{This series was inspired by my son's sixth grade english assignment
of writing for six minutes, without edits or overthinking it.
I'll be posting daily quick writes for the month of March.}
Shed.
Shed is the word I chose to focus on in 2015 and boy have I been shedding some stuff!
In January I focused on shedding excess from my home. I participated in Apartment Therapy's January Cure and got really into it. I purged spice cabinets and organized utensil drawers. We sold our bed frame and acquired a storage bed from Craig's List. Clothing, kitchenware and unread books were sent to the thrift stores and local library.
February has been for shedding old habits. I gave up drinking and wheat, both huge challenges for me. I'm discovering that I'm also shedding some old preconceived notions about spirituality and judgments of others while I'm on this journey. Hopefully, all of the shedding will equal a few less pounds on this body - but that's not the point of my alcohol and wheat abstinence - it would be a welcome byproduct though.
Yesterday my old oven range was laid to rest and a new range installed in its place. My oven had been dying a slow death ever since Thanksgiving and we stretched out it's demise as long as we could. It felt good to say goodbye to the range that came with our house and usher in the new, stainless steal beauty that now sits in its place.
March will also see another huge appliance leave our kitchen - the clunky, old, white fridge that was here when we bought the place over eight years ago. It's a total energy suck and on its last leg, as well.
There is something strangely intoxicating (to me) about taking stock of what we have accumulated over the years and being ready to say goodbye to them.
I feel pleased with the process of thinking about objects and finding new homes for them.
I feel stronger as I'm adopting new habits and rituals of my own making.
I feel like I can finally roast some freaking vegetables without it taking seven hours!
Shedding ideas, thoughts, habits, tangible items is my new thing.
Just like clockwork, I'm up in the middle of the night struggling with sleep. Every year around this time, sleep eludes me. My mind seems filled with ideas and running to-do lists and I wake up with the need to write or put my thoughts on paper.
Organizing my home and putting things in order at the beginning of the calendar year is a big ritual for me. I shared a little bit about my tendencies back in 2012. Around this time, I picked up a book called Apartment Therapy: The Eight Step Home Cure by Maxwell Ryan (the founder and creator of Apartment Therapy). The book had these great principles for organizing small spaces and it helped me with a little spring cleaning that year. I signed up for their daily emails about designing for small spaces and that's where I learned about their January Cure. You can read more about it here.
I've participated for the past couple of years and you can see my posts about it here and here.
This year, I sent out a bulk email to some of my like-minded friends to see if they wanted to participate and about a dozen said yes! Accountability really helps to motivate me and I hoped it would also motivate my friends participating in the January Cure.
My kitchen (after) + My January Cure Project List(s)
The crux of the January Cure is making your List of Projects. I modify this a bit by only making one huge list, highlighting 3 - 5 projects for each room that I want to tackle. This list ends up being about six pages long with the categories being Living Room, Entryway, Laundry Room, Kitchen, Bathroom, Master Bedroom & Grady's Room. I leave Steve's office and G's art studio off the list because, hey, I'm a realist. I also know that if I added them, it would just be too much and it would discourage me before I even start. The January Cure team encourages you to make another project list from this list, but I feel like that's just way too many lists! Yes, even for a list-lover like myself, so I just put these seven pages on a clipboard, highlight the doable items that are most important to accomplish and keep it on my desk for easy reference.
Setting up an Outbox is another key component to the January Cure and mine would live in the laundry room, where I would see it when I walked by and could easily add items to be donated, moved to another part of the house and/or sit here in the outbox purgatory until I decided what I wanted to do with it. This outbox concept is key to the success of the January Cure. It allows you to keep your focus on the daily assignments and not get stuck in the more of the details of where to put the items deposited there. Here's Apartment Therapy's Outbox rules:
My laundry room Outbox during week one of the January Cure
OUTBOX RULES 1. Anything can go in the Outbox 2. The Outbox is allowed to get messy 3. Everything must stay in the Outbox for at least one week 4. After that time you have several choices a. Take anything back out b. Leave anything you are undecided about for one more week c. Dispose of the rest by moving to the garbage, recycling bin, or giveaway pile Once you get used to separating first and disposing of later, you'll find that clearing clutter gets easier and easier.
This is hard for me because I don't want to leave a big mess out where I can see it, but it does help break the emotional hold some items have over me. My Outbox is growing and I finally addressed some items that I knew exactly what to do with. The other items that are in flux are still in the Outbox.
