a very merry christmas, and a happy new year

{Our 2013 Christmas card, taken in 10 degree weather. We only got about 8 or 9 shots before giving up and sprinting  back to the warm car. So cold!}

We're still stuck in Christmas land over here, since the last of our Christmas celebrations is still coming up later this week. I'm okay with it, because it all came and went too fast for my liking anyway. One last hurrah at home with my family sounds just about perfect. I hope you and yours had a very merry celebration of Jesus' birth. And lots of cookies.

And now for just a handful of my favorite instagram photos taken over the year. As silly and unimportant as technology and smart phones and social media can be in the grand scheme of things, I sure am thankful for it all. Without any of it, I wouldn't have all these snippets of 2013 right at my fingertips. I have been given such a wonderful, happy life, and I'm glad that, thanks to blogs and instagram and my trusty iphone, I've remembered to stop and snap a picture of the best and most beautiful parts of the year. Memory making! I want more if it in 2014.

This upcoming year is the first in a while that is a completely open book, which is both unsettling and exciting for me. The past few years have been full of the big stuff-- graduating, getting married, buying a house, having a baby, and then raising that baby through the first year of his little life. I feel like this new year is waiting for Ryan and I to accomplish the little goals and dreams we've been keeping tucked away in our back pockets. We, thankfully, have everything we could ever want and need. 2014 is for all the cherries on  top. I'm so excited, and so grateful.

Now, let's start dreaming.

what the weekend of Dec 13-15 looked like in pictures.

I don't know if there's anything cozier than going to bed on a Friday night with the promise of waking up to snow the next morning. Not stuck-in-the-house-all-weekend snow, and not just a dusting, but the kind where the driving around for Saturday errands is winter-white, you can bust out the sled, and shoveling isn't so bad as long as you have a hot bowl of soup waiting on the table when you come inside. 

These days I'm feeling really thankful for all the cozy weekends I've been having with my little family.  The last few days here have been filled with long johns and scarves, a warm kitchen, a hot oven (filled with cookies all day long,) sewing and buying and wrapping gifts, spontaneous dance parties with a baby who just figured out how to dance with his arms and his feet at the same time, and falling asleep on the couch every night, thanks to pure merry Christmastime exhaustion. So far December is sure making up for the dreadful November we had. Thank goodness.

mom and dad's house

Lots of things going on at Mom and Dad's house this February Christmas...

like board games and baby-gazing...

pasta night...

luigi and alfredo supervising...

peppers and meatballs...

feeling sweaty and exhausted from cooking for the whole family...

present opening...

and stuffing our faces.

I'm a perpetually full and happy girl this week.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! (Again.)

We're just about to head out for my parent's house! I spent the entire day packing, wrapping last-minute gifts and cleaning the apartment so that it's not a depressing mess when we return. My sister who lives in Nebraska texted me this morning and said their ETA is sometime this afternoon, so they should be at the house when Ryan and I arrive! (Although they're traveling with three kids under 5, so who knows? Also, yikes.) 

Every year my family picks a theme for Christmas, just for the fun of it--this year's theme is Season's Eatings. We've got some grand plans for root beer taste testing, pasta making, fondue, and a gigantic chocolate cake. I'm sure we'll all be feeling nice and hefty when we return home. I'll be sure to take photos of all our feasts!

Also, Ryan and I got downgraded to the basement this year, right near allllll the kiddos' favorite toys. I'm sure we won't be getting much sleep. Here's to 5 nights of sleeping on an air mattress!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a happy weekend!

Happy February and other stuff

I'm not sure how I feel about February just yet.

This month was supposed to be entirely different from what it's turned out to be, in every sort of way possible. If I let my mind slow down just the tiniest bit, I remember that February was supposed to be filled with fresh, healthy, pink baby things. Then the sadness creeps in, and it takes me a little while to dig myself back out of it.

But what's odd is that I felt really good when I woke up this morning and remembered it was the first day of a new month. Maybe I'm just thankful that the gloom of January is over? It's also possible that I'm faking it, and I'm just tricking myself out of feeling sad. Whatever it is, I've got some sparkly energy coming from somewhere, and it's keeping my brain from slowing down too much. And that's fine with me.

