Gingerbread Pops and Brussel Sprouts

Today was such a great day. The kids and I took down ALL of our Christmas decorations and against Ben's request of waiting for him to take the tree out the door....the boys and I took care of that. He just didn't want me doing it alone, so I recruited some help. My home is ALL put back together, clean and we are on the upswing of all of us getting a very "fun" virus over the past 1.5 weeks.

The kids played outside and rode bikes for a good hour while I fed Hannah breakfast and cleaned the kitchen. It was hilarious, I wasn't really paying any attention to Miss Hanns when I looked in her direction and noticed that she was fixated on me, with the widest smile her sweet face could muster. She melts my heart!

Later in our afternoon, after laying Hannah down for a nap, I kept the three older ones up to make gingerbread cookie pops. These were so cute and fun to make. The first part was to layer the icing between two of the gingerbread cookies in order to make a hard glue like fastener. While we waited the 30 minutes for this part to harden, the kids and I headed upstairs and sorted, folded, and put away six loads of laundry. It might have been more but honestly, anything over three is just an exurbanite amount of clean clothes and towels.

We then, came back downstairs so the kids could  decorate their cookie pops and I read a chapter from Little House in the Big Woods. The day was a GORGEOUS 75 degrees and after Hannah woke up we all walked down, in a tank top ( for myself), to the park and swung, climbed trees, ran, slid down the slide and walked in the beautiful, warm sunshine.

Ben has to work tomorrow so I wasn't planning on doing any special dinner for New Years Eve- wrong idea Amanda, next year plan something special...everyone was looking forward to it! Instead, hahaha, I decided to experiment with a new dinner recipe. Ready?? Drum roll please!!!! Brussels Sprouts, Basmati Rice and pecans. Yes, folks, you read that right....never fear, after everyone giving me VERY disappointed looks I ran to the store and bought cookie dough and moose tracks ice cream- you are WELCOME :)

Finally, Ben and I relaxed after putting the kids to bed, then he had to go to bed for work and I decided to stay up a few extra minutes to watch the Times Square Ball drop. Super exciting night- but that is honestly how I wanted my evening to go, at home in my comfy sweats, relaxing with my family and looking forward to what God has for us this year and thanking Him for His hand in our lives this past year.

The icing on the cake, for me, this evening, was Hannah waking up around 9:30 and me getting her out of bed, our home was silent, we sat under the light of the lamp by her toys and played with her barn animals, her blocks, pretend phone, read some board books, I tickled her and listened to her laugh- just listened and in my heart I am thanking God a million times over, and whispering, underneath her laughing- thank you God...just thank you. You saw this moment, two years ago, when all I saw was death and devastation. Thank you :')

Why Mama, I love playing with you only you at night, after I pull my hair ties out and the birds have gone to bed.

"seeese"

up close, drooling and way too personal :)