december stuff.

i’m trying to pretend that it’s not already mid-january as i post the happenings of december. well, the happenings that aren’t cool hikes, christmas, super sick babies, sewing, abandoning our dog, or buying an rv.

so, here’s what our december looked like when those other things weren’t happening.

firstly, hazel had to move out of her pack-n-play in our closet. yes. that’s where she’s slept for the first two years of her life. it’s dark and quiet and close to us at night. but, she’s been slowly shawshank redemptioning her way out, so it was time to move her to a wooden crib in a room shared with anna. 🙂

we had a few playdates with maddux. these two are so sweet.

early in december, before the big nasty sickness that i blogged about from christmas, hazel had a little under the weather time for a few days.

with derek working from home, i’m able to sneak out for lunch dates with the older kids once in awhile. anna likes mexican, so she’s my favorite. 🙂

during this lunch date, she wrote me a comprehensive christmas list. she was about 50%, but she seemed happy with that.

hazel’s little virus capped itself off with this sweet full body rash. thanks to ashley hill for talking us through this. some benadryl and ibuprofen and we were back to normal. 🙂

on the day derek and i went to check out the rv for the first time, we decided to take the opportunity to snag a quick lunch at jack’s corner in greensboro. so good.

we only have one tv in our house. so, when someone is occupying it, the girls like to come watch peppa pig on youtube. looks comfy.

three lid kids in matchy pj bottoms.

anna switched to the monday morning homeschool dance class, which our buddy kaylin also attends, so we get to have lots of post dance lunch dates with her and her mom. 🙂 (until this month, when anna decided she was done with dance altogether).

ha. so, i bought these pj’s for anna and hazel. size 6 and size 2, respectively. i guess i put them away in the wrong drawer, because anna came down sporting this snug pair and had no idea.

at boys scouts, we made gingerbread houses. so fun. so sugary.

hazel helped out with her birthday cake making. i use the term “helped” loosely.

quality assurance. it’s really easy to smooth out frosting when someone keeps poking at your work. (anna is in the background eating the leftovers from leveling).

my attempts to take a picture of the lidkids in front of the christmas tree. in case anyone is wondering why we don’t send a christmas card – this is why.

when we took the kids out of school, we didn’t plan to do too much until after christmas. but, after sitting around for a few weeks, it was clear we needed to do something. isaac’s books came in first, so he got started. but anna, not wanting to fall behind, created her own school situation.

“homeschool”.

dairi-o.

anna is becoming a really good reader. i actually have been struggling with how to start “teaching” her. i bought a book, but it’s got such a weird approach that we would have had to start over at the very beginning and she was pretty grumpy with that. so, mostly i’ve just been letting her read and helping her with words. that will work, right? i’m super good at homeschooling.

after our hike (previously blogged), we hit up target to shop for a little bday gift for maddux and HAD to stop and take some pics with the target dog.

i couldn’t get both girls to stand together, because hazel wasn’t having any of it. so, separate pics were in order.

playdate with maddux. he’s sporting the storm trooper hoodie was got him. he loved it. 🙂

anna and i had a super cool homeschool adventure with some other friends. we went to see the nutcracker at the nc school of the arts. anna loved it, mostly. it got a wee bit too long for her. i feel her pain.

anna’s books rolled in and she was so excited to get to work. she’s a much more delightful student than the boy.

but, he’s rolling along. all i have to do is remind him that we spend the same amount of time doing school as he used to spend on homework and that usually works. sometimes i pretend to call the school to re-enroll him. i should probably also remind him that he can’t do public school in his underwear.

anna’s teacher invited her back for the class christmas party. she actually didn’t really want to go, but i dragged her, knowing that it would be the last time she would probably get to see some friends. she gravitated to her usual people, nina and maddux.

the usual state of affairs in my house. chaos. and lucy…*sniffle*

this face. i can never have enough.

brixx pizza oven. we had never been. it was soooo good. and it’s very kid friendly. stickers. coloring sheets. a hunk of pizza dough to play with.

my pizza. it was half “rustica” or something. and half butternut squash and goat cheese and honey and pesto-y. delicious.

another playdate with maddux. i’m a little sad, because anna didn’t seem as smitten with the fellow. i guess no one really marries their kindergarten sweetheart and it was bound to happen.

meatball rolling assistant.

we got a lot of bath toys for christmas. crayons. paint. bubbles. tea party. water coloring. so, lots of fun baths to squeeze in before we get on the road.

during hazel’s eight days of fever, she would perk up with the motrin/tylenol cocktail kicked in. peppa pig and play doh were her toys of choice. thanks to birthday and christmas we have a billion peppa pigs and family and friends and accessories.

just a pic of coffee production.

school. well. for ike. anna was just coloring. i need to find a better way to work with both of them at the same time, but for now, i just do one and then the other.

sisterz.

play doh AND peppa pig. and a wooden horse.

derek has done all of the hours and hours of research and planning for the rv. i have found some instagrams and decided we needed to buy this decal to track where we have been. it’s a hard job, but someone’s gotta do it.

anyhooooo….
that’s it. for december.
for 2015.

(actually, i think i might have a few pics from the 31st that i will post when i ever get around to posting about when my parents were here…)