My goal project for this year's January Cure is our bedroom. Our bedroom is tiny and in no way feels like a "master" anything. There isn't even room for a proper dresser. My husband's wardrobe occupies most of the closet in our room and my clothing and shoes live in a small closet he converted for me a few years ago, just outside our bedroom door. Living in a 1950's farmhouse has its perks, but it also has many, many challenges. Making the most of our space in the bedroom has been a conversation topic since we purchased the house eight years ago.
Queen sized bed made of hardwood (Ash, we think) sold on Craig's List in a flash!
I quickly snapped a few photos of our 15 year old bed frame (above) and it was sold to the first person who replied, a 70 year old guy named Richard who told me he found his wife on Craig's List, too. No joke. Long story that I won't bore you with here, but the Craig's List karma was good for this bedroom renovation and I liked that. Plus, the bed would only really cost us the U-haul fee. Win-win.
Works In Progress :: New storage bed with headboard + closet purge
We've talked about getting a platform bed from Pottery Barn for years, but I just couldn't justify the $1,900 price tag. Searching Craig's List a few days after the new year yielded me several viable options. I was one day too late in obtaining the very bed from Pottery Barn that we had been coveting! And, it was only $200! This reignited my search and the very next day I found a platform storage bed with headboard manufactured by Stanley Furniture and I quickly negotiated the deal, sweetly asked my husband if he would be the manual labor and rented a U-haul for the weekend roundtrip to Oakland to pick up the bed. I'll share the final bedroom project photos in my final post on the January Cure later in the month.
Spice cabinet purge was long OVERDUE
While Steve was driving to-and-fro last Saturday, it gave me an entire day alone (he took G along for the ride) to deep clean my bedroom and then turn my attention to the kitchen assignment. I was a woman on a mission and purged the pantry, vacuumed drawers, deep cleaned my refrigerator and was ruthless with purging my spice cabinet & the drawers that housed my kitchen utensils - some that we hadn't used in years. I mean, who was I kidding? A mellon-baller? That thing had been collecting dust since the 1990's. Buh-bye.
It's not all sunshine and pretty pictures at The Ponderosa (yes, we call out place The Ponderosa). This Virgo is pretty good about the surfaces looking neat and tidy in my home, but open a drawer or closet? Oh, hell no. Most of the time you would find a hot mess inside these drawers and cabinets...but not this month!
The rest of the assignments have been pretty easy and I decluttered a few drawers on Thursday and marked those pesky jobs off of my pending List of Projects. Again, any place in my home where I can hide the mess - I will. The only bright side to this is that my home is small, less than 1,000 square feet, and when I set my mind to cleaning and decluttering it really doesn't take that long.
I've set in motion a few jobs that I needed to outsource, like calling an electrician to install wall-mounted reading lights above our bed. We also used that U-haul rental truck to load up yard detritus, a non-working satellite dish and our old set of boxsprings and Steve transported it to the local dump. See? I've even got him in on the January Cure.
That's it for now. It's almost five a.m. and I'm about to tackle the drawers that house my magazines and old newspapers.
The new year started off kind of slow for me, which was exactly how I needed it to be. The end of the year reflections always help me out in framing up and taking stock of where I am in my life, as well as giving me pause to think about what I'd like to accomplish when the calendar flips over into the next year.
As I shared in my last post, I usually pick a word for the year and write it down on an index card, think about what that word will mean for the coming 12 months and post it on the bulletin board just above my desk (where I will see it every day). This year I really wanted to get rid of a few things; both figuratively and literally. Debt, weight, health concerns, and a cumbersome investment property have weighed heavily on my mind for years and I want to lighten the burden for me and for my family. Inherited fears about life, creative self-doubt, "things" around our home that we do not love or no longer bring joy to our lives need to be purged from my mind and my surroundings in order to bring calm into my day(s).
shed2
SHed/
verb
verb: shed; 3rd person present: sheds; past tense: shed; past participle: shed; gerund or present participle: shedding
(of a tree or other plant) allow (leaves or fruit) to fall to the ground.
"both varieties shed leaves in winter"
(of a reptile, insect, etc.) allow (its skin or shell) to come off, to be replaced by another one that has grown underneath.
have the property of preventing (something) from being absorbed.
"this leather has a superior ability to shed water, sweat, and salt"
eliminate part of (an electrical power load) by disconnecting circuits.
