So. Much. Snow.

You guys, we have so much snow. I don't think the pictures below even do it justice. Before we got this latest dumping of snow this week, we had already had something like 35" of snow. What in the what. I have done so much shoveling!! The way we (typically) split the snow removal is that Phil snow blows the sidewalks/entry to our garage. I typically shovel the walkways and steps (we have so many steps since we live on a hill!!) that we can't get to with the snow blower. Because of my 23 in '23 challenge, I can tell you it took me exactly 23 minutes to shovel all the steps/paths on Tuesday afternoon. I actually kind of like shoveling. It's really satisfying to see the fruits of your labor and it's a great natural workout. 

This was after I shoveled on Tuesday afternoon when we got the first 4-5". 

We were both planning to go into the office yesterday. When we went to bed, Phil said we might need to leave a little later than usual as he'd likely have to shovel the alley area so we could get our Camry out. So I got up at 5:45 yesterday, showered, blow dried my hair, and put on make-up thinking it would be a status quo in-office day. Then Phil came down, looked outside and said, I don't think we are going anywhere today. We had gotten MORE snow over night, and it was still snowing and the plows hadn't been through our alley or the street by our house. As of the morning we had 13" of snow and it just kept snowing, although less heavily.

Indeed, we were snowed in with our young kids. During Phil's busiest week of the month. Paul is easy peasy - Will? Not so much. Sarah, I applaud you for loving 2-year olds. He is adorable and sweet and funny, but OMG I find this age extremely challenging! And Will has zero interest in screens yet - by this age, Paul would sit and watch Little Baby Bum for 1-2 hours. No, that is not ideal but it how we got through having him home for the first 7 weeks of the pandemic in 2020 when he was a newly minted 2-year old. And I would love it if Will could be entertained by 30-60 minutes of a show when we are stuck at home. 

This lasted for about 15 minutes - they were watching The Grinch

Luckily the weather was mild, so we were able to go outside. Will loved the first half of our morning walk/sled ride - and then screamed for the second half. 

We went out for a 2nd time that morning and brought Paul along with us. I shoveled the front walk while the boys played in the snow and then built them a snowman. 

Seriously - so much snow.

Paul had enough at this point. Honestly, there's too much snow for the kids to really play in it. It's so deep so it's not like they can play in our yard. 

Will was still happy so I brought him out back while I shoveled the back sidewalk. And then he lost his mind because his little mittened hands can't hold the child-sized shovel we have. Being 2 is hard. 

"helping" me shovel

I really hope we get a break from the snow after this. I would take snow over extreme cold, but this amount of snow is a bit much!! 

As of last night, our snowfall so far this winter was around 45” total. Our average snowfall for the entire season is 51” so this is nuts. Oh and it’s still snowing - but our alley was plowed so we were able to go into work and drop our kids at school! Hooray!! 

Do you have snow where you live? If so have you gotten way more than usual like us??

Will at Age 2

Will turned 2 a month ago and I'm finally getting around to writing his 2-year update! It's kind of hard to believe he's 2. It's been the longest, shortest 2 years. The pandemic has made those years extra squishy in my mind since his early months were so different. But we've made up for lost time since this summer as we've been out and about a ton and he's seen lots of family and friends! 

Growth: He weighs 27 pounds and is 37" tall. Funnily, Paul is about 32 pounds so he is really closing in on him! He wears 24m bottoms and 2T tops, and size 6 shoe. His 3rd 2-year molar is poking through. So we are almost done with teething - yay!!!

Words: He says a lot of words but isn't quite stringing words together yet. He says a mix of Spanish and English words but probably more English than Spanish now. Although he says "Amo" for love you. I say "te amo, I love you" when I put him to bed and he said, "amo, bye." It's really cute! 

He is still a little bit speech delayed. It's not concerning enough to warrant seeing a speech pathologist, though. He's saying more 2 word sentences like "all done" and, funnily, "go away." We think he developed this delay when he got all of those ear infections around 9-13 months. He has made a ton of progress in the last 6 months and I figure he will catch up completely. His doctor isn't worried so we aren't worried. But I do think his inability to really communicate is part of why he's a bit more, um, moody!

Moody even while eating a donut!

Loves:

- Cars. Do you see all the cars behind him in the picture below? He sleeps with cars. He eats with cars. He walks around with cars in his hands. He is OBSESSED. Paul liked cars, too, but not to this extent! 

- His brother! They don't always get along, of course, but in general they play pretty well together and I know Will adores Pablo!

