pa-jammy
It kills me to put that +1 day there, but there was no point during daylight when all three boys were at home and awake so I let them talk me into doing it today rather than inside, last night, when they were all exhausted from their soccer game. But at least it was a conscious decision and not an “oops I forgot.”
On the bright side, I made them promise to smile if we put it off until this morning, and they kept their word.
(Poor Miles is home sick today.)
December! Gotta finish this so I can do my year-end recap, which in retrospect seems kind of silly after writing the monthly recaps but whatever.
The boys turned 16! They had friends over a couple of nights before, and we went to the bonfire, as usual. We had steaks for dinner on their actual birthday.
I got to see my friend Zandy for the first time since 2019!
Their big gift was Saints tickets, which we went to (and this time, they won, woo!)
Ziggy was cute, duh.
Soccer was played. They actually won a game! Twice!
Took them shopping individually. I only had to have sushi twice!
Christmas was nice. We did the usual Christmas Eve traditions (steak dinner, eggnog daiquiri for me, read TNBC, took the stocking pic. My sister and fam came to Baton Rouge for Christmas, so we went there on Christmas Day.
The next day, they came to New Orleans and we went to Christmas fest. I ice skated!
Later in the week, I went to Baton Rouge alone to help my mom and Larry after she had a procedure on her hand. I don’t want to talk about it.
Lots of driving happened.
Then it was New Year’s Eve and Miles and I watched the fireworks on the levee!
Other random things: my car broke down, pretty decorations, our friend’s birthday party, moms blog Christmas party, camellias bloomed, Oliver made an island, advent calendars, hooray! etc.
Oops, I forgot to do this. My bad.
November was kind of slow? I can’t even remember what happened.
Not necessarily in this order…
I had dinner with Kristie and her sister and Ren!
We went to Baton Rouge for the LSU game.
I got my hair did.
There was soccer.
The boys got their learner’s permits.
George and I had our 18th anniversary.
Thanksgiving happened.
I was driven around a lot.
Ziggy was cute.
And now it’s December! Where has 2023 gone?
I can’t believe these messy-haired, crocs-wearing, sports-obsessed boys have been here for 16 years now. Love them so much.
Happy birthday my sweet boys, Lenny, Ooman, and Piller!
One month from 16! Eek! They’re getting their gift from Grandee and Larry next weekend – I’m taking them to their first LSU game. (It might be my first one as well, I honestly don’t remember if I went to one in college.) They’re very excited. I am…happy they are excited. (Our seats are so high we may need supplementary oxygen.)
And then we’re going to get their learner’s permits so they can drive me to the grocery store. Fun!
Well that was a busy and fun month!
Started off quiet. I finally tested negative for Covid. I made a shirt.
Went to Los Angeles and Vegas, but I already posted about that. (But here are a few highlight pics anyway…)
The day after I got home, the boys and I went to a Pelicans game, because tickets were super cheap.
Not a whole lot happened for a while. I made that moto jacket.
Ziggy was cute.
Took the boys driving a bunch to practice before they started the driving portion of their driver’s ed class.
Then I went on my the second trip of the month! Also to see Kiki and go to a show!
I flew to DC Friday, and we went to a Caps game.
Hung out with Maxie and I tried on $80k worth of jewelry on Saturday. We went to some thrift stores to finish off our costumes, and Kiki bought me this Friends Christmas sweatshirt. Later that evening we heard about Matthew Perry. 😦
Saturday night we went to a Halloween party. Our costumes were awesome.
Sunday, Kiki and I drove to Silver Spring to go see a concert and spent the night at a hotel there. Then I flew home the next day. A short but super fun trip. I hate not knowing when we’ll see each other again. Hmmph.
I did get to see lots of fall colors, which was neat.
And then yesterday was Halloween. I handed out candy, but not many kids came. Mark my words, next year I’m going to get full-sized candy bars. I’m going to be one of those houses. Don’t let me forget.
