I freaking love you

 December 2022

I can't remember too much of what we did in December, but I know we went to Andrew's work holiday party, wrapped up the first half of the school year with an ice skating field trip and class plays, did Christmas-y things, and played in the snow near Tahoe with friends. 

The kids kept building things out of the presents under the tree. This was some sort of bed for the dinosaur

Happy 34th, babe!

We went to a fundraiser at the school where they did iceless ice skating. The kids could have stayed right there the whole night. In fact, they quickly shed their coats even though it was freezing!

Matthew and Michael both did a great job in their class plays and they got all the songs stuck in our heads too. I only got to attend the final rehearsal since I was chaperoning Adaline's field trip on the day of the performance, but even what I got to see was great, and it only got cuter with their props/costumes.

2nd tooth down

Cutest howler monkey ever

My grandma's birthday was in December, two days before Andrew's. She would always talk like they understood each other so well since they were both Sagittarius. Haha. Anyway, Andrew had the great idea to honor her by having a G'ma Peggy day where we made her brisket and cheesecake recipes. I think we'll add more to it in the future as we continue to flush it out (play Rummikub? read the funnies?) but I loved the idea and I think we'll keep it going. My cheesecake didn't turn out as good as the other times I've made it, but it tasted good and made me think of Granny Peg nonetheless.

Annual drive around in pj's with hot chocolate looking at the Christmas lights

Putting out treats for the reindeer 

My favorite part of Christmas, now that our kids are old enough to get it, is when they open the gifts they gave to each other. They pick out the gifts so carefully and I love to watch the giver's reaction probably most of all. They attack each other with hugs to show their gratitude, and it gives me hope that we're raising them to be each other's lifelong best friends. At one point, Alex opened a gift from Adaline that he really loved. He very calmly walked over to her and said, I'm going to give you ten hugs. Then he proceeded to hug and count all the way up to ten. It was so cute. 

A couple days after Christmas, we drove up towards Tahoe to stay a couple nights and play in the snow with our friends. An accident on a two lane road caused us to reroute and arrive much later than expected. We finally got there, the kids started running around playing with their friends, and I made a quick run to the grocery store to get the final couple of things we needed. As soon as I walked back in the house, Andrew sits Michael on the counter in front of me and says, "you need to see this. Does he need to go to a doctor?" And proceeded to show me Michael's mouth...

"Um yes, I'll see y'all later" was probably my reply. I guess Michael somehow ran into a door jamb for a sliding door and cut all across his gums and above his front teeth. It was a rough start to our trip, but Michael's mouth ended up healing on its own over the next week or two and he was such a good sport about his injury. In fact, the whole time he said it didn't hurt at all. He is a seriously tough kid.

8 kiddos

I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I always have to build a snow cave when we play in the snow. This one was a pretty good size by the time we left!

Meanwhile, Alex's favorite way to interact with snow is to eat it

See? That's a good sized cave!

Overall, it was such a great trip. We had so much fun playing games and chatting with friends. We ate tasty food and had plenty of chill time. It was great to play in the snow, but we got out before it really dumped the next day and we would have gotten stuck. We even snuck in some play time at a park on the way back to our homes the next day. 

This tooth didn't stand a chance, after running into the door jamb. At that makes number four in only a few, short weeks.

Running stats for the year. October was the beginning of a very rough time for me, and I'm just giving myself grace. I needed some space to heal emotionally, and I know running will always be there for me. I'll pick it back up at the level I was at, eventually, and it's okay to have a rest season.

I guess that's a wrap on 2022. It was a year that I'm very ready to move on from, but still managed to have laughter and smiles and plenty of highlights in between the rough patches. I'm ready to see what 2024 has in store for us.