Been looking toward this weekend on the calendar with both excitement and fear 😂 We had A LOT going on and I was just hoping to pull it all off and have the best time. I think we did it! We rode “The Santa Train” on Friday, celebrated both my mom’s retirement and my parents’ anniversary on Saturday, then Lydia and I got our haircut before her birthday party on Sunday. Whew!

Got my nails done on Friday then went home to work until the kids and Lori go there around 3:30. Joey placed our dinner order and picked it up on the way home and then we all loaded into the car and made the drive to Georgetown. Thankfully, there was no traffic and we made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare. Our train took off promptly at 6:30 and we had a fun time! We had snacks and hot chocolate and a visit from Santa! Dempsey was nervous and asked me to tell Santa his list (a voice control bat, an animatronic Santa and a transforming robot 😂) but Lydi wasn’t shy at all and had a great time chatting with Santa and telling him she wanted “ballerina shoes” for Christmas 🥺❤️ Back at the train station, we visited Mrs. Claus then got back in the car to head home. We didn’t get a good clear picture with Santa but I don’t really think the kids cared 😂

Saturday, we all woke up and had whole wheat buttermilk waffles before Lydi’s swim lesson. She did great again! And then we made a stop at Goodwill to look for a Sprit Week outfit for Dempsey. We found exactly what we were looking for, plus a toy each, some books and future Crocs for Lydi! This is my new favorite place to shop 😍 I ran some errands in the afternoon, during nap/rest time and then we all made our way into Louisville to surprise my mom on her last day of work! Afterward, we had dinner at The Cork, which I hadn’t been to in something like fifteen years and… it held up! So cozy and glitzy in there for the holidays, plus the food, drinks and service were all really good. I’m so glad we went. Got the kiddos to bed, then watched Scrooged while putting up Lydi’s party decorations — actually Dempsey had started putting some up earlier in the day and I thought it was the sweetest thing 🥺– for the next day.

Sunday! Lydia and I had appointments to get our haircut at 10 and I was getting kind of nervous when she started telling me “I don’t want to get my hair cut!” half an hour before we left and through the whole car ride. She also twirled the most insane knot into a huge chunk of her hair on the way 😬 I didn’t want her to feel stressed about it, so I didn’t push her but after I was done, I told her it was her turn and she sat on my lap and didn’t put up any fight. Just a trim, but she did so good! Baby’s first haircut🥹

Back at home, Joey and I made some tea sandwiches and we all got into our party outfits before everyone showed up at 2. It was a really good party! Our girl got the sweetest and most fitting gifts, including her first Barbie, lots of coloring stuff, Princess-themed toys and books and, from my mom, a rack full of dress up clothes! So cute and she’s changed dresses every ten minutes since 😍😂 I’m going to watch the video of her singing “Happy Birthday” to herself and blowing out her candle a billion times, she looked so happy and grown up. Both of my children then proceeded to have the most insane bedtime, full of shenanigans, screaming and crying. Nothing like a busy weekend, overstimulation, late bedtimes, skipped naps and lots of sugar to really bring some peace to your home 😓 What can you do?

Launching straight into another busy week that includes my daughter’s actual third birthday, so it’s time to take a deep breath, wrap some presents, drink some water and dive right in! Happy Monday 😄

Happy Monday to everyone but the iPhone update, which erased my Christmas list and has forced me to exert brain power to remember everything we’ve already bought, everything we still need to buy and everything that didn’t make the cut this year but I was keeping for future occasions 🤪 Anyway, we had a really nice weekend that included our company holiday party, Lydia’s swim lesson and some downtime at home, seeing Frozen with the grandmothers and the kids and then, some one-on-one time with Dempsey while Lydia had her first sleepover at my parents’ 🥺❤️ Oh and Joey and I finished The Summer I Turned Pretty! Finally and never again!

Friday, I forced Dempsey to stop using his new little snow shovel (this kid loves to shovel 😂) and got him to school, then worked until Lori brought both kiddos home that afternoon. The three of us went to pick up dinner from King of Wings then got back home right before my sister and Wayne showed up to babysit. Then I headed out to our company holiday party. We’re a small group and the space was bigger than we needed — we all could’ve sat at our own table! — but it was a really nice time. I ditched out shortly after 8 PM because I promised Dempsey I would be home to put them to bed. They seemed to have had a nice night with Aunt Bean and Uncle Wayne ❤️

Saturday ended up being a really chill day. Joey made us gingerbread pancakes for breakfast and mid-morning we all headed out to Lydia’s swim lesson. It is CRAZY how different of an experience it is with her than with Dempsey. No fear, no anxiety, just excitement and walking straight over to her coach all on her own 🥺 It was nice being there with Dempsey and him just being able to play and watch and say stuff like “oh, I remember I loved that thing!” about his lessons last year. She did so good! Back at home, they wrote their letters to Santa and then Lydia took a nap and I took a walk. Made orange chicken with broccoli for dinner and it was really good. Dempsey ate his so fast! After kid bedtime, Joey and I watched the penultimate episode of TSITP and I think he really loved my negative running commentary and hearing “in the book…” a million times 😂

Sunday, I got up and worked out and then we all had breakfast and played for a bit. We ate early lunch and then the kids and I headed to pick my mom up and meet Lori at the Arvada Center for a performance of Frozen. We bought the tickets so long ago and, at the time, I was thinking Lydia would be almost 3 and so grown up but she’s actually still so little 😂 That being said, she acted to grown up during the show. I was nervous because it said “good for 4 and up” and it had a run time of two hour and twenty minutes but she was SO well-behaved! Even Dempsey was a bit antsy but not my girl 🥰 We all had a great time!

Afterward, we took my mom and Lydia back to my parents’ and then Dempsey and I said our goodbyes. I was worried (again) that she might freak out when I went to leave but she seemed totally fine with it and the report was that she was a perfect angel for the sleepover. Can’t quite say the same for Dempsey. The three of us had dinner then did milkshakes and Home Alone 2 before taking him up for bed and he was NOT okay sleeping in his room without his sister. I was so worried about Lydia that I was caught off guard by Dempsey’s reaction. I ended up having to lay with him until he fell asleep and despite being so tired, it took him an hour to finally close his little eyes. Poor Buddy! He’ll be so happy to have his sister home today ❤️ TSITP finale was as exasperating as the rest of the show and I’ll leave it at that 😋 Wishing you all a good week!