- Being outside! We spent a ton of time at parks this summer and I know we'll do lots of sledding this winter. He still loves riding in his stroller, thank goodness. We can go for long walks by the lake in our neighborhood and he's happy as a clam!

- Carbs!! I mean, who can blame him, right? He loves carbs of all sorts, but chips, donuts, and cookies are his favorite. 

Yes, I let him have his own little bag of cheetos at a party this summer. It kept him happy!

- This last one is a random one, but he is obsessed with closing doors! He has to close all of the doors on the upper level before going to bed. And if we go into the bathroom to brush his teeth, he insists on closing the doors. 

Dislikes: Long car rides are still pretty miserable. He really has stamina when it comes to screaming. Hopefully it will improve when we turn his car seat around but we will keep him rear-facing until we are at least through winter. He also does not like waking up. He's pretty crabby in the morning and when he wakes from his naps. 

Eating: He's a better eater than Paul in general. His favorite foods are blueberries, cottage cheese, yogurt, mac and cheese, and, as mentioned above, carbs. The way I feed my kids does not look like how I pictured it before I had kids. Our pediatrician tells us that it will get better, though. Allegedly he eats very well at school, though! 

Loves blueberries!

He ate spaghetti sauce by the spoonful but was less interested in his pasta.

Sleep: He's a pretty good night sleeper but a not so great napper, at least at home for us. He goes to bed around 7 and usually sleeps until around 6. Naps are maybe 1-1.5 hours? Unless he's at school where he is the best napper in the room, of course! It's pretty easy to put him to sleep - we just read books and I sing "you are my sunshine." If I try to sing something else, he shuts that down with a NO!

Health: He had RSV in October but other than that, he's been pretty healthy. He definitely has the 'daycare runny nose' but overall he hasn't been very sick. He got his covid vaccinations this summer - it's been nice to worry less about covid between him having it in May and being vaccinated. 

Overall, he is a happy, sweet little guy who has the best laugh and smile. He has shown more of a preference for Phil lately. Maybe that is related to all the travel I've done for work? But Phil is seeing what it's like to be the favorite and it's not always the best! He has very strong opinions about things, though. Oof. Paul was pretty easy at 2 - I don't know that we'll say the same about Will... But I know each kid is different and his speech delay is probably not helping matters. My mom reminds me how frustrated my grandfather got after his stroke when he could not communicate. So I sympathize with how challenging it would be to know what you want but not be able to tell people what you want! 

I can't imagine our little family without this sweet, funny little boy!

2022 Goal Recap + 2023 Goals

 'Tis the season for goal setting! I know January first is completely arbitrary but I do love the fresh start feeling a new year gives us! That said, I've had a complicated relationship with goals, especially since becoming a parent. As a hard-core enneagram 1 and upholder, I have a hard time setting goals that I might not accomplish. For some, setting hard-to-achieve goals is motivating and exciting. For someone like me who is prone to perfectionism and being hard on myself, they aren't as fun in a way. Plus a lot of my life is out of my control now that I have kids, like how much sleep I'm getting and whether I'm healthy. So it's been healthiest for me to give myself a break in terms of setting goals. 

I did set 2 goals for 2022. First, I wanted to go through all of the videos on google photos that I've taken over the years - most of which were taken since becoming a parent. Each month, I would go through the videos I took during that month in prior years. This was a super fun project as I got to relive a lot of the early years of parenting! There is one video in particular that Paul has watched at least 20 times - I embedded it below. It's 11 seconds that totally encapsulates the moods of a toddler (he gets frustrated because he can't fit all the animals into a little pick-up truck). 

My second goal was to read "The Count of Monte Cristo" with the Conquer a Classic patreon community of From the Front Porch. I did not love the novel but I loved reading along with a group and my experience was really enhanced by listening to the monthly podcast discussion of the book!

All that said, I'm feeling like I'm starting to come out of the fog of the early parenting years. I'm still challenged by parenting but sleep is in a much better place and we have a much better rhythm to our days compared to the last couple of years. So I feel ready to declare some goals!

2023 Goals!

1. Work:  My goal is to travel about once/month. Prior to last year, I hadn't been willing to travel as it felt too overwhelming on top of parenting young kids. But I felt ready to put my hat back in the ring and have been letting people know about this goal to travel about once/month. The about part is key, though. I am unlikely to book 12 trips for 2023, especially since my January trip to LA got cancelled as the sales person I was supposed to travel with left the company! I'll consider this goal a success if I book 9 trips during the year. 

