It's been a minute. I was talking to Luke recently and he asked how things were going. I said 'Actually, not bad!' and he pointed out that for the last few months, thats how I always answer..with a surprised 'actually..' and then proceed to say how things are going alright! Not always great, but not bad at least....and even sometimes really good! I thought to myself he was right-we have had a nice stretch of ok-ness. Which equals to some much needed, non fraught happiness-and I should recognize that for what it is! So things for us have been good-and I am going to bathe in that as long as I can. Here are some high lights of those last few months.

-Krista got married! And for the first time in 12 years, I flew somewhere sans kids. Like..what do people do with their arms normally haha? The reason I was able to pull this off is bc Lester and my FIL double teamed it here to do all the drop offs and pick ups and at home stuff for 4 days. It was great! We danced the night away, celebrating their love, and I got so see so many people from my growing up years. I feel so lucky to have the big, loud crazy family I do, and that weekend was a perfect example of that. The kids had a wonderful time with Lolo, and it was a great visit all around.

-During that same weekend, I got to spend some time with friends. We went to a concert in Stern Grove, got Ethiopian food and ice cream, and laughed and talked a lot. It was just what I needed and I cherished that time. Sabrina and I also got a few walks and breakfasts times in and it was so good. 

-We celebrated lots of holidays! Die De Los Muertos [Tal helped me w the ofrenda this year], Halloween [trick or treated with our friends up the street, did lots of pumpkin patches and baking, trunk or treating and of course decorated for Christmas later that night as one should!], and Veterans Day [kids did a non toxic presentation at school and it was so beautiful it brought me to tears of gratitude and sorrow for kids elsewhere who aren't getting such simple joys these days]. 

-We also had a combined birthday party for the older girls [belated for Isla, on time for Addy] with so much preteen energy and fun food, games, I loved every second of it, and I think they did too. On Addy's actual bday, we kept it pretty low key, with presents, an at home movie night, and her picking the whole menu for the day. It was a great balance of both things.

-And of course, Thanksgiving. Day of, it was just us, and it was nice to be able to include menu things we wanted [hello pavlova and strawberry sauce] and scratch the things we didn't [goodbye mashed potatoes]. We took lots of game breaks, art interludes and dance moments and it was so peaceful and low key and fun. Earlier in the week we had hosted a Friendsgiving potluck and it was so loud [again, game time] and bright and fun and the food almost made me want to cry bc of all the different delicious things everyone brought and was excited to share and eat. 

-We also got a quick visit from my Mom who came for a funeral, and it was so nice to spend time with her. 

-We took a little day trip to Leavenworth and it was beautiful! Its a little Bavarian town, and we ate brats, had cider and hot cocoa, rode and Alpine coaster through the trees and mountains, got help from a sweet old women in her lederhosen at the Nutcracker museum, and did some shopping, including getting a star for our Christmas tree. Before we headed back, we got to see the Christmas lights come on at night while people did carriage rides and at gingerbread. It was such a nice little break from real life. 

-We went to the zoo lights in Seattle and they were AMAZING. All very immersive, and they even had interactive area for the kids to play in. In the beginning, they even had a troupe of Chinese acrobats and they blew our minds. Such a fun night and we live for weekends together!

Of course, there has been boring, lame stuff-bills to pay, work to do, sicknesses to overcome, appointments to make etc. But none of it has been horrible and life has gone on and I am happy with it! Now we have a stretch of ICU night shift to push through, and then Christmas magic. We will be here for it, then visiting family and friends at home right after. Life is good and we are grateful-hope you all are too!