A well overdue update

Well, I've been putting off writing because we are exhausted and the craziness isn't even close to being over yet. Haha!

The wedding was simply beautiful and LOVE was in the air. And it is always something to be grateful for~ being able to see friends and family. We stayed in a hotel to make things easier on ourselves. But there were a few little things that sort of added up- I was unhappy with my dress and hair, and our attempt to secure a babysitter was not successful, so we spent the entire time trying to keep our riotous children quiet and out of the way! We felt absent from the celebrations, despite all our work in trying to be there. We also got super lost on our way to the reception! LoL. Then Thanksgiving was pretty much the same thing, except we were not all there by then. We were ill prepared, the kids were sick by then and Q and I had been sick for even longer. We were both physically tired and in pain. The kids were both well on their way to going crazy from being tied to the car seat or the TV. The grandparents' home is very much an adult space. I admit it was stressful, and in the end Q and I had a fight. We are still working on it. If family on both sides are reading this, maybe you'll understand if we don't visit so often next year. It is starting to take a toll on us. We love you and want to see you all so much, but we are tired. We really don't think we can keep up the pace.

We've been home from the trips for a couple of days, and I immediately went on make-ourselves-happy mode. We've been unpacking and I've been trying to get back on track with the mountains of laundry (added to the luggage is the fact that we've been sick, so sheets and covers, towels... and everything washable needs to be washed). Q also got groceries and even bought some sweets...  

And then we started the advent celebrations. I have a friend on FB who buys an advent calendar each year so I was planning to head to Barnes and Noble this week, but this year there was also a Giving Tuesday thing going around on FB, so I saw a post by an Alpha Psi brother whose wife is going on a mission trip to help rescue and take care of people who come out of sex slavery. It seemed like a more important thing to invest on, of course, so we spent our not hugely generous calendar budget on that and made one ourselves from stuff I already had. I have to say it felt great and the calendar looks wonderful to me- and it was not precious or anything, so when the kids saw me draw on the numbers and wanted to join in, I didn't bat an eye.

agh! he melts my heart.

the first day of advent we made paper snow flakes

today we made xmas trees and talked about bringing in the light :)

So there it is, my friends. Life is not perfect, but it is beautiful, and we are grateful for that <3