I’m not going to lie, I feel like this holiday season is swallowing me whole. We had a rocky fall with sickness and bad sleep and I was ready to put it behind us and really live it up this Christmas but our first weekend of the year didn’t go as planned and now I feel blue and am having a hard time getting in the spirit. Why is there so much to do and never enough time to feel like you have it all under control?

Our little lady started Friday at the allergist for a repeat skin test and while she’s now okay with soy, her reactions to peanut, egg and dairy are still showing up loud and clear 😞 In fact, our doctor is not optimistic about the peanut allergy going away ever! Dairy and egg should still but the question is when? Poor Lydia! We had a company holiday party that night and had fun mingling and axe throwing. It was harder than I thought it would be! Got home just in time to see the tail end of Dempsey’s bedtime freak out for Aunt Bean and Uncle Wayne. I explained that all the shenanigans he put them through is just a typical night for us 🤪😬😂

The first half of Saturday was pretty normal and low key. Buttermilk pancakes, I got in a run, Dempsey went to his swim lesson, both kids napped and we wrapped some presents before Grandma Lori came over because Joey and I had fun plans out!

Casa Bonita is a Colorado icon but it’s reputation has been shoddy to say the least. It finally got new owners and is re-opened to the lucky raffle winners. Hannah got the call and invited us to come along with she and Josh. It was quite the experience. We were there for four hours and I feel like we could’ve stayed longer! Staff was amazing, entertainment (yes, there are still cliff divers!) was fun, food was certainly an improvement and they hit that perfect blend between being exactly how I remember it being but much much nicer. We had so much fun but I totally lost track of time/didn’t realize there would be so much to do and we were home much later than I had expected. I had told Dempsey we’d be home to put him to bed and I felt so horrible when we weren’t. Luckily he was still awake in bed when we got home, so I ran up to kiss him goodnight and give him a blue rubber duck Joey had won from the claw machine in the arcade. He had the biggest smile when I gave it to him so I felt a lot better.

Our Sunday went by in a flash! We actually all slept in, so we took that as an opportunity to order breakfast sandwiches (and a chocolate cruffin that we were meant to share 😂) from Wooden Spoon since it doesn’t open till 8 and we’re usually eating before that. They hit the spot! Felt like we spent the rest of the morning getting ready for Lydia’s one year photo shoot at the Botanic Gardens but we made it there on time and in one piece. Just like Dempsey in past years, our happy smiley girl was suddenly the most stoic baby in all the land. But I think Jo managed to get some smiley shots and Demps was being a true ham and even got to help take some photos with the big fancy camera! I can’t wait to see how they turned out and I cannot believe our girl is almost one 🥺 Back at home, the kids (and Joey) went down for naps and I made salads for the week. Truly hard to fit that in a lot of weekends and I’m always so close to bailing but then it makes the work week soooo much easier. Felt like I had just sat down to read a few pages of my book when it was time to get everyone up and dinner on the table and head BACK to the Botanic Gardens for Blossoms of Light. I had put a pork shoulder in the crockpot and was able to get some sliders together real quick before we left. It turned out really good! And we had a really nice — windy but not too cold — night at the gardens. Dempsey had fun with hot chocolate, keeping an eye out for the headless horseman (who was there when we went for Halloween 😂) and chasing after Uncle Wayne. It was Lydi’s first Blossoms experience and she was somewhere between content and confused 😋

Back to our December to-do list and back to the work week but we have zoo lights on Wednesday to look forward to 😄 Happy Monday!

Well we had lots of fun things planned for the first weekend of December — KBCO Studio C CD release, pictures with Santa, the Parade of Lights, Mason’s birthday party and a CU basketball game for Joey, Dempsey and Grandpa Steve — but instead, we stayed home all weekend with croup! The kids came down with it Monday night and needless to say, it was a looooong week. Saturday was their worst day but they were both feeling much better by Sunday, so I am hopeful we will back in the game by NEXT weekend because we have lots of catching up to do.

I was home all week with the kids and being home bound with two (understandably) irritable and needy little ones is a whole new level of cabin fever. I had my mom to help on Thursday and Lori offered to come over on Friday and I’m so grateful for the grandmas. Demps and Lyds got to open their advent calendars in front of Grandma Lori and she got such cute ones this year! Joey came home early from work and then, because the kids’ appetites have been basically MIA anyway, we went with what WE wanted, which was pizza take out from Cart-Driver. It was so good! After the kids went to bed, we watched the finale of GBBO and I’m always so sad when it’s over!

I’m not going to lie, Saturday was a rough day. Dempsey was NOT well. I don’t think he cracked a smile all morning and was just so miserable and out of it. We watched something like five movies and tried to get them as much sleep as possible. On the bright side, Joey and I both got in a run, I made a really delicious dinner and Lydia took three legit steps in their playroom that afternoon! 🎉🎉🎉 We put Dempsey to bed suuuuper early and what a sweet but sad moment when Lydia rolled off my lap after I fed her and just laid down on the bed 🥺😢 We had time to watch an entire movie after they went down. Scrooged forever!

We woke up to snow on Sunday and I had no idea it was even coming! Mason’s birthday party was that morning but I didn’t think the kids (or their coughs!) should be there, so we had to miss this one and it was such a bummer. Dempsey made a video for Mason though 😊 We had a simple egg and bacon breakfast, I put Sissy down her nap and then bundled up and walked to The Cottage Bakery for pastries. Jill sells baked goods from her lovely little home every weekend and we’ve lived blocks away and never been! 🤦🏻‍♀️ When I showed up, there was a line and if that’s not a good sign, I don’t know what is. Grabbed a pain au chocolat, an apple danish, a morning bun and a loaf of sourdough and it was all amazing! Dempsey asked for another morning bun for the rest of the day 😂 Naps and adult chores took up the rest of the afternoon and then when Dempsey was up, he and I took a trip to Target for a gingerbread house. They even had a preconstructed one! He was so excited to decorate it as soon as we got home, then spent seven minutes actually doing it — most of which involved eating candy — then ran off. Nothing like decorating a gingerbread house by yourself while your children play in another room 😅 Leftovers (plus that sourdough!) for dinner then bedtime for the kids, SNL for us and bedtime for me while Joey worked. Hoping it’s a much better week for us — the silver lining is that the kids have slept amazing three nights in a row, so Joey and I have at least been super rested while tending to them! — and I at least make it into the office once 😉 Happy Monday!