Around Here Fifty-One: 12/16-12/22

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute.

that's a chicken finger he's eating..in the tub...with a diaper on

 

Intentional Outdoor Hours:  523 hours (of 1000)
same. no change. bleh.

Reading and finishing The Nix by Nathan Hill, reccomended from me with high reviews. Just an incredible writer - so many times I had to pause let the words and sentences sink in before moving on. So so good.  I had library duty for an hour and half on Friday at school during our Pickleball tournament day and so I picked up Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon off the shelf to pass the time. Affter my library stint was over, I had already read about a third of the book, so I check it out and finished it...that day.  Very cute and I loved the way the illustrations were sprinkled throughout (wife author and husband illustrator duo!). It was an easy read (and a little predictable) but enjoyable.

Spreading some kindness in our neighborhood with little notes to say thank you for all the beautiful light displays we have in our neighborhood. Grey and Violet dropped some in mailboxes and others straight to the door to the neighbors' delight. They even got candy canes at one house! The following day, we were so surprised and touched to receive a visit from one of our neighbors who gifted us a big box of Peanut Butter meltaways to say thank you for our note! She told us that her grandkids live in Georgia and she loved getting the kids' drawings and notes in her mailbox. It was the sweetest!

Cheering Gem on at her first Cheerleading showcase (she did great!) She had practice this week and is loving practicing her routine and moves 24 hours a day around the house (and for anyone who will watch). I think it's helping a little bit with her memory and counting even - so double win!

National Lampoon Christmas'ing on Monday night when Gigi brought the big kids home from her house she called me from the driveway to tell me Bullet had something in his mouth. So he comes prancing up all proud to the porch with a dead possum in his mouth?! While Gigi and the kids try to squeeze in the door, Bullet sneaks right through - with dead possum - and drops it right under the Christmas tree.  Hon.est.ly. Grey was all like, "MUM! GET THE POSSUM OUT FROM UNDER THE TREE!" While Gem was sobbing, "Bullet killed him!" and Gigi was like, "um, I gotta go." HAHAHAHAHA. Thanksfully, B was home from practice about 10 minutes later and did some Bullet's Christmas Surprise Removal.

Basketball season mode with four games this week. The kids and I attended the two home games and loved getting back together with our basketball family. The other coaches', their wives, and their kids, the players and their parents, the old timer fans, our own grandparents who schlep out to the games to see B coach and bring snacks for the kids so we don't go bankrupt from the concession stand and half court shooting contest; these are our people and they help us survive this crazy season.

Giggling about Vially and all the silly little ways she creates language. She's been helping get the mail when we come home from school and she requests that instead of buckling up for the ride up the driveway can she "just be holding onto my horses?"

Speaking of mail....for all of you out there that sent us holiday cards, know that they were money and effort well spent for our house. Our girls are delighted to open the mail everyday and swoon over all the pictures and card designs (equal to my love for them!) They each open a stack on the kitchen table then swap piles, and make comments and say every single day, "Look at all these people who were thinking about us at Christmas!" We got a green card the other day (it was a wreath on the front) and Violet said, "Oh boy, this one's probably from the Grinch!" And Gem loves hearing stories about the cards that come from "Mum's friends from college and New York." Sharing this little bit about people who I miss and love every day brings all that is holly jolly to my heart.  Thank you all so much for thinking of us.

Surviving the final sprint to Christmas. The big kids had a themed week, classmate gift exchange, teacher gifts, and a class party (God Bless you Homeroom Moms and party volunteers!!) Little Kids had a Grinchmas day at preschool and a holiday party. Then B and I each had a work food day and I celebrated La Navidad with my Spanish Club on Friday (food, a piñata, and a white elephant gift exchange!) For home prep - I went from about 10% shopping complete on Sunday (ohmygosh) to four hours later and online shopping carts full - I got to about 90% shopping done! Thank you Amazon, Bedford Candies, and Social Print Studio !

Making all the Christmas cookies and the kids have been helping every step of the way. So far we have Honey Oat Raisin, Pumpkin Spice, Peanut butter blossoms with Hershey kisses, and Monster cookies. On the to do list still: chocolate covered pretzels, pumpkin roll, snickerdoodles, and if I can pull it together pretzel/kiss/m&m bites!  For dinners we had cream cheese taquitos (a family-wide hit), and sheet pan steak and veggies. We hit up the concession stand quite a bit since we brought the food for it (hah) sloppy joes and hot dogs & kraut. For our work food days, we made cheesy potatoes, veggie pizza, and 4 ingredient beer bread.



p.s. merriest wishes to you and your family. Let the season be filled with smiles and hugs and all the people you love.  xxoxo