2. Reading: This year I will be joining the Conquer a Classic group again and we will read "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens. I am hoping to enjoy it more than the Count, though! 

3. Relationships: I want to finally get back to going on dates with my husband. We used to get a babysitter and go out about quarterly. Then the pandemic happened, and then bedtime was really challenging for one or both kids. But it's time to get back to doing this! I imagine quarterly dates sounds really paltry to some reading this, but we are home bodies and didn't go out for dinner all that often even before having kids. So once/quarter feels like the right goal for us. 

4. Travel: We have decided not to take a spring break trip this year (we envision Will being tough on a plane ride so will take 2023 off from big family travel). But I still want to travel!! First, I want to take a trip to Tucson, AZ with Paul in the spring to visit my sister and her daughter. Second, I want to meet my friend Amber (who I met through blogging 14+ years ago!) for a hiking trip. We are thinking about meeting in Calgary and going up to the Banff area, probably this summer! Nicole, that means I may track you down if I can pull this trip off so I can share a tea or coffee with you! 

5. Fitness: I would like to run a couple of 10ks this year. I feel like 10ks are my sweet spot. They don't require "long" training runs. Maybe  in a couple of years, I'll feel ready to train for another 10 mile but for now I'm accepting that 10k is the right distance for me. I'd also like to get closer to working out 3 times/week. To achieve this goal, I think I need to start using the gym at work once/week- I'm thinking I could stop working around 3 one day/week so I could workout before we head home. 

6. Outdoors: I am going to attempt the "go outside for 23 minutes in '23" challenge set by the Happier podcast. There's a good chance I will not check the box for 365, but I'm aiming for progress over perfection. This will be most challenging in the winter months when I'm in the office as we are gone from 6:45-5ish. So it can be dark when we leave and return. And I don't like being outside when it's dark. But I'm thinking about trying to take one kid out with me after dinner for a walk if it's not too cold out. We'll see how this goes!

Have you set any goals for 2023? Is there anyone who has a complicated relationship with goals like me? 

2022 Survey

It's the penultimate day of December and I'm sharing my annual "survey" that I like to fill out each year!  

1) What did you do in 2022 that you’ve never done before? We went on our first kid-free vacation since having children almost 5 years ago! And it was amazing!!

2) Did anyone close to you give birth? A friend I met through run club had a baby boy in September. I met him in November when I brought her lunch! 

3) Did anyone close to you die? Not close to me, but 2 of my friends lost a parent this year. Sadly, I have reached the stage of life where it seems like this is going to continue to happen. I hate it. 

4) What places did you visit? 

- We went to Tucson in February to visit my sister/celebrate my niece's 1st birthday and we went to Mexico in December! And we made several trips up to my parents lake place. 

- For work travel, I went to Kentucky, Washington DC, Charlotte, New York, and I was in Chicago twice. My work travel has really amped up! 

5) What would you like to have in 2023 that you didn’t have in 2022? I would like to go on a girls trip! Ideally, I would like to meet up with the my best friend (who I met through blogging!) that I used to do running trips with before we all had kids, except I think I'd rather we meet up to go hiking than run a race.

6) What dates from 2022 will be etched in your memory forever? Nothing in particular will be etched in my memory from 2022. It was a good, normalish year after 2 weird pandemic years, but it is all kind of indistinct in a way since parenting young children is a little bit like Ground Hog's Day.

7) What was your biggest achievement this year? 

- I was promoted at work in March. 

- I ran a really strong 10k race in October! 

- I am also proud of the presentation I gave at a conference in July - which I was asked to present at with about a week's notice. I'm guessing another presenter cancelled due to covid? Typically you have months of notice when you present! Nonetheless, I worked my butt off to prepare for it and got really great feedback. 

8) What was your biggest failure? I don't like the word failure. So instead I'll say my biggest area of opportunity is figuring out how to fit exercise in better now that I'm back in the office 3 days/week. It's been really challenging and I'm disappointed by the number of workouts I've done. But I also recognize that I have a lot going on and might be expecting too much of myself. 

9) Did you suffer from illness or injury? Nothing serious, but I had covid in May and many, many viruses in the fall. I had surgery in December to remove polyps which were all benign!  

My RA was pretty well-managed - until December when I had a horrible flare that would not go away. I finally got a steroid injection yesterday, though. My doctor was surprised how bad the flare was despite taking a high dose of prednisone for weeks. My labs showed a high level of inflammation in my body. So I have to change my drug regimen and go back on a stronger drug (methotrexate) so I don’t have to deal with these painful flares. It’s frustrating since I am already on several meds but hopefully we can drop some of the other meds in 2023 when things are under better control. 

