Happy New Year! I am praying this is a really great year for anyone reading this post. 😊
How did you spend the end of 2025? What is 2026 looking like for you? I want to hear all about it in the comments. Here’s how we finished out 2025 and are starting 2026.
Closing Out 2025 👋🏻
After a small break during the week of Christmas, we got back to homeschooling and it felt so wonderful to have some normalcy and structure! Both Sadie and I needed the Christmas break and we both needed the routine again. 😂
We did one day of school at home and then did another day in our homeschool room at Jimmy’s work! Since Mordecai has been 50/50 on taking naps lately, we have a lot more flexibility with spending time out of the house in the afternoons.
We keep a lot of our educational board games at the homeschool room, so we took the opportunity to pull out Math Island and played.
Mordecai did some color sorting with a mini muffin set we used to use with Sader Tot and did so well. He also got in some playtime with Jimmy’s brother! It’s such a blessing that Jimmy works with his dad, brother, and sister every day. We love being able to pop by and spend time with family.
We went to our local library so the big kids could attend “crafter noon,” which was an afternoon arts and crafts time. Mordecai lost interest after he made a bookmark, so I brought him and Dakota to the play area while Sadie continued to make New Year’s confetti crackers.
Speaking of crafting, we also did some painting at home! We have picture frames in our entryway that we fill with themed art each season. Sadie and I painted polar bears.
We also hit up the car wash! Nothing makes me feel like I have my life together like a freshly washed car. Another thing we did to make me feel like I had my life together was cleaning Sadie’s room. We went through her toys, organized, and decluttered. She was very excited to set up her dolls in a freshly cleaned space.
I pulled out some of Mordecai’s old pajamas for Dakota and found a picture of him in them as a baby! They definitely look similar but also have totally different head shapes, haha. Mordecai is on the left and Dakota is on the right.
New Year’s Eve 🎆
New Year’s Eve brought Pittsburgh a big snow storm! We were supposed to go to a New Year’s Eve fellowship at our church, but it was rescheduled due to the dicey weather. We hunkered down at home and enjoyed the snow, though!
Jimmy and Mordecai coincidentally put together a snow blower Lego set together!
And I started a fun craft project! Sadie is starting to collect Russian nesting dolls, so I ordered a set of unpainted ones and am hand-painting them for her as a surprise. It’s going to take me forever since I’m never away from her for long, but I cannot wait to surprise her with them!! I was able to start the project when she was outside playing with her friends.
In the evening, we all went outside in the snow! We’re pet sitting Niva’s best friend, so it was extra fun having two huskies to play in the snow with us.
Dakota was skeptical about the snow. I don’t blame her. 😉
We pulled the kids and their neighbor friends around the yard on their sleds and had such a great time! It definitely wore everyone out.
After we put Mordecai and Dakota to bed, Jimmy, Sadie, and I jumped in the hot tub. We got covered in snow! Afterwards, I watched Sadie and Jimmy play Minecraft. They have started a tradition where they stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve and play video games together. I lasted until a little after 10 and then went to bed!
Happy New Year 🥳
I did something totally out of character for me on New Year’s Day—I slept in until 7:30 am! I don’t think it was worth it, though. I woke up right with the kids and was so groggy!
We hung out around the house and did some cleaning. Sadie worked on wrapping and decorating presents for her friend’s birthday, too. We still love using my sticker maker to print pictures as stickers to decorate gifts and cards.
By mid-afternoon, everyone was a bit stir crazy. It was frigid outside and nothing was opened, so we made our own fun! We went to Jimmy’s welding shop and Sadie and I rollerbladed.
Jimmy brought Dakota and Mordecai for rides on the go kart we keep there, too! Dakota was unimpressed once again. 😂
It was honestly the perfect way to break up the day and have some fun as a family! Now I want to take Sadie to a roller rink.
We went home, had dinner, and then I made peanut butter blossoms with Sarris Candies chocolate blossoms that I picked up on our recent visit. They came out great! Sarris chocolate really is just something else!
In the evening, we played Clue and bemoaned the fact that it was 16 degrees outside—just a bit too cold to go in the hot tub! There’s something cozy about playing board games on a cold winter night, though. 😊
And that brings us to today! It’s Friday as I type up this post. Jimmy is off of work (!!) but needed to get some computer work done from home. We woke up at 5 to give ourselves some time before the kids woke up… and they all got up before 6—womp womp! I brought Dakota and Mordecai to the grocery store and Sadie is going to her friend’s birthday party tonight.
I am really looking forward to normal life again post-holidays! I know we are hitting the winter doldrums, but it will at least feel nice to know what day it is. 🤣
Other Notes and Thoughts 📝
- Dakota ate a crayon today. 🖍️🤷🏼♀️
- Mordecai “gave” Jimmy this book for Christmas and they read it together every night. 📖
- We took down our Christmas decor on the 26th and our house has felt a lot more spacious since then! 🏠
- I’ve been reading a bit of this devotional for moms every morning and love it.
- I cannot wait to decorate for Valentine’s Day! I may or may not have bought a Valentine’s Day-themed shower curtain 🤭
- I could not find a sippy cup Dakota would drink from (she never took a bottle, so this complicated things!) but she finally drank from these adorable cups recently! 🙌🏼
- We gave Malcolm a catnip toy for Christmas and he has played with it (very loudly) every night since. 🐭
- Scripture I’m currently loving: Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12.
Living My Full Life 