We are back from Hawaii! I hope to post about it later this week, but we had smooth travel, (mostly) good weather and just so much fun with our family. Feels pretty good to be home and starting to get back into a routine though! We flew in late Friday night then spent Saturday and Sunday packing up the last of the Christmas decorations, re-arranging the playroom, watching movies, restocking the fridge, doing alllll the laundry and soaking up our last few days before heading back to school and work.

How cute are the kids sharing a seat and a screen on our last Friday flight?? 🥺 A fun time for Mom when both children wanted to sit in her row 🤪 Joey mentioned no less than three movies he watched during all our travel and you know what I watched? Three full drinks get picked up and shuffled around and bounced up on the tray table while two children climbed on me. Anyway, I’m not bitter 😋 We got them to bed then started Saturday pretty slow with breakfast and The Wild Robot, then we dove straight into laundry and Joey trying to take the murphy bed down in the playroom while the kids built a fort, ate snacks, tried to run off with Dad’s tools and said “Mom” a billion times 😂 Dempsey helped me make gnocchi for dinner and then after they went to bed, we watched Conclave and I thought it was somehow both very interesting and very boring. It wasn’t until today, when I listed to a podcast about it that I realized it was supposed to be funny? Hmm.

Sunday was a little more laid back (kinda 😅) and also more productive. I made us all some buttermilk pancakes, got salads done, built snowmen with Dempsey, worked out and made dinner. Joey and Dempsey built and installed a little shelf for his water bottle and tissue box and I love it so much! The time difference between here and Hawaii is only three hours but it’s been a struggle in varying degrees for all of us to adjust. Whether it’s falling asleep on time, staying asleep all night or waking up in the morning, but hopefully we’re all back to normal in a few days. For now, it’s back to school for Dempsey and back to work for Joey and I, but today is my dad’s birthday, so at least we all get to be back together again tonight 🤍 Happy Monday, everyone!

I have completely lost track of what day it is but we had a wonderful Christmas Day and a weekend filled with new toys, good movies, home cooked meals and one last holiday gathering. I only have a million photos 😜

We spent Christmas Eve morning at Joey’s aunt and uncle’s, eating blina, playing with all their Disney toys and trying to get four children to look at the camera at the same time 😂 Later on, we had Grandma Lori over for cookie baking, dinner and 8-Bit Christmas. Before kiddo bedtime, we checked the chimney, then set out cookies, eggnog and… a trap for Santa?? 😂😂

Merry Christmas!! The kids slept in, can you believe it? You should’ve seen the look of disappointment on Dempsey’s face when he realized he didn’t catch Santa in his trap 😂 He eventually recovered though and we all got some great gifts, including a voice changer, a record player, headphones for both babies, earbuds for me, a new jacket for Joey and tickets to Monster Jam for all of us! Dempsey is getting so good at taking our family photos for us, using the tripod and timer 🥺🤍

After Lydia’s nap, we headed over to my parents’ for Round 2 of presents. Feeling so spoiled 🥰 Lydia got a baby carrier for her Bitty Baby and such cute shoes and clothes. Dempsey got some light up gloves that are the perfect gift for him, plus a Bluey watch and his first set of Lincoln Logs! They also both got their own kid-size yoga mats 🥺 My mom knocked it out of the park with dinner. Lydi loves prime rib apparently! Meanwhile, Dempsey ate NOTHING 😳 It was so nice having my aunt and cousin in town to celebrate with us. Lydia told Emily, “scuse me, Aunt Tricia,” which is wrong but also so cute! I want them to come every year 😋

Scenes from Friday and Saturday, including Mom and Dad returning to work but skipping out early to see A Complete Unknown, which I absolutely loved! I never miss a Chalamet opening weekend (except for Wonka 😋) and it’s always worth it. He’s transcendent! We also made messes and cleaned up messes and made more messes all weekend with our new Christmas toys, ate some homecooked meals and started prepping for vacation! Joey and Dempsey went to the Nuggets game and had a great time. When they got home, I asked Dempsey if the Nuggets won and he turned around and asked Joey if the Nuggets won, so he really is my son 😂 Oh and Joey and I watched I Saw the TV Glow and even though I had to look up what it meant afterward, it was tonally like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I’m still thinking about it days later!

A Sunday morning Christmas celebration! Dempsey had just enough time to finish his puzzle before we left then needed to pose like the skeleton, which means Lydia also needed to 😂 We had a great time at Grandma’s and the kids and adults were all so spoiled by presents 🥰 Dempsey has been really into his air tube toy and you know Lydia was super excited about her car from Chaddy! We had a chill rest of the day. I got 80% packed and felt really good about it. Made us some chicken tzatziki wraps for dinner, got the kids to bed then took down all the Christmas decorations. We warned Dempsey beforehand but he still was not pleased this morning 😬 I’m trying to keep my head straight while we work, celebrate New Year’s and leave for vacation this week. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!