Recently....

(Our first work gift of the year. Loves it:) 

 (Our Christmas tree this year. We like it)

(Cohen and Jon at a Santa breakfast) 

(watching Santa from a distance) 

(hiking in mild weather)

- We have been going for a neighborhood walk every night to see the Christmas lights. Cohen is thrilled every time someone else puts up a Minion decoration on their lawn. We have 4 just on our little street. The holidays with a toddler is the best. 

- We went to the Santa Claus breakfast with friends. The idea is you have breakfast, then you get your picture with Santa. Santa took a quick walk around the restaurant when he first arrived, and as he walked by our table, Cohen yelled "slippers and sunglasses!!" He knew he was supposed to tell Santa what he wants, so I guess he figured he would tell him right away. So cute. Sitting on Santa's lap was so not going to happen. But Cohen admired him from afar. 

- Friends tell us this is the last year we will be able to get away with no actual Christmas tree in our house. We will see. As a family who probably won't spend Christmas day in our own house for many many years to come, I am pretty into Christmas tree alternatives. Maybe next year we will do a big tree painting on kraft paper. 

The Christmas Parade

We just got back from our local Christmas Parade, and both my boys are napping. We decided to do a float this year, which I thought would be super relaxing and involve sitting on the back of a pickup, waving. But. We handed out over a thousand loot bags to the kiddies, running up and down the street the whole time. It was so much fun, and so tiring! 

(A pic from a stroll the day before. We got a nice bit of snow) 

(En route to the start point. I got lots of compliments on my earrings.) 

 (Ready to go. What a sweet little tooth)

(Saying hello to a pup)

We were in the middle of the parade, and there had to be over 50 floats. It took us 15 minutes to walk to our float. Cohen was such a trooper, and walked a lot. But he ended up spending most of his time in the front seat of the pickup truck. His favorite part of the day was the time before the parade when we could walk around and see the different floats. He loved seeing Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and the motorcycle club. The ambulance was right behind us, and he loved seeing the lights flashing. We had such a good morning. 

A few pics

(at the Remembrance Day ceremony) 

(reading in Cohen's crib) 

(laughing after supper)

Life has been feeling full and good lately. We have been trying to spend time outside every day even if it's rainy or cold or super windy. Windy is the hardest, but we still try to at least take a 10 minute walk. I've been making apple sauce and muffins and cookies and jam. And we've been reading a ton. And completely addicted to Master of None and also True Detective. 

We are going all in this holiday season with all the activities we can find. We have the parade and the tree lighting and breakfast with santa and gift exchanges and parties. We are saying yes to all of it this year.