2025 Christmas Card...

 For history's sake, here is a picture of this year's Christmas card...

We hope that 2025 treated you and your family well and that 2026 brings even more happiness, peace and joy to you and yours! 

 

Christmas 2025

Christmas at the Pooley house was everything we could hope for and then a little more.  It started with a quiet launch.  The girls slept in, followed by a delicious breakfast before presents were opened.  

Everyone was blessed with great gifts... and no one was shy on getting more than they needed. 

And just because my family has a bet that this picture will never make the light of day, let alone posted on the blog, here is proof that I exist and was a part of the gift festivities...

New gifts were tried on to make sure they fit.  And some of us tried on all of their new items at one time. 

The afternoon was a lazy one.  We watched movies, explored our gifts, played a game together, and Quinn did a little cross stitching...

We also got this baby all set up and ready to go....

Anyone that has talked to me in the last decade has known how much I have been begging for a nugget ice maker.  Ryan's ears have nearly bled. for the amount of times "ice maker" has come out of my mouth.  Well, Ryan surprised us all this year with an ice maker...what a sweet gesture!

Christmas 2025 was one for books.  New traditions have emerged and I can not put into words how much I treasured our quality family time together!

2025 Ornaments...

It's always so fun to pick out and/or make ornaments for the girls each year.  

Here are 2025's ornaments...

Quinn

CVS Pharmacy Tech

Quinn worked hard this year to pass the national certification exam to become a certified pharmacy technician.  She began working at CVS this year in that role and is loving it.  She not only juggles a pretty hard class load, but also picks up hours throughout the week in between classes at the pharmacy.  

Dirty Dr. Pepper

Quinn has taken a liking to dirty sodas this year.  She is a fan of Dr. Pepper with vanilla and raspberry and cream.   

Sullivan

Harris Teeter

Pretty self explanatory... Sullivan started her first job this year at the local grocery store, Harris Teeter,  as a cashier.  She loves the outcome of the work ($$$) but not necessarily the job itself.  She is learning fast what it is like to work in retail with unpredictable customers.  Nonetheless, she is rocking the responsibility thing!

Offical Driver

Another big milestone this year, as Sullivan became an official licensed driver.  She is definitely a good driver, but having a car and a license now (and a job) means that we see Sullivan less and less around the house.  

Quinn and Sullivan

Sonny Angels

Quinn and Sullivan have collected Sonny Angels this year.  Some might consider them a bit creepy, others find them charming and cute.  They are a hot commodity and a bit of a trendy collectible this year, and a favorite of both Quinn and Sullivan. 

Ryan

Golf

Just a cute and humorous ornament for Ryan this year.  He is definitely better than OK at golf, but we couldn't help but poke a little fun at him with this ornament.

Family

US Virgin Islands

Ryan, Sullivan and I spent a week in the US Virgin Islands this year to celebrate Sullivan's 16th birthday.  We had the best time snorkeling and beaching going, and soaking in the sun.  A highlight was seeing an amazing large and very majestic Spotted Eagle Ray.  

Picture Ornaments

And there you have it.  The 2025 edition of our Christmas ornaments.  It's a tradition that I absolutely love and look forward to doing each year!

Lately...

Life has gotten away from us lately.  Here are a few highlights from the past month or two (yikes!)...

We celebrated this guy's birthday with nothing other than ice cream cake...

Sulla made the cutest deer for Halloween...

The house got decorated as soon as Halloween was over.  Ryan, as usual, did an amazing job!

I spent a weekend in Durham (staycation!) with some friends, where we ate like queens and raged a bit too...

There was some sisterly love, although one seemed to like it much more than the other...

More sisterly love, where again, someone liked it better than the other...

Nana and Papa joined us for an incredible Thanksgiving.  We ate great, went to Elf: The Musical, went to the movies, shopped and enjoyed the time we had with them.  

There was more sisterly love... although the middle one was not having it.

Ryan and I had a date night and took in the Christmas lights and festivities in downtown Cary. 

We celebrated Quinn's end to the semester and her amazing grades with some frozen yogurt...

This princess managed to burrito herself up in a blanket (with no help at all) and was found laying on the pillow on the couch.  What a spoiled pup!

And finally, Ryan, Sulla and I ventured over to Winston-Salem this weekend to take in a Vanderbilt basketball game.  

Vandy came out victorious - crushing Wake Forest by over 30 points!  

The Last...

 It's the end of an era.  Sad, but true.  

This is Sullivan's last school picture, as she will have senior pictures done this summer.  

As always, a great picture of Sullivan!

And with that, all my picture frames are officially filled too...

It seems like yesterday that there lots of blank spaces in these frames.  Time is definitely a thief.  

BVI, Part 2...

More adventures in BVI continued, as we chartered a boat one day to take us out snorkeling.  Our first boat (you read that correct... the first boat) took us out about 20 minutes while we endured the choppy waters, only to have an engine die out.  

While the captain attempted to fix the engine, someone was asked to fill in an steer the boat.  Can you guess who was quick to step up and volunteer to do it?!

We were able to see the resort where Scott and Abatha spent their honeymoon...

We then had to turn around and take the boat back to shore, as the captain didn't feel comfortable being out on the open waters with only one engine.  That said, she was quick to call a fellow captain friend of hers and got us lined up with another boat.  So on to boat #2 we went to see the sights and do some snorkeling...

We saw the most beautiful sights and snorkeling with some incredible marine life.  I have never in my life swam with so many jellyfish.  A little eerie to swim within and around them all. 

We stopped by and had a quick lunch at an island restaurant in between our snorkeling adventures.

It was a great day out on the water and a day to remember for sure!  

We had several great meals out and about, but failed to take many pictures.  We did manage to sneak a couple pictures in before dinner one night...

And then one picture at dinner...

We stopped by a convenient store for ice cream after dinner, where there was a display set up in a small closest for a birthday.  Fitting since both of these men were celebrating their birthday the following week....

All of our time on BVI was amazing.  Not just because the weather was great, or the beaches were immaculate, or that the island was gorgeous.  Some of the simplest moments were some of my favorites.  Sitting on the patio, having a couple of drinks, looking out into the ocean and overlooking islands... spent with the most special of people!  

2025 BVI trip was one for the books...

Until next time!