It’s been awhile, so I feel like I should introduce myself. I’m Jill-wife to Ben, mom to Claire, Max, Grace, and Tessa. We’re all aging faster than I’d like. My current hobbies include shuffling kids to and from activities and appointments, cleaning all the things, waiting on sick kids, and attempting to keep my life together. It’s busy, messy, and usually chaotic around here, but I love it.
Also this is me. So let’s catch up on some things, shall we?
We start getting into the Christmas spirit right after Halloween.
Our annual trip to see the Nutcracker was early this year- before Thanksgiving! Also, it was different. Like, they made strange changes to the story which threw us all off. But it was still fun and festive and we had a fantastic time with friends. 
Grace had a piano recital, which she did such so great at despite her nerves. 
Max got braces for Christmas. And drove himself there to get them. 
We stayed home for Thanksgiving this year. The kids had off the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so we decided to head up to the Mall of America on Tuesday. It was not crowded at all, and we had such a fun day!
Tessa had never been to Build-A-Bear before (which is shocking, considering her love of stuffies). Needless to say, she’s a BIG fan.
Our Thanksgiving was very chill. The boys played football, the girls watched the parade.
There was hot tubbing, there were games and puzzles, and there was life-size gingerbread house painting.
That night, we watched The Wild Robot (notice the sign) and camped out in the living room.
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The next day we finished working on the gingerbread house float and rode in a very cold parade in Hampton.
Did we get frostbite? Possibly. But we also handed out so many things to people in the community who braved the cold, so it was worth it.
So great to meet you!
Your January sounds a lot like my January 😅 but with lots of fun bits all in between. Love those big kids 🥹
Yay!!!! You are back! Love it all and G did amazing❤️