I’m back and I have so many pictures. We’ve been busy! After our early Christmas celebration 2 weekends ago, we had Monday-Thursday to relax while the boys were home from school. Nate and I were both still working, but it wasn’t super busy for either of us and we were able to tag team. The boys had lots of new toys, legos and science kits to keep them busy. They went to Grandma Debbie’s house twice and played nonstop. On Thursday of last week, Gussie went to daycare and Nate and I took Xander out for sushi lunch. Xander is a good eater and he also likes being cool, so we were hopeful he’d like it. We promised that if he didn’t like it, we’d make him a different lunch when we got home. Not only did he enjoy it, he was quite proud of himself for successfully using chopsticks (he even kept them as a souvenir). It feels like yesterday he was a baby and now all of a sudden he’s practically a grown up. He’s growing up before our eyes!
On Thursday night, we had pizza dinner on the couch with a movie. Always a special treat! We had a very early flight the next day, so it was an early bedtime after dinner.
On Friday morning, we were up early to be to the airport by 6am. We haven’t been on an airplane in over a year, so we were excited to go to Ohio to visit with the Whiteds. When we landed, I had several concerned texts asking if our travel had gone smoothly, because apparently there were hundreds of cancelled flights due to the airlines being short staffed from people out with covid. We had a very travel day and I was grateful that we missed all the mess.
Friday-Tuesday, we spent at Nate’s parent’s house with them and Nate’s sister Kara and her husband Jud, and their daughter Nell (who is a little over 1 years old). It was such a wonderful visit. The boys learned how to play wii and spent a lot of time bowling, ski jumping and golfing. Augustus was shockingly good at bowling and it was very fun to watch both of them get so into it
We had matching family Christmas jammies for everyone, but apparently Nate’s strong feelings about not having his photo in pjs runs all the way through his family because they all warned me not to post it. So you’ll just have to take my word that it is a very cute photo.
Saturday morning, we woke up and opened presents. The boys got to play with their baby cousin and it was SO fun to watch them interact. I was a little nervous the big boys would be rough with such a little girl, but she was tough. There is a little stuffed chair left over from Nate’s childhood. Both boys loved it when they were tiny, and this year was Nell’s turn. At one point, Augustus sat in it, and she gently, but firmly guided him right out of her chair!
The boys did some science projects, made an art project with Grandma Renee, we went to 2 parks and we went real bowling (after a lot of wii bowling as “practice”). We ate a ton of good food and stayed up too late and it was wonderful. We got periodic updates from doggy daycare- Hudson played nonstop, while Ruthie ended up being better hanging out with staff and playing one on one with Hudson. It was so nice being able to relax and hang out. The weather in Ohio was rainy for a few days, but in the 50s (which was WAY warmer than it was in MN!).
Picking up the puppies the next morning. 
At Grandma Debbie’s after our trip.
Our flight home on Tuesday was supposed to have us arriving at 4pm. Perfect timing to pick up the dogs. I had a grocery delivery scheduled. Except that the luck we had on our first trip wasn’t with us on the return. First our flight got bumped, with an arrival at 10pm. I rescheduled the groceries and extended the dogs’ stay at boarding. When we got to the airport, our flight got rescheduled 2 more times. Eventually we got home at a little after midnight. The boys were super flexible about it and overall, it wasn’t a bad day, even though it was a little different than we’d originally planned.
The next morning, Xander slept in until 7:30 and he and I went to the daycare to pick up the puppies. I was very happy to see them. They spent the next 48 hours EXHAUSTED so I think they were happy to be home too. The boys went to my mom’s on Wednesday afternoon so Nate and I could work. Thursday Augustus went to school (they did a new years toast at lunch!) and Xander and Nate hung out.
Friday was New Years Eve and I had a wedding order for 500 macarons! The boys went back to my mom’s house for a New Years sleepover! They planned to eat Dominoes pizza, watch movies and stay up until midnight. Luckily they only made it to 9pm, so they weren’t super crabby the next day.
Nate and I went to sushi for dinner. Our favorite restaurant is closing down for a year due to construction, so New Years eve was the last time for us to go there! After dinner, we went to our neighbor’s house for a party. We ate more amazing food (even though we were stuffed from sushi), drank champagne and laughed and laughed. It was such a great way to end the year. We stayed until 2:30am, which was the first time I’ve been up that late in over a year! It was definitely worth it though!
What am amazingly fun 2 weeks!
