Busy Busy!

The past couple weeks have been a whirlwind with the holidays and our trip to Florida. Here's a quick summary to catch you up!

I was a cookie making fool for a couple weeks this month and had a freezer full of treats to divvy up as gifts before we hit the road. This is my first attempt at decorated/iced cutout cookies. I had so much fun with these. The snowmen were my favorite.

So as usual, worked til the last minute, wrapped presents, threw clothes in a bag or two (including gym stuff!) and hit the road.

On our drive down we stopped outside Atlanta to see our friend Jenn and meet her family. They are so incredibly nice! Great kids and an adorable dog that reminded me of a mini-Izzie!

We had such a nice visit with my brother and his family and very much enjoyed the 75 degree sunny weather too! The first morning there I went for a walk/run at the community park that is near my brother's house. Then the next day I sought out Jazzercise and went to a class. Thad went and did a few classes of yoga too!

Speaking of  yoga - Thad taught Avery a bit of yoga, and I think it would be so great for her, she loved it. Christmas eve day she had me out there showing her poses and running back and forth to the laptop where I'd pulled up diagrams of kids yoga poses. Here she is with Thad doing a modified dancer's pose:

I also fit in a little shopping and lunch with Avery and my sister in law's sister Lisa, her daughter Emily and her friend; some quick last minute shopping with Debbie; and a girls night out of dinner and drinks at Chili's with Debbie, Lisa and a couple of their friends.

Christmas Eve we went to mass and then went to my sister in law's sister's house for dinner/celebration. I played photographer and took pics of all the kids, etc. This one is my favorite of Brandon and Avery:

And here's a photo of my family on Christmas. This is Debbie, my sister in law, my brother Brian, my Dad, me and Thad, my aunt Margie, my nephew Brandon, my Mom, and my niece Avery (who was not being cooperative).

And as always, our trip came to an end too soon. Thad had to be back in Michigan for work Tuesday 8am, so we left Sunday morning to head back. On our way we stopped in Orlando and saw my old college roommate Michelle and her family (and learned she's expecting another baby!), and visited another friend, Dianna and her husband for a little bit as well. We ended up stopping for the night north of Atlanta since we were so tired, but made it home Monday night by 10pm.  It's such a long drive, but half the country ran into flight delays and cancellations so we can't really complain as our trip was fairly headache free!

This week I've been catching up on laundry, cleaning and preparing for our annual New Year's Eve party. I'm really looking forward to a relaxing and fun evening at home with friends!