A few weeks ago, I celebrated my 37th birthday. Honestly, there were moments of the last year that I thought I was already 37, ha. But regardless of my age we had fun celebrating!
All in Randomness
January 2023 Fun
January was quite the month! The first month of the year is full of resolutions, goals and hopes. And while we have goals for sure, I don’t know that any of them “began” January 1st, ha. And January 3rd had different plans too. It was the first day back to school for the kiddos. We were supposed to have bad weather, so they were dismissed at 11 am. Well within Melody being home 30 minutes, we had what we think was a small tornado come through. I could see the trees spinning and a loud roar, so I grabbed Melody and ran to our foyer closet. No sooner than I got Melody inside, I could hear glass breaking. A tree branch broke through Melody’s bedroom window. Whew, not how we wanted to start the year!
December 2022 Fun
December was full of a lot of fun activities. We spent time with my best friend and her newest baby boy. We celebrated Christmas with all of our family. We spent time enjoying winter break with all of our new things. And we celebrated the New Year with some school friends. It was a fun month!
Elf on the Shelf 2022
Unicorn, our Elf on the Shelf, came back for a second year. She made her appearance on December 1st and went back home to the North Pole on December 24th. This was such a good year as far as Melody’s Christmas spirit. She was so into Christmas in general, and was obsessed with Unicorn even more this year. Check out her shenanigans below!
Christmas 2022
How has Christmas already happened, and we are now in 2023?!?!? This year really flew by quickly. And I even felt like the Christmas season happened in the blink of an eye. Brad was off work the entire month, but with Melody still in school, the time passed so quickly. We had a lot of fun this holiday season, and thankfully we stayed out of the ER!
Santa Pictures 2022
Merry Christmas! I thought today would be a perfect day to share Melody’s Santa pictures from this year. She actually had two sets made.
Breakfast with Santa
Last weekend, we went to Memphis to go to Breakfast with Santa at my in-law’s country club. This is something we do most years since we had Melody. This is sort of like a kick off to Christmas every year. All the girls are old enough to not be too afraid of Santa and enjoy it. The youngest wasn’t afraid, but she just did not want her picture taken, ha. She even pretended to be asleep in one of the pictures!
School Gifts
For Melody’s class at her school, we made little Christmas bags for each student. Each bag contained candy and an ornament craft. I found the bags at Hobby Lobby. Melody also added a little note in each one. I made similar ones for her school teacher and dance teachers, but I left out the ornament craft. The candy we included were various flavored Hershey kisses, snickers, Reese trees, Kit Kats and candy canes. They seemed to be a hit at school, and the kids even did the craft during indoor recess!
Alabama/Ole Miss Football Game 2022
We got to go to our first and only game of the 2022 football season back in November. We went to see Ole Miss and Alabama play each other in Oxford. We debated whether to take Melody, but she has a season ticket too. So we figured with it being the only game we could go to this year, why not. Now it was SO cold, but we knew it would be fun.
Thanksgiving 2022
This year we were able to host Brad’s family for Thanksgiving. Between all of his traveling the last year, it was really nice to spend time at home with also with family. I love hosting events, so this was a lot of fun for me (along with a bit of work). So my brother-in-law, Jeff, and sister-in-law, Rebekah, and my three nieces all stayed at our house. Brad’s parents and grandparents opted to stay in a nearby hotel. We did have the space for everyone, but it was going to be hard on his grandparents getting up and down the stairs.
November 2022 Fun
My lack of posting the last month should be an indication of how busy our November truly was. Our free time was super limited, so journaling and blogging were not high on the to do list. But I am getting back with it. With that said, let’s dig into all the fun we had in November!
Fall 2022 Pictures
Well I haven’t posted in a while. This was totally unintentionally, but it was a product of hosting Thanksgiving and prepping for Christmas. But things are looking slightly less busy, so I am hoping this is the first of many “catchup” blog posts coming your way. I mean I have so much I still haven’t posted over the last year alone. Not to mention all the things in the last month and month to come. So let’s jump right in!
October 2022 Fun
October was full of lots of fun but super busy. Brad was gone the majority of the month making it even harder! But we survived and have officially entered the Holiday Season!
Pumpkin Patch 2022
This year we planned ahead a Saturday that was ideal for us and the Owen group to visit the Pumpkin Patch. I was a bit nervous with it being “peak” weekend, but to my surprise it was truly the best day. The weather was great, and the crowds were actually low. We didn’t have really any lines to wait in for food or “rides”, and we were able to accomplish most things.
Lunchbox Notes for Daddy
Whenever Brad travels for a long a time, we try to do something special for him each day on those longer trips. This year Melody has been big into lunchbox notes. Brad even pre-wrote a few for me to put in her lunch box on Fridays. So we made him his own set for each day he was gone plus a week extra. I wrote some and Melody wrote others. It was a neat way to have him something special each day, and it was something to look forward to while gone.
Halloween 2022
I love Halloween. I love the decorations. I love the fun. And I love planning the costumes. This year was a busy October. Brad was out of town until the 28th of October. So many of the things going on was spent without him. Even decorating happened after he left for his work trip. But we made it work the best we could, and we did try and have as much fun as possible!
EveryPlate
Back in August, a friend of mine introduced me to EveryPlate. You may remember last year I tried Green Chef. I loved the idea and concept, but the cost was not worth it, the produce was inconsistently bad, and the food itself was too flavorful. Normally flavor is good, but it was sometimes not the best. However, the friend of my was introduced to EveryPlate and raved about it. The cost was reasonable, the produce and meat were always good, the delivery days were great and reliable, and the taste was great.
September 2022 Fun
September was busy as we were back in full force with school and extracurriculars. Brad also traveled some for work, and Melody got to experience her first field trip at school. I am so happy at all the “normal” things coming back to this school year. She was even able to have her grandparents come eat lunch with her for grandparents day too. What I assume is due to COVID happening in 2020, they have also implemented several “e-learning” days. It was actually really nice, and I look forward to the next one. I hosted a bridal shower for my cousin, and Melody got to try on some flower girl dresses for the wedding coming up in November. We also got down most of our Halloween decor, so Melody is having a blast trying to scare us with fake spiders! October is setting up to also be a highly busy month. Stay tuned!
Pool Days 2022
We do try and get in as much pool time as possible during the summer. Especially between my parents pool and Melody taking swim lessons. I even bought a super cheap pool this summer for the kids to use some days we didn’t want to drive to my parents.
Summer 2022 Bucket List Updated
At the beginning of the summer, I made a bucket list for us. We did a lot of the things on the list, and I wanted to share the pictures!