Leading up to (and even after) the Christmas holiday, I had some
extra "holidays" to burn from the Zoo...so we were able
to do lots of fun family things (and also some necessary
cleaning/life things - but those are sort of boring - so no
pictures of me cleaning bathrooms and tidying the house).
I was in charge of Christmas cookie making
for our family - so I ended up making four
different kinds of cookies. My favorite
were the Hershey kiss kind - but my family's
resounding favorite were the Pistachio cookies.
I also tried a new recipe for Butterscotch
Ginger Bread cookies...and while they were tasty -
not everyone likes Ginger Bread so there ended
up being a lot of those left over.
Max is reliably enthused by cookie making and
the prospect of dumping all the ingredients
into the bowl. But recently, loves for me to pour
him a cup or two of flour on his place mat and then
he goes to town making "volcanoes" and mountains.
And then, things got real crazy when I gave him
some chocolate chips...which he played with but,
eventually ended up eating (which kind of
grossed me out because they were covered in flour...
but he has been known to eat a thing or two off
the floor unless Rob and I see it first....so who am I to judge?)
We did our traditional Hauck family drive
around and look at lights...and I have to say,
people in our neighborhood did not disappoint.
There were inflatables, lights, blow molds,
and those new projector things that shine on
the side of your house galore!
We also made time for lots of nature walks....combined
with a little bit of snow play. He carries a Kroger
bag so he can collect things....and also wanted me
to take his picture on top of every snow pile.
The annual Christmas party was had at Miss Jessi's
(aka living saint) house. They had "grinch treats" and
reindeer water bottles and made craft from bells.
And, she got each of them a gift! Seriously -
someone pay that lady more! haha!
While at Mim's and Grandpa's house we took
Penny on lots of walks.
Max has been happily playing with some of his
new toys. Pro parenting tip: We don't really
buy Max a bunch of other toys throughout the year,
so at Christmas, I squirrel away some of his presents
to the basement - and then we bring them out later
in the year when we need to switch things up.
I did end up sending Max to school a few of the
days I had off - but managed to sneak away from
the house and all the crap that needed attended to in
order to have lunch with Papa Rob! You might
think that since we work at the same place, we have
lunch regularly together (and this definitely happened
when we were dating making more effort) - but
I'm always happy to see that face :)
Auntie Stacy got Max a subscription to "Kiwi Crate"...
which is essentially a box that comes in the mail,
once a month, and provides three super cute craft projects.
The theme this month was "reptiles" - so we started out
by making this snake! I'm looking forward to more
craft time fun! It also comes with this very informative
booklet with prompts on how to engage your child
while making the crafts. Very cute.
After the holiday - Max and I ended up driving
back to Dayton so we could have even more fun!
The Thursday we arrived was quite nice
and so we headed out to another new park.
(937 peeps - it's called Robert E Mays off
Social Row and it was AMAZING).
What we didn't account for was the insane
wind that was rolling through...and so we only
lasted about 20 minutes.
It was also the last night to see the bells
and giant Christmas light display at
Carillon Park. Very cool!! Max was
so excited to show me this (he had previously
already seen it with Mims and Grandpa). After
viewing all the lights, we held hands running
down the hill toward Grandpa's car.
This might be one of my favorite holiday memories.
On Friday, we drove to Krohn Conservatory in
Cincinnati, Ohio. We are used to going to
Franklin Park in Columbus - so this was a nice change.
And, they did such a great job of setting up
all the holiday stuff. There were hidden elves
that you were supposed to take "elfies aka selfies"
with...and trains running through the poinsettias and
overall just a treat for the eyes.
They also had some of the neatest poinsettia colors
I had ever seen - from pink to peach and even blue!
The whole display was very Dr. Seuss like...
They had different biome rooms (much like Franklin
Park) - and we ventured through those...
And even made it outside to see the animals
in their nativity scene.
Even though Penny was absent from Mim's house...
we still took lots of walks. I think the fresh air is
good for all of us. And we discovered a new area
to throw rocks in, look for random holes and pipes,
and see ducks splashing around.
Plenty of car naps to be had driving to and from...
We rang in New Year's day with hike at High Banks
Metro Park...and Max did all the walking himself!
Big accomplishment for sure.
He helped me get ready for my next 24 day
Advocare Challenge by making my breakfast
egg cup muffins...and chopping up lots of
peppers!
Since New Year's day fell on Sunday...it was actually
observed on Monday here - so Rob stayed home with Max.
They ended up coming to the Zoo...eating lunch
with me....and saying hello to his favorite penguin ;)
It was an exhausting (albeit, fun!) holiday "break".
I'm glad we got a few extra days to spend together
as a family...but we were certainly ready to get
back to our normal routine!
Hello 2017!
I'm glad we got a few extra days to spend together
as a family...but we were certainly ready to get
back to our normal routine!
Hello 2017!
No comments:
Post a Comment