Hello January 2016...

It's been awhile.  Yes, almost a whole year.  I know that there is no way that I can keep up with blogging as regular as I used to.  Three kids (soon to be four) & a husband that works quite a bit means that I am "on" most of the day and night.  There isn't a lot of time for more.  But I am trying to spend some of my Christmas holiday cleaning through photos and realized that I still need to document these years because they are flying by too fast.  So as I clean through the photos from 2016, I am going to try and share these everyday moments from the past year.  It may take awhile until I get through this process, especially with another baby bound to join our house anytime, but I am committed to keeping this updated.  Honestly, for our own memories more than anything else.  So let's start with January 2016...

As I look back through January 2016, I realized that it was a welcome calm from the busy holidays.  We spent a lot of time at home, hunkered down spending time together as a family.  January is an interesting month because we welcome the start to a new year with open arms.  We are thankful for a quiet & simplified start to the new year.  Our schedule is less cluttered with activities, making for a more simple start to the new year.  But January also marks the busy time of year for Chris. This is the start to busy season.  A time where he works long hours & long days.  It's something, after ten years, that we are used to but it always puts a slight strain on our family as we hunker down for the winter with Chris keeping a steady rhythm at work.  During this busy season, there are definitely some nights of "survival" where we end up eating macaroni and cheese from the box or chicken nuggets with a side of mandarin oranges, for our healthy side dish.  

But as I look back at these photos, I realize that it's okay.  The kids, despite the busy rhythm that exists in January, are still happy.  They are full of life & embrace this season where we are home, together soaking up the long winter days.

And when we have Chris around during this busy season of life, it makes everyone just a little happier!

Some Fall Everyday Moments...

I know winter totally struck us last week with 30 inches of snow, but I decided it's time to share these sunny day photos from fall instead :)

One happy trio

They really know how to destroy rooms!

One tired pumpkin

Nap time, golden hour

Soccer Andrew

My little outdoor boy!

Shadow chaser

Hugs from sister!

School 10/14/15 by Mr. Rogers

Happy Halloween 2016!

We arrived home as Halloween was approaching so we quickly jumped into the festivities of Halloween!  One of our favorites this year was trick or treating at one of our favorite places, the Mosaic District.  It's a great little urban area of shopping near us where the stores passed out candy & treats to trick or treaters.  We headed over with one of our dear friends, Cameron...

 The kids had a blast!

 We also had the preschool Halloween parades :)

 And our annual pumpkin carve...

 And of course, Halloween!  This year, we did in right in the comforts of our own neighborhood and had a blast!  

Hello Prague!

We headed off to Prague in mid-October.  Chris's job throws a big meeting/celebration for all new partners & this was an once in a lifetime opportunity!  Every year, they pick somewhere new to go.  When we found out it was Prague, we were determined to go & this was before Andy even had his wedding planned.  Once the day arrived to head out to Prague, I can admit I was so not ready to go.  After just traveling to Miami & Hawaii, I was a little anxious to leave the kids again and they were also a bit anxious for us to go as well.  But, I knew they were in great hands (aka: my mom!) & we said our good-byes with lots of tears & an Uber driver watching us saying our final good-byes!

After a very long flight to Vienna & a short, but sketchy, flight to Prague, we arrived!  

And what a beautiful city it is...

Chris was in meetings half the week, so thankfully I had this sweet friend to be my buddy in crime in another country with another language and us not knowing one thing about Prague!  Mendy & I moved to DC at the same time when both of our husbands had taken a fellowship with the SEC.  After doing their two year fellowships, both of our husbands are back to their old company here in DC.  It was so nice to have a partner in crime to explore the city & we had a blast!

We saw lots of things in Prague & I would say it's kind of a small big city.  You can really manage to see a lot in one day & we did a lot of sight seeing just by foot with our little handy travel book!  This is the Old Town clock:

 The pretty streets of Prague...

 John Lennon Wall...

 Prague Castle.  AMAZING.  

 Prague Old Town from the clock tower plaza at night

Mendy & I took a half day tour of the Prague Castle.  Again, AMAZING. 

I love the old city streets & character of this part of the world!

 We spent about three days in Prague.  Chris was mostly in meetings & dinner celebrations, while Mendy & I explored the town like crazy!  We had about 36 hours of free time once Chris was done before flying back home.  Chris and I decided to use our time to explore another European city, Vienna.  We took a train to Vienna, Austria & enjoyed a full day there before flying home.  Since we only had 24 hours by the time we arrived, we did a full day of a bus tour of Vienna before trying a little wiener schnitzel & doing a little shopping before our big flight home.

I have tons more pictures, but they are all on Chris' phone so I am not sure when I will ever get myself to downloading them.  We had a wonderful trip & I am thankful for this once in a life time opportunity because I am not sure when I will ever get back to that part of the world.  It's a great celebration for Chris as he embarks on a new step in his career & I am thankful to celebrate with him.  I missed my kids like Grandma, but hats off to one amazing woman.  She managed to take care of all three kids all by herself for the week.  All the school shuttling, homework, meals, dishes, laundry, everything was successfully completed with only one call to poison control :)  I missed the kids like crazy & one of my favorite moments from the whole trip was at the airport when I finally could squeeze my kids again!

We Are Still Here...

It's a new year & I'm finally catching up from the busy holidays!  Life never seems to stop in this house, although 2016 has started out relatively quiet :)  Last time, I blogged I was all about our trip to Hawaii but life didn't stop there.  We arrived home to these sweet faces who went on an adventure to nowhere...

 Thankfully, they had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa!  I even arrived home to this sweet homemade cake...

We didn't do much when we arrived home other than get back to our normal routine and soak up these three sweet cuties:

I soaked up every minute I could with them because less than two weeks later, we were off to Prague!