2017 Happy New Year
I stopped my December daily on December 13th...go figure. Seems to be a pattern for me. Start strong and fade away. Well in light of that I'll start off with a New Year's Post. Lets see how far I get in 2017. :)
Christmas was absolutely wonderful. The week before we had sick littles for the entire week. Shut down a Christmas party we were supposed to host and changed some plans...but the holiday itself was great. Awesome down time with both sides of the family. Just so much fun and enjoyment watching the kids with their cousins and having time to be with our extended families. Lots to be thankful for in the holidays...
And we just came off of an incredible weekend. I don't know why it's hard for me sometimes to just lean into my own family. Maybe its the extrovert in me, or maybe its the fomo (fear of missing out) but I cannot believe how blessed and beautiful it was just to lean into our little community of five this weekend.
Michael gave me my Christmas present a few weeks ago which is a trip to the D.R. in a few weeks here...totally pumped. It's going to be amazing to have a whole week together that isn't because of a work trip or some other thing we have to attend. To truly just vacation together has been such a long time coming. In light of that we decided to change the plans we had this past weekend (we were going to be dividing and going two different places-both would have been fun but would have meant our family would have been split) and so we decided to just have a weekend of family time. We used rewards points and got a hotel in Chicago. I've learned so much about myself. First being that I cannot relax and really be away when I am at home. Too much is screaming at me that needs to get done. We could have stayed here and just hunkered down but I know I would have been tempted by all the other things sitting around our house unfinished (laundry/de-cluttering/photography/you name it). I sometimes envy Michael's ability to just relax. I wish I could do it better...
But man this weekend I did. We drove in on Friday so we could have a full day on Sat, stayed with family friends on Friday night and then woke up Sat to head downtown. The kids knew it to be a mystery trip (given by our elf named Buddy)-the last of their Christmas presents. I'm really thinking this might be a cool tradition each year. To just have some uninterrupted family time around the holiday since so much of it is running around and always make it a little mystery. Headed to Shedd Aquarium (which is just amazing). My favorite was the 4D Movie, Sea Monsters-SWEET! Finished there and headed to check into our hotel. Rewards points got us a nice two room suite at the Embassy Suites facing the lake. Didn't take long for Asher to need a nap and the other two to head for a swim with Michael. After that we hit Luminati's for pizza-the kids were amazing there. My goal was to be off my phone as much as possible. I became reminded quickly the need for entertainment while waiting for things in the city if you aren't depending on your smartphone (which I have been doing way too much lately-another goal I'm addressing). Hide and Seek games/I Spy and coloring saved the day. Came back and the kids crashed-Michael and I barely made it to midnight watching movies/football games...but it didn't matter. It wasn't the glamour of a crazy celebration...it was laying next to these littles and loving this time together...
Sunday we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel-got in a swim to which Asher finally got comfortable in the water. The look of pride on his face when he finally figured out his floaty was priceless. We got out of the pool, packed up and took another Uber to the Bean and for lunch at Panera. On a whim we decided it might be fun to have the kids ride the Subway Train. What a hit! They loved it. Took the brown line all the way to the end and back. It was the perfect way for them to see the city and just sit and enjoy. Pretty relaxing for us too...by the grace of God we found a 5pm mass on the way home in a small town and then arrived home.
There was just something about being together just us. I absolutely love our time with friends and family. We are so 'rich' with relationships in our lives. Honestly almost daily we have interactions with our community that are just so good. However, there was also something really really sweet about leaning in to these three precious kiddos and the hubs. We laughed and played and just soaked up each other's presence. I felt like I was truly there and truly available which is so hard to do as a momma. We need this. All families do. And even more amazing is watching the growth of our kids and how they have developed these little personalities and really formed relationships together. We loved hearing Addie Rose laugh hysterically at something funny Asher has done...or seeing Asher look up to his big brother Jackson...or watching Addie just mother Asher. It's so fun. Here are a couple of my favorite memories/moments:
Christmas was absolutely wonderful. The week before we had sick littles for the entire week. Shut down a Christmas party we were supposed to host and changed some plans...but the holiday itself was great. Awesome down time with both sides of the family. Just so much fun and enjoyment watching the kids with their cousins and having time to be with our extended families. Lots to be thankful for in the holidays...
