Elijah was born!!!!!

How is that even possible?!! My guy loves curious George, Top Gun, Volcanoes, Top Gun and Dinosaurs. He’s nearly finished kinder and he’s wicked smart when it comes to math.

This year he wanted a Top Gun birthday. He was feeling a little under the weather but he still wanted to do presents and cake. Over the weekend we broke out some sweets and he picked going to In N Out for dinner. At night he was able to pick out a couple of movies for us to all watch as a family. He said he had a really good birthday.

I still can’t believe how much time has gone by. My internet is being a bit of a jerk and I’m having issues uploading photos. I’m glad he had a good birthday. He truly has a heart of gold. He’s such a sweet guy. I feel lucky to be his mom.

I can’t believe my sweet girl is 9 already! The party we planned didn’t happen because we had a snow storm a few days before. Everything was shut down and no deliveries were made. All of her birthday decorations were stuck in the mail. So we pulled out what we had in the garage and she still got her Stranger Things birthday. It may not have been what we had planned but she said she still enjoyed herself. I’m so lucky to be her mom. She is 100% her own person with her own personality. She loves baby pink, memorizing lyrics to her favorite NF songs and reading as many books as she can get her hands on. Shes wicked smart, hilarious when shes in her silly mood and one of the most beautiful people I know. For breakfast she wanted an eggo bar and we were able to pull that off with what we had previously bought. Luckily I had done some shopping at costco just before. I’m just happy that she was happy.

… and just like that 2022 flashed before our eyes and disappeared into the abyss. When I say flashed I really mean it flashed before our eyes. It was a beautiful year full of more adventures, growth, and learning to appreciate the moments as they flutter by. This post is going to be a hodgepode of reflection over the last few months and probably the whole year. Forgive me for the typos and random sentences with errors. My attention is split in so many ways I’m surprised I have any focus whatsoever.

The photo above of all of the grandparents is the one from thanksgiving. What a crazy time. I can’t even unpack all of November. To say it was emotionally exhausting would be an understatement. I’m starting to finally feel normal again and it’s halfway through January. There were a lot of re-realizations, conversations to reaffirm my previous thoughts, and eye opening experiences that led me to look in the mirror and realize that I have not arrived. I am still doing a lot of healing. December came and the trauma continued as we said goodbye to Einstein. It’s a complicated crappy situation but it is what it is. I needed some travel time to decompress and de-stress. Getting away is its own kind of therapy and I crave it especially when I am feeling overwhelmed. And so we traveled! Nothing big or extravagant but it was beautiful.

First, we visited some ice covered waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge. We visited Leavenworth which was amazing! The kids had a blast. They said it felt like a winter theme park. Sledding, bookshops, warm hot-chocolate and pretzels. It was a beautiful winter wonderland. Every single one of us thought it was a magical experience. I normally hate the cold but I think this may be my winter happy place.

Then Christmas came. It was uneventful and no one really enjoyed it despite our best efforts. It just didn’t feel like Christmas no matter what we did. Next year we are going to cut down on the clutter and plan a trip instead. It seems to be what we all enjoy the most.

We woke up to a windstorm that blew down our fence. Unfortunately now we share a yard with our neighbors. After Christmas we set out on more adventures. We headed to the Oregon Coast. Honestly it was a gigantic bust. The weather was awful and though we braved it as much as we could by looking at shops and exploring… it just wasn’t very good. We ended up only staying one night despite having booked two nights.

We shifted gears and headed to Seattle the next day. There is so much to love about Washington. Can we move there already? No? oh. We spent some time on the Sound,explored a new botanical garden, enjoyed the company of a lighthouse and took in the beginning moments of the new year at the base of the space needle. Our first breakfast of the new year was at Starbucks Reserve and then we spent some time just enjoying the city. It was a beautiful start to the new year.

… next up Luca turns 2!