10) What was the best thing you bought? 

- For me, a new coffee bean grinder after the one we got for our wedding died on me! I had to wrack my brain to think of a great purchase. We don't buy much "fun" stuff!

- for the kids, the Nugget has been a great purchase. They have played with it a ton and love making different formations. They race cars up and down it, do summersaults, and log rolls. Paul loved building ‘mountains’ and then jumping off. 

11) Where did most of your money go? Daycare - but they earn every single penny! This category will start to go down next year when Paul starts kindergarten! We'll still need to use before/after care but it will be much cheaper than daycare.

12) What did you get really, really excited about? My Mexico vacation with Phil, although I didn't get excited until the day we left because I was sure something would prevent us from going, like getting covid or the kids or my parents getting sick.

13) What authors did you discover in 2022? Catherine Newman (We All Want Impossible Things and Catastrophic Happiness), Catherine Ryan Howard (The Nothing Man), Bonnie Garmus (Lessons in Chemistry), and Sabaa Tahir (All My Rage) are authors that stand out!

14) What do you wish you had done more of? Running/strength training. But see question 8. 

15) What do you wish you had done less of? Worrying. And going to doctor appointments. 

16) How did your spend Christmas? We spent Christmas Eve with Phil's extended family. Christmas Day was our little family of 4.

17) What was your favorite TV program? Ted Lasso, hands down. That show is such a joy to watch. 

18) What did you want and get? For my kids to get vaccinated from covid.

19) What did you want and not get? My answer is the same as last year! We are still trying to buy a Rav-4 Prime (plug-in electic hybrid) as having 4 wheel drive would be so nice in the winter months. But supply is still so low. Hopefully by next fall we will be able to buy one! We are on waiting lists at many dealerships!

20) What was your favorite film of 2022? Ha. A favorite film. I don't know that we watched a single movie in 2022! Instead we prefer to watch tv shows, but rarely watch an entire episode because I go up to bed at 8:30. 

21) What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 41 on a Sunday in February. I got some delicious treats from a GF bakery, Phil made a Spanish Tortilla for lunch, and we went sledding with the boys in the afternoon. That night we got Indian take-out. It was low key but just how I wanted it.

22) What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? More sleep, although things have really improved the last 2-3 months!

23) Who kept you sane? Repeat answer from last year: Phil! He is the best partner I could ask for. He has a sense of humor, he keeps me from taking things too seriously, and reminds me to be easier on myself.

24) Who did you miss? My little sister. I wish we lived closer but hopefully we will some day. I saw her a handful of times, though, which was wonderful!  

25) Who was the best new person you met? 

- I made a connection with a co-worker I've known of for years but had never really gotten to know. She's been very helpful in raising my profile at work since she is very connected with our sales force.

- I also "met" a lot of new bloggers this year, like Elisabeth, Nicole, Life of a Doctor's Wife, Jenny, NGS, Coco, and Sarah. Most of the women I met when I started blogging have stopped writing, so I am thrilled to have met so many wonderful women this past year!

26) Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2022. I am continually being reminded how important it is to set boundaries. 

27) Show us one of your favorite photos from the year. 

I'm going to cheat and share 2! 

#1 - Look! Mom and dad are on vacation and Phil smiled for a selfie!!! 

#2 - This is my favorite picture from our family photos in September. 

Your turn! Pick a few or many to answer or fill this out on your blog!

Happy New Year, everyone! We'll be celebrating Christmas with my MIL now that she's feeling better. Here's a fresh start in 2023!

Best Books of 2022!

2022 was a stellar year of reading for me. As as type this post, I've read 112 books! Every year, I parse through the books I've read to come up with my "best of" list. Some years, it's easy. This year it was hard because I read so many wonderful books! I think my reading has been boosted by new recommendation sources. Some book recommendations have come from Nicole (Hi, Nicole!) and other bloggers like The Gilmore Guide to Books and Novel Visits. But I also get a ton of recommendations from my favorite book-related podcasts which are Sarah's Bookshelves Live (who introduced me to the 2 book bloggers above!), Currently Reading and From the Front Porch. I also belong to the Patreon community of those 3 podcasts and find the $5-7 I pay each month well worth it! 

I targeted selecting 12 favorite reads - but ultimately landed at 13 as I couldn't cull this list any further! 

