1) New Year's Eve. we hosted a casual New Year's Eve party and somehow managed to actually stay up until midnight to ring in the New Year! we kept the food and drinks simple and just enjoyed spending time with each other. I found a fantastic playlist from Apple music called "New Year's Eve: Dinner Party", featuring big band music and easy listening classics. for New Year's Day, I cooked a pork roast and we feasted on Nick's homemade sauerkraut (he and some friends recently canned jars of it).
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| shoutout to Aldi for our NYE hats and beads! |
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| decorating cookie cutouts (still Christmas, remember?) |
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| best friends from college :) we all have wildly different careers, personalities, and worldviews and yet we are family. |
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| toddler party |
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| Greta immediately created this sign to warn guests after a drink spilled on the couch |
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| BFFs! |
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| a rousing 10 PM game of Mousetrap |
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| we had to do a couples photo shoot after the ball dropped. also, I have no champagne flutes, so these wonky frozen margarita glasses were the only option! |
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| love these two! |
2) home sweet home. with an incredibly busy schedule of multiple sports practices and games per week, church, and work, I value even more the quiet moments at home. I didn't take many photos in January because we were mostly just doing our usual routine, but these daily moments are just as important in forming our family culture. (and I think this winter is the busiest that we have ever been -- it will definitely calm down in the next few weeks!)
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| Greta's godfather gifted the girls this incredible wooden cathedral blocks set! Cece and I built it one snowy afternoon and kept it up for weeks |
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| the flying buttresses!! |
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| interior view |
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| feeling cute, might hop on a Greyhound across the country later |
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| ice skating at a friend's birthday party. she had a coat on when she started... |
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| when Taco Tuesday goes awry (this happened in less than 30 seconds while Nick and I were cleaning up the kitchen ten feet away) |
3) piano tunes. Nick continues to teach Cece on the piano, and she also spends a lot of time working through piano books on her own. she has a natural touch for sure.
4) DNA testing. my mom gifted all of us Ancestry DNA kits for Christmas. I always thought we were a mix of German, English, and Irish. never did I ever guess we have some Swedish/Norwegian genes and only 1% Irish! with 52% English heritage, I suppose I am entitled to have two daughters who could have been British queens. (Nick has a kit too, but hasn't returned it yet -- definitely anticipating a significant percentage of German ethnicity for him!)
Oh my goodness those piano videos are too cute! It makes me regret - once again - dropping lessons as a kid. Definitely one of my biggest regrets in life. Moving on!
ReplyDeleteThat cathedral is so cool. I've never seen anything like that in my life. Both a "toy" AND a work of art!
You could totally take lessons as an adult! Maybe not right in this season of life, but I definitely wouldn't consider that chapter closed forever!
DeleteBuilding the cathedral was a fun and meditative way to spend the afternoon -- and also a good lesson in perseverance because we definitely knocked over a few towers in the process and had to restart.
Finding out that I'm potentially not 100% Irish is why I won't do a DNA test :) My husband says everyone has some viking in them! I feel you on this busy winter and I'm hoping your spring is a little slower. It is so sweet that your husband can teach your girls piano, what a gift!
ReplyDeleteHa!! Yes, preserve the unadulterated Irishness as long as you can :)
DeleteOh what gorgeous photos! How lovely that you and your friends are so close.
ReplyDeleteLove the sign for the wet couch, and that wooden cathedral is magnificent! What a great setting for imaginative play.
It is truly a gift. We don't see each other very often and we have such different personalities, but we really bonded our freshman year of college and we'll be family no matter what!
DeleteThis looks like a fun party. I always wanted to own Mouse Trap. I knew friends with that game and I thought it was the bomb. That wooden cathedral gift is really amazing. I laughed at the taco mess on the floor that happened in the blink of an eye. Isn't it amazing how fast big messes materialize? We haven't made it up till midnight in a few years. It was such a bummer, when in years past when we were ready to go to bed before midnight but had to go pick up kids at their social engagements. When I think about it, that wasn't an issue specific to NYE. It was so nice when they started to drive.
ReplyDeleteI never had Mouse Trap as a kid, but the girls received it as a Christmas gift this year and it’s been a hit!
DeleteIt’s hard for me to wrap my mind around needing to go pick up kids from midnight parties when we wouldn’t be there with them, but it’s really not that far in the future. And them driving themselves!! Comes with its own set of issues too, of course, but it will be VERY nice to take off the chauffeur hat!