This N That

I had tons of fun at our yearly womens' retreat at church (I was in charge of raffles this year, not my strong suit but it turned out great!). We went to the beach for three days, and I had an amazing time with my church besties (new and old) leaning into the theme "Breathe Joy". Much needed time to spiritually renew, and appreciate all the amazing women in my community. 

Also, Winnie knows when someone is leaving :)

Fun with teens

We had some fun adventures so far this year - we have been working on a bucket list with the boys. Top of the list was snowboarding, then a Winterhawks hockey game, bouncing around different restaurants in town, and finally TACO BELL (can you believe these boys have NEVER had Taco Bell... it's probably from being raised by parents who talked about living during the era of Taco Bell giving you the runs, which did NOT happen in case you were worried). Anyhoo - we are having lots of fun together :)

AND, we also got to visit our best girl Maddie at UO, go walk all her classes around campus, and her college roomie even joined us for dinner. I told Kennedy she would definitely make it on the family blog (hi Kennedy!!! You are delightful, hilarious and smart, and I'm glad Maddie found such a great friend).

Favorite things

For our two boys, I'd like to make a little shoutout to their favorite things in this season. For Max, it's soccer - playing 5-7 days a week, rain or shine (it's the PacNW Winter season after all) and still loves it! Marcus took on the financial and tactical venture of building his own computer. Kyle was a good guide, and they troubleshooted (is that a word? quick, someone ask ChatGPT) their way to success. He is enjoying the gaming and satisfaction of all that hard work.

Happy birthday to Kyle

We celebrated Kyle's birthday for a month! He had a day with Winnie at the beach, gifts and pie at home with the family, and our yearly overnight at McMenamins (I think this is the fourth year in a row, so we will now call it a tradition!). We had to delay our "affirmations" as one son was sick in bed, and honestly when you are used to a big family, it feels super weird having only one kid at the table. It feels for that kid too, by the way :) Happy birthday to Kyle!

PS. Happy birthday to our best girl Marin, who is off in college living her best life. We sent her a care package, hopefully she got it lol :)

Merry Christmas

 We had a very full and fun Christmas season! The girls came home from college in early December, so they had almost a whole month off school. I hosted a Xmas dinner for some old friends. Marcus and I did our neighborhood deliveries of cards and caramels, the boys all humored me in a Christmas live production about CS Lewis (even I thought it was a bit boring, but they were great sports), our family did greeting at the candlelight service, Kyle's taco night, Advent lighting and readings,  Xmas eve dinner at Mara's, partied with the Corrigan side again in Bothell for a couple days after Xmas, and then traveled north to Bellingham to be with my side! Lots of merriment :)