Oooh I have ten months to decide what to do for the 200th pic. I had fun with the 100th. I have a feeling they won’t be quite as cooperative for this one.
Why did August take fifteen times longer than any other month? Maybe because it was so friggin hot? Apparently record-breakingly so? It feels like the first was a million years ago.
It started with another tattoo. This one is all of the birth months of everyone in my family.
Those are the flowers for February, May, July, August, October, and December, covering everyone in my immediate family. It was thoughtful of them to limit themselves to six of the twelve months.
And everyone better appreciate it, because I had to lay on my stomach for hours and also that part of the arm is very sensitive! It’s like the soft underbelly of your forearm. It hurt a lot. It was neat, though, because I let the artist draw directly on my arm instead of stenciling it from a digital drawing.
Okay, well, after that…
The boys started sophomore year of high school, but you knew that already.
Evan and Ellie came to visit, and I made her take a lot of pictures with me.
I sewed a bunch, actually. The Lawrence top and dress and skirt, and a purse!
I went to an advance screening of a movie, donated blood, and bought some 90s jeans.
And, as usual, Ziggy was really freaking cute.
Am looking forward to September, as it involves a trip to Dublin! My first time going to Ireland! And also, hopefully, cooler weather.
Sophomores. Only two more of these pics after this.
It’s fine I’M FINE.
I’d say they don’t look like freshmen anymore, and Oliver seems happier. First day last year:
And, of course, the first day of preschool picture. Twelve years ago.
Summer’s almost over. Sophomore year starts in four days. Gah!
I feel like July was another busy month. I definitely drove a lot. I mean, I went to three different Buc-ee’ses. (Not sure how to pluralize Buc-ee’s.)
The boys finished up the classroom portion of driver’s ed. Still waiting to schedule their road time with the instructor. In the meantime, we took them to drive around a few times. Only sort of harrowing. And at the end, they were only sort of mad at me for laughing so much.
There was the fourth of July (nothing exciting, the boys were at a sleepover, I watched fireworks through the bathroom window), then the boys went to the beach for a week with Grandee and Larry and I spent some time in Terry’s pool. I also made a bathing suit top real quick. (The Sandpiper from Helen’s Closet)
I drove to Orange Beach for a couple of days at the end and spent some time by the pool before bringing the boys home. We tried fishing but spent more time watching sharks and sting rays and a blue heron.
Then this past weekend, I took the boys on a short trip to Atlanta to see a pro soccer game. (Atlanta United vs Cruz Azul, a team from Mexico.) We had a great time.
We stayed the night in Birmingham on the way there to see Mary Catherine and her people, and it was wonderful. Don’t tell the boys, but it was my favorite part of the trip. So nice to see friends. Of course we got a picture of the boys with Millie, and I got to catch up with Ann Fran. It was all very lovely and for a minute, we all wanted to move to Birmingham.
Then we headed to Atlanta, and went to IKEA on the way into town, then relaxed in the hotel room (it was storming), then the next day, wandered around downtown. We went to the World of Coke, which was entertaining, and the boys gazed longingly at the College Football Hall of Fame, and then I felt terrible for not taking them there instead but it was $30 a person and also, for me, snoozarooni. But Miles got a hoodie, at least.
That evening was the game, which was at the big fancy stadium where hot dogs were $2 and giant refillable sodas were $4. Glorious to this cheapskate. I was rooting for the other team, and they won in a penalty shoot out, which was so nerve wracking it reminded me why I don’t really like sports.
(I guilted them into lots of group pictures, heh.)
And then yesterday we wandered around Georgia Tech, snuck into the stadium, then drove home and that is July!
Other random things: we discovered Miles has a silver spot in his hair; Ziggy is still cute; we did not escape the escape room; the broken door finally got replaced in the vanity, so it’s done!
August means the start of sophomore year of high school! Eep!
They all passed their written driver’s test, so it won’t be too long before they’re, gulp, on the road.
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