Winter Break 2017

This was a fun Winter break, our first of many, I suppose. Monday we returned from Tennessee.

Tuesday, we took it easy. Slept in, did laundry, etc. Stella had her usual dance class that afternoon.

Wednesday, we went to Barnes and Noble's story time at 11:00 am. Normally, Stella is in school so we aren't able to attend, but we went over Christmas break so we thought we'd try it again. I invited Stella's friend's from school, Charlotte and Maddy to join us. Charlotte wasn't able to come, but Stella had fun with Maddy.  Afterwards, we had lunch next door at the mall and then the girls played in the indoor playground there. Stella was sucked in by the Asian people in the food court offering up samples. Stella had one bite of bourbon chicken and decided right then and there she wanted it. So we had that, along with orange chicken, fried rice and those amazing seared green beans. 

I became a Sand Cloud ambassador and needed to take a picture for instagram. Stella wanted to join in and gave me such sweet snuggles.

Thursday we went down to Brooks/Tyrone to visit Aunt Katha and Kaylene. Stella enjoyed playing downstairs with Hadley's toys.  We got to see Kaylene and Casey's new house as well as bring a ton of Stella's old baby things down to Kaylene for her soon-to-be baby Scarlett. 

Stella loved laying in Kaylene's bed snuggling with Figaro while Kaylene and I caught up in the living room. We went to Partner's Pizza for supper and shared the most yummy and interesting pizza I've ever had-a loaded potato pizza. I mean, how can you go wrong with potatoes, bacon, cheese, scallions and this tangy sour cream sauce on amazing pizza dough? You can't.  Oooh, I want one right now!

I asked Lynn if she wanted to meet us at Nickajack Creek to play Friday but she said she was taking the girls to the aquarium and invited us along. I didn't want to deal with the crowds after having such a busy, crowded weekend previously so I declined. Besides, I knew Stella would be overwhelmed and she wasn't such a huge fan of the aquarium so I thought I'd pass. 

But then later that evening Tiffany texted me to say she was taking the boys to the zoo if we wanted to come along. I kind of just wanted to stay at home or nearby and be lazy, but the zoo wasn't too much work. It was a short drive and basically free, especially if we packed a lunch which we typically do now. Plus, I knew Stella would love to see the boys since it had been a while. And she'd get to run around outside which she always enjoys and the zoo is one of her favorite places. So we went.

The weather was great and with it being the Atlanta area's winter break, it was crowded, but as I've said before, it never feels too crowded at the zoo which I love.

Being a good "big sister" while waiting on the train.

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Stella and her "big brother."

Saturday morning Lynn, Ava and Ellery met us at Nickajack. The girls basically went swimming and Ava ended up wearing Ellery's 12 month onesie back with her wet snow boots Lynn's jacket. It was hilarious and a bit unbelievable that it fit. She was just going to have her step into it and make it like panties, but it ended up going up over her shoulders. 

Saturday night we went to El Soliceto for supper. It's our new go-to Mexican place and it's just down the road.

Sunday, I finally got around to cleaning out the herb garden. It was my intention to do this in the Fall, but we were in that horrible drought and it was impossible to pull weeds with the ground being so hard and dry. So I left it. Stella helped for a bit. We both ended up smelling like rosemary for the rest of the day because we were pulling leaves out of it for over 10 minutes. That's a good smell to walk around with for the day so we were ok with it. 

Since I was in gardening/cleaning mode, I moved up to the front yard to trim the bushes and clean the leaves out of the beds. 
We didn't do any yard work this Fall so this was needed. Stella enjoyed jumping in the leaves and I got the best slow-motion video of her running and jumping in them. 

This was a good first Winter Break. Stella had a three playdates, but I didn't feel like we weren't super busy.  I need socialization too so it worked well for both of us.