Glancing Back - 2019

Wow - it has been a year!!! Just like any year, it has had it's ups and downs, but it has ended with a bang! We always love looking back and seeing all of our adventures...

This year Blake and I had quite a few!

Some of our favorites were...

• Our annual Great Wolf Lodge trip
• Blake did his first 1 mile run
• We LOVED some baseball - playing and watching
• We adopted Jasper!!! 
• We saw some epic dinosaurs
• We went hiking both in Pilot Mountain and Grandfather Mountain
• We saw some gorgeous sunflowers
• We vacationed at the beach and in Boone 

It was such a great time! The second half of the year was even better because we got to include Joyner! The adventures just continued...

• We had more beach trips (because he is a major beach person)
• We all dressed up as a Deadpool Family for Halloween
• We went to the Life and Science Museum... Marbles... and Pullen Park
• We went fishing
• We went to Hillridge Farms for pumpkins
• And so much more... 

And the year is ended with a whole new chapter ahead of us in 2020! We are so excited for what is to come!

Big Plans

We have some BIG PLANS to share! But before we do, we have to introduce you to someone special....

Meet Joyner... Joyner and I have been dating for most of this year and he has been joining our little Fam Jam for adventures. We can't wait to share them all from here on out.

We love having him around for all of the fun. He has become a part of our family! So much so that on Christmas morning (while Blake was with his dad), Joyner dressed up as Santa and came to surprise me! He had a special Christmas gift just for me... and a special question.

He proposed and just like that we decided on forever! I am SO excited that we finally found the perfect person to join our family and our adventures. We couldn't ask for anything more.

Merry Christmas

This year traditions were a little different, but it did  not stop us from having a wonderful Christmas.

Blake was super excited to see all of the presents on Christmas day!!! He was very obviously on the nice list!

Blake got a Razor 360 bike that does doughnuts and spin outs. He also got video games, science kits, games, clothes, a lite brite, nerf guns, a pitching machine, and more! We have lots to keep us busy over the next month.

We also had our Christmas with family as well. It was a great day for many reasons.... see the next post for more details...

2nd Grade Gingerbread Day

Each year Blake has a special Christmas celebration at school. In Kindergarten he had the Polar Express Day. 1st Grade had Grinch Day. This year 2nd grade had Gingerbread Day!

As always, I am SO excited to go be a part of Blake's classroom for the day. I love seeing his friends and sharing in these little moments with him at school. He gets so excited when I can come to school...and as long as he wants me there then I WILL BE THERE! Haha.

We are now officially on Christmas vacation and we are enjoying the two weeks off of school to just relax!

Disney on Ice

We had our annual Disney on Ice trip with Granny this year! Thankfully Rudy gets us tickets every year to have this traditional trip together. :) Last year it snowed us out and we weren't able to go, so we were extra excited to see it this year.

The theme this year was Mickey's Road Trip Adventure. Mickey and his friends did a "road trip" through all of our favorite Disney movies! We say all of our favorite characters.

As you can see, Blake was super excited to see Maui from Moana and Woody from Toy Story 4. Yeehaw! We had a blast! Can't wait until next year!

Santa's Nice List

As always, Blake wrote his list and delivered it to Santa and Mrs. Clause. He was SO excited to see Santa and show him his Floss Sweater and his list. :)

This year Blake wants a few Switch Games, legos, Bakugon (not exactly sure what that is still... haha), science stuff, and sports stuff.

According to Santa he is officially on the nce list! YAY! Santa told Blake to remember to be good and help around the house. Blake has been doing his best job at it.

Blake has been EXTRA in the Christmas Spirit this year and even dressed as Santa for school festive character day! Haha. He jumped up out of bed and got ready. When I asked him if he was ready for school he said, "Ho ho ho Jolly Yeah, mom!!!" HAHA

Now the countdown is on until Santa Clause comes to town.

Parade and Lights

We kicked off our holiday season with the Rolesville Christmas Parade! This year was another special one because Memommy watched it with us from her front door. I LOVE that. Our family sits in her front yard and watches the parade pass. I look back and see her smiling and waving at the floats. A moment like that is perfect.

Blake loved seeing the floats and is always my little goofball. He was chasing candy and laughing at all the fun. Christmas Magic was there!

We also went to Hillridge Farms to ride the parade and see the Christmas lights. They were beautiful! We love our Christmas traditions!

Oh Christmas Tree

I LOVE having a tree in our house. There is something so warm and cozy about sitting in front of a tree with the lights on. This year we went back to our favorite Booger Mountain Tree Lot and we picked a good one!

