Adventures in La La Land

It's time for a recap of all things 2019! It was quite a year of change for our family. 1. In March we bought my brother's house, becoming homeowners again for the first time in 6 years! 2. Shortly thereafter, I started watching my niece, Ruby, twice a week. 3. Levi moved into a big boy bed with no prompting from me. And that was the beginning of his wretched sleeping habits. 😭 4. Justin and his dad added a bedroom and completely gutted/remade the bathroom in the basement. 5. My sister put in the biggest and best in-ground pool you can imagine, and we spent most of the summer there. Lena and Levi also taught themselves how to swim this year! 6. I accidentally signed up for a year's membership of Instacart, and it has saved my life. 7. I joined the VBS committee at church and named myself "Craft Coordinator" - a job that perfectly complemented my skill set (if I do say so myself #humble). It was one of my most enjoyable VBS experiences ...

1. Christmas was celebrated and enjoyed by all. Well, actually, I had a stomach ache for three days including and surrounding Christmas, so I didn't get to enjoy the food nearly as much as usual. I actually lost  weight over the holidays, which is absurd and unheard of. Other than that, though, it was everything I dreamed it would be. We actually enacted a new tradition this year. As my family grows (meaning my siblings and their spouses/kids/kids' spouses and kids) so does the present pile around the tree on Christmas morning. We love to see what everyone gets, so historically we've saved all  the present opening for Christmas morning. This year, though, we decided to do some with our immediate families at home before getting together, so the present portion of Christmas didn't take up quite as much of the day. For us, that meant opening a few presents each at home on Christmas Eve. The kids took no issue with the new precedent. At the beginning of this yea...

4 days til Christmas!!!! It's been another fun week of preparation and celebration! 1. On Sunday, Levi got to perform in his first Christmas "program." He sang two songs on the stage in front of church. He waved when he first spotted us, but then he very seriously watched his teacher and sang his songs. My phone's awesome camera is not so awesome at zoomed in pictures, so this is the best I've got: After church on Sunday we all went to Luke and Esther's house to celebrate Ruby's first birthday! It had snowed just enough the night before to make the big hill in the backyard slick enough to slide down. The kids had a blast. Watch out for the lake! 2. On Tuesday night we went to Justin's grandparents' for dinner followed by our annual trip to the gardens to see the trees and trains. I didn't take very many pictures, and I hate this picture of me, but it's the best we got. Posing with the tree from our motherland....