I almost picked the phrase Shake It Off, but felt like Taylor Swift would be in my head most of the time. No, I definitely didn't need that. I love the synonyms for shed - slough off, case off, molt, take off, remove, shrug off, discard, doff, climb out of, slip out of, divest oneself of, and peel off.
This year has so many opportunities for growth and change. I want to feel lighter and less encumbered by the trappings of life and the rut of routines that no longer serve me. I'm excited.
My father used to always say you need to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. This phrase kept looping in my brain and the word shed seemed like the simplest way to remind me of a great many things. Wish me luck?
We juiced four out of five days this week. That seems reasonable and I completely utilized my CSA box from our local farm. The kale usually languishes in my crisper drawer and I feel guilty for not wanting to eat it, but this week I juiced it instead. Steve is usually the juice maker in our house, but he is NOT a morning person. I found I was waiting for him to get up and make it and by then we were usually running late with getting out the door. The juice window would close and I would just drink coffee and skip breakfast. Well, not this week. I boiled a half dozen eggs to keep handy in the fridge for a quick breakfast and drank the electric drink elixir without making a face. Honest.
Ms. Paltrow's green juice is super bright and delicious (and I'm a tough critic!). I think the lemon is the trick. I used a Meyer lemon and nixed the mint, but only because I was too lazy to go out and pick some. I'll add it next week.
Best Green Juice from Gwyneth Paltrow's book It's All Good
Serves 1
5 large leaves of kale, ribs discarded, roughly chopped
1 lemon, zest and pith removed
1 large apple, roughly chopped
A 1-inch piece of ginger
1 sprig fresh mint
Push all ingredients through juicer
Last year, one of Grady's goals for 2014 was to learn how to skateboard. Mid-year he made it happen. He's come a long way in six months and it both delights me and scares me (broken bones!). I need to lighten up, encourage him and just make sure I know the fastest way to Kaiser Hospital.
This year he resolved to climb (part of) Mt. Rainier with his god sisters, again. We did this back in 2011 and it was the most incredible experience. He'll be four years older and absolutely capable. We're going to do it as a family, so it's on my 2015 list, too.
Treated myself to a beautiful 'Lauren' leather double clutch by Hobo. I had been saving my Mamalode commission checks with the thought that I should spend the money I earned for writing and illustrating on something that would remind me of how I earned it. I'm a thrifter at heart, but buying a good, quality product that will last a long time is important to me, too. This clutch will serve as my wallet and can easily transition into an evening bag. I absolutely love it.
Last year I took several workshops that really helped me stay on my creative path. Artist Lisa Congdon's basic line drawing class was by far the most influential for me. I viewed the classes online while we were in Costa Rica by logging onto Creativebug's website. You can take an unlimited amount of classes via their website for $9.95 a month and they offer a 14 day free trial.
This time around, I signed up for Lisa's sketchbook explorations class. This week we worked on watercolor backgrounds and the addition of black Micron pens. I already use these tools in my journaling, but I was hoping to pick up some of her tricks of the trade, as well as design and composition tips.
I had the good fortune to take a workshop with Lisa in person last year at the San Francisco Makeshift Society. Her 3+ hour talk was on professional illustration and how to get your work seen and get paid for your art. Two months after this class, I did my first illustration work for Mamalode.com. Coincidence? Maybe, but I was ready to tackle my first print job due to the knowledge so generously shared by one of my favorite artists.
As much as I've loved my subscription to the Sunday New York Times, I think I need to put my weekly love affair with the newspaper on hold. It's felt like treading water trying to keep up with reading the paper and its magazine inserts the last six weeks or so. I have a backlog to catch up on and I haven't made time for books. And I love books.
We continue to visit our local library about once or twice a week and the mobile library comes to a town nearby every other week. Since we are in a rural area, our book requests go to the top of the queue with the mobile library system in Marin County. What that means is that when we request books, we usually get them. In my case, I get them all at once! This week's haul has so many goodies. I have a lot of reading to do.
My husband witnessed two red-tailed hawks fighting over this western meadowlark just outside his office last weekend. I've never seen this type of bird around our property, but learned from a friend, Sarah, that the western meadowlark is Montana's state bird and has the most beautiful song.
We skipped our usual bird burial rituals and decided to leave it where the red-tailed hawks could come back and retrieve this yellow-chested beauty. Honestly, we didn't need another bird buried on our property, especially since I was trying to shed and release things back into the universe. This seemed like the perfect small act to burn this concept on my brain.
