Christmas 2018

Christmas is over, and I couldn’t be more excited. Don’t get me wrong I love the idea of Christmas and everything that involves Christmas, but it wears me smooth out. We always have a very ambitious bucket list for the month of December and we are normally busy every weekend and I’m normally wiped plus the kids are normally over it as well by the end of the month. 

We decided to not do Elf on a Shelf again this year. With everything going on I feel like my head is barely above water so maybe next year when I have my life more put together we will attempt it. Instead I really wanted to wrap a Christmas book for each day of December but that also didn’t get done so luckily our friends in Dallas got us an advent Calendar of chocolates and it was the highlight of our evenings when we could open a piece of chocolate.

This year was amazing. We did all the Christmas activities. My favorite thing to do during the Christmas season is bake goodies and hand them out. Grady was very involved last year, and I was so excited for him to help me, but he wasn’t as interested this year. We did make some fudge, trail mix, and toffee and handed them out to our neighbors. Since we are renting at the moment we haven’t gotten to know our neighbors, so it was the perfect time for us to introduce ourselves.

We always so Christmas Eve with my parents and then Christmas morning as a family and Christmas evening with Chad’s family. I tried Joanna Gaines Biscuits and Gravy for Christmas morning and I don’t think I will ever make biscuits and gravy any other way. It was heaven.

We kept the presents pretty low key. Chad and I discussed that we wouldn’t go overboard with the gifts from Santa. They would be small and the big gifts would be from us. I mean Santa can’t get all the credit here. They got presents from Santa, us and we did stockings. Our parents also go over and beyond for the kids so we really don’t spend too much on the kids.

Chad and I decided last year not to do presents to one another and instead we would go out to a nice dinner, however we would still do stockings. Well I asked Chad if I could do my own stocking this year and boy am I sure glad I did, I got some socks, earrings, slippers, etc. The week after Christmas we went to a restaurant in downtown Tulsa called Bull in the Alley and holy smokes. It is easily my favorite restaurant in Tulsa and we are looking for a reason to go back. 

I was off the rest of the week which I was so thankful for, both the kids and myself really needed the break. I was hoping to catch some after Christmas deals but didn’t get around to it. Maybe next year!

Halloween 2018

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. The creativity and inspiration that goes into little kids costumes is what I look forward to every year and seeing how excited kids get for their costumes is just simply magical.

I also read a quote that said “Halloween is one of the only holiday where you are not obligated to spend with family” bahaha so true!!

We ended up celebrating Halloween 3 times this year. I put a lot of thought and time into my kids’ costumes, so I want to make sure that they get the most use out of them.

I’m trying to get away with family costumes (by family I mean my son and daughter) for as long as I can. They dressed up as the Alfalfa and Darla off of the Little Rascals and were adorable!

We started off the holiday with a block party in my parents neighborhood. Grady had an awful cough so we ended up having to leave before the costume contest but I’m for sure that we would have won!

That Sunday we purchased tickets to the Tulsa Zoo. We ended up doing Sunday and figured it wouldn’t be as crowded as another day and it was a blast. We met up with my sister and her kiddos and my mom and dad. This is probably be an annual event

On the actual day of Halloween we stayed around our neighborhood and went trick or treating. We started super early around 5:30 and there was no one out or handing out candy and we got super nervous it was going to be a bust but they ended up coming out of the woodworks and we ran out of candy early in the night.

I’m already thinking of ideas for next year and hoping Grady will let me do another year of him and his sister dressing up together.

Audrey's Dedication

Our church does child dedications twice a year. Once on Mother’s day and the other one in December so when it came time to discuss Audrey’s dedication we were a little skeptical about doing it on Mother’s day but the Christmas time was just too chaotic to try and manage. We had Grady’s dedication on Mother’s day and it was a disaster. My Mother in Law passed out in the Lobby of our church as we were walking in and had to be rushed to the hospital. I didn’t want any bad gugu but Mother’s day was the best timing for us so we held our breaths that nothing would go wrong and went for it.

It turned out to be a beautiful day celebrating our baby girl. We go to the earlier service time available which is 8:30 in the morning so we had our family meet us at our church. They did the child dedications first thing and then we stayed for the church service. After church we invited our family over for a brunch at our house. We served mini quiches, grape salad, pioneer woman cinnamon buns and sticky buns, breakfast casserole and a coffee cake. And then of course Audrey took the longest nap she’s probably ever taken so we didn’t get very many pictures with her and her grandmas but like they say NEVER wake a sleeping baby.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, Plans to prosper  you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jeremiah 29:11

Easter 2018

In true Bethany form this post is coming a bit late but oh well. This year was Grady official first year of east egg hunting. I totally had a “mom fail” last year and scheduled a trip around Easter and the day we were coming back was the day everyone was doing Easter egg hunts. This year we tried something new since my sister is moved back to Oklahoma.

We attended an Easter egg drop on Saturday morning and boy was it a blast! So much fun for kiddos of all ages including my husband and myself. A helicopter dropped hundreds of eggs and then Grady with his cousin hunted as many as they could. After the hunt we went to my parents for a little brunch. And then opened Easter baskets. My mom always does an amazing job with everyones Easter baskets, total envy. My mom got the kiddos beach towels, swimsuits, sunglasses, etc. pretty sure I got the hint that they will be swimming this year.

Sunday morning we made it to church to the early service. I didn’t want the kiddos to open their Easter baskets before church but of course Grady saw his and as soon as we took it away it was a full on melt down. Audrey decided to take a little nap after church and as soon as she woke up we opened our Easter baskets. I went a little over board this year, I remember when I was little having the same Easter basket year after year so I decided to purchase pottery barn baskets as an investment. And let me tell you they were sure investments. They come in 2 different sizes and I originally ordered the big baskets but they were by far way too big as Grady could have sat in it. I had so much fun filling up their baskets this year and if I say so myself I’m pretty proud of them.

A cold front came through Sunday morning so it was pretty chilly all day. Chad’s parents came over to our house and brought the Ham while I made the sides. I don’t know why we just started doing this, it made life so much easier on all parties. We had cheesy potatoes, shaved brussel sprouts, ham, and green beans with an Apple crisp for dessert. It was my first time making shaved brussel sprouts and it sure will not be my last.

This past Easter was by far my favorite!