Well, it’s that time of year again. We look back at our accomplishments and failures from last year and strive to do better/more next year.

Yeah… I’m looking forward to hitting the breaks.

It’s time for Maria and I to reflect on our accomplishments but in the mind frame of “Are we happy?”. And I sure hope her answer is the same as mine. A resounding yes!!

We’ve done so much in such little time, trying to improve our daily lives with foresight on the future.

But truth be told… We’re spent. Dead tired.

This year I’ll be looking forward to lazy days with the family (after the kitchen is done of course). Boy, I sure hope I can pull off this relaxing thing…

Happy New Year!

Well, it happened. Far sooner then I imagined. I knew it would come, perhaps in five or so years, but not today.

I was wrong.

Isabella and I went outside to play in this winter’s first snow. She went over to her friend’s house, coaxed her outside, and turns to me.

“Dad, you can go home now.”

Utter shock on my face.

I blow it off, chat with her friend’s mom for a bit, then I get the look that means “what are you still doing here!”.

After being asked again politely by my four year old to leave, I say my goodbyes and walk home.

I knew this day would come, but I thought I had a while to prepare. I guess not.

Tonight I remembered how nice the simple things in life can be. We have a tradition in our house of doing Christmas light rides nearly every night from Thanksgiving to New Years, so tonight we loaded up the car and took the Mecca to Olin Park. Boy was it packed!! The kids had an absolute blast, and hearing their giggles and laughs coming from the back seat made my heart melt with joy. Kids get it. It’s not about opening presents crammed under a fire hazard in your living room, it’s about creating memories, having experiences, and establishing traditions with loved ones around the holidays is what matters most.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Last night, we experienced something I never thought would happen to us… A kitchen fire. We were prepping for dinner and Maria walked past the stove and noticed flames, sparks, and smoke, oh joy!!

She called me inside and I immediately sent everyone to the neighbor’s house. I was able to put out the fire and the folks from the MFD confirmed everything was safe. So after hauling out the burned up oven and attempting to clean up the awful mess, Maria and I went to get the kids. Both big kids were visibly shaken (rightfully so, how often do you run outside with no socks in the middle of the night with a fire truck coming to your house) but OK. So proud of them for being strong!!

Looks like Santa’s bringing us new kitchen appliances after all…