Sunday, December 31, 2017

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Happy New Year Edition!

Wow. Happy New Year.

It’s safe to say that 2017 has been something else. 

I usually do a year-end post, so I went back through each month’s blog posts and picked a favorite post from each month to link here.

January 2017 was a little rough, so I made a GRATITUDE LIST to help me remember to be thankful.  In February, Chris and I got to spend time in MEXICO with my dad's family, and it was amazing. I was a pretty boring blogger in March- there were no "other" kind of posts besides my usuals...but this one with my MAYA LEIGH is pretty sweet.  I had to pick 2 blog posts for April.  Because, first of all BABY LUCY was born.  I finally became an auntie! Then, April 30th was the 2nd anniversary of my dad's death, which I wrote about in this post: 2 YEARS. An edited version of this post also ended up being published in our church's monthly newsletter in October, at the 2.5 year mark.  I chose the MOTHER'S DAY post in May, because we had a lot of fun, and it shows the spirit of the excitement of May and springtime.  In June, I did a post about CALLIE, MAYA, AND LUCY, because it has been so fun to see Lucy wearing some of the clothes that Callie and Maya wore...and so fun to put adorable baby pictures side by side! It was REALLY hard to choose a favorite post from July- there was the 4th of July, Maya's birthday, and Lucy's baptism.  But ultimately I chose our LARSMONT TRIP because it was amazing!  I did a SUMMER WRAP-UP in August that showed what a fun summer we had. In September, Callie, Chris and I went out to visit our family in COLORADO, which was a blast.  We spent the summer and early fall cheering on the Minnesota Lynx, and it October they won the WNBA CHAMPIONSHIP!  In November we took photos for the CHURCH DIRECTORY, and it was a good gratitude check, once again. December was another hard month to choose just one post, since we had birthdays, holidays, and lots of winter break activities.  But, the biggest thing that happened to us in December was adopting sweet LUNA RAY!

There you have it!  The year wrapped up in blog posts.

Now, on to our weekend.  Yesterday morning we headed to the mall to get a birthday gift for Callie's friend.  While at Claire's, MAYA GOT HER EARS PIERCED. She has talked about wanting to do so for awhile, so we got it done!  There were some tears, but they didn't last long. 


AND SHE LOVES THEM.


Callie had a birthday party for her BFF Annika on Saturday afternoon. They were at Chuck E. Cheese’s and she had to be convinced to go because of the mascot Chuck E.’s likelihood of also being there. But she made it through and had a blast!



While Callie was away, Maya, Chris and I played... and took Luna to Petco. 


Last night we got out one of the girls’ new Christmas gifts (thanks Dan and Hanna!) and had fun with 3D glow-in-the-dark spin art!


Despite the frigid weather and not being able to go on walks, Luna was worn out enough by our children.



This morning we met Boom, Auntie Yoda and Lucy at Como Conservatory. We stumbled upon a 12:00 ball drop, and then enjoyed the tropical plant life!




Tonight Callie is hanging out withAuntie Cat and her roommate, and Maya and I are watching a movie.


New Years Eve will be pretty low key, and will likely involve folding laundry. 

My 2017 goal was to run 10 races, and I completed that goal in August. I haven’t really thought about a 2018 goal. That’s probably a good thing. I hope to just keep working on gratitude, patience, and  self-care.

As an immediate goal, I’d like to not fall asleep at 8:30pm. In fact, Chris said he’ll give me $100 if I stay up past 11:00pm.

Challenge accepted. But I can’t guarantee a challenge met. We shall see.

I’ll leave 2017 with some videos from the last week- from Christmas Eve to NYE!





Happy New Year!!

Friday, December 29, 2017

A Picture Update

Holy moly guys I think we are going on a week straight of blog posts. Sorry that streak will probably come to an end tomorrow. 

Today I spent 10 straight hours with 2 crazy children and a crazy dog in a land that is only 2 degrees outside, requiring much patience inside. I’m exhausted.

We were at this stage by 5pm.




Anyway, I’m just going to throw a lot of pictures up without a lot of explanation because I have no idea what day anything was because this is such a weird in-between week.













As you can see there was lots of Luna time!


Have a great weekend!

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Luna!!

Here are some funny videos of our crazy girl:




And another cute picture of three crazy girls;



Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Because I’m on a roll...

...and babies in pink track suits are just too cute.


Do you know who is who?!?!

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

TimehopTuesday

Hi again! So many posts the past few days!

Here’s a Christmas jammies Timehop!


And this one is kinda fun- Lucy last Christmas and Lucy this Christmas!


Lastly, Callie’s birthday!



Monday, December 25, 2017

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has had a peaceful, joyous, and love-filled Christmas.