Walk the walk echoed in my ears. Just walk the walk andshed my instinct to perform a funeral for this little avian creature. The act of burying dead animals on our property was more for the sake of teaching my child about the circle of life when he was younger. We would have sweet conversations about life and death and the importance of honoring and remembering animals and people you loved. He's 11 now and I know he gets it. He kind of always has and I think when I was giving him those little talks, they were helping me as much as they were helping him. I would choose nature over nurture this time around and so the bird was placed under our oak tree, also known as the scene of the crime.
The little meadowlark ended up shedding five pretty feathers during its battle with the red-tailed hawks. I gathered the tiny, grey striped plumage from the ground and placed them a little vase on my desk to serve as a reminder of my intention for this year.
The Third Annual Valley Ford Pie Auction was a raging success! The Valley Ford Young Farmers' Association, along with many community volunteers, helped to raise thousands of dollars for the building improvement fund for the historic Valley Ford Schoolhouse (where the auction and many other fundraisers takes place over the year).
Grady made a black cherry pie that sold for $200. He was surprised and so very proud.
This event kicked off our Thanksgiving weekend and really set the mood for good food, drink + friends.
I'm pretty sure I have residual childhood post-traumatic stress disorder and I mostly attribute it to Thanksgiving. Yes, it sounds strange and even made up - but it's my blog and I'll make shit up if I want to. And even curse. There. Five years of therapy have taught me a thing or two and this year I decided to put it into practice.
The 2nd Annual Valley Ford Pie Auction Grady made two cherries pies this year - one for the auction & one for us
I'm starting off this post kind of surly, but I turned all of that around this year. After a disastrous Thanksgiving last year (no one else knew, but I let if fly after everyone left), we joined forces as a couple, as a family. We divided duties, made a plan and talked about how to let the steam out of this emotional stress pot of a day. It worked.
Rare family photo Grady's "Logo" on top of the auction pie G giving a whipped cream pie to the face of farmer/auctioneer, Nick
To that end, we decided to help Grady make a cherry pie and donate it to the Valley Ford Pie Auction. We had such a good time last year that we wanted to participate by baking AND buying to help support the Valley Ford Volunteer Fire Department "Save Our Old Schoolhouse Fund". Grady's pie went for $60 and a total of over $3700 was raised in a few short, fun-filled hours.
Steve even bid on a beef kidney + parmesan pie that came with a mason jar full of lard…for $50!!! Needless to say, he's not allowed to have the auction paddle next year.
Annual school turkey trot raffle winner = Costco pumpkin pie
We kept our guest list small and I enlisted the help of all of my guests and delegated food assignments. It all worked out perfectly and relieved my anxiety level big time. I have the best friends.
Isn't it funny how our childhoods creep into our adult lives and wreak havoc? I mean, the thrown away turkey dripping debacle of 2012 was still fresh in my mind - but I pushed it aside and even purchased a gravy base from Williams-Sonoma this year. I was going to make damned sure that the gravy didn't push me over the edge this year. One tip I'd like to share is that I used a crock pot and set it up on my buffet table. I made the gravy ahead of time and added pan drippings in the last 15 minutes. It worked out just great. My gravy was prepared and ready, out of the way and super silky and delicious. I'm definitely incorporating this into any future plans that include gravy. I think Steve is still my friend after this year's meal and that was my goal. ;-)
We have a lot to be thankful for and we focused on that this year, as well as deep friendships with the people who we were sharing the day with. We are lucky and grateful.
Steve knocked it out of the park with his turkey, again, this year. He brined it the day before and it looked and tasted just right.
Sweet potato pumpkin pie + tablescape
By the time dessert rolled around, we were all so full that we just slowly sashayed into the living room and plopped down. I had purchased digestifs for all of us to try and those really hit the spot.
Grady "the hands" Hecht Bitters + Jill
Steve opened up a special bottle of 1968 armagnac, while the rest of us sipped on the remaining bubbly. Jill + Scott shared with us a special bottle of french champagne, as well as a 2004 Iron Horse late disgorged brut sparkling wine. It was all a treat.
Pie + Coffee Lone White Egret on Bodega Bay marsh
The day after Thanksgiving is my favorite, really. I woke up and put on a pot of coffee and cut a slice of cherry pie. I watched a horrible movie with Grady (The Addams Family) and went on a seven mile walk in Bodega Bay with my girlfriends. It felt good to work off the food and get caught up on what's going on with everyone.
Saturday found us relaxing on the deck and catching up on our reading stacks. I just love watching Grady get lost in books. Right now he's all about Rick Riordan and the Percy Jackson series.
