly remember if this is our 6th or 7th year hosting one. It’s my favorite party to host! And again, I didn’t even take a single photo! We had a few different families over. Everyone brings a few treats and appetizers. We let the kids play downstairs while the adults socialize upstairs. This year, we played Apples to Apples. That is a great party game! Lots and lots of laughs. At the end of the night, we light off tons of fireworks. There is something so much more beautiful about lighting fireworks at midnight when the ground is completely covered with snow. As far as parties go, I think we have a pretty fantastic one. I feel like I have jet sleep lag from staying up so late New Years Eve. I’m almost always up until at least midnight, so I wouldn’t have thought 3 AM would be so exhausting! Even today I really had to drag myself out of bed. Why does it always take so long to get my body clock back in sync?

My kids went back to school today. I honestly wasn’t ready for it to all be over! On top of that feeling, it was 5 degrees below zero outside. In Fahrenheit. I’ve decided that I like Fahrenheit better than Celsius.  -5°F sounds a lot warmer than -20°C even though I know they’re the same thing. I think it should be against the law to go outside when it’s that cold! Especially when still recovering from our sleepless New Years Eve.

On a completely unrelated note, I found the coolest app for my iPad today. I’ve been wanting something to read all the blogs in my Google Reader. I wanted something that shows the main photo (sorta like Bloglovin). I follow close to 1000 different blogs, and it can sometimes be difficult to look at all of them. It would take me hours every day! Anyway…Feedly came to my rescue! It pulls the feed from my Google Reader and turns it into a newsletter of sorts that I can scroll through. I’ve spent gobs of time on it today. Yay for new apps!! Hmmmm, I think I need to charge the battery to my iPad.

I hope you all had as wonderful of a holiday as we did! Here’s to a wonderful new year full of projects!!