2019 has already had it's ups and downs and we're only 2 weeks in. A little over a week ago, January 4th, Jake was laid off from his job that he had been at for 12 years. It was quite a shock and disappointment to say the least. He's been extremely proactive though and has already sent his resume out to so many different companies and has even had a couple phone interviews and 2 face-to-face interviews, so we're very optimistic. It's hard and we're obviously apprehensive, but we're trying to stay positive and trust that God has a plan and He will make a way.
On a happier note, that same evening, Jackson's school had a movie night in the gym. Everyone voted on what movie to watch earlier in the week and they picked Incredibles 2. One of our favorites!! The kids were able to wear their pajamas and bring blankets, pillows and sleeping bags. It was a very fun night and a good way to keep our minds off the bad news we had gotten earlier that day!
The next day we went to a birthday party for one of Jackson's friends from school and then spent the rest of the day taking the Christmas decorations down outside while the kids played outside with the neighbors. The weather was really nice for January so we spent a majority of the afternoon outside just hanging out with friends.
Sunday we got up and went to church. Then after church I wanted to get the Christmas tree and Christmas decorations down inside, but before we did that we had to get our annual Christmas picture in front of the tree. I usually try to do this closer to Christmas but just hadn't gotten around to it yet this year. I love this year's picture though, it may be my favorite yet!
Avery's class does a "family of the month" and each child's family picks a month that works best for them to be the family of the month. We picked January and had to put a poster together to show things we like to do together as a family. So we worked on that throughout the week and Avery got to present her poster to her class on Friday. Her teacher sent me a couple of pictures of Avery presenting it and they were so cute! She also sent me a little video and I was so impressed with how confident Avery was. She did great!
That afternoon we got a huge snowstorm that brought us a little over 10" of snow when it was all said and done!! Jackson got to leave school early and I was able to leave work a little early. Once we got home we cleared the driveway and went over to hang out with some friends that live close for a snowmageddon party.
It snowed for most of the night that night and even more the next day. So that morning we all met up at the sledding hill at the park near our house! It was hopping for sure. Every family in our area had the same idea! It was fun though because so many of our friends were up there. We went sledding for over an hour and then went home to warm up and get ready for the Chiefs vs. Colts game that afternoon!
Before heading to the hill I got my camera out and got a picture of the kids in front of our house in all of their snow gear. :-)
Then I just took my phone to the park.
Jake had some guys that live close-by over to watch the Chiefs game that afternoon and they brought their sons who are friends with Jackson from school. The girls all got together at a different house for wine and snacks, so Avery came along with me to play with the girls. We got a few pictures of some of the kids later in the evening doing yoga! It was too cute!
Church was canceled on Sunday because of all the snow, so we slept in and just hung out at home for most of the day. I decided with the Chiefs big win the day before and nowhere to go that day, I'd try and put a Chiefs puzzle together that we had. It is 1000 pieces so needless to say I didn't get it finished. I figure I'll work on it throughout the week in the evenings and try and get it done. My mom is helping me too so we'll see how long it takes us.
The kids and I also decided to try and make some snow ice-cream on Sunday afternoon. We used this recipe and it turned out great. The kids loved it!
So it's been an eventful last 2 weeks. Some good and some bad, but we'll get through the bad and be better for it I'm sure. Now we are gearing up for our cruise that leaves this weekend. We'll be leaving Friday afternoon and driving to Jackson, MS where we're staying the night and then driving on to New Orleans to board a Carnival Cruise with 2 stops in Mexico. We're going with Jake's family and have had this planned for a year now. We're all really looking forward to it. It will be a nice change of pace and nice to relax a little and have fun!