Our goddaughter, Isabella, decided to turn 12 this year - even with my pleading with her to stay little. She's just not having it. She called us and invited Grady to a last minute bonfire birthday party on their private beach in Jenner. He was the only boy (as he usually is) and had a great time eating hot dogs, roasting marshmallows for s'mores and telling scary campfire stories.
He fell into bed smelling like smoke and his face & hands were still quite sticky. As I tucked him in and kissed him goodnight, I couldn't help but think about how we re-wrote this holiday weekend and made it a stress-free zone. I know it just takes a little intention and follow through and I'm glad we finally figured that out because I want him to catalog our Thanksgivings a little differently than I have.
I don't remember my spring breaks as a kid. I know we didn't travel anywhere. My family didn't really take vacations, unless you count driving across the I-10 desert to visit family in South Phoenix in the middle of summer a vacation.
G had big plans for his vacation and we made a list of projects and places he wanted to visit during his week off from school. San Francisco for the night was one of our plans.
We hit the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on their Free Tuesday. It was a bit of a hot mess of people and the museum was really warm. We went up to the roof top sculpture garden to check out this Calder piece and then went to their museum store (which is one of the main reasons I like to visit this museum).
The Cartoon Art Museum was next on our list and just around the corner. I didn't have high hopes for this little museum, but it really delivered. A great Chuck Jones' exhibit and a small show featuring children's book illustrators. Carson Ellis is one of our favorites and she illustrates the Wildwood series written by her husband, Colin Meloy.
The museum was interesting and not overwhelming. G even got to watch a little Looney Tunes episode while we took in the exhibit.
The #1 thing our son wanted to do on our trip to San Francisco was to become a card-carrying member of the San Francisco Main Library. Yes, it's true. He signed up online, selected the artwork for his library card (very cool feature!) and then promptly walked up a flight of stairs towards the children's literature section and plopped 28 books into his bag. He started reading them as soon as we got in the car.
They are due back in three weeks and it looks like we'll be getting another city fix later this month when we return them back to their rightful home on Larkin Street.
I love living in the country, but there is something about the energy of a big city. The conveniences, restaurants and people-watching are fascinating. We ran a few needed errands and stumbled upon good food & drink along the way.
A major farmers' market was happening just down the street from City Hall and the SF Main Library. We each grabbed lunch (or a Nutella Waffle for brekkie) from different vendors and grabbed a table in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the market.
I was inspired to do my shopping here while the guys played a game of catch on the open green space in front of City Hall.
We also took time to grab a few ice cream cones at Bi-Rite Creamery in the Mission and Oh. My. God. Ever have a salted caramel ice cream cone? Transcendent. We'll definitely have to add that on to our day when we come back to return library books.
Art was ever-present this week. G has been on an origami mission and has been creating hundreds of miniature origami yodas. The faces are all unique and sweet. He created this origami installation in his art studio that I absolutely love.
It must be like a quiet meditation for him. He turns on his boom box, listens to Harry Potter books on CD and spends hours folding paper.
Lime Curd Tart Spanish Frittata Birds of a Lesser Paradise by Megan Mayhew Bergman
Upon arriving home from the city with bags full of fresh produce and a hosting duty the next evening for book club, I set to making & baking in the kitchen. I can't believe I've never made a frittata. We have an egg glut at the moment and it was a great way to whittle it down to a manageable stash.
I made this lime curd tart several years back and it totally delivered. I used some of my frozen blackberries from last summer on top and it was beautiful and delicious.
G is working on paintings for his upcoming show this summer with Scott Van Cleemput. He's studying with a local watercolorist and has painted about 10 canvases. He just needs to put the finishing touches on them and spray with a UV coating. I can't wait for the show to come together.
His watercolor "Their King" was exhibited in the art show & gala fundraiser kicking off the 40th Annual Bodega Bay Fisherman's Festival. He received word this week that he wasn't accepted in the Local Art Tent at the festival and was a little deflated, but having his work displayed at the gala seemed to offset those feelings (for him, not me!). I'm really proud of his hard work and dedication to his art.
We packed in a little indoor fun on Saturday, as the days of spring break were coming to a close. We hit up some indoor soccer and then an afternoon at Cal Skate with his buddy Keegan. The boys are not the best skaters and fell quite often, but they didn't give up and had a really good time.
I saved the best for last.
