Where Do I Even Begin?

We've been back from our trip for over a week, and although we're just getting over the virus we brought back with us we are glad to be home and settling back into normal life. I've never had such a great time doing absoutely nothing with the people we love. I loved the shopping - of course I loved the shopping - but missing our friends and family has been the most painful part of living so far away. So now that we're back we feel refreshed and renewed in our purpose to put in our time here, knowing what's waiting for us when we finally come home.

Because what we filled our time with was mostly conversation I don't have any super-amazing stories. Also, the people who read this were the people we were visiting, so I decided to put up some pictures instead. You can tell right away that Xander especially had been missing the sun. As soon as we got to Paul and Em's house he played outside and we had to straightjacket him in order to get his scrawny pale bum back in the house. Paul and Em, we miss you guys and so enjoyed our time at your home. Hopefully we'll be able to return the favour someday.

This is the foot of one Lucas Johansson. He has the biggest brown eyes you'll ever see (two pictures down) and is all boy down to his little toe.

This is Tobias, Lucas' older brother. I always think that we could exchange him and Felicity because he looks so much like Xander and she looks more like Lucas. Plus, then Suzi would have a girl to play with and I would have a boy who would actually sit still and read a book with me for longer than 2.3 seconds.

See? Puppy-dog eyes. Don't say I didn't warn you.






This is Paul and Em's SAM! For some reason in my mind SAM!'s name can be spelled no other way than in all caps. With an exclamation mark on the end to go with those striking blue eyes.




Once we got back to Grammy and Grampy's house Xander spent most of his time as God intended for boys - naked and running.

I just loved this picture. This is the perfect depiction of the stage Felicity's in right now, and actually, stage is even the perfect word, since she is always putting on a show.

Another one of my favourite things about my visit is spending time with my girlfriends again. Growing up, I never had really close, best friends until I was in college. Now, I don't know what I'd do without them. Christina, Tamara, Angela, Suzi, and Em, thank you for listening to me whine and complain about how beautiful it is up here and how much money we're making and how much time I have on my hands with nothing to do except play with my kids, love my amazing husband, and clean my house. I just know you guys understand my pain.

Last but not least, we shopped. A lot. An embarrassing amount, actually, and it felt really really good to be that embarrassed. One of the treasures we picked up besides blackout curtains is this little green fairy dress for Felicity. It was the only one left in her size among a sea of XS and XL, as though it was calling out her name from the moment we entered the mall. I wish I had a better picture of it, but whenever she wears it you hardly see the dress for the big smile and the big blue eyes. Which may have had something to do with us buying the dress in the first place.