We have had a busy couple of days with lots of fun, sass, meltdowns, and laughter!

The girls opened a couple presents from us yesterday morning in an effort to spread things out a bit. Luna helped too.



Then we headed to Boom’s house for the day. There was lunch and playing and cookies and presents and lots of cute baby Lucy smiles!










When we got home last night we did a lot of playing with Luna, and some hair experimenting with Callie. Her hair is getting so long that I can do fun things with it!



Laura and I went to see Boom play the handbells at church last night. And when I got back, it was time to become Santa!



That finished off our elves' visits for the year. Here is what they were up to earlier this week:



I’m going to have to up my game next year, as Callie commented, “Man, the elves were really easy to find this year!”  Oops.

Anyway, this morning was freezing, but nevertheless I persisted in getting Luna out for a walk.



Nothing says Merry Christmas like being outside when it is 2 degrees with a crazy boxer.

Callie woke up a good half hour before Maya this morning, but eventually they were both awake and excited about Santa and more presents. Uffda.





Then we headed to G-ma and Pa’s for another round of yummy food and playing and presents and laughter!







I have to share a picture of me- and my Christmas gift from Mari- perfect for pajama day on Christmas morning.



She also gave me a wine glass with a boxer face on it. Had it not been noon, I probably would have had that glass filled in the picture as well. Also, photo credit goes to Maya! She loves taking pictures.

Anyway, so you think we would be all Christmas-ed out by now? Nope! We still had one more stop: back to Boom’s house for Christmas with the Johnsons and Suurmeyers!



At one point the girls had my phone and started going around taking pictures.  Hilarious!




Boom gave Callie, Maya and Lucy matching jammies, and of course we HAD to get an adorable cousins picture!



These holidays are filled with so much joy, but also very bittersweet as we remember my dad.  There were moments that I felt him strongly- at church holding the candle during silent night, and in the car on the way home hearing "Silver Bells," which he would play on the piano every year.

I'm also very grateful to be at a point where the joy outweighs the grief.  And the light totally overpowers the dark. I honestly don't even remember Christmas 2 years ago.

Timehop these days is beautiful and brutal.  There are so many teeny tiny baby Callie pictures. And then one pops up like this.

This picture is from our first Christmas with Callie.  Dad was a man of few words, but you can just see his focus on her.  There is pride there, and love.



And also gratitude.

Merry Christmas.

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Merry Christmas Eve Edition!

Wow. We made it to Christmas Eve. It seemed so far away for so long. But here we are!

Yesterday was a pretty chill day. We mostly just played at home with Luna Ray!


She is such a cute goofball with lots of energy. And so good with the girls. They ADORE her. Besides that, Callie got to hang out with Auntie Cat for LEGO building time for her b-day!


This morning I took Luna for an almost-3-mile run/walk at 5:30am. She didn’t get tired in the slightest. In fact, when we got back, all she wanted to do was play.


When they girls got up, they found a note from Coo-Koo and Loony that said they could open 2 of their presents this morning. They were pretty excited! Luna got a present too!

We dropped Luna off with G-ma and Pa about 9:00 and headed downtown to Boom’s for the day! We got to see LUCY! It had been way too long since I had seen her, because our schedules have been so crazy and she was sick on Callie’s birthday. I had to get my snuggles in.


I’ll do a Christmas post tomorrow with more pictures from our day. But I’ll leave you with a picture of me, Boom, and Iris with matching blue outerwear.


Merry Christmas! See you back here tomorrow for some Christmas cheer!

Saturday, December 23, 2017

A Picture Update

Happy Saturday! With Callie’s birthday yesterday, I forgot to mention that I’m now on a 2 week break! Hooray!!! 

This was a pretty big week for us. Callie was off all week, so she got to join Maya at Boom’s house with Lucy and Iris. They had a fabulous day!


And then, of course, we got LUNA RAY on Monday night!


On Wednesday I took Maya in because her 2+ week cold managed to turn into an ear infection. But she was soon able to join Callie at G-ma’s house with Luna.

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Callie had a little Christmas Dance Show on Wednesday night. Her class did a tap number to “Consider Yourself” from “Oliver.”




The girls went back to G-ma and Pa’s house on Thursday and went for an adventure at the Arboretum.


And check yesterday’s post for our big 8th birthday day yesterday! 

Luna is staying here for a few days. She is  so sweet and trying to figure out life at our house. Earlier tonight she wasn’t too sure about either her kennel or her bed, so she laid down on the carpet in between them.


I took her on a long walk last night. She is learning to sit at the corners.


Silly girl! We are looking forward to all the fun things about having a dog again!