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!
It is hard to believe we have already finished half of our dance year already. We have already received our dance recital costumes too! Melody is taking combo class that includes ballet, tap, and some jazz. She is getting to have her favorite teacher one more year. Next year she will have to pick a speciality. She had a fun semester dancing away!
One of the things on my cousin’s dream bridal shower board was a coffee bar. So when I helped host her shower back in September, I knew this was something I could easily do. We already have our own coffee bar, so I just made it more functional for a shower, and I included iced coffee since that is the bride’s favorite!
We went to Pigeon Forge this year for fall break. Brad was unfortunately traveling for work. So we made it a girls trip including my mom. We found a good deal on a fun hotel, and we used our season passes for Dollywood to give us some additional fun. Emily’s family also was there for a part of a trip giving Melody someone to play with at times. We had a lot of fun, and I have a lot to share! Here is day two!
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.
On our cruise back in April, we opted to stay in a nicer room since it had been so long since we had cruised together. We opted to do an ocean suite. It is in between a junior suite and a grand suite. It definitely did not have as much room as the grand suite we stayed in years ago, but it was still much nicer than most of the rooms we have stayed in. Having the balcony and extra room during our cruise was really ideal too.
We went to Pigeon Forge this year for fall break. Brad was unfortunately traveling for work. So we made it a girls trip including my mom. We found a good deal on a fun hotel, and we used our season passes for Dollywood to give us some additional fun. Emily’s family also was there for a part of a trip giving Melody someone to play with at times. We had a lot of fun, and I have a lot to share! Here is day one!
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!
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!
My best friend, Emily, recently had a new baby. We were able to sneak in a baby shower a few weeks before, however. It was just close family and friends, but it was still special. We opted for a simple diapers and wipes shower. And since it was October, I played off of the pumpkin theme.
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.
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.
My cousin recently got married, and she asked Melody to be her flower girl. Melody didn’t really know what that meant at first, but as we talked about it, she was so excited and eager for the big day. My cousin and Melody have grown really close over the last year or so. Melody truly adores her and her, now, husband. A very special part about Melody being Ashley’s flower girl…I was the flower girl at Ashley’s parents’ wedding. Such a sweet and full circle moment!
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!
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!
I am going to update this page as I blog about our trip to Dollywood in late May/early June of this year. I wanted to keep everything in one place to make it easier to find!
During our trip to Pigeon Forge in May/June, we tried to enjoy a new restaurant each evening. We researched most places we went to before the trip. But on our last night, we did a bit of googling and came up with The Old Mill. It is a neat place with multiple eateries and shops. There are two dinner locations. We picked the restaurant vs the cafe.
To save energy and make life generally easier, I did cupcakes for Melody’s 6th birthday party. She asked for a Doc McStuffins themed party. I did pink and purple cupcakes, but I also decided to add cupcake toppers to make them fit within the theme even more.
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!
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.
