So, 2024 was…. fine. Let’s rock n’ roll, 2025!
Merry & Bright
One last time…
November was most likely our last annual fall trip up to Eagle River, and it really bummed us all out. We’ve been going each year with our friends since the twins were born, so this was our 7th trip. It stinks that it was our last, but the owners are selling the whole place and our friend’s family whose timeshare it was isn’t continuing on with the new ownership. Can’t blame them, but now the week getaway we so looked forward to each fall is gone, too.
Here is a big photo dump from our last hurrah. Thank you for all the years and great memories, Lake Forest Resort! We’ll miss you! And maybe someday we’ll make it back to our favorite hike to see if Lana’s stick is still there…
End School –> Summer –> Start School
As usual, I am far behind over here, but such is a busy life with 5 kids and a full-time job. Said kids all passed their grade levels last year, whew!, we had a fun-filled summer vacation, then they all started back to school within the past 2 weeks. We are now in 3 different schools for the duration with Della starting high school and Lana starting middle school, so that’s a big change, too!
Here are pictures from the last day of school in June and the first days of school this month, but I’m not going to photo dump everything from summer in here. So sorry, that would take forever. I’ll mix a couple summer fun pics in that I might not have posted on social, but our vacations (late winter/early spring break in Florida, Canada in July, and St. Thomas in August) would be entire posts all their own and I just don’t feel like doing that. 😁 But that little Instagram box in the right sidebar here rotates through all my Instagram pictures so they’ll pop up over there, and if you follow me personally on Facebook then you’ve seen most of them there, too. And if you haven’t, just use your imagination! 🤣
Summer- summer- summertime!
The kids are now all out of school for summer break, and I love it! Yes, they bicker and get on each other’s (and my) nerves sometimes, and yes, I’ll shout at them to be quiet while I work at home full time sometimes, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love summer vacation, and we’ve got a good one planned this year. Here we come, #summervacation2023!
…and a Happy New Year!
2022, you gaveth and you tooketh away. You gave me a dream job when I didn’t even ask for it, yet you took my last living grandparent from us.
2023, I feel like you’re telling me you’re here for me to prove myself. If to no one but myself. I want to be the absolute best at this job that I possibly can be, while never sacrificing anything as a mom. The kids have always been my top priority, and that will never change. But I can not only successfully have 2 full-time jobs but excel at it. I’ll prove it.
2022, thank you for all the good and for keeping us all safe and healthy. 2023, may you keep us safe, healthy, and happy, and let the good times continue to roll.
Happy (belated) Holidays and Happy New Year!
They’re ALL in school!
ALL 5 kids are in school this year, and that just sounds crazy to even say.
I still can’t believe the twins are in K4, going through those doors every day, just like their siblings. It definitely feels like the time is right, but it gets me daily seeing them run up the sidewalk to their door each morning with their little backpacks bouncing, then bounding out to me again after their morning session is done, just like the big kids always did.
I love that time is moving at the perfect speed for me, too. It doesn’t feel like the days have flown by in a blur since each one of the kids was born. But it doesn’t feel like an eternity has dragged on with each one either. Everything feels like it is moving just right and I’m soaking up every day. I’m not sure why that is or why I feel like time is on my side when everyone else watches it race past, but I’m grateful for the cosmic juju that’s allowing it to be so.
The 2.5 hours the twins are gone in the mornings have allowed me to try to climb the steepest job learning curve I’ve had in 20 years, too, which has been both amazing and daunting at the same time. Some days, I’ve got this and am ready to tackle many, many years of it. Others, every email I get defeats me and I feel like I can’t conquer the seemingly simplest things. But that’s to be expected, so I’m not worried about it. Plus, it’s wine!
These kids are incredible, plain and simple, and I treasure every day with them. Every walk to and from school, every joyous hug when they come running out of school, even the “meh”s that often emanate from the 4th grader. Thank you, time, for these days to cherish.
Ciao, 2021
“Another year over, a new one just begun…”
I’ve been thinking for a while now what to write for my annual year-end post, and I honestly have no idea this year. After meeting COVID in 2020 and having life as we knew it flipped upside down and all around, this year was kind of – meh. We knew that the only way forward was through, so that’s what we did.
Not to say it was a bad year, just nothing really exciting. A look back ~
The Good:
- Despite having COVID earlier this month (well, all of us except Lana, somehow!), we are all fully recovered and appear to have no lasting side effects so far. Ryan’s taste and smell aren’t back to 100%, but thankfully none of us had very serious symptoms.
- Ryan’s job is secure.
- Our houses are still standing and in working order.
- In-person school is working out great for all the kids, even with a couple quarantine periods. Middle school has been much less scary for me than I imagined. 😉
- Science! Ryan, the big 3, and I are now all fully vaccinated against COVID, and I got my booster just last weekend. The big kids were in between their 2 doses when we got COVID, and I fully believe even having that little bit of protection from the first dose helped them. They all barely felt worse than a bad cold. The poor twins were hit pretty hard, but fortunately they are better, too.
- The big kids moved upstairs and the twins moved into their own bedroom for the first time in their lives!
- We’ve paid down a big chunk of debt, which always helps one’s sanity.
- The twins were potty trained this year, which also helps my sanity and allows us so much more freedom to do stuff as a family. No more diapers!
- I lost my shit WAY fewer times this year than last year, which I’m sure everyone has appreciated.
The Bad:
- I lost both my grandmas this year. I didn’t see either of them very often anymore, but knowing I’ll never get to again stings. I will be forever grateful that I got to have one last conversation with each of them before they died, but I’ll always wish I could’ve been there in person to say good-bye.
- The global pandemic caused by COVID is still raging, and I don’t know that there’s really any end in sight. At least not for a while. Which reminds me, I need to get some new masks.
- Politics in general, racism, unnecessary hatred, war. All topics that I’m not going to touch right now but that I’ll just leave there.
In looking at my list, I’m very thankful the goods outnumber the bads. That’s the sign of a pretty great year, right?
I will say, this winter break has been one of the best times I’ve had with our kids. This Christmas was exceptionally fun and magical, and I’ve just had an incredible level of happiness the whole time. We tracked Santa and loved all the preparations for him and the reindeer, we’ve played lots of games, had a couple movie nights, gone ice skating for the first time for the kids, walked to the beach to hunt for sea glass, and just hung out all together. The twins get a little bit easier daily, and watching all 5 of them play together and interact more as people instead of kids and babies is amazing. We got very lucky with this bunch, that’s for sure.
Here is a pictorial look at this winter ~
All at home to start the month thanks to COVID 
St. Nick 
Sick little COVID boy 
Lana did school at home all month except for a day and a half 
Grandma couldn’t come up because of our COVID timing, so I took all 3 big kids to the Nutcracker for the first time. 
I had one of my grandma’s wedding rings made into my own – my engagement stone and setting on her band. I love it. 
So there’s 2021 in a tiny nutshell. Not overly good or bad, but there. Like I said last year, this recent history has taught me to have an even more take-each-day-as-it-comes outlook than usual, which I think has helped me, personally, immensely. I do feel much more stable and optimistic going into 2022 than I did going into 2021, so we’ll see what it brings.
Good-bye, 2021. Thank you for everything, but it’s time to move on. Hello, 2022 – we’re ready!