Grady and Steve spent a good portion of this week working quietly, patiently and determinedly on the San Luis Obispo Mission project for G's 4th grade class assignment. G led the charge with ideas of sugar cubes, popsicle sticks, barnyard animals and mini vineyard placement. They used a lot of math skills in trying to make this model to scale, glue and creative energy. They slowly problem-solved and it was a treat to see them so engaged with this project.
G woke up early yesterday morning, on his first day back to school after spring break, quickly dressed, ate breakfast and was anxious to hoist his mission into his very own arms and have his father take him to school and turn it in.
Just because Xmas was over did not mean that we had to stop celebrating. Oh, no. Steve's dad turned 70 years old and we had a small dinner party for him complete with mounds of crab, cheesy bread and the requisite kahlua kake (a Hecht family tradition!). We wore paper crowns, sang happy birthday and watched a homemade movie commemorating Steve's dad's life and legacy. It was a perfect ending to his visit and I think he enjoyed being doted on.
Dark lighting prevented us from getting any group shots and most of the pics were blurry from that evening. The above shots were the best I could do.
December 27th :: Playing Catch up
McGyver left before the sun came up and we slowly greeted the day. There were thank you notes to write, helicopters to be flown and batches of waffles to be made in preparation for the Harry Potter Marathon scheduled for the next day.
December 28th :: Harry Potter Marathon at the Vigeant/Judd Compound
Yes, 19 hours of Harry Potter movie time. Our boy would join in for 12-1/2 of those hours and watch movies one through five. This has to be one of the coolest childhood fantasies realized. Steve delivered Grady over to his best friend's house at 6 am. Their family had just purchased a big screen t.v. and invited a dozen or so kids over for the movie marathon. When we picked him up that evening, it was a sea of bodies and blankets in the t.v. room. The kids looked dazed and were very, very quiet. G came home and bumped into walls, took a shower, dropped his toothbrush while brushing, ate a quick dinner and climbed into bed. It was a fun, but exhausting day for this nine year old and one he will never forget.
December 29th :: BFF arrival!
I woke early to gather up the ingredients for making paté with Jill. I scurried down the road in my pajamas and assisted in making a double batch of rustic chicken liver paté. I didn't photograph it because, let's be honest, paté looks like cat food. It was , however, delicious and I can't wait to share with the Rangel girls, who are the best little food critics I know.
Kacy and family arrived and were staying in Jenner. I still had a sick boy and now Steve had caught whatever Grady had, so they were housebound and I took an afternoon drive to Jenner to enjoy a sunset with my bestie and enjoy an incredible meal at River's End. It was a perfect afternoon that spilled into a delightful evening of food and wine. No surprises there.
December 30 :: Christiansen Clan at the Ponderosa
G anxiously awaited the arrival of the Christiansen clan. They spilled out of the car for a round of quick hugs and swiftly put on their mud boots and went exploring in the back hills looking for dinosaur bones and communing with the cows. There were tree houses to be visited, b.b. guns to shoot and chickens to be chased. Boys are so easy to please.
December 31st :: New Year's Eve
We started this day with a big breakfast for the kids and a walk on Middle Road for just Kacy and myself. We then drove over the hills to Bodega Bay for lunch at the Dog House and then came home to ready ourselves for an evening of food and fun.
The Mahleys stopped by for the first toast of the evening to celebrate their trip to Stockholm for the Nobel Prize ceremony and their upcoming 50th wedding anniversary. Steve was still bedridden and the festivities went on without him. Poor guy.
Jack (10), Grady (9-1/2), Harry (7-1/2)
We sauntered down the lane for drinks and an amuse-bouche at Scott & Jill's house. The boys were treated to ants on a log and salty potato chips. We then came back up the lane to finish making their cheesy pizza for the evening and get them started on a gaming and movie marathon! They couldn't have been happier or more satisfied.
Things started to get a little festive here, as we had lots of J sparkling wine to help us end the year 2012. There was dancing, lots of laughing and a little Saturday Night Live on Hulu to get the silliness ratcheted up a notch. Again, Steve was in the bedroom listening to all of our shenanigans and was such a trouper.
Happy New Year's Eve 2012
He rallied and joined us for a forced group photo, complete with paper crowns and silly faces! I think this is one of my favorite photos of the year.
Boys + Mamas 2012
It felt like it all went too fast, but it always feels that way! I enjoyed every single second and loved cooking for my people and having them in our home.
It was the perfect way to end this year surrounded by the people I love, in the place that I love so much.
