Happy and Exhausted

My brain power is minimal, my body is weak and my wrinkles are deep. But, we are all smiling over here. We had Dylan home this week...the only week this month with him at home. He was swamped with things for work, and we were like ships passing in the night. Luckily we got out together for a Christmas party last night, otherwise we might have forgotten what each other looked like.

In the meantime, I've kept busy packing boxes and making trips to the new house with a car load of stuff every single day. I've almost filled an entire car bay in the garage, and there's still so much left to do! I've exchanged dozens of emails between the contractor and designer and the doors/window guy, and we all spent most of the day together on Friday making plans at the house and shopping for things like light fixtures and slabs of stone. I've hit up the floor store and the paint store on my own, and the contractor and designer have a plan together with the cabinet people. Things should start happening soon! I'm working on a blog where I'll just post about renovation details so we can keep this space about the usual family stuff. In the meantime, follow me (@hello_sunnyside) on Instagram if you care at all about the goings-on with the house.

A round of backyard golf for D and Brian for practice. Photo from the lookout deck on top of the casita. Come and play some time!

Pool fence coming soon!

A random Monday night swim class.

Winter Wonderland for the third year in a row. We love it!

Brrrrr, it's snowing.

Practicing for his birthday!

While I've been doing that, Dylan's been making arrangements for repairs on the Morning Vista house in preparation to unload it! He also had two training programs and a volunteer event for work. So, he figured that now was as good a time as any to have Brian fly in from LA for a couple of nights and play a round of golf at the TPC. The boys had a blast with Uncle Brian, and we all enjoyed his homemade pasta!

We did two swim lessons to make up for missing a lesson last week when G was sick. I've worked my usual schedule, and we went to Winter Wonderland on Monday night to see the lights. On Thursday night, I went to a "Favorite Things" Christmas party with some of the other moms from Gavin's school. Saturday morning was Elaine's cookie party, so the two Gs helped me bake a double batch of eggnog cookies so that we could have some extras to give away to teachers and friends. And Saturday night was the company Christmas party...for both of us. But we stuck with Dylan's work crowd because, well, that's what we wanted to do. We started at Morton's and ended at Pattie's, and the boys hung with my parents.

Dylan took on all three boys by himself on Thursday night after Shawn got a last minute trip so that Elaine could go to the girls' party. The boys loved having Luke at the house. Super Dad!

Megan's "Favorite Things" party

Aly, Elaine and me

On Friday morning, my mom took the boys to the park to celebrate Graham's birthday with donuts. Kristin and Pierce met up for the fun, too! D was working, and I was at the new house all day getting some plans in place, but they had so much fun and even got up close and personal with a garbage truck!

Waffles at home for the birthday boy!

Singing to the birthday boy at 6am!

The garbage truck driver let the boys take turns getting in the truck.

Cousins!

Birthday boy!

Opening gifts with Nonna and Papa.

Birthday party with cousins at night! This photo makes me laugh every time.

We love our birthday boy!

He loves Elmo and Mickey Mouse!

No shortage of people to assist in unwrapping presents.

The racetrack that Guinea got him is already getting a lot of traffic.

All decked out at the cookie party with his school friends.

Elaine had these little tables set up for the kids to decorate cookies while we did a cookie exchange and had lunch. So fun!

Thanks for a fun morning, E!

Leaving the boys with my parents to go to the McD party.

Working hard on crafts with Nonna

Throwing a fit for Nonna because he didn't want to wear his crafting apron.

The biggest thing of all this week...GRAHAM turned 2!! Our incredibly feisty, full-of-life, little lovable, smiley, tantrum-throwing yet sweet boy isn't a baby at all anymore. He's talking in 4-word sentences and singing and making his brother (and all of us) laugh every single day. He hardly ever walks because he runs to just about everywhere. He is loved at daycare, and he is such a delight to everyone he encounters. He keeps me on my toes every second. Goodness gracious, Graham brings such a special dynamic to our family. He says "I love you, Mommy" without being prompted and gives great, big kisses every day. Seeing the special relationship unfold between Gavin and Graham has been my greatest joy. My heart bursts when I think about Graham and his great, big grin. His birthday really deserves a special post on its own, but that won't happen this week. I promise to do an "All About Graham" once we get through the end of the year. To celebrate his birthday, we had family over to our house on Friday night for pizza, cake and gifts. It was the perfect celebration for our big 2-year-old.

I'm exhausted just re-capping the week. I've never gotten so little sleep, besides of course when the babies were small. I'm not ready to start the grind. Dylan will be gone all week, and I feel like Christmas has really gotten away from us. My hope is to drive around with the boys to see Christmas lights some night this week, since we haven't fit that in yet. It's my favorite Christmas-time activity. I have a room full of gifts that have yet to be wrapped, and a bunch of grocery shopping to do for the festivities ahead. I cannot wait for Christmas morning, when I can lay around in my pajamas and take a day off from packing and doing all things house-related. In the meantime, though, gratefulness abounds, and we are busy but feeling blessed beyond measure. Merry Christmas!