Snowed In...

School delays, school closings, blizzards, sub-zero temps...call it what you want. POLAR VORTEX is what I'm going with. Travel advisories and local government shut down the city and tell you to leave your house only in emergency.

We've had to get creative around these parts when spending days on end in the confines of our home. Mmmmkay then. Let's get crafty!

Taught the girls some basic sewing. Which lasted all of 30 minutes. 

Izzy was great at threading the needle

We made jewelry for ourselves. Then for every friend we could think of. Yay for beads being found all over our house for days.

And we also made our own lipgloss. Let's just say mommy made the lipgloss.

We played in the snow and then scooped up fresh snow to bring in for homemade snow-cream. It was not B.reyers French Vanilla but the girls thought it was amazing.

Flashcards are a hit in our house. Sight words, rhyming, making sentences...you name it, we play it. Laney has even caught on quite well to the flashcards we use.

And thanks to our old Nanny Natalie, I found a pack of S.hrinky Dinks in the craft closet...score! The girls and I kept on making batch after batch of these little gems. Finally started making tiny alphabet letters with holes punched out to use for jewelry making. Cross functional crafting :)

Winter wonderland kept getting whiter and whiter

And deeper and deeper

You won't see Mikey in any of these pictures because he was literally laid out in bed for 4-5 days. Quarantined himself. Flu turned bronchitis. Poor guy. This made entertaining the girls that much harder. No one to tag-team and take a rester. Oh, and guess who had to shovel for the first time in her life? This girl. Dug out all the ski apparel I could find and had at it. I figured it was a good replacement for being in the CrossFit gym. The snow just kept coming. I would go outside every few hours to uncover the driveway yet again. Shoveling is no easy feat. I had to keep stretching out my shoulders. Phew! Glad that is behind us.

Once we were able to get out of the house we ventured to Chik-fil-a for Colts-blue ice cream and some play time.

Followed by a night with our friends, the Fechtmans. Last time we were there in December Laney had an "incident" with one of their t.v.s. Let's just say it was an expensive Christmas gift to make up for that awesome accident. So our friends did what they normally do...pull pranks on us:

Nothing was broken that evening, thankyoubabyjesus. Captured a moment between Matt and Bug. These two....I just love this pic. So special to have friends like them.

More random stuck-in-the-house pictures:

Poor Katie dog. Ahem, Princess Katie.

Last weekend Laney got a very high temp for a few days that wasn't coming down without meds. Definitely was the flu and maybe a touch of the stomach bug. Was so hard watching her writhe with pain, unable to help her. Poor sis. She's on the mend now and spunkier than ever.

Laney had her kindergarten shots a few days after she felt better and was rewarded with fro-yo. Back this train up...I said kindergarten!!! Can't believe it. But I also can't stop her from growing up. Shoot.

This is what it looks like when all four of us snuggle at the same time. Some of my favorite moments at home are snuggling with these three.

Ten weeks after my offer, I finally started my new job (same place, new gig). It'd be an understatement to say I was thrilled. My stress level has gone down significantly. I can sleep better at night. Enjoy my weekends. A huge weight has been lifted, leaving my old job behind. Replacing it is excitement to learn a new business and work with new people. Pumped!

Izzy standing on her hands.

Was fortunate enough to be a judge at the GLI again this year. Getting up close to Games-level athletes to count their reps and cheer them on....priceless. One day I hope to compete at this event, but until then I'll just keep plugging away in the gym.

Speaking of which, the Mini is coming up in a few months. Which means mama has to get some miles in. Drat. Since January 1st I have been on the treadmill once a week, slowly building my mileage. Although I realize one run a week will not score me a PR come May, I do know it'll add value to my CF training and allow me to finish 13.1 without doubt.

I do not miss treadmills. At all.

And finally, we were able to spend last weekend with some of our best friends. Mike went to college with these guys 20 years ago and they all still get together yearly. Be it a baseball trip, a ski trip or whatever...these guys are tight. The Diazs were in town for a swim meet so it was only natural for a UE Swim Reunion.

Mike, Brian, Jason, Kip & Jon

And the wives (I'm the only non UE alumn): Holly, Sandi, Carrie & Karen

We played Cards A.gainst Human.ity for hours. Laughing until we cried. Forgetting all our worries, even if briefly. While all 11 of our children played together in the basement.

I captured this picture of Jason and I simply adore it. I'm sure he was laughing at some horribly awesome game play, but it captures his spirit. So full of life and laughter. Mike's best friend. Mike's brother. Our family. To follow his journey click here.

This reunion was one I won't soon forget. Was so very special to all be together celebrating our friendship.

New Years 2014

Out with the old and in with the new. Thankful for another year of great memories and looking forward to what 2014 has in store for us. Fresh start. New beginnings.

We celebrated the new year at our house with our close friends. Shipped the kids down the street where they all played together so we could have adult time without having to wipe butts or listen to tattling all night. 

Jason and Sandi

 The Bells arrived in their rendition of super casual a la Goodwill. They are always up for a good time. Topsy turvey, curled bangs, velour jumpsuit and all.

 We devoured heavy apps and then got our dollar bills out for a game of LRC (Left-Right-Center). Haven't played this game in some time and it was fun to roll the dice again. Lindsay won the first pot of $36. The second game turned into a double-down third game, which I won $72. Paid the sitter in single bills. Classy.

 Throwback cans. Had to have them. The winner of the game had to chug one.

 So after I collected my earnings...

 

 Chug, I did. The classy way, by shotgunning of course.

 We had to say goodbye to the Morses early :(

 Game intermission was brought to us by RumChata and Fireball shots.

