January

 New Years Day

New Year's Eve was spent together at home and New Year's Day was as well! We all stayed up until midnight this year playing games, swimming and hanging out. We went for a midnight golf cart ride and blew our party horns! 

Cora Christmas Gift Part I: 

Part of Cora's gift was a set of acrylic nails and she couldn't wait to get them!!! She had been asking for these for well over a year and while I know she enjoyed having them, I think she also realized that they are not very practical for a ten year old! :) 

Busch Gardens: 

We had a fun family day at Busch Gardens! 

Blazer Cheer Camp: 

Cora attended cheer camp at school with the high school cheerleaders and got to perform at a high school basketball game. 

 

Boys' Christmas Gift:   

Roger and the boys hopped on a plane to Chicago and spent the weekend together eating steak and watching the Bulls and Warriors play basketball. Thanks to having an American Express card, Roger and the boys got early entry into the United Center and some backstage access. 

 

My Birthday: 

I didn't get many photos (or any) from my birthday but I had a great day. I was celebrated with wonderful gifts, sweet cards and a visit from my mom! We spent time shopping and eating and it was the best. Thank you to everyone who made my birthday extra special including Rowan with his crazy card. ;) 

 

Competition Kick Off: 

Cora's dance studio had their annual competition kick off event while Mom was in town so Cora loved having an extra cheerleader. All of the company teams performed their competition dances and it was so fun to get to see them all. Cora got to perform her solo for the first time on stage as well. She was nervous but it was a good first step towards competition. 

Basketball Season:

Cruz had an amazing 7th grade basketball season. He was on the B team which turned out to be a huge blessing for him. Cruz got to play every game almost the entire game and he grew so much in skill and confidence. He was also one of two team captains chosen for his hard work and ability to lead his teammates. The B team was coached by two recent SCS alumni who played basketball and watching these young men pour into the boys was so fun and the team absolutely adored them. Cruz ended the season by being asked to play up in the A team tournament games. It was a great end to basketball season.

I'm not great at getting videos as I'm generally trying to enjoy the game and also, you just never know when something cool is going to occur! I compiled a few videos I got throughout the season. Cora is really great at cheering for her brothers as well. 

Cora Christmas Gift Part II: 

The second part of Cora's Christmas was a night on the town with mom including dinner at a fancy restaurant of her choice and going to see the Broadway musical, Aladdin! 

 

 

It was a chilly 65! :) 

NYCDA Dance Convention: 

Cora and I spent the last weekend of January at the New York City Dance Alliance dance convention. Cora took classes and loved getting to spend time with her friends! It was a full weekend of dance and we loved it all. 

Christmas in the COLD!

December 21: Travel

This year, our visit looked a little different than it typically does due to weather and sickness. After celebrating our family Christmas on the 21st, we caught a 7:35 pm flight from Sarasota to Chicago. Flights were so expensive this year so taking a later evening flight helped. We were so thankful to find good fares out of the Sarasota airport as well rather than having to drive to Tampa. 

 

December 22: SNOW 

While this day should have been the beginning of our visit with Grandma and Uncle Randy and family, snow changed our plans. We hunkered down with Grammy and Grampy, played a lot of games, Wii, ate cookies and the kids and Grammy even braved the snow and 3 degree temperatures! 

Happy to have beaten his daddy! :) 

Brrr... Grammy was a trooper! Rowan lasted about 25 minutes and the rest of the crew came in around 45 minutes. 

Grammy and Grampy have a sledding hill right across from their house! 

Cruz ate his weight in chocolate chip cookies! :) I probably ate mine in Grammy's gingerbread cookies!

December 23: 

The weather was still a bit dicey but we snuck out to meet Aunt Mar and the O'Connor family for dinner at Portillo's! 

 

December 24: Christmas in the City

We left bright and early on Christmas Eve and headed downtown Chicago. It was SO freezing cold. I think the high was 9 but the wind chill was in the negatives. We drove around and looked at the sights and lights and even hopped out for a quick picture but other than that, we decided to just relax at the hotel until our dinner reservation. 

The sunset was pretty! 

We love Christmas at the Blackstone! We've stayed here on Christmas Eve every year since 2017!!! (minus 2020 when we did Milwaukee). 

We had a delicious dinner at our favorite Morton's Steakhouse. The conversation around the table is always the best on this evening. Unfortunately, Rog got a migraine halfway through dinner so it was less enjoyable for him. 

December 25: Christmas with Aunt Mar

We celebrated on Christmas Day with Aunt Mar. It was so fun to spend time catching up with her. 

Cruz ate all the chocolate chip cookie dough so Grammy and Coco had to make more! 

December 26: 

The O'Connor family came over and we had a fun, festive day of celebrating! The kids played and played, they opened gifts, ate delicious food and had so much together. For dinner, we went to Nick's Pizza as we do every year! The Christmas decorations there are the best and its always one of my favorite nights of the year. 

We decided to take some of the cousin Christmas budget this year and play a fun game called Left Center Right. Rowan ended up winning all three games we played! He was kind and shared with his cousins and siblings though. 

 

Nick's! 

December 27-28: 

At this point in our trip, the snow had cleared and everyone was well. We were all SO SO SO excited to meet baby Otto and of course see everyone else! 

First cousin picture of all five kids! 

Otto is the sweetest, most snuggly baby! I spent the majority of our time holding him and I'm not one bit upset about that. ;) 

All three kids loved holding him! 

Emmett adores his big cousins and the feeling is definitely mutual. The kids had so much fun chasing Emmett, throwing "snowballs" together, building train tracks and playing in his box house. Emmett is so sweet and kept telling the kids how much he loved them. 

We got the cutest family pic! 

Kids table! 

We traveled home on the night of the 28th. Our flight left Midway at 9:30 and arrived at 1 am too Sarasota. We were so thankful to get out as Southwest had some sort of glitch that canceled a crazy amount of their flights. We came back with very full hearts after one of the best trips we take all year. 

December 29: Surprise from Grandpa! 

The day after we arrived home, one more BIG surprise was delivered. Grandpa and Deona decided to give our a family a joint Christmas/housewarming gift and it was the best surprise! The kids are SO excited and have pretty much been driving non stop (the boys at least). On December 30th, Grandpa, Deona and Deona's son Nate and his family came up to our house to swim, hang out and go out for dinner together. It was the first time we've really had anyone over to the new house and it was so much fun that I didn't take a single photo! :)