Year-end update

Well, I've done it again. It's been a busy several months and the blog/journal has been terribly neglected. I think about blogging often, but life's been...well, hectic. I laughed a little to myself when someone I know told me that a good day is when everyone in her family has survived- two little kids, herself, and husband. BUT, I'm starting to see things her way just a little. Yup, just surviving is a good day all right. So, anything outside of just surviving is a treat. A really good day.

And today was a really good day. We are just starting a nice week where Chris has time off. Family time is all too rare and precious around here. And C is very lucky that I did NOT, for the record, forget about his birthday (as we all know he did mine!). To spend his 34th birthday together, as a family was really great. The day was sunny, happy, and warm! The past couple of birthdays have been rather cold I remember driving through a snow storm to get to dinner a couple of years ago!

We started the day off at Peet's Coffee (where we managed to find a table for the first time of all the times we've been there!) and lunch at...where else Rod Dee!

iced coffee, anyone?

BFR with crispy chicken, of course

I was inspired to blog today because I remember Chris' past 2 birthdays so well. They were of course, topics here and here. I realized just how important it is to me to keep up with my journaling. There's something about the written word that brings me back to exactly where I was or what I was thinking and feeling at the time and it's something that just photos don't seem to as accurately convey for me.

Christmas gift shopping. Kendrick also got his first pair of shoes. Getting them on will be quite the  challenge!

This holiday season, I'd really like to do the Twelve Dates of Christmas like we did a couple of years ago, so I've got to get a-planning! We really won't be able to get to a full twelve events, but just half of that number would be marvelous!

Here are some things we've been up to over the past couple months:

Thanksgiving dinner preparation with my brother!

Our veritable feast!

Kendrick's first Thanksgiving! We continued my favorite tradition of watching the Macy's Day Parade
and then the Dog Show

The day after Thanksgiving, we headed to Volante Farms in search of our Christmas tree. To our surprise, the nursery was turned into a Christmas decor market and we found some great ornaments.

Ear muff Christmas tree ornaments- we should have gotten this one!

One of the photo contenders for our holiday card!

The 2nd annual MSPCA photo with Santa. But this year, we added Clementine and Kendrick!

*First photo: our decked out Christmas tree! It was quite the ordeal getting all the lights working!