a monthly rewind

best: CHRISTMAS! - the most relaxing ikea trip of the year on Christmas Eve - multiple grandma days over the school break - having Robert (mostly) to ourselves for a week and half over Christmas (he had to work from home quite a bit but hey, he was home) - Christmas magic at The Grand America - a last minute family Cafe Rio and bowling night - chopping off 9 inches of my hair - the Collard Christmas party and talent show (Min's rendition of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" had us all dying) - our first sledding trip of the season - the sweetest Christmas nativity at the 27th East Ward Christmas party (I totally teared up. Minnie was just pleased as punch to be on stage performing.) - annual Christmas parties with our friends - Saturday morning pancakes (which sadly only happened once or twice the whole month) - Lou's awesome bedhead - Grandma's Christmas choir concert (which Minnie quietly sat through and seemed to enjoy. She just wondered why she couldn't be up on stage performing. I've got to get this girl in dance or something) - Lou's raspy little "welcome" any time she hands us anything - Minnie's first day of primary! - Christmukkah with Josh and Nikki - when the girls will play downstairs or in Minnie's room quietly for 30 minutes at a time - the nursery leaders letting Lou come in early - Mecham/Arrington Temple Square light outing - close friends coming over for a little New Year's shindig at our place - a temple date with Robert on New Year's Eve - a warm December that turned cold and snowy just in time for Christmas - the neighborhood Christmas party - Mecham family FHE tradition begins - Lou's major snuggles (which make me feel a little bit better about the fact that I'm not pregnant yet because she still acts like my baby) - ward ball starting up - resolutions (some that are really starting to stick and others that are going to take a loooot of work) - friends who love my girls like their own

worst: Lou's bout of RSV that had us panicked - constant runny noses - Minnie's run-in with the asphalt as she sled down our side yard hill - Lou's big cry where she cries so hard she doesn't breathe and then almost passes out (it has happened twice in the last month and has me in sheer terror every time) - the inversion (which is the only reason I ever want it to snow after Christmas) - getting the flu New Year's Eve - waaaaay too many treats in our house - forgetting about tithing settlement after being home from church sick (embarrassing!) - Minnie stealing everything from Lou and Lou being totally sensitive and dramatic - taking extended family pictures for a friend and then realizing there really isn't one good one of the entire group (big group first timer problems) - forgetting to cancel my free Amazon Prime month membership and then automatically getting charged for a year (I'm the worst at those things. That's exactly why they offer those promotions...for suckers like me who forget to cancel them. Looks like we are buying everything off of Amazon this year) - running out of milk (always) - my first cavity at the dentist in 10 years