Celebrations!

I honestly don’t know where the time is going. How is it February already and I haven’t even written a post for December yet? Oh lawzy. Needless to say, this post is being written on a plane en route to San Diego, which means it’s getting squeezed in between work assignments (read: it will likely be a quick regurgitation of what we did in December, saving detail for only the really invigorating items).

December is definitely a time of celebration and this month was no exception. Brayden had many events at her school including a teacher talent show, movie night, and a winter party. Hanleigh built a gingerbread house with Trent and had her holiday concert at school. We had breakfast with Santa at the local YMCA, which, in the spirit of honesty, was pretty much a disaster. There wasn’t enough food, it took too long to serve everyone, etc…and that was challenging to watch unfold since a big portion of what I do for a living is plan events. I wanted to pull my hair out! The good thing is that they recognized it after the fact (apparently the feedback was pretty consistent across the board) and sent a mass email out to all who attended with a “make good” free parent’s night out. Needless to say, we look forward to redeeming that. We attended Trent’s F3 and company holiday parties, had family over for football/lunch one day, and attended the play Scrooge to watch our neighbor’s fabulous acting skills.

In mid-December, my half marathon training was hindered. About 250 miles into my half-marathon training, I got diagnosed with “runner’s knee”, halting my training for a week, just five weeks away from the Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Marathon & 1/2 Marathon . Then, one day, I ran 11 miles and kicked butt. Thank God for ice, KT tape, foam rollers, great advice, Meloxicam, and that creepy, weird guy on the greenway…all of which put the pep back in my step. Trent experienced his own set of impedances to his training with a bout of shin splints, but through strength training and other exercises, we managed to power through. More to come on our race in the January post!

Both girls had their end-of-the-season dance recitals and it was the cutest thing. Brayden performed the routines that she had shown us throughout the fall and did an excellent job. Hanleigh had never been on stage before, so it was a totally new experience for her. She was looking all around the stage, smiling ear to ear, and would wave to us every time she could. You could tell how proud she was of herself. Plus, the blue tutu made it that much more adorable. Brayden had her first slumber party at our house with two of her best friends. The girls were extremely well behaved, but unfortunately, one of them was sick and just two days later both Hanleigh and Brayden developed the flu. This caused a major wrinkle in our Christmas plans, although we were able to enjoy a family lunch at GG & Dadaw’s place and another visit with Rebecca’s new baby, Carolina (the girls’ second cousin) before the we knew they were ill. Once the sickness sank in, we did have to cancel our Christmas Eve lunch with Nana and kept Christmas day very low key. Eventually, everyone was on the mend by Christmas night for a get together at our neighbor’s house.

The holidays concluded with the annual oyster roast at the Mantak’s house. We also took the kids skiing (for their first time) at Sugar Mountain. We enrolled each of them in a one-hour private lesson where they both did incredible. Instead of warming up on the kiddie hill, they plopped both of our girls on the lift and off they went. Pretty crazy. Neither of them were scared or nervous and they dove right in. The ski instructor told us that Brayden could easily do the blue slopes now! Hanleigh grasped the concept of skiing, but they said she was so busy looking around at her surroundings that she may need to focus on what’s in front of her first! Too funny. We took the kids ice skating and snow tubing that weekend as well and stayed at our neighbor’s mountain house one evening. It was a great trip!

Lastly, we had a New Year’s Eve party at our house with about 25+ people. The food was delicious, the company was awesome, and the kids were active (to say the least). Not sure all the adults felt fabulous the next morning, but a good time was had by all. I can’t believe it’s 2015 already. Just seems like yesterday that Trent and I were ringing in 2000 in Ybor City, Florida as boyfriend/girlfriend.

Brayden-isms

• Trent was telling Brayden that he went to the dentist one day to which she asked, “What for?”. He said, “To fix that gap in my two teeth and remove a spot.” She asked, “Did Uncle John use his muscles to fix it?” Trent smiled. A few minutes later she thought about what she said and then said, “Or did he just squeeze like a big pair of plyers on your teeth?”

Hanleigh-isms

• While watching the play Scrooge, the theater used a disco ball to simulate when Ebeneezer traveled in time. The first time this happened, the theater was completely silent and she yells out, “Dance party!”. Hilarous!

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