And we just came off of an incredible weekend. I don't know why it's hard for me sometimes to just lean into my own family. Maybe its the extrovert in me, or maybe its the fomo (fear of missing out) but I cannot believe how blessed and beautiful it was just to lean into our little community of five this weekend.
Michael gave me my Christmas present a few weeks ago which is a trip to the D.R. in a few weeks here...totally pumped. It's going to be amazing to have a whole week together that isn't because of a work trip or some other thing we have to attend. To truly just vacation together has been such a long time coming. In light of that we decided to change the plans we had this past weekend (we were going to be dividing and going two different places-both would have been fun but would have meant our family would have been split) and so we decided to just have a weekend of family time. We used rewards points and got a hotel in Chicago. I've learned so much about myself. First being that I cannot relax and really be away when I am at home. Too much is screaming at me that needs to get done. We could have stayed here and just hunkered down but I know I would have been tempted by all the other things sitting around our house unfinished (laundry/de-cluttering/photography/you name it). I sometimes envy Michael's ability to just relax. I wish I could do it better...
But man this weekend I did. We drove in on Friday so we could have a full day on Sat, stayed with family friends on Friday night and then woke up Sat to head downtown. The kids knew it to be a mystery trip (given by our elf named Buddy)-the last of their Christmas presents. I'm really thinking this might be a cool tradition each year. To just have some uninterrupted family time around the holiday since so much of it is running around and always make it a little mystery. Headed to Shedd Aquarium (which is just amazing). My favorite was the 4D Movie, Sea Monsters-SWEET! Finished there and headed to check into our hotel. Rewards points got us a nice two room suite at the Embassy Suites facing the lake. Didn't take long for Asher to need a nap and the other two to head for a swim with Michael. After that we hit Luminati's for pizza-the kids were amazing there. My goal was to be off my phone as much as possible. I became reminded quickly the need for entertainment while waiting for things in the city if you aren't depending on your smartphone (which I have been doing way too much lately-another goal I'm addressing). Hide and Seek games/I Spy and coloring saved the day. Came back and the kids crashed-Michael and I barely made it to midnight watching movies/football games...but it didn't matter. It wasn't the glamour of a crazy celebration...it was laying next to these littles and loving this time together...
Sunday we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel-got in a swim to which Asher finally got comfortable in the water. The look of pride on his face when he finally figured out his floaty was priceless. We got out of the pool, packed up and took another Uber to the Bean and for lunch at Panera. On a whim we decided it might be fun to have the kids ride the Subway Train. What a hit! They loved it. Took the brown line all the way to the end and back. It was the perfect way for them to see the city and just sit and enjoy. Pretty relaxing for us too...by the grace of God we found a 5pm mass on the way home in a small town and then arrived home.
There was just something about being together just us. I absolutely love our time with friends and family. We are so 'rich' with relationships in our lives. Honestly almost daily we have interactions with our community that are just so good. However, there was also something really really sweet about leaning in to these three precious kiddos and the hubs. We laughed and played and just soaked up each other's presence. I felt like I was truly there and truly available which is so hard to do as a momma. We need this. All families do. And even more amazing is watching the growth of our kids and how they have developed these little personalities and really formed relationships together. We loved hearing Addie Rose laugh hysterically at something funny Asher has done...or seeing Asher look up to his big brother Jackson...or watching Addie just mother Asher. It's so fun. Here are a couple of my favorite memories/moments:
- Watching the kiddos haul there luggage down the streets in Chicago. It was so cute seeing them so proudly wheel their little bags.
- Asher laying on Jackson on the subway.
- Asher saying, "Will you pick me up for no reason?"
- The look on their faces when we took the train...
Lots of ways we are blessed and so much in 2016 to be thankful...as much as I mourn the loss of no longer having babies in our home...I'm soaking up the joy of the stage these three are in. What a total gift to have them...and what a blessing family is.
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