Good morning and happy new year!
I had no intention of disappearing for almost a month, but I knew December would be a whirlwind, so I’m not altogether surprised. I am back though, and have several upcoming posts I’m excited about.
Today, I just wanted to share a few recent favorites, many of which are from the last month’s festivities.
My sister’s wedding
My sister got married on December 16 and it was the BEST day. I love her and her new husband so much, and could not be happier for them. The whole day was beautiful, from getting ready together to the ceremony to the reception.
Plus, how cute was this little ring bearer?
Disney World
My sister and her husband decided to go to Disney World for their honeymoon and they kindly invited us along! I honestly debated whether or not to go because, while I wanted to spend time with my family and love Disney World, the idea of going with a one year old sounded exhausting. Well, it was exhausting, but it was also lots of fun! I would be happy to share a post on Disney with a one year old if anyone is interested. I think we learned a lot through the experience.
Family Time
Between my sister’s wedding, Disney World, and Christmas, we spent a whole two weeks away from home with my family. It was amazing to spend so much time together and to watch James get to know all my family even better. I wish we all lived closer!
Home Sweet Home
I was never one of those people who was happy when a vacation was over. I always felt like they flew by too quickly and I was never ready to go home. Until now.
Traveling with a toddler is fun, but it’s exhausting and I was super ready to come home. James is at a stage where he plays super independently and our house is set up for that. He required much more supervision (and much more “no”) at my parents’ house and it was exhausting. He has been so happy ever since we’ve been home and it has felt truly relaxing. He got a couple of new sets of blocks for Christmas and is so happy just wandering around the house playing with them.
!I got an Instant Pot for Christmas and I love it so much already! So far I’ve only made basics (hard boiled eggs, apple sauce, steamed carrots, and quinoa), but I cannot get over how easy and fast it is. I can’t wait to find more recipes and cook actual meals in it. Does anyone have any favorites?
I also got this cookbook for Christmas and love it already. I’ve made two recipes so far (skillet beer chili mac and a cucumber salad with peanuts and cilantro) and have one more on the menu for this week. I want to make almost everything in it and can’t wait to cook my way through the book this winter. (If you’re not familiar with Thug Kitchen, they have great vegan recipes, but be warned, the books use a lot of profanity.)
Unruffled Podcast with Janet Lansbury
I’m not sure why it took me so long to realize Janet Lansbury has a podcast, but I just started listening and am already obsessed. If you’re not familiar with her, she is a wonderful RIE trained expert in child development and behavior. I plan to work my way through all of her past episodes over the next few months, but so far, this has been one of my favorite episodes.
And that about sums it up! The next month is going to be pretty busy and full of lots of change, but I’m going to try to get back to posting at least once or twice a week.
What was the best part of your holiday season?
If you’ve been to Disney World, what is your favorite park / ride?
What are you excited about in 2018?
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10 Comments
Wow – it sounds like you had an amazing December! Your sister’s wedding sounds wonderful and I would love to read a Disney recap post 🙂
The best part of our holiday season was just having almost two full weeks off of work to spend time together, with family, and traveling up north for a few days.
Thank you! I agree, it was wonderful to spend so much time with family 🙂
Welcome back! Sounds like your time away was amazing! I’d love to hear more about your Disney trip. I grew up going to Disney nearly every year because my grandparents lived 30 minutes away so I’m a huuuge fan. Favorite ride is probably Splash or Space mountain.
Favorite part for me was experiencing Aubrey’s first Christmas and watch her figure everything out around her. So fun!
Those are definitely two of my favorite rides too! That sounds so fun getting to go so much as a kid! First Christmases are so special 🙂
James was so cute dressed up in his little suit! Sounds like a wonderful vacation and holiday. I agree, vacation is great but so is coming home! My kids play much better independently (and are happier about it!) at home too…but my 9.5 month old has just figured out how to crawl up stairs which may curb his independence LOL! We got an Instant Pot too and enjoyed this Chicken Curry recipe: https://www.paintthekitchenred.com/instant-pot-chicken-curry/
It’s one of my topics for my 5 on Friday post which I’m trying to get started working on today!
Thank you! We put him back in the suit for church on Christmas Eve, I couldn’t resist 🙂 Thanks for the recipe! I love any kind of curry and can’t wait to make it!
I would love to hear more about your Disney trip! I haven’t been since I was little and wouldn’t know where to begin planning a trip for the babes. Isn’t the Instant Pot awesome, I have been having so much fun with mine.
I’m going to post about Disney soon! I am by no means an expert, but it will be fun to have the post to look back on too 🙂
James is the cutest ring bearer I’ve ever seen!! Adorable! 🙂 Congratulations to your sister! I missed your posts so much. I would love to hear about your Disney trip and any delicious Instapot recipes you may discover that are kid friendly. Also, I love everything Janet Lansbury, including her podcasts, I just can never find the time to listen in. I should add that to the top of my new year’s resolutions list.
Hehe thank you! It was way too much fun seeing him all dressed up 🙂 I am seriously listening to her podcasts obsessively lol. I always listen to podcasts while I’m doing something else like driving or cooking, or sometimes even showering!