And so we welcome another new year.

This year started off with a long drive back to Tennessee from Nebraska. We had our own family Christmas on the 2nd.

Santa (and mommy and daddy) spoiled Little Man big time. We definitely need to reign it in next year.

This year’s matching jammies were penguins and it was even more difficult getting a good photo with Indie.

Despite how nice they were, I really struggled through the holidays. My heart is still pretty broken and Audie’s absence was/is still keenly felt, especially this time of year.

I don’t know how it’s been a whole year since I said goodbye. Heck, I have tears rolling down my cheeks just typing this. That little nugget was truly my soul pup and he is still so loved.

But…we are still determined to make this new year a good one.

We celebrated the Mister’s 40th birthday on the 7th.

The boys did their Home Depot workshop and we had lunch at Applebee’s. The Mister got pretty spoiled himself at Christmas, so his birthday was toned down. We didn’t even get a cake this year (but he had the lava crunch cake at Applebee’s, so he didn’t go without).

We had a long weekend for MLK day, but didn’t take advantage of the extra days off. I think all the sickness and travel and holidays over the last few weeks finally caught up with us at that point and we needed the rest.

The third weekend of the month saw us late to the Lowes workshop, so Little Man had to build his snowman frame at home. He didn’t mind. He was more than happy to bring it home since it helped him avoid nap time.

We rounded out the end of the month with a Chinese New Year event at Centennial Park in Nashville. It was hosted by the Chinese Arts Alliance. It was so busy and hard to get many photos.

We lucked out with the weather and wrapped up the evening with a visit to the Nashville Zoo for their Zoolumination Festival of Lights.

I’ve been wanting to see this exhibit for a few years now, but with COVID and Little Man and the weather being bitterly cold when we could attend, it hadn’t happened. I decided to just bite the bullet and hope the weather stayed nice to see it. Thankfully, everything worked out this year and the crowd wasn’t too bad. Boy was it worth the wait!

The details were amazingly intricate for such a traditional medium: silk on frames.

I’m so glad we were able to go and the boys enjoyed it too.

We ended the month with post being closed and the roads being too icy for travel after some freezing rain/snow came through.

We’re continuing January’s laid-back atmosphere into February. I don’t have much planned other than Little Man’s Lowe’s and Home Depot workshops. I haven’t decided if we’ll do Valentines photos or not this year — I’m having trouble finding a good outfit.

Either way, it’ll be a short month, and before we know it, spring will come roaring in. As always, I’ll keep updating as we go.

Until then,

Cheers!

–A. xoxo

And just like that, another year is in the books.

Time is certainly marching right on by. December was busy as the rest of the year has been.

We kicked it off with the usual Home Depot workshop. Didn’t get any photos this time, but the Mister let him do all the painting so it’s quite the work of art!

Then Little Man got his pictures taken with Santa. He did so much better this year! No tears and he even high-fived Santa. We’re so proud.

Following photos, we decided to check out the Lighted Christmas Parade. We’ve lived here quite awhile and never went, so since the weather wasn’t too bad, we took a chance and went. Little Man loved all the lights and was pretty interested in the marching bands.

The following weekend we attended the German Christmas Market at one of the local Lutheran churches. We’ve gone the last few years and love it. This year was super busy and the parking lot was packed, even though it rained on us the whole morning.

We bought our yearly lebkuchen cookies and homemade fudge. Little Man loves his cookies! I found a recipe so I gave it a go and whew, I will happily leave that work to the gal at the market! Very labor intensive and mine don’t quite taste the same.

We also took Indie to see Santa. Her first time without Audie.  She was a nervous wreck and didn’t do very well. Too much going on around her. Next year, she’ll be medicated.

The following weekend, Little Man had a 12 hour stomach bug (again!). Luckily it was out of his system by evening so we were able to enjoy the SRU’s Christmas party at a new brewery in town.

The kiddos even got a special visit from Santa. Little Man wasn’t 100% sure about this one but he still high-fived and got a nice little gift.

On the way home we decided to swing through the Clarksville Speedway‘s drive thru holiday lights.

Little Man was all about the lights. He really liked pointing and babbling at them. He was glad we woke him from an early night to bed to look around.

Unfortunately the following weekend brought the stomach bug back to our house; this time, it came after me. Man, I haven’t been so violently ill in years. Thankfully, it stuck around less than 24 hours and I was back prepping for our holiday trip.

But…it was not to last. It came after The Mister and Little Man had another tough early morning. Thankfully, both were short lived and the smell of Lysol filled the house. We hope we’re done with stomach stuff!

On the 22nd, we packed up the Charger with all the animals, Little Man, and a trunk full of Christmas presents and set out for Nebraska…where the windchill was in the -30s!

A trip that should have taken us 4 hours, took us nearly 7 and we still had to drive 6 more the next morning. Thankfully, we drove out of the snow and stayed in St. Louis for the night. The following day was a much nicer drive since the roads had been cleared. We finally made it to Nebraska on the 23rd.

We took a short drive to Crystal Springs Park to check out their drive thru light display. Little Man was so excited. He got to sit on the console between the front seats and was pointing and babbling the whole time.

Santa didn’t come on the 25th since we had our family Christmas on the 28th, but we let Little Man unwrap some presents on the 26th.

On the 27th, we got to visit Grammys and Gramps and have a little Christmas get together with them. Little Man thoroughly enjoyed Gramps’s loft and was enthralled with their fireplace.

We did our family Christmas on the 28th at my middle sister’s house.

On the 29th we decided to brave the cold and see the Zoo Lights by LES at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo. We had a great time taking in the spectacle and were thoroughly worn out.

The last two days of the month were spent recovering from all the running around. Normally, the Mister and I go for dinner and a movie for New Year’s Eve, but this year we were too tired from all the travel and holidaying.

Tomorrow, we head back to Tennessee to start the new year. We’ll still have our Christmas once we get back, but that’ll be in the next post.

2022 has been a rocky year.

We started out sick and we lost our Audie boy, which set the pace for the year.

We worried about Gramps during his surgery and recovery and are so thankful he is back to his normal self by these last couple of holidays.

We anxiously awaited career news for the Mister and breathed a sigh of relief when he was able to stay in and was eventually promoted.

We dealt with my blood pressure woes and came out with a clean bill of health.

We got to see both sides of our families in their home states, battled various flu bugs, enjoyed building workshops, had our first weekend vacation as a family of 3, went to a pow wow and a Scottish festival, got a new roof, and checked out Oktoberfest and pumpkin patches.

Overall, we made the most out of 2022, but looking forward to what 2023 will bring.

Until then,

Cheers!

–A. xoxo