 Had by all

 Played my new game of Cards Again.st Humanit.y and learned some new vocabulary. Also learned a lot about my friends....not sure if that's good or bad.

Then we rang in the New Year with noisemakers, smooches and pictures

 Lindsay & Ben

 Crazy Town

 This group = Trouble in the neighborhood

 Love these women so much.

 Some of our oldest friends are the dearest

 The Bells, Falciones, Hernandezes, Forrests and McCullochs

 Selfie

The girls rang in the new year with their buddies and continued to celebrate this morning. My headache wasn't a fan of all the noise but they were too cute to silence.

I typically don't have new year's resolutions. All I know is this year I learned a little bit more about myself than I knew the previous 36 years. And I'm continuing to be more and more comfortable in my own skin. That's progress.

This next year I would like to learn to be gentler on myself. I am my own worst enemy and can get inside my head so deeply that it shakes me to the core. Relax and let go. These are my goals.

Counting my blessings today and always: My family. My friends. My health.

Happy New Year!

Winter Break 2013

For the past 10 days our family has been on vacation. Izzy keeps on correcting me when I say this, "It's Winter Break, mom, not vacation." Mmmkay. Either way, we've been away from home and in my book that's called a vacation.

We spent 4 days with my dad and step mom in Michigan at their new house. This is the first year in many years that we've all been able to sleep under the same roof as their new place has more than enough room for my sister and her family along with my family. Let me tell you it was glorious to wake up there all together and stay up late laughing all together. No one had to leave for the hotel. Glorious. Michigan got lots and lots of snow while we were there (even an ice storm that left most of the state without power and took down huge trees in the neighborhood). Was just a beautiful time to be at dad's.

We did  little swimming

And exchanging presents

Mikey got some pretty sweet bar glasses with our last name on them...brewing since 2011

It was a very Amer.ican Girl xmas for the girls

The snow, even the ice, were beautiful looking out dad's back deck

So of course we had to go sledding

The golf course had some wicked hills for us and Izzy braved even the steepest on her own

Dad lives near a deer farm (for lack of better words) and we visited them to feed them carrots. As you can see, we were able to get very close to them.

As we were leaving I overheard Izzy talking to one of the deer, "Hey, do you know Santa?" Ha! We had to explain to her that these were not reindeer, just plain deer.

One of the traditions we've had at Dad's house for many years is singing and dancing to Christmas Carols. We'd have choreography (aka Carla) and print outs of songs and parts we were responsible for. This year we forgot to do this with our large group and instead had an intimate performance of the Twelve Days of Christmas a la the Muppets. Anna grabbed 5 golden rings for the girls and we frantically tried to memorize parts. We usually only have 1 part to this song but since it was split among 4 adults...it got harried. But we had fun regardless. Next year? The choreography comes back!

My aunt Celeste, Uncle Jeff, cousins Lisa & Rex and their kids were all able to make the drive (in the ice storm, no less!) to dad's and we had yet another special gathering of the Keels with my 93 year old Grandfather.

Christmas Eve we left dad's  house to venture on to Bob & Laura's. Our xmas Eve tradition is to go to church service then get in our new jammies for the night. I'll have it be known I was in my jammies for a solid 24 hours. No shame.

Christmas morning Santa woke us with the jingle of his bells. The girls were giddy with excitement!

Laney had been asking for Doc M.cStuffins and her pals for quite some time. Happy girl.

While Izzy had been begging for a make-up kit ("Mommy, all my friends have one!"). Dreams do come true.

Santa brought the girls mermaid tails made out of swimsuit material - how amazing is that?! After the Littles opened their gifts they dove into the tub for some mermaid swimming. Let's just say they kept these tail on even under their jammies the rest of the day (after they dried, obvi).

And of course homemade pizzas were kneaded, rolled, dressed and eaten well into the night.

Naps were had by all

Laura gave us a special treat; while she was organizing this year she found many of Mike's old VHS tapes from his high school years. We watched hours of swimming and Prom videos. Izzy kept saying I looked pretty. We had to explain to her that was not me, but rather daddy's date. She was slightly confused. I was definitely amused. Buggy fell asleep in all the excitement.

The weeks leading up to Christmas were jam-packed for us. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to, in no particular order.

Daddy and Izzy made a snowman using fruit and veggies from the fridge as accessories.

Mike took Bob to a Colts game where they had stellar seats. And a nice view of celebrities.

We watched our buddy Maggie play an amazing shepherd in a live nativity performance.

I had my 6th and final CF competition of the year. It was another team competition, same team as BracketBuster. We did very well, finishing 6th or 7th in all 4 wods. Very happy with our consistency. All of us PR'd some lifts and we missed the finals by 1 single point. Happy, nonetheless.

Triple digit full squat snatch, baby!

I attended a Pacers game with my division at work. First after-work function I've attended maybe ever! Since I started at TFL I have had small babies or have been pregnant. With my new job I'll have to do more traveling and entertaining...so why not start now?

Meggie hosted a fancy girls night at her gorgeous home and the Perfect Strangers reunited (and it felt so good!). Love these women with all my heart. I'm so fortunate to have such amazing women to call friends.

I was able to attend Izzy's holiday party at school. She's been begging me to come to one of their classroom events but the timing has never worked out. I walked in and she just beamed with excitement. She was so proud to have me there and I was thrilled to watch her in her kindergarten environment (and socialize with my girlfriends as well). I learned which boy every girl had a crush on, who was the class clown, and all the inside secrets kindergartners keep. Too cute. 

We're getting ready for a laid back NYE party at home. Five couples will be joining us to ring in the New Year!