02/01/2020

This is the third picture in a row of Miles and Linus. Guess who doesn’t like being in pictures? (Well, ok, none of them, really.) Right now, it’s always (American) football in the backyard.
pa-jammy

This is the third picture in a row of Miles and Linus. Guess who doesn’t like being in pictures? (Well, ok, none of them, really.) Right now, it’s always (American) football in the backyard.

Friday night, relaxing in the glow of the MacBook.

Ziggy and Ollie and Leslie Knope.

The boys were trying to teach me how to make this face they make, with limited success. Photo by Oliver. (Sometimes you gotta outsource, you know?)

The boys had the day off, and it was a lovely cold, crisp day, so we took the Zigster for a walk. We stopped at the neighborhood market because I needed butter. All they had was $5 Amish butter (that’s for two sticks!) so yeah basically we are fancy is what I’m saying.

The boys play for the varsity (7/8 grade) soccer team at school, even though they’re only in 6th grade. And last night their team won the championships! Their team was undefeated, and I’m so proud they were a part of it, and that they played with older (and bigger!) kids, even though they were nervous about it at first.
Linus’s smile after the game is the best thing about all of it. They will not smile with their teeth showing (I have no idea why, they have perfect teeth) so catching this genuine, huge smiles from the boy who was most upset about not being put on a team with his classmates is the real victory.

Look! It’s our house! Sorta. Oliver is building a model of it for a school project. Not bad, eh? Windows and doors and other details will be added tomorrow.

We made a quick trip to Baton Rouge, just for the day, so the monthly picture was taken in front of Grandee’s garage door. Could they be any more handsome? Possibly I am biased, but I think not.
This year sure went fast!
I read about 100 books. (I didn’t keep track, but I think it’s safe to say 100.)
I sewed a million things. (Who knows? I also didn’t keep track.)
I went on 3 trips. (Serbia, Virginia/NY, Orlando)
I worked out at Orangetheory 85 times.
I wrote 46 blog posts (shameful!)
In 2020, I hope to read just as many books, and I probably won’t keep track of them. I’ll keep sewing, and hopefully I’ll get better about keeping track of my makes. I’m definitely going to travel more (Lisbon this month, Vienna in the spring, hopefully the UK in the summer, and Orlando again in the fall – all but one are work trips.) I have a goal of averaging 3 OTF workouts a week, but let’s say 150 workouts throughout the year. And since I’ve started another 366 project, my blog post count should definitely go up!
2019 in photos
January:
Was on sabbatical! Turned 44! Kristina came to visit!
February:
Still on sabbatical!
March:
Mardi Gras! Bought a new car! Sabbatical ended, went back to work.
April:
Went to Serbia for work! Took the boys to Natchitoches!
May:
Ran a 5K with the boys, sewed things, soccer ended (for the spring), went on a field trip.
June:
I made a bunch of shirts for Isa’s quinceanera! Soccer again!
July:
Road trip to Virginia and New York!
August:
The boys started middle school! Uncle Evan and Ellie came to visit! I sewed a dress for a friend!
September:
Went to Orlando for the Grand Meetup!
October:
Hmm. Soccer? Yeah. Also I sewed stuff like Halloween costumes.
November:
Aunt Jenny and Uncle Rob and Emily and Andrew came for Thanksgiving! The boys started school soccer! I sewed a cool jacket!
December:
The boys turned 12! Christmas! We closed out the year with a bathroom flood!

Man, Christmas came fast this year, didn’t it? Stupid late Thanksgiving. In spite of the lack of time, it was still a wonderful day. So far (I mean, only 3 weeks in), the age of 12 is wonderful – there was no whining or complaining or anything this year. Well, very little.
As usual, I took all three boys out shopping by themselves for their brothers. First was Miles. He picked out gloves for Linus and pants for Oliver from H&M. And a shirt for himself that I told him to forget we were buying. After we shopped, we had sushi for lunch.
Linus was up next, and we headed to Baton Rouge for our shopping. I was meeting up with two dear friends (I don’t want to say old since they’re my age, but Kristie and I have been friends since we were 12, and Ann and I were freshman roommates in college.) So good to see them! Again, sushi for lunch. And later, Five Guys for dinner.
Linus got Miles gloves (cute) and Oliver a charger and cable for his iPod. He also helped me pick out an outfit for Miles from me and George. (Miles only asked for shoes and clothes for Christmas.)
Finally on Monday, Oliver and I headed out. We got all of our shopping done at Marshall’s and TJ Maxx, which are now Oliver’s favorite stores. He got Linus an Adidas backpack and Miles a Saints shirt. We did not have sushi, thank goodness. We went to Five Guys instead.

On Tuesday I had sewing to do – I had bought team fabric for each of the boys’ favorite soccer teams, and I needed to finish them up, but I couldn’t do it while they were home, so I had George take them out for a bit. Later we had steak for dinner and we watched Klaus (good!) and read The Night Before Christmas before I tucked the boys in.
Christmas morning was gray but the boys were pretty happy with their presents. Linus was thrilled with his Saints jersey (I was pretty excited because I bought it before he put it on his list) and they loved their gifts from each other and Kiki and Santa. It was a good morning. We had eggnog French toast and bacon and I had mimosas for breakfast.
Oh, and I got excellent presents, which is of course the most important things. Two pairs of earrings I wanted and a gift certificate to a local glass studio where I’ll get to make something! So fun! I’ve always wanted to do that. And the boys picked out a glass penguin from the studio as well. I haven’t named him yet. Hmm.

Also fabric and tea and the softest scarf from Nepal (where Kiki and Mike went in the fall.)
More pics of presents and whatnot:
We went to the pub for Christmas lunch, and then came home and chilled for the rest of the day. All in all, a lovely Christmas (even though of course it will never compare to 2016.)