Easing Into The New Year

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

It’s a new year!

2018!

The holidays have come and gone!

January, m’peeps!

It.

Is.

Here.

And it is brrrrrrrr cold.

And I totally dig it!

It’s so cold, in fact, that our neighborhood pond froze over for the first time in the four years we’ve lived here!

I mean, this is the first somewhat lengthy stretch of frigid (for our standards, ha) that we’ve had in ages. And I’m soooooo stinking glad I bought the kiddos their heavy, adorable coats!

But I digress.

What I meant to start with is something like this...

Obviously, my posting of the past week or so has been wildly sporadic—and notably out-of-order, since I posted a slew of post-Christmas vacation pics without ever posting about Christmas Day, ha. 

I pinky promise I’ll get to all of our holiday and vacay fun—and everything in between.

But not today.

Today, I’ll just say this:

1. We left a perfectly clean and organized home in our absence and have managed to destroy it in very little time, upon our return.

Taking down holiday decorations + finding new homes for the Christmas present haul + rotating toys to make room in those new homes + unpacking and taking care of ten thousand and twenty four loads of laundry = MASS DESTRUCTION.

But all that can wait, because...

2. Chica is still off from school this week and it really feels like a treat to have my trio underfoot for a special few days before the routine kicks back in. Today, we met Daddy for our standard lunch, and it was a joy to be a party of five. :)

Last year, when Chica was still attending a private preschool and we stayed in town over the holidays, our break didn’t seem too substantial. 

But this time, it does.

And we’re planning some fun excursions for the remainder of the week, and I’m totally pumped. 

And lastly...

3. It goes without saying that after eight days away and lots o’ stimulation and late-ish nights that the kiddos are facing re-entry roughness, ha. They’re stocking up on sleep as they fall back into notmalcy, and today, I had the best surprise cat nap, in between these two beauties:

Right there in that vacant spot was my place of honor. With each of my girlies using one of my blessed shoulders as a pillow. I mean, I could have stayed there forever—especially with the added ambiance of a dark afternoon.

I mean...heaven.

Too bad I had to rouse Little Man before he slept too late into the evening.

And then I had three little monkeys snuggled in bed while everyone woke up. 

Soooo grateful for these days of in between.

And much more catch-up posts to come, as time allows.

Happy New Year, m’peeps!