Around Here: Week 51 2025

 {December 14th-20th, 2025}

Logan's girlfriend Elyssa's wrestling team

"The only thing you can take with you 

when you leave this world 

are things you've packed inside of your heart... 

so live for that." 

-Susan Gale

Opening... a new snowflake garland that I ordered from Amazon. The snowflakes are wooden and painted white, a little shabby chic. They're adorable!

Attending... the Nutcracker with my mom, sister, nieces and Carly on Sunday for the afternoon matinee.  Growing up I didn't really understand the Nutcracker, but now that I've gone for a few years with the girls, with live music and the most amazing dancing, I am obsessed. It's so beautiful and moving. And the music... I can't get enough.

Getting... dinner at Olive Garden after the Nutcracker. It was so much fun, and delicious! 

Shopping... at Target with the girls and finding Carly the cutest fuzzy pink coat.  She loves it, and it looks amazing with her Christmas dress.  We also got her some new outfits for the upcoming holiday spirit week at school.  I got her light blue cozy sweats and a grew rhinestone bow sweater, as well as a red sweatshirt with the cutest plaid heart on it, and a pair of zippy/onesie pajamas that are fleece with red bows and a hood. They'll be so cute and cozy for pajama day!

Listening... to Romy read a book at my sister's house and feeling so proud of her! 

Dressing... Carly up all week. She was so adorably festive. She picked cute holiday earrings and even did her makeup with one eye red and one eye green. Haha!

Keeping... Jack home this week, doing homework from his teachers each day and making sure he's getting enough rest and keeps busy. 

Meeting... a new counselor, whom I loved (!), only to find out that she doesn't take my insurance. Sigh. So we're back at square one. 

Cake plate shopping... after mine finally cracked too much to be used. I found a gorgeous jade one that I'm going to ask my mom for for Christmas. 

Attending... Carly's Christmas program with Josh. She was so delighted to sing after not getting to perform last year. Afterward we got her a treat at Wendy's. 

Laughing... at Josh's amazing Christmas exchange t-shirt and Ugly Sweater award from work. He has such a good sense of humor about it and I'm obsessed that there was actually a trophy! Haha!

Josh Fixing... the wall before hosting a few events at our house next week. I'm happy to no longer have that hole there any more. Thank goodness for handy husbands!

Taking... Jack to his sleep doctor follow up and feeling happy for him that his sleep has improved.

Seeing... Logan being a good boyfriend and feeling proud of him. He bought the cutest purse for Elyssa for Christmas. I was also proud of Elyssa this week. She's a wrestler and won her match. That girl is so dang tough!!

Grocery shopping... with just Carly (which is no small feat) and feeling grateful for her incredible help. She's just the best! 

Chatting... with my besties Kari & Kori on Thursday and feeling so thankful for their love, friendship and constant encouragement. Of course I wish we all just lived next door to each other, but since we can't, I am so happy that we can facetime and it feels like no time has passed every time we do. 

Saving... $100/month now that we don't have to pay mortgage insurance any more! What great news! And (!!!) we found out our car insurance also went down. We're saving $50 a month there. Woohoo! 

Celebrating... the holidays with Josh's coworkers at their Christmas party.  Logan drove me out to the golf course so Josh and I could drive home together, since he was coming straight from work. I got to hold his coworker Elizabeth's sweet baby Frankie and I couldn't get enough!! He was so adorable. All his coworkers are so kind and sweet. We had a really good time. 

Joining... my dad on stage at his choir's Christmas concert for one song. It was so nerve wracking. It's crazy to me that I used to sing on stage all the time. I'm out of practice. My favorite part was when they involved the audience singing The Twelve Days of Christmas. It was so fun to hear the music going around the auditorium. 

Eating... dinner out with my parents and sister, and sitting by the fire at the restaurant. The food was amazing and we enjoyed talking so much. It's rare for it to just be the grown ups (my sister and I have eight kids between us) so it feels amazing to finish sentences and conversations. Hah! 

Watching... The End of an Era by Taylor Swift and enjoying it so much! I love being a Swiftie!

Memories:

***

Logan's gift for Elyssa
How precious is this!?!

Large flooding is causing lots of
destruction throughout our state.

This is so real. 
I felt Jo's anger viscerally inside me.

I have the 1991 Christmas Barbie. 
She's in such good condition- I still have her shoes, purse & stand.