One of our favorite traditions is looking at all of our unique ornaments. Our first ornament on the tree this year was our Roxie ornament. It's our first Christmas without her, so we are celebrating with her in spirit. Blake loved hanging his monkey ornament from Aunt T. I loved hanging some of the ornaments that Blake has made me over the years. Rudy even gives Blake an ornament year, so we liked looking back on those. There are so many fun memories.

We decorated our tree a little differently this year. We had to put a lot of the ornaments at the top because of our newest furry family member. Either way, our Christmas tree turned out beautiful and we are a happy family enjoying it!

Rudy is BACK

It is December and Rudy is back!!! We love this time of year because our elf Rudy comes to celebrate the holidays with us!

Rudy arrived this year and he brought Blake a special radio from the North Pole. Blake loves the Christmas tunes and the elf news update. :)

Rudy is also up to his usual fun. Each night he is moving around and either doing a prank or giving Blake a little surprise. Blake loves to wake up and see what he has gotten into. Here are a few of our favorite things he has done so far...

Go Ape...Again

Not really sure why/how this started, but for some reason Blake and I have created somewhat of a traditions of going to Go Ape in the Fall. This past weekend we went swinging through the trees once again. Two years ago Blake was very scared with some of the obstacles. It has been fun to see how confident he has gotten....and extra daring! He breezed through the obstacles this time. I, on the other hand, was still terrified. Haha. We had a blast! Blake is already counting down the years until he can go to the adult course. Haha.

Great Season, Rays!

Another baseball season has ended and this one was a GREAT one for Blake. And when did he start looking so big?!!?

Blake's favorite moment this season was when he caught a fly ball at second base. I will never forget his face. His eyes got so big and he was absolutely shocked! Then he snapped back into the game and made the throw to first for an attempted double play. It was great. Plus, every kid remembers his first catch of a fly ball. That is like a rite of passage!

My favorite memory was when Blake was playing catcher and he got a kid out at home. Catcher hasn't been Blake's favorite position, but he really has learned a lot there. One game the bases were loaded and the batter did somewhat of a bunt. Blake grabbed the ball and planted himself in front of the base. The runner tried to slide and Blake did not budge. He got wiped out but he also got the out. I was SO proud of him! It was amazing!

He had such a blast playing this Fall. We will be back at it again in the Spring. Now it is time for some basketball.

Trick - Or- Treat

This past week we had our Halloween fun! Every year we get all dressed up and we go to the Jarrell's neighborhood where we trick or treat with our best family friends. We have been doing this for years and we LOVE it.

Blake was Deadpool this year and he wanted me to dress up with him as the mom Deadpool. Haha. I can't say no to that!

The boys all looked great in their costumes and they got TONS of candy!

Even Jasper got a little trick or treat surprises! Until next year...

Picking Pumpkins

Still catching up on my posts... This was originally from OCtober 19, 2019.

My favorite thing about Fall is when we go pick a pumpkin! It is such a fun tradition to go to Hillridge Farm and do all the Fall stuff... we ride the train, swim in the corn kernels, go down the giant slide, jump on the hay, and do the hayride! I actually remember doing a lot of that stuff at the exact same place when I was a kid. That makes me love sharing it with Blake even more!

The part that breaks my heart is how fast Blake is growing and how big he looks! I hope that he will keep this tradition up with me for many more years to come! A mom can hope. :)

2nd Grade Update

Umm... where did October go?! October flew by with 2nd grade, Homecoming Week for my work, baseball, and Fall fun. I somehow totally missed all of my blog updates, so the next few posts will be playing catch up.

Original Date: October 17, 2019

We had Blake's curriculum night and conference at second grade this month. 2nd Grade has been a HUGE jump for us, but Blake is handling it wonderfully! We now have homework and spelling words. Homework isn't Blake's favorite thing to do, but he gets it done! He seems to really enjoy math and actually be natural at it. That is something I don't understand at all - in fact I think I'm already outsmarted by my second grader in the math area. Haha.

Blake is also slightly above average on reading. He LOVES making his own comic books and has a great imagination. He always wants to read his books to his family and friends. His teacher even things he will be an author one day. We just need to work on his spelling and handwriting a little. :)

I am SO proud of my little man!

Outdoor Movie Date

Blake and I had the best mommy/son date night Saturday! We drive across the street to the Rolesville Middle School and we watched an outdoor movie on the football field! The movie was Ferdinand. We LOVE that movie. We laughed, cried, and had a blast watching that movie outside - and it was the most beautiful night! I love these special moments with my little man. I am in denial about how quickly he is growing up. He is all I have and I cling to this little boy more than anything. I am SO grateful that I have a special bond with him and I hope it continues. He is my greatest little love!