Life Lately 1.17.22

Happy Monday and MLK Day! I am so glad for an extra day of rest before another full week starts again. Last week was quite the wake-up call with the first full week back in quite a while, but I am trying to soak up the last few weeks of this routine before a new one becomes our normal for a while. I thought it would be fun to update y'all with a little life lately since it's been a while since I've blogged on here about what we've been up to. 

I hope you settle in on this snowy (in Nashville) Monday morning and enjoy these few small snapshots from the past few weeks. 

This right here pretty much sums up our entire December...haha We (....I) enjoyed several Hallmark Christmas movies...we read books, cozied up by the fire, and just enjoyed the quiet quaintness of Christmas and all that comes with it. 

One night a huge winter storm came through and knocked out our power for about 24 hours...we made do with our gas fire place, lots of candles, and the small battery life we had left on our computer and hotspot on our phone. It sure made for a fun night, even with the temperature quickly dropping inside... 

I knew all those blankets would come in handy one day 😂

The power came back on late the second night, and we were so grateful!! 

We made it to a few Christmas dinners and parties throughout the season as well! 

And maybe our biggest project over the break was tackling a Board and Batten wall in the nursery! 

Pierce was such champ to help make my crazy dreams into a reality. I can't wait to show you the final pictures soon! 

He also helped me paint both of our bathrooms upstairs at the same time...I think it was a little more than he had originally signed up for, but they both look so great, and I could not have done it without him!!

After our crazy house projects, we headed up to Louisville to spend Christmas with my family! 

Audrey made Dad an apron for all of his oatmeal cookies he's been loving to make in retirement 🍪 

Growing up we always watched The Next Food Network Star and every contestant had to have a "POV" or "Point of View..." Dad jokes that his is now Oatmeal, and now he has an embroidered apron to prove it haha

Christmas Day also started the beginning of the third trimester! We are on the final stretch over here... 

We snuck in a few workouts in the uncharacteristically warm December weather! 

Pierce's grandad lives in Louisville too, so we always try to take some time to go see him. Memories we won't forget I know!

We also had our fair share of cheering on the Bucs with my dad over Christmas break. 🏈

Christmas dinner at my parent's house is always amazing. My mom cooks the very best meal, and it's always such a treat! 

We love this Kentucky home and loved getting to spend Christmas here this year. 

We made it back to Nashville for our raving New Years Eve night... 😂 We always start a cleanse at the beginning of January, so we soaked up our last peppermint milkshake on the 31st and sat down to do our calendar that we love to have as a keepsake. We accidentally started this tradition on a walk one New Years Eve in 2016 when we were just dating and it's continued every year since...(with the exception of a still missing 2020....we always said we would go back and do it, but somehow we still haven't yet...haha)

And from milkshakes to carrot and grapefruit juice in 24 hours 😂

Every January 2nd since 2018, we have made our way to Frothy Monkey and taken some time to look back on our goals and on the past year, take some time to thank the Lord for all that He has done and then make goals, hopes, and prayer for the new year. Well, this year, it was snowing all day on January 2nd and our sweet coffee shop closed early, so we moved our kitchen table to our living room, made some tea and coffee and had our own little Christmas coffee shop to continue the tradition. 

A day in our sweatpants, no make up, and just enjoying the sweetness of a new year. 

This past year, one of our big goals was to memorize Philippians. We've memorized passages of Scripture together before, and we always find it the most encouraging to have it in our hearts and minds, and this year was no exception. So we took some time to write it out on this night too. It's always a sweet reminder of how transformative God's Word truly can be. ❤️

Still love this tradition, even if it was in a different place this year. 

This was one of three or four snows that we've had already this year in Nashville...let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! ❄️ 

Snow days are pretty much the perfect excuse to cuddle up for long afternoon naps. 

They're also good days to get household chores done like cleaning out closets...which I talk about in my second Motivation Monday post... 

It does feel good to start the year off with a clean coat closet! 

We also soaked up some extra time to try/make some fun new and old recipes. This banana nut muffin recipe is one of our favorites from Laura Lea's Balanced Cookbook! 

This fire has gotten a lot of use this winter already! 

My favorite little cozy winter fleece fits a little bit differently this year....haha

Love these white snowy sunsets...

But Christmas is finally put away over here...

And early before school routines have started again... 

Our mornings are also still filled with working out before school when we can. It just makes both of our days so much better to get our heart-rate up and bodies moving before the workday starts. 

And somehow, the tradition started of me snapping a pic to send to Pierce before the kids get to school, so I figured in the last few weeks, it'd be fun to keep the tradition alive. 

This day, I added an extra picture to send of the little Baby Riddick too 😉

This past week, I had parent conferences after school and Pierce left work early, grabbed a card and roses, and surprised me in the parking lot after my last one. ❤️It was a pretty sweet surprise after a very long day. 

We ended the night with our very favorite almond flour cookies. We couldn't recommend them enough! 

Over this long weekend, we cozied up with a few warm drinks, the fireplace on, snow falling outside and football on. Soaking up every last bit of this sweet season. 

Hope your all's life lately has been filled to the brim with the Lord's blessings as well. Thanks for following along in this journey of the Riddick Family. We are so grateful! 

Sending lots of love in this beginning of 2022!

We'll post more soon!
Tab and Pierce