riding a pony in villa borghese gardens in Rome with Daddy.

Hello!  I didn’t intentionally try to take a break from the blog but holidays + our trip to Roma definitely put this space on hold for a bit.  So, Merry Christmas + Happy New Year!  Hmmmmm what’s been happening….?  Here’s the rundown.
We hosted Christmas eve dinner and I made this turkey chili.  Super easy and so good.  I put it in the crockpot that morning, since we had thee exchange (our fourteenth!) that morning with the girls.   Something fun (and also easy) I added was a big chili toppings bar – jalopeno’s, sour cream, corn, cilantro, pickled okra, red onions, lime, avocados, green onions, tomatoes, and a bunch of different cheeses.  I am big on toppings.  Clearly!  We attempted church even though they didn’t have the nursery that night.  Which was hilarious.  And pretty hand over face embarassing.  lol.  Before the service Tuck started off taking all of the bibles and hymnals out of the back of the pews and handing them out to every man, woman, and child in our vicinity.   My future Gideon, maybe?  When worship started he loved it; clapping, dancing a bit.  But then when the pastor spoke; forget it.  He has trouble staying quiet like most almost two year olds and I took him outside to run around.  … Maybe next year?  (:
The next morning Tuck woke up to Santa Claus bringing him his train table and we could hardly pry him away from it to open other gifts.  I made emeril’s quiche lorraine the night before which was delicious and nice to wake up to.  We then headed to second Christmas at my in-law’s and a delicious lunch.  Then onto third Christmas + all my favorite sides + turkey dinner at my parents.  Tuck refused to go down for a nap- way too excited!  It was so lovely to spend Christmas and share Tucks excitement with both our families on Christmas.  The day after we headed out to the airport and to Rome we flew.  Tuck passed out as soon as we were on the plane and slept the entire flight over!  I’ll go into more detail about our trip this week but cliff notes – we had a wonderful time.  We both kept saying how glad we were we brought him.  Of course the normal toddler meltdowns happened but no more than a normal day in the states.  Plus having JB’s extra hands for a week to help was simply amazing.  That alone made it feel like a vacation.
Tuck turns two in two days!  While I tend to get sad about time passing – Jen Hatmaker posted this in perfect timing for me on her FB page the other day and I had to share with you.  
“I love Big Kids. You will too, Mama of Littles. Enjoy them now, sure, but don’t worry…you won’t use up all your best years while they are young. You’ll enjoy them later too! Parenting is not an exercise in scarcity. There is always more to look forward to. Even when they have driver’s licenses and college applications in the mailbox. Big Kids can make sandwiches! And do their own math homework! And get your jokes!