At this point last year, we were still reveling in the surprise of expecting again so soon. We hadn't yet made our news public so I fake drank the same beer all night 

at the same New Year's Eve party we attend every year at the Winchells.  

(Side note, I always think I'm really, really good at this.  

Turns out, pretty much everyone was on to me.)

I had no idea what things would look like for us a year later, now five.  

That's the best part of life.  

It's always better than I could possibly dream. 

That twinkle in Henry's eye?  

It's brighter than I ever could have pictured. 

The way Nelle smiles with her entire face?  

It makes me happier than I could have known.

June's sweet voice?  

The best sound in the world.

Tonight, I'm going to cheers with a real drink, albeit probably at 8pm when we play a fake countdown from Netflix for the kids so we can all go home to put our little to bed at a decent time, maybe sneak in an episode of Narcos, and put ourselves to bed 

well before the clock strikes midnight.

To me, that's better.  Also, I like sleep.  A lot.

Andrew and I have been talking a lot this past week or so 

about what we want out of the next year.  

What 2016 looks like for our family, for our jobs, for our life.  

(Finding a new home, new personal challenges in my photography to foster growth, 

loving my kids in ways that really speak to them via their respective love languages, 

and making more me time to name a few.)  

And while I love thinking about and planning as best we can for the future, 

I know it won't be exactly like what we discuss.

Only better.

 Happy New Year.

 

2016 will be great.  And then even better than that.

All my gratitude to Bethany of Meysenburg Photography who always brings me to tears with her work.
Nelle's dress | My dress (old) | June's jumpsuit (old)

We're not really ready to totally come out of our Christmas hangover, 

halfheartedly cleaning up the mess that is a result of cramming in all of our pre-Christmas to-do's (i.e. cookies for Santa, pans of homemade cinnamon rolls for our neighbors and Chistmas morning breakfast, plus last minute wrapping because you can't leave the house to get wrapping paper when your oldest has a nasty case of pink eye, courtesy of preschool, the week of Christmas), scrambling to find a temporary trike for Nelle at 10:30pm Christmas Eve night because flippin' Amazon Prime's two-day shipping didn't show up in two days, celebrating Christmas with gifts from Andrew and I, Santa, and Grandpa and Grandma from the farm all in one morning, cooking up a Christmas feast with toddlers underfoot and even using the fancy china, putting away four loads of laundry and packing in the dark of our sleeping kids' bedrooms on Christmas night to get ready to leave first thing the next morning to make it to Poppa and Gram's in Manhattan in time to open an entirely new set of gifts, play all day Saturday, try to comfort Nelle as she came down a yucky fever as a reaction to her flu mist she received last Wednesday afternoon, drive over to Hiawatha for a quick two-hour visit, before heading back to Wichita last night trying to beat the predicted eight inches of snow that ended up to be a bit of ice and a dusting of snow.  

 

I came downstairs during naptime to download photos from my camera onto my computer with a bowl full of Chex mix and dug in to find my favorite pieces, only to pull out a clump of staples that made it into the bag.  

#toddlers 

 

There are bits of wrapping paper still scattering the floor, no one's bags are empty from our overnight trip, dishes are cluttering the kitchen counter, and I should probably figure out what we're having for dinner because we can't have grilled cheese again.  

 

Or should we...

 

Maybe tomorrow we'll go to the grocery store and start figuring out how all of the new dolls, tractors, trucks and toys are going to fit in this cozy little house of ours (answer = toy rotation), but until then, you can find us still in our pajamas, enjoying this lazy, blur of a week feeling especially blessed, full and loved.  And hopefully healthier.

 My featured image for this week's I Carry Your Heart post today...so many good ones to go see!

 

Hoping you still have some merry, merry, merry left to carry you over to 2016.

P.S. Santa, sorry for the too-floury, rolled-out-too-many-times, too-flat gingerbread cookies this year.  We just couldn't quite get the concept of cutting cookies out in an orderly manner.  Pretty much the theme of our life this season.  Hugs and kisses!