J - 109 months

Christmas morning the girls were up bright and early and ready to open their presents from Santa. They wasted no time finding the presents with their initials and dug right in! They got Barbie's, Legos, pajamas, books, hair dryers, games, and other small things, they must have been good girls for Santa to bring this much! J was most excited for her Lego waterpark that she had been talking about for a month! After presents we had some breakfast, J tried the hot cocoa bombs that my friends daughter had made, they were very sweet but she liked it and thought she was hot stuff drinking from a coffee cup. The rest of the day was quiet (well as quiet as it can be with new toys) and low keyed. We Facetimed with family to open presents, we watched the Disney Christmas parade, and they played with all their new stuff. J immediately took to her rainbow drums from her cousins and caught on pretty fast playing the songs it came with, she had to fight daddy off from playing with it! We had a non-traditional sushi/Japanese linner (lunch/dinner) and ended the day with the fire pit outside. It was a perfect "quiet" holiday, we were all having a nice time that we extended our stay at G&G's house for another day, it beat going back to the condo with nothing to do!

We went to see the light show at the mall before heading down to Miami to spend New Years. Other than eating out a few times we hadn't really done much and this was out first time being around a larger crowd. Everyone was pretty good about wearing masks and staying their distance from one another. We all enjoyed the light/music show and it gave us a little holiday magic, having missed Disney this holiday season it was the best we could do to get some bigger lights (we had gone looking at neighborhood lights a few times).

We ventured to Miami a few days after Christmas to spend New Years down there. The girls were excited that their cousins playhouse was done enough to where they could finally play in it! They wasted no time when we arrived and went outside to slide, climb, play pirates and go on a treasure hunt! Of course J organized the hunt and made the map, she is the leader and organizer of their pack. Seeing their cousins has been the highlight of this year, besides them and BH they haven't seen or played with anyone else. The weather was too cool to go in the pool so they spent lots of time playing in the playhouse, on the porch and playing switch! They loved Sundowners when we went for J's birthday that we made another trip for some yummy food! The girls are still upset they don't have fried shrimp on their menu! We had a nice afternoon getting some Vitamin D, listening to music and being outside and away from the house.

Aunt Boo and I planned kid friendly NYE day/night and spent time trying to be sneaky and get things organized for them when they weren't around/looking. After the Halloween party that they still talk about we had expectations to fill! The day/night was fun filled and full of activities to keep them entertained every hour from 1pm until the ball dropped at midnight, the only one who took a nap was A, the rest of the kids lasted the entire time! Their fun started with a scavenger hunt, they have loved the scavenger hunts we have done for them, this one took them inside and outside, at the end of their hunt they found their prize waiting for them in the playhouse (the hardest part was getting them out of the playhouse to hide the final prize)! They made bottle shakers from glitter, beads and bells, had a bubble wrap dance party on the driveway that was a huge hit, popped poppers, had a foam shower party and a couple others things I can't remember! 

After their showers they all got dressed into "fancy" clothes for the night. They had their own little dinner, charuterie style,  filled with all the things they love and "cheers"ed with their "fancy" cups. The adults enjoyed our own board filled with goodies and some bubbly in the wine room away from them and their "what is next", what they had been saying all day! The time it took between bags was filled with anticipation of what was next, guess we need to plan longer activities next time, some of them only occupied 15 minutes out of the hour, and we heard "what is next" for 45 minutes! After dinner they got some of their wiggles out with a glow dance party and then had the cake they had been dying to try all day! We should have let them follow Nana's rule and have dessert before dinner. We attempted a group picture with our hot mess of a backdrop we made, we bribed them that they couldn't have the last bag unless they cooperated!

The last bag ended with sparklers for them and Uncle Mikey putting on a firework show, the girls had gotten to go with him when we were down in the Keys to the fireworks tent to pick things out, of course they wanted pink fireworks! We spent a good hour outside playing with fire, J loved doing sparklers and watching the fireworks. I had gotten some of the longer ones but those let our bigger sparks, they liked the smaller ones and also the confetti poppers that made a mess all over the driveway! At about 11pm we went back inside to watch the festivities on TV and for them to play Animal Crossing, there were big NYE parties on their islands! We all saw the ball drop at midnight and then headed to bed, keeping these kids entertained all day was EXHAUSTING!

We went and saw cousin J before we headed home and celebrated the holidays with them and some pizza! The girls had fun playing with her and helped her open her gifts, I really just think they wanted to play with her new toys! They got cowgirl boots from Uncle G and Auntie V that they were super excited about, J's first pair of cowgirl boots! We had a nice afternoon and the girls love playing with babies, now if they would only change her diaper!

When we got back home it was time to get organized and ready for the girls to go back to in-person school, after being home for 10 months it was time for them to be with their friends, teachers and in a real classroom environment. It was a tough decision to make as them going back to school meant that they wouldn't get to see the grandparents until they were able to get their COVID vaccines. We saw V&V for Christmas but didn't get to see Nana. So we met her at a park for lunch before school started and exchanged gifts with her, we had a CFA picnic, spent some time walking/scootering the park and then attempted to make her a COVID vaccine appointment with no luck. J got a ton of Legos for Christmas and was antsy to start putting them together, condo living was not meant for Lego building, especially her new 1,000 piece set, building her new house was the compromise and made her happy, well at least for the time being.

The day finally came for the girls to head back to school, they were both excited and nervous the first day. We picked up BH for school and off they went with the new norm and mask wearing, we stocked up at Old Navy so that they would have a mask for every outfit! J had BH in class and wasn't a deer in the headlights walking in on the first day. She quickly reconnect with friends and made friends with some of the girls she didn't know, she jumped right into the little games they play at recess time and seemed like she was fitting right in. She was most excited to be back in art class and have library time, even though the librarian had let them go and checkout books all fall semester. In math they stated working on multiplication facts and area/perimeter, I was glad they were back in person for these lessons and had a live teacher to ask questions too! While they didn't get to watch the presidential inauguration at school her teacher did teach them about it. She'd come home daily and wouldn't stop talking and telling us about her day! She loved being back in school and loved her teacher, her teacher was really great about keeping the parents connected and updated on what they were doing.

We took advantage of living in a community with a country club and enrolled the girls in tennis lessons, J has always wanted to learn and there was no better opportunity.  BH joined in on the lessons and the three girls had fun learning a new sport. Their coach was really nice, she taught them about the game and the the rules, J did well and picked things up quickly. We finally took her to Barnes and Nobles to spend her birthday gift card she had gotten, with her birthday being around the holidays it always comes and goes and gets mixed up with it all. It was a nice treat to her to be able to get some new books in January once all of the holiday hype was over. 

Here are the pictures from Christmas, Miami and the month.