Pancake Party Tradition

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 I'm choosing this one as the next post to update from my drafts because I am pumped about having three friends over tomorrow for breakfast!  We are changing things up, though, having waffles instead of pancakes!  I just got a waffle iron this morning, so we are going to put it to use right away!

Chantal, Cherie, Katlyn, and I have made it a tradition that we have a pancake breakfast together sometime while we are out of school during the winter.  This was our New Year's celebration!  Last year, we did the same day, too, so it was an anniversary!  However, that day we ran first, but this time we all did our own thing as we were all on a cross training time instead.

Another tradition of eating at my house is taking an action shot.  Behold our food-in-the-mouth photo!

If you don't know about the fancy cupcakes that the twins make, you will someday.  They will have a cupcakery, bakery, catering business or something!  As a best friend and almost-neighbor, I get the special privilege of taste-testing all their creations!  This one has a new peanut butter butter cream icing with mini dark chocolate chips!

Katlyn felt like she had been slacking on her core, so we decided that we would all work together to get stronger while we waited on our pancakes to cook!  Katlyn led us in some pushups then squats.

You know they are your true friends when you aren't embarassed to do pushups in front of them.  Let's be honest; there are few people who have a pretty pushup.

The next day I took some of that amazing icing and added it to my pancake topping!

Life is Beautiful Project

There is a great song by The Afters that I have come to love.  It is a great reminder of all the amazing blessings God has given us.  We have every reason to be joyful each and every day.  I got the idea earlier during break to make a collage for each line of the bridge.

Life is Beautiful!

 

"The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.  I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."  John 10:10

 

 

A father's love

A wedding dance
(a couple are from a wedding, the rest just dance!)

New Year's dreams

A toast with friends

A soldier coming home from war
(my friend Aly and her boyfriend Michael, who goes to my church and just entered the army after graduating last year; a plaque my Aunt Fran received from her service; See You at the Pole 2013 at my school)

The faith, the hope for so much more

Brand new life

A mother's prayer
(My mom and me on top; youth pastor's wife, Lindsey, and daughters on bottom)

Shooting stars

Ocean air

A lover's kiss

Hard goodbyes
(top:  going-away party for my friend Kasey in middle school-Kasey is the one on top
bottom:  One of my best friends Samantha, far right, has made a couple moves since elementary school, but now she is fairly close, just past Knoxville.)

Fireworks

Christmas lights

 

These are the things that make us feel alive;

These are the things that make us realize

Life is beautiful

 





"The old has gone; the new has come!" 2 Cor 5:17

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has gone; the new has come!"

  2 Corinthians 5:17

Although I'm not big on changing a whole bunch just for New Years (because any moment is a God-given opportunity to change), I thought this would be a great verse for the new year!  When you accept Christ into your heart, He makes you completely new.

This has been the best Christmas break I have ever had, and New Years also lived up to the standard!  On December 31st, I got to do something I have been wanting to do for over a year; I had a pancake party!  I texted 3 of my best running friends the day before to ask if they wanted to go for a run then have pancakes, so they headed over!  (Katlyn was getting over a cold, so she didn't run, but she met us for breakfast.)  Chantal, Cherie (who live within walking distance), and I ran down the highway towards town and back for around 7.6 miles.

Here we all are in our new shoes!  (and black tights.  We didn't even plan that.)

Mine are on the left, Chantal on top, Cherie right, Katlyn bottom.  Part of my shoe actually glows in the dark, but I haven't gotten to try it out yet.

My new griddle!  This is one of my Christmas gifts.  I made us each 2 big pancakes.  Chantal, Cherie, and I had Recees Pieces pancakes topped with peanut butter (I also had honey and sugar free syrup), and Katlyn chose York Pieces pancakes.  I love this griddle, because it is big, fast, and easy to clean.

Here we are about to dig in!

I am so blessed to have these girls.  Every time we get together, we have so many laughs, encouragement, and uplifting feelings!  These are girls that I can trust, and we can help each other grow in our faith.  When I'm with them, I have no worries or bad feelings about what I'm doing.  It is so important to have friends like this in your life to help keep you on track!

At my house, it has become "tradition" in a way over the past few years that when the cross country girls meet for food at my house (for example, my birthday), in our pictures for making memories, we always do a silly one with food in our mouths!

On New Years Eve, my friends the Wolfenbargers always invite us to party with them.  The party is either at their house or another house in their neighborhood, the Paxton's (which is where it was this year).  Daniel Paxton, the man of that house, is one funny man!  This is one of my long-time best friends, Noah.

This game, The Game of Things, is what we spent most of our time between our late eating "dinnerish" and desserts and the ball drop doing.  It is similar to Apples to Apples in that their is a reader who announces the category, then the everyone submits a corresponding response.  However, this game gets funnier, because the responses aren't already provided, but you write in your own!  We got many laughs out of this for sure!

After being up until around 1:30 the night before, on New Years Day I slept until 11:00, when Sophie came in and wanted to cuddle (more for her satisfaction than mine, obviously from all her purrrring).  Once I finally got up and did some core workouts, Dad and I went to the park for a run.  Dad doesn't usually like to run there because of the uneven surface and falling and ankle-spraining hazard, so it is a special occasion when he goes with me, even though he unfortunately can't keep up anymore since I have been in high school.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and not too cold either, especially in the sun!  I got in a nice, long run, while Dad's was a bit shorter.  It was fun getting back out to the park since I have been out of the habit since cross country ended.

By the time I got home, stretched, and ready to eat "breakfast," it was after 2:00!  I had some pumpkin and cream cheese-topped waffles and an apple then got to work.  I am still celebrating Christmas, so I watched Christmas Vacation while I worked on putting everything onto my new 2014 calendar!  

Since last year, I have gotten the Peanuts "Love is..." calendar.  This is another one of my Christmas presents!  It has a sweet saying and picture for each month, and it also comes with stickers to correspond with various events throughout the year.  This is the January picture!