Top book of 2022

Hands down, "Lessons in Chemistry" was my all-time favorite book of the year. I've recommended it widely because it's the kind of book that surely will appeal to nearly everyone. So far, everyone I know who read this book also enjoyed it. It's about a woman working in a male-dominated environment in the 1960s. She is treated abhorrently. But she persists. Trigger warnings do abound, though. Don't let the cheeky cover trick you into thinking this is "light" fiction. It has a light, humorous tone but the author is delving into HARD topics. But what I really love is that this is the debut novel of a woman in her 60s! Isn't that phenomenal? It's been picked up by Apple and will be turned into a tv show which I plan to check out. 

In no particular order, here are the other 12 best reads of 2022! 

1. All That's Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien. I tore through this book during our Mexico vacation. A murder of an 18yo man has happened in the Vietnamese immigrant community in Sydney in the 1990s. But no one is talking. The older daughter who is a journalist comes home and takes it upon herself to figure out what happened to her brother. This is definitely a heavier read but was incredibly well-done. 

2. Kaleidoscope by Cecily Wong is a book about grief. It's about a rags-to-riches half-Chinese family that builds a fashion empire in NYC. They appear to live a charmed life until one of their daughters tragically dies. The other daughter is left to sort through the pieces and discover family truths. 

3. The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin. Guess what, this book is about death/mortality, too! I guess that is a heavy theme in my reading this year. Lenni and Margot are an unlikely pair. Margot is 83, Lenni is 17. But they both reside on the terminal ward of a hospital. This novel is about the relationship between these 2 women. It is sad but beautiful. 

4. Notes On Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach pairs well with Kaleidoscope because the topics are so similar - a sister is dealing with the aftermath of her sister's death. It's told in second person narrative - the narrator is speaking to her sister before, during and after her untimely death. 

5. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I am a huge TJR fan. I do not know how she cranks out these books on an annual basis. I know one person that did not like this (Hi NGS!) but I found it unputdownable! It's about a tennis player that comes out of retirement to defend her grand slam record. The protagonist is incredibly unlikeable which is usually a kiss of death for a book for me, but I still loved this so much. 

6. Book Lovers by Emily Henry. This is my favorite of the 3 romances Henry has written. I loved the snappy dialogue which was reminiscent of Gilmore Girls. What I liked best is that the conflict in this novel did not stress me out and was believable. Even though romances always have happily ever after endings, the conflict sometimes really stresses me out! Can you tell I am conflict avoidant? 

7. Corrections in Ink by Keri Blakinger is a memoir about the author's time in prison after drug charges. She was an elite pairs skater that falls from grace and makes some horrible decisions in college. It was an interesting inside look at life inside a prison, especially for a female. 

8. Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott was such an endearing and relatable collection of essays from a woman who, like me, struggles with anxiety. I would hand this book to any booklover who is preparing to send a child out into the world/to college because it talks about how to let go of those you love. In Philpott's case, the letting go process is complicated by the fact that her son has a neurological disorder. 

9. How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith. We read this for book club and everyone loved it. In this book, Smith travels to various landmarks and monuments such as Monticello, Whitney Plantation, Angola Prison and a Confederate Cemetery. He looks at the roots of slavery, the impact it's had on our nation, and the extent of the truth these monuments provide. Smith is a poet so the writing in this book is particularly beautiful. 

10. Fight Night by Miriam Toews was an unexpected hit for me. It's narrated by 9yo Swiv. Swiv lives with her mom and her elderly, frail grandmother. She gets into trouble at school and ends up being homeschooled by her grandmother. Swiv is so feisty and delightful, and her grandmother is equally likeable. 

11. Love and Saffron by Kim Fay is a slim epistolary novel of just 208 pages. It follows the lives of 2 women who become pen pals in the 1960s. But their relationship becomes so much more as the book unfolds. It is such a beautiful and heart-warming novel. I didn't want it to end!

12. Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka is a heavy, difficult read but worth checking out. It's about Ansel - he's a serial killer on death row and is 12 hours away from his execution. As the hours tick by, his story is told by 3 women impacted by his life: his mother, his wife's sister, and a homicide detective. Americans are kind of obsessed and intrigued with serial killers; this story hands the narrative to those impacted by the terrible actions of a terrible man.

What were some of your best reads of 2022? 

Christmas 2022

We had a really nice Christmas with our little family. It was a bitterly, dangerously cold holiday weekend with windchills in the -30s. So we were cooped up for the weekend. We were all very happy to have somewhere to go on Christmas Eve! Paul and I went to mass at 4pm and Phil stayed back with Will - he’s so hard to contain that I knew we’d get more out of mass if he stayed back with daddy! After mass, we picked up daddy and Will and headed to Phil’s cousins for their annual Christmas Eve celebration. My MIL was supposed to come to our house on Saturday and spend the weekend with us but she had a bad cold and wasn’t feeling well enough to be out and about. :( Terrible timing to feel awful! 

