Hello, 2016! If ever a year seemed to fly by it was 2015. I know I sound like a broken record every month when I do these mostly updates, but December was one of the busiest months I can ever remember.
My two oldest boys each played 6 basketball games for a total of 12. Three of the kids had Christmas concerts/programs, and four of the kids participated in our church Christmas play.
Not only that but, two of my boys had birthdays and my husband and I celebrated our 20th anniversary. Couple all of those things with getting Christmas presents ready and celebrating Christmas with family and you have a recipe for exhaustion.
Even with all of the busy days, the last week of December was much more relaxing and I am thankful that we were able to enjoy a slower pace before ballgames begin again next week.
I am looking forward to seeing what 2016 brings, but first I want to give you a little recap of December 2015.
My Family
Joshua and Joseph’s birthdays are in December exactly 3 years and 1 week apart. So, we always have their party on the same day. This year Joshua wanted a basketball cake and Joseph wanted a train cake.
While I have made fun cakes for them before (like this basketball cake), I simply felt too rushed on time to do justice to the cakes. So, with a little Photoshop magic I was able to print out a basketball and a train, tape them to toothpicks, and stick them into the cakes. This was super simple and saved my sanity.
Joshua’s cake was made using my allergy-free chocolate zucchini cake recipe and Joseph’s was a Texas sheet cake.
Speaking of celebrating, my husband and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in December. I still can’t believe it has been 20 years. Look at those two kids in the picture on the left! We were just babies. 🙂
We’ve been through a lot, but I am so thankful for having JT by my side through it all.
On Christmas Eve my husband dropped me off at the grocery store while he and the kids got some gas. I didn’t need but a few things so it didn’t take me long.
While I was in the store I received this picture that Julia took on my husband’s phone. I love this crazy crew of mine!
Later that night, when everyone was asleep, I set to work putting the presents under the tree. I always loved, even as a college student, going to bed with no presents under the tree and waking up to see all sorts of presents under the tree.
Everyone always has their own pile of presents. Sometimes the piles seem small, but my kids are always so appreciative of what they receive. I love to watch them excitedly open presents.
My favorite presents are these five precious gifts from God.
My daughter Julia works so hard in school. She had a really stressful month with all of the work she had to complete for her classes. She has two classes she is taking for college credit and there are two others which are very tough.
So, when our pastor asked her to sing the song “Blessings” by Laura Story on a Monday she said yes even though she knew she would have little time to learn the song before Sunday.
While Julia didn’t think it was her best performance, I loved it and her willingness to praise the Lord through song in spite of her busy schedule.
My Favorite Picture
One morning a few weeks ago I came home from town and saw this rainbow. As you can see the end of it was right in our field. However, there was no pot of gold at the end. 🙂
What I’m Reading
This month I have been reading the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo
What I’m Working On
Early in December I decided to turn some of my crockpot recipes into crockpot freezer recipes. With the busy month we had I am so glad I took the time to do so. I ended up making a couple more crockpot freezer meals a week or so later. They made life so much easier last month. The only thing I probably will not do again is freeze potatoes and carrots.
For several people on my list I made necklaces. For some of the necklaces I used words from the dictionary, for others I used a family picture, and for others I used a picture of a team mascot. They were a lot of fun to make and were really well-received. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the necklaces I gave away. Maybe I will make some more and write up a tutorial.
Do you remember the crocheted dolls I shared about last month? Well, Janna loves hers. She has played with her doll quite a bit during the past week.
I also crocheted hast for all of my kids. They were all made using a modified version of my Super Simple Hat pattern. The only exception was Julia’s hat which I shared about in October.
Joseph wanted a cat with blue stripes. I have no idea why, but I found a cute cat crochet pattern that had a shirt which I made with blue and white stripes. He seems to like it.
On the Blog
December was a pretty slow month on the blog. Here are the two posts I did manage to write.
Well, that about does it for December 2015 (and 2015 for that matter). To keep up with me until next month’s update head over to Instagram where I share all sorts of random pictures. Also, be sure to follow me on Pinterest and Facebook while you’re at it.
What were you into in December?
I’m linking up with Leigh Kramer to show what I’m into lately!
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