New Year's Eve 2015

Can I get an "Amen"? Actually I'm still recovering from being sick so I was happy to stay in pajamas all.day.long.

~

Little guy crashed out pretty early on.

And this is the only "group photo" taken {photo by: Payton}. Chris and Dylan were there too. Doing the same exact thing. 

So for something a little more exciting, here's are my top 9 Instagram photos for 2015... {The top left is the video of our storm/tornado warning last week.}The bottom right photo is my fav.

#2015bestnine

Abomination {book review}

I started to read The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak and it drug on and on. I had to force myself to read it, and I never did finish it before it was due back at the library. 

But then I picked up Abomination by Collen Coble and couldn't put it down. It's book #4 in the Rock Harbor Series so that story line continued yet, a serial killer was on the loose.

I give the book 5 stars!

~

Here's the links to the other 19 books I've read so far in 2015!:

(19) Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

(18) Blink - Ted Dekker

(17) Whirlwind - Cathy Marie Hake
(16) Keeper of the Lost Cities - Shannon Messenger
(15) Forevermore - Cathy Marie Hake
(14) Mean Mom's Guide to Raising Great Kids - Joanne Kraft
(13) Into the Deep - Colleen Cole
(12) Fancy Pants - Cathy Marie Hake
(11) The Antelope in the Living Room - Melanie Shankle
(10) Beyond a Doubt - Colleen Coble
(9) And the Shofar Blew - Francine Rivers
(8) The Power of Blessing - David Timms
(7) Emily Ever After - Anne Dayton & May Vanderbilt
(6) Without A Trace - Colleen Cole
(5) Sparkly Green Earrings - Melanie Shankle
(4) Take Four - Karen Kingsbury
(3) The Lipstick Gospel - Stephanie May Wilson
(2) A Little Salty to Cut The Sweet - Sophie Hudson
(1) She's Gonna Blow - Julie Ann Barnhill
~
TWENTY BOOKS people {and I only set out to read 12}!!!!  I read 17 of those in 8 months...then we moved and it took me 5 months to read the last 3.  Oh well!  I still made my goal.  Woot Woot!
~

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I'm 37!

Today is my birthday!  

{woot woot!}

Chris had planned for us to wake up super early and head out to Loveless Cafe for breakfast.  BUT we slept in instead because we had a gnarly wind storm last night that kept us up/waking us up.

Loveless would have been awesome, but I was excited to make Grandpa McNutt's Dutch Baby in my new cast iron skillet!

Yum!

We got ready for the day,

and headed to the mall.

We got there at 10:30 but the mall doesn't open until noon on Sundays {doh!}.

So we went to eat at Cheesecake Factory {one of my favs!}.

This bread is a-maz-ing.

So is this guy.

and these kids are pretty cool too.

The servers sang "Happy Birthday" to me and brought me this perfect size hot fudge sundae.

Then Rylan started to complain about not feeling well.  We tried to do some shopping by Rylan just wanted to be held so we decided to head back home.

~

Did I mention it was 75 degrees today?  Thanks God for that awesome gift!

Ry fell asleep in the car and when we got home he started bouncing off the wall.  I wanted to take a nap and he came and sat on my face.

So we went out for a walk/ride instead.

And then Chris lowered the seat on Dylan's bike and Rylan took off on it....loving every second.

After a couple of hours of hanging outside, talking with neighbors, we headed back inside for cake time! Yes, they were warming their hands next to the blazing fire on my cake.  {wink}

Dylan MADE me a keychain for my birthday. The cross is made of pen pieces, the heart out of hot glue. He is such a sweet/great/creative boy!

Then it was Just Dance time.  I won't share the awesome video we got of the whole family dancing because we are total dorks, but here are some snapshots.  We laughed the whole time.

Then we got a knock on the door and a sweet neighbor was there with flowers for my birthday!

Today was a perfect day!!

Week #52 {2015}

Sunday we had a lazy morning hanging out in our bed.

We've been reading The Indian in the Cupboard {very slowly}. And this time Ry brought his toy Indian with him.

P-Girl wanted to help daddy mow the lawn.

My Uncle Dennis and Aunt Barbara were in town and came down to see us for a bit.

It was so great to hug on them!

A new carniceria just opened by our house and holy moly.....it was awesome.

And they have REAL Coca-Cola from Mexico.  It's the best.

That night we drove around looking at Christmas lights.  This house was our favorite.

Monday we did some Christmas crafts {or craps as Rylan calls them.  hee hee!}.

Tuesday I had to document {and rub in} the fact that we were warmer than my family in California and Colorado!  {It may not happen again for a looooong time!}

Nuggle time with Ry Guy.

We FaceTimed with Payton and Daddy who were just upstairs.  Ry thought it was hilarious!

I absolutely love the "On This Day" feature on FaceBook, because I get reminded of moments like this. Eek! He was so little!

Payton created a poster for a tv show "Pengi and the Fish Fishy".

I loved that on the back she had the rating, running time, rating and reviews!

Ry has a new guy he is drawing.  He said it's a Minion.

The littles created a town with blocks and I was honored to find out they named it "Rebecca Town".

I got the last See's candy...and no, I didn't share.  {wink}

Wednesday was Christmas Eve Eve

Thursday we celebrated Christmas Eve.

Then of course Friday was Christmas Day!

Saturday the kids friends came over.  They danced.

And they made a birthday cake for me for tomorrow!

I love Christmas break.  We had such a good week!

~

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Bob {Elf on the Shelf}

2 weeks is plenty of time to have Bob hanging around. He showed up in pretty basic places, but here are a few of my favorite.

For this one, the fan was on {low} and he was swinging around in circles.

Zip lining to the Christmas tree.

And the last day he focused on the true meaning of Christmas.

See you next year Bob!

Christmas 2015

Christmas morning is finally here!

The kids were excited to see that Santa came.

Gift opening time!

After we opened presents we spent the day doing this:

And since it was raining outside, we spend time doing a puzzle, I got in a lot of reading. =)

This was our first Christmas without family around.  We enjoyed our relaxing day but also missed a little bit of the hubbub and fun with family.  Thank goodness for FaceTime!

~

Merry Christmas from the Lewis Family!