We go to this gathering every year and have the best time! Phil’s mom is a widow with no living siblings so we are all she has - hence the reason we stay home at Christmas. But the children of Phil’s uncle (who also has passed - all of Phil's dad’s siblings have passed away sadly) always include us in their Christmas Eve celebration. Phil is quite a bit younger than his cousins - all the cousin’s kids are in college or older!! So our young kids are quite a novelty and get a TON of attention as a result - and lots of presents, too. I love the way this party is set up - the hosts have a bunch of snacky things and food in crockpots so people can just graze. And then they have a huge cookie decorating area, which we didn’t partake in this year since we were keeping an eye on the boys. We stayed until 8:15 which is pretty late for Will, but all the toys and attention kept them from getting tired!

The couple that hosts are going to be epic grandparents when their kids hit that stage of life. They are so completely obsessed with our kids. And we have an extra special bond with them as they are Will's Godparents. 

Will was up around 6:15 on Christmas Day and Paul slept until 6:45! Not bad all in all. The boys enjoyed donuts for breakfast. 

Then it was time to dig into their Santa presents. 

The Lego set was Paul’s favorite gift! 

That was the extent of presents since they got their nugget play couch from us in early December. Usually they would have 10+ gifts from my MIL to open. I was a little worried the gifts might seem sparse to Paul but he was thrilled! Lesson learned - kids, at least at this age, don’t have high expectations to meet. 

Putting one of the lego sets together later that day. I am loving the lego stage!!!

Phil made his signature dish for lunch - Spanish Tortilla which is a dish he ate a lot of when studying abroad in Spain. We had our big meal at dinner time - ham, mashed potatoes, gravy and asparagus (And yes, that means we have ham and potatoes for both meals!). The boys would only eat the ham, go figure. 

 

But us adults enjoyed a delicious meal. Few things make me feel more like an adult than making gravy! Ha! And yes, I enjoyed a generous amount of gravy since we only eat it a couple of times a year! 

We had the 26th off so had one more day at home together. My MIL was feeling better so Phil and Paul went out to see her and I stayed home with Will. The highlight of the day was taking him to Target. We walked down every aisle of the toy department and he had so much fun making dinosaur noises and pointing out trucks and balls and such!

Today Phil and I are both back in the office and the kids are back in daycare. We had a wonderful family weekend but I was admittedly very happy to return to a quiet workplace today! 

How was your weekend?

Happy Holidays!

And in the blink of an eye, Christmas is upon us. Yesterday was the boys' last day of school. They are off through 12/26. Phil and I work today and tomorrow, although tomorrow is an early market close. So we will take turns managing the chaos around our house!

Here is the holiday card we sent out - ignore the dashes around the text on the right. This was a draft I sent to Phil! 

We had pictures taken in late September. My cousin's wife took them after work on a beautiful fall day. But can I just say the pictures do not at all reflect the sh*t show experience of taking pictures with young children? We were not holly, jolly, merry, nor bright, despite what you see in these pictures!

Last year, we took them early in the day on a Saturday morning and froze so I thought surely this year would be better. Nope, it was worse! We went to the area by the creek that is a block north of our house. Will almost fell in the creek twice. And then face-planted a few times. Even though we had a record drought, the boys managed to find mud and got that mud all over Phil's shirt. Will didn't want to be held and didn't want to stand still for photos. 

I don't know how my cousin's wife got as many great photos as she did. She's a miracle worker. 

After we had pictures taken last fall, Phil told me he would never look at people's holiday cards the same ever again because they do not show the misery that is often behind these beautiful family photos - or how much work it is to get 4 people looking presentable and photo-ready. 

And yet, we still get pictures taken each year, much to Phil's chagrin. He would love to do away with this tradition but if we don't get family pictures, I am honestly not in any photos with my kids. I am the one capturing the candid photos or asking people to pose for a picture. Yes, I could ask Phil to take more photos but it is just not in his nature to do so. So I put my foot down and make us get professional photos every year.

I could have drank an entire bottle of wine after these photos and still been on edge! But - the photos are gorgeous snapshots of a fleeting stage of life. They are worth every penny we spend on them. 

So whether your weekend includes a Christmas celebration or not, maybe your weekend be truly holly, jolly, merry and bright!