The One Where I Turned 40

I started looking through pictures of this past year and forgot how truly amazing this year was. There was one theme. Travel.

January brought a few snow/ice days to NC. We had already decided to sneak away down to Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte for a belated birthday trip for Mackenzie, but we ended up not having to "sneak" since it ended up being a snow day for school! Since this Great Wolf Lodge is so close, we took advantage and got almost 2 full days in the water park!

February allowed me to fly up to Maryland and visit my girls for a quick weekend away. I love when coworkers become family and am so happy that we keep in touch. We did a paint night and enjoyed a nice dinner out. Kyle was also happy with another Eagles Super Bowl win as we hosted another fun party.

March ended with chaperoning Mackenzie’s field trip to the Outer Banks. We spent a full 48 hours visiting Jeanette’s Pier, climbing to the top of Currituck Lighthouse and Jockey’s Ridge, seeing the Wright Brothers Memorial, and exploring the Lost Colony. It was fun just being a parent/chaperone and not being in charge of activities and other people!

April took us to Phoenix, Arizona for an anniversary getaway with my cousin and his wife. We played lots of golf, ate lots of food, and explored Sedona on a jeep tour. It even snowed while we were there!

May was pretty calm. No travels, but we did go to the ACC baseball championship game at the Durham Bulls stadium.

June carried us to our annual beach vacation to Ocean Isle Beach full of family, food, golf, and swimming! We also went to Busch Gardens with my childhood BFF and her kids.

July produced an epic road trip. The month started off with me sneaking away to Tennessee to play in a golf tournament and ended with a road trip from North Carolina to Ohio to Chicago then to Tennessee. Our trip to Chicago included marking off 3 more baseball stadiums from our list, including driving up to Milwaukee for the day. I ended the month by turning 40.

August brought about back to school season. I finally landed a job at the neighborhood school where the kids have gone the past 3 years. It immediately felt like home.

September we entered the baseball family life. Jackson joined a team for the first time and we enjoyed watching him learn and grow.

October stayed calm with a visit from my mom and some STEAM club projects.

November was filled with more travel. The fifth graders trekked up to Washington, D.C. for 36 hours of jam packed experiences. We visited Mount Vernon, DC monuments at night, Ford’s Theatre, Arlington National Cemetery, Pentagon 9/11 Memorial, Washington Monument, and Smithsonian museums. Kyle, the kids, and I then snuck off to Orlando. We spent Thanksgiving with Mickey at the Magic Kingdom and then fulfilled Jackson’s Lego dreams by hitting up Legoland. We also stopped by Savannah, Ga on our way back home to visit with my uncle.

December didn’t bring any travel, but we packed in some local fun. Family time at the Flyers-Hurricanes hockey game and a fun afternoon playing Top Golf. Our Christmas was spent in North Carolina with lots of family time.

I am truly so thankful for all of the amazing things that occurred this year. Turning 40 sounds scary, but honestly it hasn't been so bad. I feel like I'm hitting my groove with parenting, teaching, marriage, and life.

Can’t wait to see what 2026 brings!

New Year's Eve with Kids Part 4

I was looking back through pictures to see what activities we did last year for New Year's Eve and I completely forgot we were kid free! The kids spent a few nights at my moms house and the hubby and I went out to an early dinner then spent a quiet night at home.

I decided that this year's New Year's Eve activities are going to revolve around games! I'm also switching it up and instead of doing bags, I bought balloons for them to pop each hour. Each balloon will have a game inside on a piece of paper.

I created 12 different game ideas, but we will probably start our countdown around 4 pm. I'm going to alternate between the minute to win it games and the other games.

The games are listed below:

Game #1 - Winter Pictionary

Take turns picking a card. The person who picks a card will draw the word on a paper or a dry erase board until the others guess it. Keep taking turns until all cards have been chosen.

Materials Needed - Click on the link above to get your copy of the cards, paper, markers

Game #2 - Heads Up - Family Edition

This game follows the normal heads up rules where one person has a word or phrase on their forehead and the others have to give clues about the word or phrase until the person guesses it correctly.

This edition of the game will use names of family members. You can set limits on the types of clues that can be given in order to make it harder or easier.

Materials Needed - paper to write down the names

Game #3 - Bucket List - Two Truths and a Lie

For this activity, everyone will take a few minutes to write down their 2026 bucket list items. What do they want to accomplish this year? They should also write down one item that is NOT a bucket list item (the lie).

When everyone is ready, take turns reading their bucket lists including the one lie Everyone else tries to guess which item from the list is the lie.

Materials Needed - paper and pen to write down the bucket lists

Game #4 - New Year's Eve Charades

Take turns picking a card. The person who picks the card will act out the word or phrase until the others guess it. Keep taking turns until all cards have been chosen.

Materials Needed - Click on the link above to get your copy of the cards

Game #5 - Categories

Take turns choosing a category. This can be holiday related by choosing New Year's Eve or Christmas, or a random category like food.

The person who chose the category will go first. They start off by naming an item from the category that starts with the letter A. The next person will say a word that starts with the letter B. Continue going around and see if you can make it all the way to letter Z.

Take turns picking a category and see which category was the easiest!

Game #6 - Kids Pick!

We have a TON of board games already in our house, so this allows each kid to pick a game from our house that we can all play. This could also be a time to give the family a new game if you wanted.

The next 6 games are Minute to Win It games. There are SO many options out there, these are the 6 that I have chosen.

Game #7 - Don't Blow It!

Each person will have a straw and attempt to blow pieces of candy from point A on the table to point B on the table. I'm planning to put some tape down on the table to make a line for point A and then a square for point B.

Set a timer for 1 minute and see how many pieces of candy each person can get into point B!

Materials Needed - timer, straws, small candy like M&Ms, skittles, etc.

Game #8 - Stack It Up

Each person will have 1 minute to stack candy on top of each other. They can only use 1 hand and the candy must stay on its own when the timer goes off. The highest stack wins!

Materials Needed - timer, flat candy like smarties, peppermints, etc.

Game #9 - Marshmallow Chopsticks

Each person will have a set of chopsticks and a bowl. Put the marshmallows in the center of the table. Each person will use chopsticks to try and pick up as many marshmallows as they can one at a time and put them in their bowl. Whoever has the most after 1 minute wins!

Materials Needed: timer, chopsticks, marshmallows, bowls

Game #10 - Ping Pong Bounce

There are many different ways to play this game and it can be adapted depending on the age of the children. We are going to have each person take turns to bounce the ping pong balls into cups on the table. You could also have each person stand on a chair and try to bounce or drop the ping pong ball into a cup. Whoever gets the most ping pong balls into the cups wins!

Materials Needed: timer, ping pong balls, cups

Game #11 - Scoop It Up

Each person will have a spoon and 2 bowls. Bowl A will be filled with candy and bowl B will be empty. Each person must move the candy from bowl A to bowl B using only the spoon which they are holding between their teeth. Whoever moves the most candy after 1 minute wins!

Materials Needed: timer, bowls, spoons, small candy like M&M's or skittles

Game #12 - Keep It Up

Each person is given a light object like a balloon or feather. Each person tries to keep their object in the air for the entire minute. Depending on the ages you can make it harder by using the rule that you can't use any hands or you can only use your mouth by blowing the object in the air.

Materials Needed: timer, balloons or feathers

Other ideas that we are going to do to fill the evening:

- sparkling apple cider with pop rocks

- poppers

- order pizza or Chinese food

**I will update the post with pictures afterwards.

Check out my posts from previous years for more ideas:

New Year's 2024

New Year's 2023

New Year's 2022

May the year ahead meet you with moments that matter most!