You know what else is helping me out this month? A few things. Let me tell you about them:

• This photo challenge. I usually stay away from long list-type stuff like this, because I have a hard time sticking with it. (Take my Advent calendar, for example.) But I think it'll help me find some happy things in this stupid month of February. And every blogger and their mother is doing it, so why not? Wanna see my first photo? Day 1: The view from my dining room table.

• Christmas in February with my family. For various reasons that mostly have to do with a sweet new baby being born in Nebraska on December 21st, Christmas has been postponed until this Saturday. Ryan and I are driving to my Mom and Dad's house on Friday evening, and we're spending a few days with every single member of my family. I couldn't be more excited to hug my sisters and get snuggles from my niece and nephews, and meet brand new little Jonas. Oh the joy! The downside is that I still haven't put away some of my Christmas decorations, and the gifts that I've wrapped so far look suspiciously Valentine's Day-ish. I think I'm seasonally confused.

To close this silly post, I'd like to wish a Very Merry Birthday to my dear friend Miss Becker, who turned 24 today. I hope it was marvelous! Let's flashback, shall we?

Ah. That was nice.

Happy Birthday, Sarah B.

And happy February.

The Humboldt Chalet

looky looky.

here's a little keepsake from my friend Andy's christmas party a few weeks ago.

there was a real christmas tree at that party

and it smelled real good.

there were also real deer antlers just sittin' on a table

and i alllllmost stole them

since real deer antlers to set on my coffee table/bookshelf/desk

 are the only thing my heart really truly desires.*

but i didn't.

*i would also take this pretty blouse if anyone is interested in making my dreams come true.

christmas eve eve

We're back from our little vacation with Ryan's family, but I'm still feeling vacation-y. The house is a mess, and the fridge is empty, and I don't want to unpack! So, instead of catching up around the house, I'm catching up on internet stuff. 

We spent Christmas Eve Eve making preparations for Christmas day. Ryan wrapped my presents while I baked cookies. He got all fancy and wrapped one gift in actual Christmas lights, which was mostly adorable and only slightly irritating, since it literally outshone all the gifts I worked hard on wrapping. He was way proud of it.

I've got lots more pictures to go through, so I'll be back later with little blurbs about more Christmas stuff and our vacation in Mishicot.

coolest christmas present ever.

the story of my baby and my christmas tree

is over on nat the fat rat's blog.

i am so excited.

the whole thing made me sweaty.

i am so happy that she shared my story.

it's not an easy thing to talk about.

but i'm so honored

that she helped me honor my little baby girl 

in such a cool way.

super, super cool.

and it's made me even more excited about this whole blogging thing.

ryan, too.

neat, huh?

we're in mishicot with ryan's family for a few days

and internet is hard to come by,

but when we get home i think i'll keep this up!

Novum Christmas party 2011 and this is what we wore.

Records show that Ryan's work Christmas party always happens on the first bitterly cold day of the winter, and I am never wearing pants. 

Last year, the party was held at Miller Park. It was real fancy. There was a fancy chef wearing a fancy chef's hat carving a fancy beef cut. And there were cheesecake bites! Well. This year was not so fancy and I'm wondering if it's because it was held at the Harley Davidson Museum, but I'm not entirely sure? (They served apple pie squares, and they were not good.) I also ended up sitting next to a cute, pregnant wife of Ryan's co-worker, so there was some pouting. I'm not proud of it.

Here are some things I did enjoy: 

1.) The slideshow on the big screen included a photo of Ryan wearing a hard hat! I pointed and clapped every time it appeared, like a good wife should.

2.) Ryan's description of one of his co-workers: "She's a runner. She runs a lot. Like, down the hallways. Everybody laughs."

 And now, more photos!

*BONUS*

Novum Christmas party 2009!!!

we were in college

Christmas in the Ward

On our second date of Advent, we saw the tree lighting in the Third Ward.

Also spotted: Santa, two reindeer, Ronald McDonald?, and a really cute wiener dog.