The Morning Before Christmas (Box)

Hello and Merry Christmas Eve! I love holiday traditions, and we have several. We always decorate the day after Thanksgiving, have Christmas music playing in the background, we decorate the tree, put lights and our light up wreath up on the window, the wreath on our door... it goes on!

Okay, so for the past few years, my family has been doing a “Christmas Eve box.” My kids are 10 & 9, turning 11 & 10.

Serenity’s box

Isaiah’s box

Each box includes:

• 1 set of footy pajamas
• A Christmas movie
• A book (Can be Christmas themed or not. -We just pick books that they are interested in and are in their reading level.
• Candy
• Hot Chocolate pack(ets)
• Microwave popcorn

“We” wait till both kids are asleep, and set their boxes in our living room coffee table with a note from Santa Claus.

In my family, the box gets delivered by Christmas Eve morning (since we’re all busy with getting to church for the Eve service, getting last minute presents wrapped, and making sure we have everything ready for my side of the family’s Christmas Eve gathering (another tradition). 

As soon as they wake up, the kids always head to the living room (first thing) to see if they have received a box. Then they slip on those PJ’s, and after having breakfast, get their hot cocoa ready & made and we spend the day watching both movies (and other Christmas movies). This year, we are leaving for a “Christmas vacation” and are headed (driving 🚙) to Oregon to visit my Aunt, who the kids call “Auntie-Grandma” because she’s their Aunt (my mom’s sister) and looks IDENTICAL to my mom, even though they’re not twins and she’s like 10+ years younger than my mom.

I hope you enjoy this tradition as much as my family does. I’m sure as the kids get older, the box items will change. 

Julian U-Pick Pear Picking

We have been planning a trip to Julian for weeks, preparing for Apple Picking Season! Well, today was the day we went and because we’re new at this, we didn’t know apples go fast!

We started off the morning by going to IHOP for breakfast and the kids were excited! Actually, Serenity slept in till almost 9:00! Well... her friend spent the night and after many attempts, she could not wake her up (no worries, she was alive & well!), so I tried and nothing, still sleeping! Finally Miles went and woke her up no problem. I think I just made it easier for him (kinda like pre-gaming).

Well, anyway, we were off to Julian around 11:15 a.m and make a quick stop at 7-Eleven for some road snacks! When traveling to Julian, we always need our road snacks or we get a bit hangry. Since we had never been apple or pear  picking before, we made sure we had our wagon in tow, sunglasses, water and some of us better prepared people had the RIGHT shoes. Poor Serenity and I took sandals and flip flops (never doing that again)!

Once in Julian, the line to get into the farm was so long, you’d think they were just handing out the fruit for free! Turns out, there was a festival with wine tasting and food vendors (so fun)! I’m getting side tracked, we made it to the farm and got our gear all ready, paid for the bags ($25 for the first bag and ($15 for the second), and started picking. When we bought the bags we had been told that they had run out of apples and only had pears left to pick. No worries, we were mainly there for the experience.

The kids were slow to get into it, and Isaiah really just wanted to hold the fruit pick to get the higher pears. Once we got a few picked, the wheels were turning and the kids were getting a hang of it. They enjoyed it so much! They picked and ate, and picked and ate. They kept asking what we were going to do with all the pears and I suggested their grandma make pear pie 😂!  The kids we’re getting along so well, and we decided to make it a yearly tradition. We have said in past years that we needed to try this and every time we decide on a date, it was  past fruit picking season 😢. The photos of the kids just summed up everything from the trip!
Scroll down if you wanna see more pictures of our trip! 👇👇

APEX Fun Run 2018

Yesterday was the 6th Annual Apex Fun Run at Empresa. The kids have been preparing for the run (jog-a-thon) for WEEKS! Isaiah has been sharing the website & code to literally EVERYONE we know. He definitely put in the work. If he wasn’t personally telling & reminding friends and family to sponsor him, he was sharing links to the Apex website and helping people sponsor him online.

Serenity, on the other hand, just kind of piggy backed into his hard work. I don’t blame her, I’d probably do the same. This year’s theme was APEX STRONG! They learned a chant and some cool moves!

When we (parents) found out about the Fun Run at Back-to-School night in August, I “jokingly” asked the kids if I should put their face on a poster and they nervously laughed. I say “jokingly” because I wasn’t really joking. As time went on, the more I wanted to actually put their face on a poster and potentially make Isaiah and Serenity masks.

Well, when the time came (the night before the Fun Run), I busted out my color printer, Letter sized photo paper and my phone! I took Isaiah outside and snapped a photo of his face, you know, all up close and personal 😂 and blew it up and printed it out! I glued that baby (and Serenity’s face photo) to the poster board.

Come the morning of the Fun Run, I held my sign up proudly and Isaiah got embarrassed! His friends were laughing, and he got shy. I got a lot of compliments on that poster and it now hangs in Miles’ classroom (proudly!). Isaiah ran 41 laps and Serenity “ran” (she’s not the most athletic or coordinated child) 24 laps (the minimum). Overall, they had fun raising money and getting cheered on! Also, some of the money went to build water wells in third world countries; to have clean drinking water more accessible and available to them.

Hello School Year! | Fall 2018

First Day of School

The school year has started once again and I'm literally one school year away from Isaiah being a middle schooler 😢. That's right, my little man is no longer little and has begun his last year of elementary school... 5TH GRADE! Luckily, I'll still have one more year of elementary school with Serenity.

We just finished up the first full week of school (they've had 8 total school days so far), and I'm exhausted! I consider myself a morning person, but this past week and a half, I've been a zombie. Waking up at 5:30-6:00 a.m. and then dropping off kids, cleaning up my home before heading to work and not going to sleep till late... I'm pooped!

First Day of Fourth Grade

We just had Back-To-School night (already!) and even though I've been to them all since the kids were in preschool, I feel like my head is just scrambling around this school year. Isaiah has to prep for middle school this year. He's having homework every night versus getting a packet on Monday and turning it in on Friday.

The kids have enjoyed being back at school and seeing old friends & making new friends. Do they miss sleeping in till almost noon? YES! They don't enjoy waking up early in the morning but just hearing them at the end of a school day talking about how their day went, good and bad, is amazing!

For those of you who don't know, I left my full-time job as a preschool teacher to become a part-time nanny for a precious little boy & family for 18 hours a week. Let me tell you, it's quite different. I miss the full-time pay & benefits (including medical), but getting to spend more time with my kids was why I left. I had realized how much time and effort I was putting into work & other people's children, that my poor children got the short end of the stick when they saw me. I was literally running on fumes by the time I got home.

With that said, I enjoy what I do. I love taking care of kids, and love that I have more time with my kids. I can now volunteer and be more active in their daily lives. I'm a room parent in Isaiah's room (which I have never done before) and am excited to see where this new adventure takes us!

Are your kids back at school? I'd love to hear any ideas on how to make this school year run smoother as a mom and for the kids!

Total school days left: 172