Christmas in Florida

This is our third Christmas in a row in Florida and every time we go, Mario and I are become more and more committed to retiring there.  We literally cannot wait to be there full time.  Everyday Mario goes to work dreaming about the day we move there.  And everyday that it is cold here in Omaha, I dream about that day too.  I don't mind spring, summer, and fall here but winter just seems to be forever somedays.  It's not just the weather that makes us want to move there, we love being with my family.  I have such wonderful parents and siblings.  It will be a little bittersweet because I'm only 6 hours from my sister now, so we will be far when we move.  But at least we can visit her and her family whenever we want.

We stayed with Billy and Kristen again.  They are such wonderful hosts.  Billy stocks the pantry with junk food for my kids (and himself I think.)  He takes us boating (and fishing) as often as we want. He heated his pool for 10 days straight.  I feel like Kristen and I could talk all day since we don't see each other often.   She is a wonderful mom and wife.

This year, we went by to check out our home in Venice. It needs a new pool cage or at least new screening.  While there, Karen took us on a tour of the house.  She keeps the house in impeccable condition. We have been blessed with the best renter ever I think.  But as I looked at the pool, I got discouraged at how outdated it had become.  Maybe that's because Billy just spent a ton of money renovating his pool area and mine now looked really old.  But I walked away thinking maybe we should sell and buy something newer.  Mario agreed and so we looked at a new subdivision that is more resort-like.  He liked it.  I did not.  I realized how much I loved my home's floor plan and location.  It really made me appreciate what I already had and I didn't need anything else.  So for now, we are going to keep what we have thank goodness.  We will probably do some renovations when we move in a few years from now.

Anyway, we loved every minute we had in Florida.  The weather was perfect, my family got together often, and we just had the best time.  Christmas morning was a little disappointing for the boys since they got all their gifts before flying down to Florida. But Christmas afternoon, we told them about the puppy and they declared it the best Christmas ever.

While in Florida, we did an Escape Room with our family, Grandma and Papa, and Gina.  We escaped with only like 2 minutes to spare.  It was a close one and I was convinced we were going to lose.  Eric and Zach took a trapeze class which was pretty scary for me to watch as their mother.  But they both had a good time.  We visited the Tesla store so Eric could dream about his first new car purchase after he has a real job.  Eric got to drive Billy's mustang which was a lot of fun.  Speaking of mustang, we followed Billy thru a residential neighborhood to go to Englewood to get a boat. Billy was speeding thru in his mustang and we followed in a Honda CRV.  A police officer pulled us over and not Billy.  Fortunately, he let us off with a warning (maybe because Mario showed his military ID, haha).

Hutch

My parents gave us some furniture when we first got married. This hutch is one of the last pieces we have left. In fact, it had a top on it but the glass got broken in a move awhile back so we got rid of it and just kept the bottom for the sentimental value.

Mario decided to paint it this year. I think he did a great job. It is now a beautiful piece of furniture in our living room. What a difference paint and new hardware make!Now I want him to paint the rest of our furniture.

Homemade Ornaments

I'm so thankful for my friendship with Sharon Dryer. She is super crafty and she's kind enough to invite me over to teach me new things all the time. She's the one that taught Erin and I how to quilt so she is extra special to me.

This past week, Sharon taught me how to take those plain glass balls you buy at the craft store and turn them into beautiful ornaments.









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Erin's Quilts

I decided that maybe I could honor Erin by making a quilt each Christmas for a young woman that is suffering in the same ways Erin was suffering. This year I chose my friend, Michelle's daughter, Aly. She is 13 years old and just a beautiful girl inside and out like Erin. Her favorite colors are black and white. So this is the quilt I plan to give her this weekend before I leave for Florida. I hope she likes it. I enjoyed making it for her. It brought back memories of quilting with Erin. What a wonderful time we had together learning how to quilt. I will always treasure those memories.




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Thanksgiving

Michael and Rose came up for Thanksgiving again this year. It was a long drive and they didn't have much time off from work so they couldn't stay long, but it was a nice treat to see them again. Michael plans to retire in the next few years and then move to Thailand. It sounds intriguing. We could retire really well there on Mario's military pension but the cost to travel back and forth to see my kids would be just too high. So I don't see moving to Thailand in my future. But I'd love to visit one day.

Eric and I continued our Black Friday shopping tradition and hit the outlet mall with my friends late Thursday night. I didn't buy anything except a pair of boots for him for Christmas. But I love that tradition with him that we started back in Tucson when he was looking for a lego set for Nathan at Toys R Us. We have gone out shopping every year since I think. Of course, we miss Erin shopping with us, but she is never far from our thoughts. In fact, I'm pretty certain she is with us much more than we know. How I'm grateful for my daughter and all she has taught me in her short life, I look forward to a joyous reunion one day. For now, I can just be thankful for that knowledge that we will have that reunion one day. What a glorious day that will be.









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Happy 13th Birthday Nate and Zach

Well, it's official. We now have 2 more teenagers in the house! These boys are so full of energy but also so full of love. We went all out for this big birthday milestone and they were both so appreciative of all the work that went into making it special.

A year ago, I began making them t-shirt quilts from Erin's old t-shirts and artwork. This week I finally finished them up and they loved them. They are more lap size, but they like to sleep with them.






Nathan got a Santa and reindeer lego set and Zach got a new fishing pole from me and Mario. Eric and Nicole (Eric's new girlfriend) got Nate a magic trick kit and puzzle and Zach some fishing gear. We had homemade donuts and scones for breakfast and went out to Pie 5 for dinner.










On Friday night, we had an Escape Room birthday party for the boys at our house. I found an idea on line and added to it to make a great Zombie Apocalypse room. The boys had to make a vaccine to save themselves from the zombies. They had 45 minutes to do it before the zombies invaded and both groups did it in exactly 30 minutes. It was a lot of work putting the room together but it was worth it. All ten boys had a great time and all were very appreciative. One thing that has always impressed me is that all my kids seem to have the nicest friends. What a great group of young men! They all worked together really well in their groups. Nathan invited Griffin, Kaden Mellars, Xavier Walker, and Christopher Kosmicki. Zach invited Liam Webber, Ian, Blak Thorpe, and Ethan Yorgeson.















Now wish me luck as we embark on the teen years with these two awesome boys! I'm so glad they have each other and a great big brother to help them navigate through these tough years.

Chicken Pincushions

Nate and I sewed up a couple pincushions during our "Mom and Nate Time" today. The first one we tried was a fail, but these two came out well. Bet you can't guess which one Nathan made!






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